Top 10 Language Stories of 2008

[Scot LaFaive]

Likewise, I was going to say something in response to that statement but
decided not to. Now I will though. It's a very hypocritical thing for Tom to
be so dismissive of dying languages but also be so upset by the low-back
merger change occurring now. Like you said Paul, I think he is only seeing
things from his shoes.

Scot



On 1/2/09, Paul Johnston <paul.johnston at wmich.edu> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Paul Johnston <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Top 10 Language Stories of 2008
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Would you say this last statement if you were, say, a speaker of
> Delaware?  Or even of Welsh? How arrogant!
>
> Yours,
> Paul Johnston
>
> P. S.  To hell with accent reduction, too!  Reduction  to what, may I
> ask?  m.w.com?  Your own accent?  How arrogant, again!
> On Jan 2, 2009, at 10:38 AM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Top 10 Language Stories of 2008
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---------
> >
> > I live in S Florida.  Shoppers have come up to me and asked if I
> > speak Spanish so I could help them with English in the grocery.
> > New renters next to my condo natively speak French from Quebec.  I
> > played golf with one of them and we got paired with another French
> > speaking couple. Wee.  But to me they did speak some English,
> > thankfully.  And thankfully English is the linqua franca of the world.
> >
> > Of interest to me is that there need be 1. a new English based
> > phonetic spelling for our dictionaries as a standard that 2. one
> > simple enough to be used to teach children to read and help with
> > phonemic awareness and accent reduction, and 3. one useful as a
> > standard translation guide notation.  Truespel is the first to have
> > this goal of integration.
> >
> > If English folks don't develop this, perhaps Spanish folks will.
> > Of interest is spelling reform for Brazil and Portugal.
> >
> > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7807116.stm
> >
> > Of the languages that are dissappearing (some say 2 or 3 per
> > month), be glad to say goodbye, because folks are learning more
> > useful languages for better communication.
> >
> >
> > Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
> > Learn truespel in 15 minutes at http://tinypaste.com/76f44
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------
> >> Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2009 08:18:02 -0500
> >> From: djmetevia at CHARTERMI.NET
> >> Subject: Re: Top 10 Language Stories of 2008
> >> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >>
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender: American Dialect Society
> >> Poster: David Metevia
> >> Subject: Re: Top 10 Language Stories of 2008
> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> ----------
> >>
> >> Tom Zurinskas wrote:
> >>
> >> 2. As for protecting languages that need no protection, a Federal
> >> judge
> >> in Wichita ruled that a private school had broken no laws when it
> >> declared English the school's official language and banned
> >> students from
> >> speaking anything else. The ban on foreign languages was
> >> instituted to
> >> combat bullying, but the school's principal didn't indicate
> >> whether she
> >> would outlaw English as well if students bullied one another in that
> >> language.
> >>
> >> comment. The point is to communicate. I have no problem with this.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> If the point is to communicate, then there is no need to ban the
> >> speaking of other languages. In fact, I propose the more languages
> >> available to the students, the greater the ability to communicate.
> >>
> >> DJM
> >>
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