America's War on Language

[Wilson Gray]

Very interesting! I had no idea that the United States was - and always has
been - as much involved in the elimination of "non-national" speech in the
name of "patriotism" as England, France, Spain, Russia, Italy, Germany,
etc. are.

I'm aware of the total extermination of the various languages spoken by
African imports and the attempt to do the same thing to native-American
languages through such infamous institutions as the Carlisle Indian School.
But I was unaware that there had ever been a systematic effort to eliminate
even all Western-European languages, except, of course, the language spoken
by no less a figure than God Himself: English.


On Thu, Sep 4, 2014 at 12:44 AM, Baron, Dennis E <debaron at illinois.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baron, Dennis E" <debaron at ILLINOIS.EDU>
> Subject:      America's War on Language
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> There's a new post on the Web of Language:
>
> America's War on Language
>
>
> 2014 is the centennial of World War I, time to take a closer look at one
> of=
>  its offshoots, America's little-known War on Language
>
> In April, 1917, the United States declared war on Germany. In addition to
> s=
> ending troops to fight in Europe, Americans waged war on the language of
> th=
> e enemy at home. German was the second most commonly-spoken language in
> Ame=
> rica, and banning it seemed the way to stop German spies cold. Plus,
> immigr=
> ants had always been encouraged to switch from their mother tongue to
> Engli=
> sh to signal their assimilation and their acceptance of American values.
> No=
> w speaking English became a badge of patriotism as well, a way to prove
> tha=
> t you were not a spy.
>
> The war on language was fought on two fronts, one legal, the other, in the
> =
> schools. Its impact was immediate and long-lasting. German was the target,
> =
> but the other =93foreign=94 tongues suffered collateral damage. Immigrant
> l=
> anguages in America went into decline, and there was a precipitous drop in
> =
> the study of foreign languages in US schools as well. . . .
>
> read the full post on the Web of Language: http://bit.ly/weblan
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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