[Ads-l] Web of Language 10th-anniversary post -- Going native: Brexit prompts linguistic cleansing

[Baron, Dennis E]

Read the 10th-anniversary post of the Web of Language: Going native: Brexit prompts linguistic cleansing


Along with the predictable economic and political fallout, Brexit—the UK decision to leave the European Union—is generating a wave of linguistic purism. Well before the June "leave-or-remain" referendum, Germany’s president<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/24/europa-english-official-language-eu> suggested making English the EU’s official language, as an incentive to keep the UK in Europe. But right after British voters narrowly approved an EU exit, French<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/french-politicians-english-language-brexit_us_576ede1fe4b0dbb1bbbac730> politicians urged the EU to drop English as one of its twenty-four official languages, and Danuta Hübner<http://www.politico.eu/article/english-will-not-be-an-official-eu-language-after-brexit-senior-mep/>, the head of the European Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee, warned that the group’s charter might require dropping English, even though it’s the group’s dominant language.

And now, a British group<https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/163824> wants to erase French words from English passports. . . .

read it all here: http://bit.ly/2bcF1ql

and if you like, the first Web of Language post was also on linguistic cleansing: http://bit.ly/2bwZV31



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