[Corpora-List] Re: 'Standard European English' ?

[FIDELHOLTZ_DOOCHIN_JAMES_LAWRENCE]

Steven & Geoff: 

I *am* a native speaker (or at least I used to be), and I don't have any 
qualms about 'concertation'.  Maybe I should? 

While I'm answering back, a few days ago, Lou Burnard wrote: "But this being 
a resolutely anglophone list, ...".  Well, I personally code-switch (in real 
life as well as on lists) between Spanish and English pretty freely (of 
course, when I can assume, or at least hope, that my interlocutors know both 
languages).  But there seems to be an interesting phenomenon that happens on 
'international' lists (of which this is one, and so is the Code-Switching 
list): it just seems to be easier for people to fall into using English.  I 
can also read French and German pretty well, so I don't mind occasionally 
getting messages in those languages.  Nonetheless, when the code-switching 
list was started (by a Spaniard, I think), the explicit policy was to 
permit, and even encourage, messages in any language the person wished to 
send them in.  Nowadays, the list has calmed down considerably, but I've 
noticed that nearly all the messages are in English, whereas in the early 
days of the list, I noticed a considerable number in Spanish, and some in 
French and German as well, and I sent some in Spanish, at least, especially 
when answering other msgs in Spanish. 

Perhaps there is a desire to actually communicate with the largest possible 
group, which almost certainly has a higher probability in the unmarked 
Internet case in English, given the political, globalized facts of life (as 
well as the obvious fact that English is the most-taught and most-used 
second language in the world, although Chinese begins to look like it may 
give us a run for our money). 

In any case, I have never seen any actual resolution on this list about the 
language to use, and aside from us monolingual Americans, most English 
speakers with any academic pretensions at all (ie most of those on this 
list, I assume) can at least read in a couple of non-English languages.  In 
short, as far as I am concerned, at least, people are welcome to contribute 
here in Spanish, French or German. 

It doesn't matter, though, since people will no doubt continue to write in 
English, whether for communicative reasons (though more could be said about 
the confusions sometimes caused by non-native English) or simple perceived 
'peer pressure' (and compare the perceived pressure to publish in English, 
independently of where one is from or even where the journal is from). 

Jim 


Steven Krauwer escribió: 

>  
> 
> Geoffrey Sampson wrote:
>> I remember on one occasion trying to edit copy I was given
>> because some morphologically-derived word in it, though it looked as if
>> it ought to exist in English, in fact was completely unknown in our
>> language -- we would have put the idea differently.  What I was told,
>> and I accepted this as a good answer in present circumstances, was that
>> now this word did exist in European English, it was frequently used in
>> official EU documentation and took its validity from that, and it really
>> could not be changed.  (I wish I could remember the specific word in
>> question -- it wasn't one of the ones already discussed in this
>> correspondence.)
> 
> Geoff, wasn't the word 'concertation'? I seem to remember this
> discussion at the time when the EC programmes were full of
> 'concerted actions', and I am sure that non-native speakers
> (like me) would derive 'concertation' without any hesitation
> or embarrassment. 
> 
> Steven 
> 
> -- 
> ______________________________________________________________________
> Steven Krauwer, ELSNET / UiL OTS, Trans 10, 3512 JK Utrecht, Nederland
> phone: +31 30 2536050, fax: +31 30 2536000, email: s.krauwer at let.uu.nl
>                     http://www-sk.let.uu.nl 
> 
 


James L. Fidelholtz
Posgrado en Ciencias del Lenguaje, ICSyH
Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla     MÉXICO