ELL: RE: Belorussian

[David Harris]

I don't know much about the details of language use in Byelorussia, but if
the situation there is anything like that of other CIS countries, I suspect
that colloquial Byelorussian is alive and well. The reason I am writing is
to suggest that the creation of special Byelorussian-language curricula in,
say, the sciences where these have not existed before (or, at least, not for
a very long time) might be a less useful expenditure of funding/energy than
alternative programs which target cultural and other more appropriate arenas
(religious?) in which Byelorussian can be used.

To me, it would make more sense for a rather small country with cultural and
historic ties to neighboring Russia and few resources with which to create a
wide variety of up-to-date Byelorussian-language educational texts to
continue using Russian texts so that they can focus their few resources on
other more pressing needs. Moreover, there would seem to me to be little of
value in severing linguistic ties to a neighboring country which is a giant
(compared to Byelorussia) in scientific research and development.

I'm not against the preservation of Byelorussian language, I just don't feel
it's necessarily in the best interest of Byelorussians to phase out Russian
when being educated in Russian is obviously a big plus for a Byelorussian
citizen, allowing him or her to communicate scientific/technical
ideas/information from Vladivostok to Prague to Sophia rather than merely in
the limited sphere of Lukashenka-controlled Byelorussia.

The situation in the United States might serve as a better example in making
this point. Efforts to re-vitalize Native-American speech communities likely
do not (certainly should not) focus on creating technical literature and
vocabulary for these languages. Instead, educated NAs should ideally be able
to communicate scientific/technical information and other Western-oriented
ideas among the outside world in English while maintaining traditional
communities where daily life and other culture-specific events are conducted
in their native languages.

If you don't believe such a thing can work, take a look at northeastern
Switzerland where German dialects have existed side-by-side with standard
German for generations. The Rumantsch dialects of Kanton Graubünden, on the
other hand, have been losing ground for some time now. So I don't know in
detail what the answer to such problems is, but I suspect that the unwieldy
task of maintaining a wide knowledge base of scientific and other
information in every language across the globe is not the answer.

David Harris
Herndon, VA

-----Original Message-----
From: Henry Szymonik [mailto:heszy at jetcity.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2000 10:20 AM
To: endangered-languages-l at carmen.murdoch.edu.au
Subject: ELL: Belorussian


[From RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
          RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 4, No. 126, Part II, 29 June 2000]

 NGO NOTES 'DISASTROUS' SITUATION OF BELARUSIAN-LANGUAGE
 EDUCATION. The Belarusian School Association has sent a
 letter to Education Minister Vasil Strazhau deploring the
 situation of Belarusian-language education, Belapan reported
 on 27 June. The association argues that the "disastrously
 low" percentage of schoolchildren in Belarusian-language
 classes is attributable to the lack of Belarusian-language
 colleges and universities where they could continue their
 education in Belarusian. He also pointed to "the open
 hostility of officials at different levels toward the
 Belarusian language." The association says it can cite many
 examples where Belarusian-language schools have been ordered
 to offer instruction only in Russian. The organization
 proposes that the government establish a Belarusian National
 University and open Belarusian-language groups at other
 institutions of higher education. A 1990 law obliged the
 government to "Belarusianize" public life in the country by
 2000, but President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has ignored that
 bill and strengthened the Russification of Belarus. JM


----
Endangered-Languages-L Forum: endangered-languages-l at carmen.murdoch.edu.au
Web pages http://carmen.murdoch.edu.au/lists/endangered-languages-l/
Subscribe/unsubscribe and other commands: majordomo at carmen.murdoch.edu.au
----
----
Endangered-Languages-L Forum: endangered-languages-l at carmen.murdoch.edu.au
Web pages http://carmen.murdoch.edu.au/lists/endangered-languages-l/
Subscribe/unsubscribe and other commands: majordomo at carmen.murdoch.edu.au
----