positive visions

[Doug Whalen]

  It is great that you are trying to do language in a museum--it's not easy.  And the endangered language issue is complex enough to be that much harder.  
  Still, the education parallel is somewhat mistaken--support for education in general is enough of a given that the coffin metaphor can be taken in context.  The context is, as you point out, completely lacking for the general public.  That is where the confused messages come in.
  There are certainly individuals and communities who, as you say, find the "sleeping" metaphor too tame for what is often deliberate destruction of a language.  Yet those who are trying to revitalize their language are greatly offended by the more extreme "death" metaphor.  As you have found, it is impossible to satisfy both viewpoints.
  How about this:  Have guests fill out a form answering the question:  "What would you say to your children if you were told you could no longer teach them German?"
  Good luck with your exhibit, Doug Whalen DhW

Lena Terhart <lena.terhart at GMX.DE> wrote ..
> In Germany, every now and then budget cuts in the educational sector are announced.
> In the protests against it, there frequently appear coffins and words from the
> death and funeral semantic fields in connection with "education" or specific school
> subjects like maths, biology etc. Would anybody seriously think that these people
> believe that education is dead? No! They use a metaphor to express their fear that
> the quality of education might diminish with the budget cut. 
> Analogically, I would interpret a coffin to represent the concern that language
> diversity - symbolized by words in many different languages - is diminishing.
> Some of you find the metaphor offensive, apparently because they do not interpret
> the different words as a symbol of language diversity but to represent the individual
> languages that are consequently classified as dying or dead. Yes, I agree that
> given this interpretation the coffin is a terrible metaphor. Would those of you
> prefer the tree metaphor proposed by Christian Chiarcos? I also thought about another
> symbol as Dorothea Hoffmann pointed out to me the term "sleeping languages" used
> by Ghilad Zuckermann. Building on the sleeping metaphor, words of different endangered
> languages could be arranged in a bed - maybe together with an alarm clock to symbolize
> the possibility of waking up. However, the bed has the same disadvantage as the
> coffin that the words arranged on it may be misinterpreted to stand for the individual
> languages they come from and that consequently all those languages are classified
> "sleeping languages".
> 
> If I got it right, others of you think that language endangerment is not a topic
> to be displayed at a museum at all, because it is too negative, and it should be
> replaced by revitalization or language diversity. My opinion is that language revitalization
> is nothing that is easily understood, unless you have understood that there are
> languages that cease to be transmitted to the next generations. An exhibit on language
> diversity would certainly convey a more positive image, but could be as well realized
> without any small or endangered language. And even if those languages are included,
> the concern over diminishing diversity could easily be overlooked.
> 
> Lena Terhart
> 
> PS: Thanks to all of you who have send me word lists and encouraging e-mails!
> 
> 
> Am 01.09.2013 um 19:04 schrieb Serena d'Agostino:
> 
> > I agree.
> > A negative vision of the issue and the use of negative reinforcement are not
> the best options.
> > I have already commented to Terralingua that their logo - an half dry branch
> coming out of a reclined head - looked too mortuary. 
> > 
> > People interested in EL should choose to have a positive vision of the vitality
> and richnes of languages: 
> > it is our involvement that will make the difference.
> >  Regards  Serena d'Agostino
> > 
> > 
> > Le 31/08/13, Doug Whalen <whalen at HASKINS.YALE.EDU> a écrit :
> >> 
> >> This is a terrible idea.  It tries to make a quick impression, but what will
> that impression be?  Small languages = death.  Do we like death? No.  Therefore,
> we don't like small languages.
> >> 
> >> Imagine that you had an exhibit on species diversity and at the end, you got
> to toss a baby panda into a coffin.  Strong metaphor?  Yes.  Appealing?  I hope
> not.
> >> 
> >> Please do us a favor and leave the coffin out of your exhibit.
> >> 
> >> Doug Whalen DhW
> >> 
> >> Lena Terhart <lena.terhart at GMX.DE> wrote ..
> >> > Dear Colleagues,
> >> > 
> >> > the UNIKATUM children's museum in Leipzig, Germany, is preparing an exhibition
> >> > on language (http://www.kindermuseum-unikatum.de/papperlapapp.html in German).
> >> > I thought it would be nice to present language endangerment as part of the
> exhibition
> >> > and together with the responsible people of the museum, we are now thinking
> about
> >> > one exhibit, probably a coffin that shall be filled with words that may die
> out.
> >> > 
> >> > In order to present a big variety of endangered languages, I would like to
> ask
> >> > you to contribute with
> >> > - a list of max. 5 words in the endangered language (basic vocabulary, something
> >> > that may be interesting for children, e.g. animals, plants, natural phenomena,
> >> > or maybe also simple verbs)
> >> > - in the orthographic convention you use
> >> > - together with a translation
> >> > - and some basic info about the geographic location and number and age of
> speakers
> >> > or alternatively a link to your website where I can find the information
> >> > 
> >> > Additionally, photographs of the speakers and/or environment could be very
> nice,
> >> > and ideally also recordings of the words (MP3), but that is not a requisite
> - I
> >> > know that the search for individual words and cutting process may be too time-consuming.
> >> > 
> >> > The mounting of the exhibition will start on the 16th of september already
> so that
> >> > I need the word lists until the 13th latest.
> >> > 
> >> > Thanks!
> >> > Lena