printability and standardization

[Margaret Ronkin]

And this is really not so "exotic". I was reminded of the point last year when my students in a general studies course who were not native users of Ebonics offered acceptability judgments associated with different varieties to which they were exposed through media other than writing.
Maggie
----- Original Message -----
From: Joshua Fishman <joshuaafishman at yahoo.com>
Date: Wednesday, January 7, 2004 3:13 pm
Subject: Re: printability and standardization

> Which should also remind us that there is
> language standardization in many oral traditions
> that lack writing entirely, or reserve it for
> only part of their repertoire. JAF
>
>
>
> --- "Harold F. Schiffman"
> <haroldfs at ccat.sas.upenn.edu> wrote:
> > Thank you, Joshua, for reminding us that
> > standardization and print are
> > separate issues.  I have tried to make that
> > case for 'standard' Spoken
> > Tamil, which doesn't often appear in print,
> > since literary Tamil (with
> > extreme diglossic differences) serves that
> > purpose.  People who work in
> > western linguistic traditions tend to think
> > that print equals
> > standardization, and nothing else matters.
> > Sanskrit developed a method of
> > controlling 'standard' without resorting to
> > print, and other languages can
> > do the same.
> >
> > My article on this is ``Standardization and
> > Restandardization: the case of
> > Spoken Tamil." Language in Society, Vol. 27 (3)
> > 359-385. (1998)  and it's
> > also available on my website at
> >
> http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/public/stantam/STANTAM.HTM
> >
> > Hal Schiffman
> >
> > On Tue, 6 Jan 2004, Joshua Fishman wrote:
> >
> > > The discussion of (non-)Standardization of
> > Ladin
> > > and the "reluctance" of the Italian
> > government to
> > > utilize it in print should remind us that
> > print
> > > and standardization are quite separate and
> > > independent of each other. Many languages
> > have
> > > been printed (and, of course, also written)
> > far
> > > before their standardization and, indeed,
> > their
> > > use in print contributed greatly to their
> > > ultimate standardization (viz. D-B Kerler
> > 2003).
> > > Of course, standardization did not rescue
> > Latin,
> > > Greek, Hebrew, etc. from disappearing as
> > > vernaculars. It would be particularly
> > > "indelicate" for the Italian government to
> > snub
> > > Ladin due to Ladin's lack of full
> > > standardization, given the lack of full
> > > standardization of Italian to this very day.
> > > English too is far from being fully
> > standardized,
> > > which should lead most of us to be rather
> > less
> > > dismissive of Ladin for this same very human
> > > "failing". All in all, "complete
> > standardization"
> > > is a will-of-the-whisp and some small
> > languages
> > > are far closer to this goal (acting on the
> > > mistaken assumption that it will promote
> > their
> > > acceptance) than much larger ones who
> > couldn't
> > > care less. Joshua A. Fishman
> > >
> > >
> > > =====
> > >
> >
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