The Language Feed - October 1, 2004

Fri Oct 1 14:49:09 UTC 2004

The Language Feed
October 1, 2004

This issue and archives can be read on the web at
http://mason.gmu.edu/~smorris2/feed <http://mason.gmu.edu/%7Esmorris2/feed>

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Russian region bans foul language
BBC News, October 1
Police in Russia's western Belgorod region are imposing fines on people
who swear in public - and local officials say the campaign is very popular.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3707192.stm

Key weapon: language
San Jose Mercury News, September 30
(email: language at yahoo.com <mailto:language at yahoo.com>, password: language)
If the United States is going to win the war with Islamic extremism, it
will need a lot more soldiers like Aimee Sullivan. Her weapon of choice
is not an automatic rifle or an armored vehicle. Private Sullivan is
armed instead with a knowledge of Arabic grammar and an appreciation of
Arab culture.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/9797672.htm

Principal is bridge to language gap
The Oregonian, September 30
Ricardo Marquez helps the 200 Spanish-speaking students at Trost feel at
home in their language.
http://www.oregonlive.com/metrosouth/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/metro_south_news/1096372690272560.xml

Schools help Latino students navigate the language barrier
Rocky Mount Telegram, September 29
In a school where almost every teenager around him speaks, learns and
socializes in English, Christian Banegas struggles.
http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/news/newsfd/auto/feed/news/2004/09/27/1096342044.18121.4024.2206.html

Church Opts to Use Local Language in Radical Edict
All Africa, September 29
An evangelical church based in Western Kenya has adopted a local dialect
as its official language, 100 years after it was founded by American
missionaries.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200409290663.html

Language cuts to hurt spy numbers
The Australian, September 29
The push by Australian intelligence agencies to recruit new spies in the
war against terror is being hampered by a shortage of skilled linguists
and specialists, particularly in Indonesian studies.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10910760%255E12332,00.html

Will Gaelic be able to survive a global language revolution?
The Independent, September 28
By rights, it should have been long dead. It should have disappeared
with the claymore and the peat fire, with the poets reciting the deeds
of the clan, with the black highland cattle on the hills.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=566454

Language clash opens old wounds
Sunday Herald, September 26
Rwanda's new elite wants English to replace French as the official
language as Paris is probed over its role in the genocide.
http://www.sundayherald.com/45044

The future of our language
Daily Record, September 26
To someone who speaks only English, words can be taken for granted.
A chair is always a chair. But to someone learning a second language,
chair might be silla or chaise or der Stuhl.
http://ydr.com/story/main/42326/

The politics of wordplay
LA Times, September 26
(username: langfeed password: language)
Samuel Johnson's "Dictionary of the English Language" essentially
spawned the form. It's not that there were no dictionaries prior to
Johnson's; dozens had appeared in the 150 years before his book was
published in 1755. What these proto-lexicons lacked, however, was an
appreciation of the nuances of language, the way words and usage evolve
through the refining filter of daily speech.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-bk-ulin26sep26,1,1466014.story?coll=la-home-politics

Pupils say no to learning a language
Telegraph, September 25
Modern foreign languages are facing a crisis in schools as pupils take
advantage of new rules to drop them from the age of 14.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/25/nlang25.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/09/25/ixnewstop.html
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/25/nlang25.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/09/25/ixnewstop.html>

Why Canada's schools are failing newcomers
Toronto Star, September 25
In Room 212 of Brampton's Great Lakes Public School, teacher Charlotte
Mullin stands in front of a Grade 8 class in which there is one white
face other than her own.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1096063810989&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467&tacodalogin=no
<http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1096063810989&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467&tacodalogin=no>

They DARE to list lively Americanisms
Indianapolis Star, September 25
If you know that a preacher's nose is something to eat for Sunday
dinner, along with light bread, chances are you're from the South. And
if you can identify tangle-breeches as a kind of cruller, you're
probably from Pennsylvania or Maryland.
http://www.indystar.com/articles/0/181387-7120-047.html

Why use jive talk in anti-Bush ads targeting blacks?
St Louis Post-Dispatch, September 30
As readers may know, I've defended the use of ebonics. It's a dialect
with southern roots. It's cultural and it's the way some blacks speak
when they are in their comfort zone. But because we're judged by the way
we speak, knowing when to use and when not to use ebonics or slang is
key to not being stereotyped.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/sylvesterbrownjr/story/B3845138F6D5B05186256F1F0037FD6D?OpenDocument&Headline=Why+use+jive+talk+in+anti-Bush+ads+targeting+blacks%3F
<http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/sylvesterbrownjr/story/B3845138F6D5B05186256F1F0037FD6D?OpenDocument&Headline=Why+use+jive+talk+in+anti-Bush+ads+targeting+blacks%3F>

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