[lg policy] Nieuw Amsterdam City Council to make Dutch official?

[Dennis Baron]

There's a new post on the Web of Language:

Nieuw Amsterdam City Council to make Dutch official?

Coming off a Fourth of July patriotic high, on July 12th the town  
board of tiny Homer Township, Illinois (pop. 25,069), made English its  
official language. Meanwhile 900 miles to the east, the Nieuw  
Amsterdam City Council (motto: "there are 8 million stories in the  
naakt stad") may soon opt for official Dutch.

No one has ever asked for Homer Township’s few government services in  
any language other than English. But to ensure that parking, zoning,  
building codes, and the annual announcement of official trick-or-treat  
hours stay English-only, board members decided it was time to take a  
stand. In addition to official English, the board officially opposed  
illegal immigration. Even though the township has no illegal immigrant  
problem, the board wanted to make clear that going forward, speaking a  
language other than English inside city limits is prima facie (sic)  
evidence that a person should be deported.

read the full post on the Web of Language:  http://bit.ly/weblan

____________________
Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron

read the Web of Language:
http://www.illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage








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