LL-L: "Logic" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 22.SEP.1999 (04)

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From: john feather [johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk]
Subject: Logic

A lot of Lowlanders are supporters of specific minority languages. We all
have an interest in  a wide variety of languages and the ways in which they
differ from one another. We are also aware that numbers of these languages
are looked down on by speakers of other languages.

Speakers of Standard American English look down on Appalachean; Dutch
speakers look down on Afrikaans; High German speakers look down on "Platt"
(which despite Ron's best efforts they insist on regarding as an inferior
version of their own language); and Scottish speakers of what they consider
to be Standard English have historically looked down on Lallans. Lowlanders
deplore these prejudices, of course.

At the same time, however, some Lowlanders are quite happy to say that the
people who live just down the road from me speak "incorrectly" in an
absolute sense because they use the double negative in a particular way. (It
happens to be a way that Shakespeare used it, but so what).  For the sake of
clarity (which presumably means to avoid confusing the rest of us) they
should stop this antisocial behaviour and communicate logically.

Does anyone else see these attitudes as inconsistent (and therefore
illogical)?

(Or, to put it as a statement, linguistic diversity starts as soon as you
speak to another  person.)

John Feather
johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

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From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Logic

Dear John,

By and large I tend to agree with your statements above.  There is a lot of
what I personally regard as being "unnecessary prescriptivism" and "linguistic
intolerance."  While we have come to live with this outside our little
Lowlandic ivory tower (i.e., in real life) I, too, find it somewhat strange to
occasionally encounter it inside among all the clamoring for minority language
recognition and respect.

However, I do not think that this is a black-and-white issue but a matter of
degree.  There are always certain rules and standards within any given speech
community.  We may be able to contravene these for special effect in
belles-lettres writing or other forms of artistic expression, but we do not
get away with terribly much in other modes of expression, certainly not if our
idiosyncratic construction, usage or pronunciation hampers communication with
other members of the same specific or general speech community, especially
where it creates ambiguity (e.g., "do two negative make a negative or a
positive?").  Of course, it is a different matter where it is standard or
quasi-standard within a certain community, where speakers of related speech
communities perceive it as a hallmark of "wrong" and "ig-nurnd" speech coming
from speakers of a different community.  That is a matter of inter-variety
prejudice, and much or most of it is based on socio-economic prejudice
(sometimes rivalry), linguistic features merely serving as tangible symbols of
it.  In other words, we associate linguistic variety with social prestige, and
this is when people talk about "beautiful" vs. "ugly" language (e.g.,
"country"="bad").

What I regard as being "unnecessary prescriptivism" are situations in which an
individual's usage is perceived as somewhat unusual but does not impede
communication, and where this usage is considered "weird and therefore
wrong."  A good example I can think of right now is the prescriptive purism
dictated by what I facetiously call the "Mundart-Polizei" in Low Saxon (Low
German).  As you well know, Low Saxon, like Scots, has as yet no standard
variety.  Lately some speakers (et ego) have begun to mix dialects, either
because of prolonged exposure to different dialects or because they try to
create something inter-dialectal, or both.  For example, some people, pursuing
their own types of purism, replace German loanwords with Low Saxon words from
other dialects where their own dialects have lost the indigenous equivalents.
(Much of this is done in modern writing and in broadcasting.)  Many frown on
this, claiming that only those people use "good Low German" who stick to
certain dialects in their purest forms.  It tends to be the same people that
are opposed to the idea of creating a standard, supra-regional variety.  What
it means to me is that they continue to see Low Saxon as a type of dialect
group of German that shares with German dialects Standard German as a type of
umbrella "supreme language," and I find it interesting that the same people
then go on talking about language preservation, even those that belong to
small handfuls of speakers of certain moribund dialects.

Regards,

Reinhard/Ron

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