LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.04.26 (08) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 26.APR.2002 (08) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Language varieties"

> From: "John M. Tait" <jmtait at wirhoose.co.uk>
> Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.04.25 (01) [E/LS]
>
> Whereas, In English of the 1800s, AmerIndian languages were often
> described as 'barbarous dialects'.
>
> Would Faroese not have been described as a dialect before it was given
> language status?

Incredible though it may seem, when learning Welsh in Wales
in the 1980s I would sometimes come across people who couldn't
be persuaded that Welsh wasn't just a particularly degenerate
dialect of English.

Wales is quite a place for making observations of linguistic
naivity. One of the most persistent myths is that Welsh is not
a language but a secret code which is difficult even for those
who use it, and that Welsh speakers only speak English amongst
themselves!

However, I've noticed that some Welsh bilinguals don't
particularly think of Welsh as a language - they've never
had to learn it, and it's too "easy" to be a language like
the foreign languages they got at school. Perhaps the fact
that some bilinguals don't remember actually having to
_learn_ two languages convinces them of the fact that the
low-status one is only an inferior way of speaking the
other? I know this may sound preposterous to some, but, as
I've said before, many people just don't understand what's
going on in a linguistic situation.

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
A dinna dout him, for he says that he
On nae accoont wad ever tell a lee.
                          - C.W.Wade,
                    'The Adventures o McNab'

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