LL-L "Language Policies" 2005.01.22 (02) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 22.JAN.2005 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: ANNETTE GIESBRECHT <beautyaround at email.com>
Subject: LL-L "Language policies" 2005.01.19 (03) [E]

> From: Sandy Fleming
> Subject: "Language policies" [E]
>
> > From: R. F. Hahn
> > Subject: Language policies
> >
> > Let me add to this the even more glaring examples -- also in the 20th
> > century -- of aboriginal children in Australia, Canada and the USA being
> > taken away from their families to be put into remote foster homes or
> > institutions with the express aim of separating them from the "bad
> > influences" of their native environments, thus alienating them from
> > their
> > social, cultural, spiritual and linguistic roots and as a result
> > speeding
> up
> > the extinction of their native cultures and languages. These children
> > tended to be punished for as much as uttering a word in their own
> languages
> > ... Those that survived are somewhere between middle-aged and old now.
> > Some have reacquired their heritage, but most seem to have ended up with
> > some sort of equivocal indenty.
> >
> > I have mentioned these examples in part for the sake of showing that
> > even
> > quite recently sinister plans have indeed be carried out in language
> > suppression, if they are not being carried out somewhere right now. You
> do
> > not necessarily have to be a permanent subscriber to conspiracy theories
> if
> > you suspect deliberateness at least in some cases.
>
> Alas, as far as deaf children in the UK are concerned, this sort of thing
> is
> very much the norm in many places.
>
> Many teachers of deaf children have built their careers on the idea that
> deaf children can always be taught to speak and should never be exposed to
> BSL, and since each regional authority in the UK is responsible for its
> own
> educational policies, there are many places where parents of deaf children
> are given no choice in this.
>
> A hearing mother of a deaf child described to me the experience of being
> visited by educational advisors. They didn't discuss anything, they simply
> told her what she must and mustn't do, ie she must get a cochlear implant
> for the child and mustn't use any sign language. The cochlear implant
> didn't
> work, as is often the case, so at great expense she decided to move the
> whole family to another region where the educational policies were more
> realistic. But not everyone can make such a sacrifice and often parents
> simply have to watch their children growing up with no education.
>
> Although in recent years research has shown quite definitely that a child
> must develop full language abilities by the age of seven or they will
> never
> really be able to cope with grammar, teachers go on insisting that
> children
> who can't hear should attempt to learn English even if most of the school
> day is spent on it. This produces adults with no ability to function
> grammatically in any language, whereas if they had been taught, say, BSL
> to
> start with they would have been able to learn, say, English too, even if
> only in written form.
>
> It's considerably worse than the case you mention where children grow up
> in
> the wrong culture - instead we have children growing up in no culture at
> all.
>
> Recently a legal case has been opened in Australia where parents of a deaf
> child are sueing the government for failing to provide their child with a
> proper education. Hopefully, as with the trials of "witches" in 16th/17th
> century Scotland, good legal precedents will eventually put a stop to all
> this.
>
> Sandy
> http://scotstext.org/

It is all well and good, if all the hearing people the deaf child will be in
contact with, all take up sign language, but that is not the case.  It would
be preferable that the child learns a combination rather than excusively
sign langauge.  If not, he or she is put in a box, isolated from the rest of
society at large and will communicate mainly with only deaf people or those
hearing people who are able to read sign language proficiently..  And not
every hearing person who doesn't know sign language is able to write legibly
and we all cannot carry around lap tops or Palm Pilots around us.


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