LL-L "Language survival" 2005.09.05 (05) [E]

Tue Sep 6 05:36:50 UTC 2005

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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: Heiko Evermann <heiko.evermann at gmx.de>
Subject: LL-L "Language survival" 2005.09.03 (03) [E/French/German]

Hi Gabriele,
> Maybe, but do you honestly think it will ever happen? At the same time,
> children could be learning an international foreign language instead, one
> that will help them get a good job later in life. Why learn Platt instead
> just to keep a handful of ardent linguists happy? I cannot imagine a lot 
> of
> parents would go with your approach - and if they did, their children 
> might
> not be too happy with it on the long run.
Yeah good idea. Why not just use English only from class 1. Then they will 
be
really well-equipped for a globalized world. :)

Or how comes that people on the Isle of Man teach their children Manx? And 
why
do the 40.000 Sorbs have schools with Sorbian as main language? Simply
because the parents think it is important to preserve the cultural heritage
of their language. My French teacher often told us "Sprache kommt von
Sprechen". She was right. So having schools in the language you want to
preserve, is of vital importance. And this can be shown very well in the
language battles e.g. in France. They just forbid schools in the minority
language and so they made sure that everyone was fluent in French, and they
also made sure that no one learned the grammar of their home language. If 
you
want to preserve a language, you have to win the battleground of the school.

And one more word: I did not demand that school was completele in Platt, I
just wanted to see the language used for education. e.g. for 50% of the 
time,
and with rotating subjects. What a poor language that cannot teach 
integrals,
derivatives and continuous functions, just because for 200 years noone
botherd do prepare the words. Words are tools. They need to be developed.

This just reminds me of an advertisement that I saw years ago in a cinema
before a general election. It was targeted specifically to those who were
allowed to vote for the first time, reminding them to take part in the
election. It was a nice beach, sunshine, tanned skin. And all of a sudden
everyone was getting up, ass first. And it said: "Wir kriegen den Arsch
hoch". (English: something like "we'll do it") (See also in
http://www.redensarten-index.de/suche.php?suchbegriff=den+Arsch+nicht+hochkriegen&bool=stufe&suchspalte%5B%5D=rart_ou )

Kind regards,

Heiko

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language survival

Folks,

It might be interesting to note that, in the 17th century, as soon as the 
decline of the Hanseatic Trading League was evident to all, with it the 
image and usage of Low Saxon (Low German), the latter being gradually 
excluded from administration, higher education and churches, later from all 
schools, a succession of voices was heard predicting the imminent demise of 
the language and making much song and dance about its uselessness in the 
"modern" world.  These voices have kept going to this day, some outright 
hostile (a.k.a. "pragmatic"), others allegedly mournful and "resigned."

This is not to say that in the 17th century or even later people had stopped 
using Low Saxon outside their homes.  Traditional trades where still 
conducted in Low Saxon, each with its own technological terminology.  For a 
long time, this also included shipping companies, nautical technology, 
merchants and accountants, to name but a few.

Note that the earlier voices condemning the insufficient terminologies were 
heard concurrently with the enforcement of exclusionary policies and 
outright bans from education and more and more trades.  So it became a 
self-fullfilling prophesy.  But the prophesy of total demise -- which might 
also be characterized as wishful thinking -- has so far -- after a good 
three centuries -- not be fulfilled, though the _chorus infititalis_ of 
naysayers has not ceased its dirge of doom.

People laughed about the 19th-century Yiddishists that wanted to elevate the 
"inferior language of women" (spoken natively by men as well as by women) to 
a _bona fide_ literary language.  Yet, the movement produced many true gems 
of world literature.  Furthermore, Yiddish adapted very nicely as a language 
of the workplace, from sweatshops to merchant houses, especially in the 
Northeastern United States, also in cities like Warsaw, Łódż, Birobidzhan, 
Antwerp and Paris.

Many naysayers laughed even harder when people proposed the development of 
Hebrew into a modern language of a modern nation, given that it was not used 
natively, mostly theologically and liturgically, and had not developed any 
technological terminologies required in this day and age.  Yet, only about a 
century after the movement began, Hebrew is now a vital, fully developed 
language used in all walks of life and in any technological and scientific 
sphere.  It is the native language of millions and a non-native lingua 
franca of millions more.

Tok Pisin (Neo-Melanesian) of Papua-New Guinea has long been considered an 
inferior colonial makeshift language with no future.  Yet, people began to 
own, love and develop it, making it into their native language, using it in 
urban settings, studying it as a major subject at universities, and now 
using it in all walks of life, in all types of literature, in administration 
and even in parliarmanent as one of the three official national languages --  
and it continues serving as the foremost lingua franca throughout the 
country, even in its remotest parts.  When the government recently relaxed 
its language policy from English-only to community choice (though all 
schools teach English as a mandatory subject), many communities chose Tok 
Pisin as the main language of their schools, much to many an 
English-speaking naysayer's surprise.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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