LL-L "Language maintenance" 2007.08.07 (08) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  07 August 2007 - Volume 08

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From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Language maintenance"

Beste David and Ron,

You wrote:
>
>     Sounds hard but logical to me...how can you expect the speakers
>     from a
>     dying language to welcome outside forces, if the very reason why the
>     concerned language is not surviving is because it was unable/unwilling
>     to cope with major external (linguistic) influence?
>
>     Methinks, adaptation, survival of the fittest, does not only apply to
>     biology.
>
>     Kind greetings,
>
>     Luc Hellinckx
>
> I think it is very naive and even dangerous to equate the survival and
> extinction of languages with the survival and extinction of natural
> organisms. Languages usually flourish because they happen to be spoken
> by a hegemonistic community, not because they are in any way
> intrinsically superior than languages that die out.

"happen to be spoken"?

You won't hear me defend any ruling government in this world, but I
would not exactly call this "happen" to be spoken; as if it was sheer
coincidence that precisely this or that community got the power. Whether
this power is deserved is another discussion, but quite often precise
and objective reasons can be given, even though they can be minute, that
explain why they got in charge. And surely, just like Ron wrote earlier
on, force and deceit will all too often not have been shunned. No matter
how, I don't consider such a move _purely_ accidental. Some luck is
involved, but some "skills", whatever they may be, just as well.

Same goes for the extinction of a biological species I think. Much can
be explained in terms of adaptation to one's local environment. But then
again, a local environment has its confines too. No matter how brilliant
dinosaurs were flourishing at one time, I'm quite sure none of them will
ever have anticipated that their biggest enemy would one day fall from
the sky. OK, I know this theory is not unanimously accepted; fact
remains, that quite suddenly, they were extinct. That's what I call
(bad) "luck". Moral: make sure your environment is absolute and infinite
in both time and space *s*.

On the other hand, of course I agree with you that intrinsically every
language is linguistically equivalent to every other one. Which leads me
to Ron's remark:

 >There are still speakers of many of those languages around, and it is
therefore possible to base on this reeducation >programs.  I believe it
behooves the relevant governments to foot the bills for that, since
their predecessors are to be blamed >for causing the damage.

Sure...question is: who is going to determine how high the bill should
be? Difficult, if jurisdiction is renounced by the complaining party.
Maybe even more difficult if the victimized party doesn't view the
delict as such (is not resentful enough), 'cause then the oppressor gets
the message that he can get away with it.

Truth is always in the middle if you're asking me...but that "middle"
can be calculated in many different ways of course *s*.

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx

----------

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

Again, Luc, I think you make several valid points.

Believe you me: many indigenous Americans and Australians are plenty angry.
But they are ethnically very diverse and scattered mostly as small
communities over large areas. It is easy to ignore them, and the
divide-and-conquer thing is at work. On top of it, numerous North American
groups are not being recognized by the federal governments, and thus they
enjoy no special protection.

While I don't want to stereotype, I believe it's true that most of them are
living in poverty and have little or no access to media and resources that
promise power and influence (yes, despite much hoopla over the few
money-making casinos on reservations these days). On top of it, decade after
decade of abuse, neglect and scorn in conjunction with a loss of traditional
belief systems and languages have left many of them demoralized and
resorting to mind-altering substances in despair.  I think that restoration
and reassertion of language and culture would go a long way in restoring
self-esteem and pride.  And some self-esteem and pride are needed to strive
for it.  I know that quite a few communities are working on this, but most
of them have too few resources to pull it off, especially those that have
been decimated to mere handfuls.  What is needed in most cases is
kick-starts in terms of finances and know-how to get movements and programs
off the ground.  I'm not talking about enormous one-time reparation checks
but about carefully administered assistance based on goodwill and
compassion.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

•

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