LL-L "Language varieties" 2010.03.16 (07) [AF-EN]

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*L O W L A N D S - L - 16 March 2010 - Volume 07*
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From: Mark Dreyer <mrdreyer at lantic.net>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2010.03.15 (06) [EN]

 Dear John Tait:

Subject: LL-L "Language varieties"

The lurker rises from his sarcophagus, his tongue stirs the dust of ages in
his mouth; he clears his throat with a hollow rattle & speaks: "Welcome,
Spectre."

John, your letter on the living tongue of the Shetland Isles was the saddest
thing I have read in a long time. Forgive me that I clothe my distress in
black mockery. What is this undead thing you speak that you will not name?
Is it a cadaver that lean & hungry linguists in stained robes must call back
with Dark Art to give tongue from half-forgotten grimoires or forbidden
books? Or else is it a babe new-born, nurtured in a creed outworn, babbling
its wants uncaring of scholars' dainty sensibilities, only so long as it is
heard!

As my Taal ooit so in die sorg van sy eie volk so afgesloof is, dan was dit
lank gelede heen, vergete, en met reg.

John, *not unless* those hard, enchanted storm-girt islands, the strong,
thrawn folk they nurtured & the warm kinship Life brought all these together
are wholly *beneath contempt*, is the dialect you speak the same.

& is 'dialect' the best term you (the plural you) can offer? Not unlike the
word 'cadaver' it is a generic covering most handily the study of linguistic
anatomists, augers of the Dead stirring fly-blown entrails that so recently
brought the posessors all things good, & now not even auspices. Put it
behind you.

All the names, now,  & there are many (if I may refer to my Own in this
context) of Afrikaans, Afrikaners or This Our Land started out as
derogatory. but we have an attitude we share with our near kin the Flemings
& the Dutch, we revel in self-depricatory mockery, & the scorn of our
enemies furnishes our trophies. Once we were called Beggers (Sea-Beggers we
were) & we did not repudiate the name, but took it for our own. We taught
our enemies that named us so to use it in awe & terror. So also the word
'Boer' & its cognates in related tongues are evocative of shameful
rusticity, but not to us. We wear the name with pride, even some who do not
speak Afrikaans as a mother-tongue either, & whose fathers never did. The
same for Afrikaner. You could do the same.

But you don't have to. Make your own name; develop your own terminology &
study your own language yourselves. Letting strangers call the shots on what
you say or how you say it is the road to extinction.

But it's not important. As I read the not-so-sub-text of your letter, the
same dislike applies to nearly every operation of this 'dialect', your
speech from man to man in his daily occasions, & any study of its
properties. As I see it, you have two options:

If the dialect you speak is so undistinguished that you will not clothe your
thoughts in it, both spoken & written, then dump it. Go over to the Queen's
English, which you *do not* speak (this I know, but I will not now share my
reasons).

If you cannot do that, then it will have to be on account of necessary
merits of the dialect. Go back to that, build on it & write in it. Write
your memories & dreams, in poetry & prose, & set out your history & that of
your fathers & grandfathers for your sons & grandsons. If you do not do so
your language will be forgotton, you will be forgotten & your islands become
the dwelling-place of strangers. Perhaps you would prefer that.

More than anything else build up & collect your own literature. There is a
singular example from a people native to your own sceptered archipelago, the
Welsh. It's not in a spirit of wimsy that Afrikaners hold eisteddfods. Our
teachers were the Welsh, & they are good teachers, because they teach by
example. Their example is to survive & flourish. So may you.

By the way, what is a Sheltie?

Yours Sincerely,
Mark

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