Linguistic rights

[David Wright]

Dear Mark:

Just a quick clarification to the slight misunderstanding evident in your statement:

"Second, that the creation of universal language decrees and several high paid government posts will be of any sufficient help."

The Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights, evidently, is not a solution in its own right, but an attempt to define these rights, to raise public consciousness as to their importance; as such it is a potential tool for their defense and implementation. As for employment, I was thinking more of "middle-class" jobs in education, media, commerce and bureaucracy, which would tend to appear if the rights of native speakers to use their mother tongues in a wider variety of social contexts were to be effectively supported. My words "relatively well-paid and high-prestige jobs" were chosen with the native speaker's perspective in mind; the word "relatively" was apparently not sufficient to make this clear.

As for the statement:

"I believe that until democractic access to resources is made availabe to indigenous people within their own culture and their own language there will not be a fair place for indigenous cultures",

I think you've hit the nail on the head!

Thanks for the feedback and for giving me the opportunity to clarify my earlier post.

Peace,

David Wright
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/nahuat-l/attachments/20000518/372d05d5/attachment.htm>