FW: the argument for language maintenance

[Piers Kelly]

Hi Margaret,
My attempt at framing a literary argument:

Alessandro Duranti makes that point that it would be amazing to be able to
go back in time to hear people speaking Hittite. How lucky it is for us,
then, to be able to hear such rare languages as Arrente? Or to witness the
heroic retrieval of Kaurna?
Since writing is a fairly recent human innovation, most languages of the
world belong to cultures that are predominantly oral. Our present dependence
on the written word makes it hard for us to imagine how oral cultures are
able to create complex and epic works of verbal art. But the most
influential literary masterpieces in the Western tradition were produced by
cultures that were largely pre-literate. The adoption of writing by the
Greeks, for example, post-dated the oral performances of all those elaborate
narratives that combined to make The Odyssey.
So what about all those major and minor epics that are *still* being
recited, appreciated, altered and reinterpreted right now, this minute by
speakers of minority languages? How many more Bibles, Ramayanas, Odysseys,
Harry Potter sagas and dirty jokes are being enacted under our noses? For
the most part we don't see them because they fly underneath our
writing-centric radars. Or else we don't 'get' them because we lack the
cultural scaffolding that makes them meaningful.
It would certainly be lovely to record these artefacts so that more people
can enjoy them and appreciate their importance, but this is not an end in
itself. Verbal art is reproduced and transmitted through performance not
documentation. The term 'intangible cultural heritage' is, for me, a little
misleading. Human culture, whether it manifests itself as a stone monument
or a nursery rhyme, is always intangible. It's our languages, and the
stories we tell in them, that provide the world with substance.

On Sat, Mar 27, 2010 at 10:52 AM, John Hobson <john.hobson at sydney.edu.au>wrote:

>  Hi,
>
> There might be some value in detaching the issue of maintenance (and
> revitalisation) from that of funding and addressing the conservation values
> of retaining unique expressions of human culture, like species and
> environments.
>
> And, while not eschewing the advantages of having money, if the survival of
> languages is to be solely dependant on funds and government intervention
> they will always be in difficulty. There are many activities which can be
> carried out at little or no direct cost if people are determined to keep
> their languages alive.
>
> Talk, as they say, is cheap.
>
> Regards,
>
> John
>
> *JOHN HOBSON* | Lecturer
> Coordinator, Indigenous Languages Education | Koori Centre
>
> *THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
> Rm* 214, Old Teacher’s College A22 | The University of Sydney | NSW | 2006
>
> *T* +61 2 9351 6994 | *F* +61 2 9351 6924
> *E* *john.hobson at sydney.edu.au** *| *W* *
> http://sydney.edu.au/koori/staff/jhobson.shtml*
>
> "When you lose a language, you lose a culture, intellectual wealth, a work
> of art.
> It's like dropping a bomb on a museum, the Louvre."
> Comment by the late Kenneth Hale, cited in The Economist (November 3,
> 2001).
>
>
> ------ Forwarded Message
>
> *From: *Margaret Carew <margaret.carew at batchelor.edu.au>
> *Date: *Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:40:22 +1100
>
> *To: *<r-n-l-d at unimelb.edu.au>
> *Subject: *FW: the argument for language maintenance
>
>
>
>
> Hi there
>
> I got this question - see below - from a (non-linguist) colleague. I
> thought it would be interesting to conduct a quick survey amongst RNLD
> members, so please read on...
>
> Folks,
>
> When you have a quiet reflective moment...
>
> re: the argument for language maintenance
>
> What are the standard replies given to people who complain that there
> are too many Aboriginal languages for language maintenance, that
> supporting all those languages will cost too much, etc.
>
> And New Zealand is given as an example where language maint is
> practical, because only 1 language.
>
> I'm thinking there must be some standard ideas on this question in
> linguistic circles.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------ End of Forwarded Message
>
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