Panel on utopias and dystopias/Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian-Swiss-German

[Carmine Colacino]

Adrian Wanner wrote:
>It was not my intention to insult the smaller nations of Europe by
>implying that their cultural achievements are somehow diminished by the
>fact that they use a "minor language."  However, whether we like it or
>not, it does make a difference whether one uses a language which is
>understood by hundreds of millions of people or only by a few million.
>True, some books get translated, but most don't!

I just would like to ask what does it mean "smaller nation", and "minor
language"? I do not think size and/or population numbers qualify any nation
as "smaller" or "minor". This seems to me too much of a "consumistic" view:
i.e.: bigger nations=bigger population=more readers. Even though this is of
course true, in a way, I would not equate it with "provincialism." Sorry if
I misunderstood, but I did not like the terms.

Carmine Colacino

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         Carmine Colacino
         Dipartimento di biologia, difesa e b.a.
         Universita` della Basilicata
         85100 Potenza, Italy

         Tel.: +39 971 474172; Fax: +39 971 474256
         Internet: colacino at pzvx85.cisit.unibas.it

________________________________________________________
         Temporary address in U.S.A.(to Nov.4, '95):
         -------------------------------------------
         Dept. of Integrative Biology
         University of California
         Berkeley, CA 94720-2465

         Tel.: (510)643-9556; Fax: (510) 643-5390
         Internet: colacino at violet.berkeley.edu

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        "When it is a question of money, everyone is of the
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