Re: NATLANG: English Homework - Keeping alive languages of minorities?

Carsten:
I didn't get the same impression as David P., though perhaps the analogy was
imperfectly drawn, w.r.t. language loss in the Americas vs. Europe-- and may
not be apt in any case.

In the Americas it was a combination of (1) cultural domination (the old sad
story of contact between "primitive" and "advanced" cultures) + (2) imperial
motives (occupying lands that were perceived as "empty" or at least "not
being used" by "those heathen".

(1) hasn't been the case in Europe for centuries-- all Eur. cultures are
essential equal. Only nuts and fanatics hold that [X culture] is "inferior"
to [Our culture]. Furthermore, for a long time, the linguistic situation in
Eur. has been essentially static--aside from Cornish, Dalmatian, and the
Slavic languages once spoken in Prussian territory (Wendish? Polabian?), I
don't believe any others have actually died out. Some that might have been
called endangered 50 years ago, seem to be resisting death-- Basque, Breton,
Provençal and even Irish. Polish, despite the country's history of
occupation/division, continues to flourish. That IMO is because--

(2) in Eur. was seldom more than attempts at territorial domination; and
furthermore, the various invasions tended to be temporary.

Switzerland ought to be the model for the new Europe--several  "official"
languages that everyone (at least every bureaucrat, at first) learns with
reasonable facility. There's no need, probably, for _every_ Eur. language to
be "official", but at the same time no reason why the use of "unofficial"
languages should be in any way discouraged or stigmatized. There's simply no
reason why one shouldn't speak/read/write Lithuanian or Irish or whatever at
home, but carry on international business in some other language.  It will
involve an interesting conjunction of provincialism/nationalism vs.
internationalism.

Eventually, perhaps, one or another lang. will be accepted as THE language
of government and commerce (much as "Malay"--a minority L1 but widely used
as lingua franca) was adopted as the national language of Indonesia. But
unlike there, it need not become by choice or fiat, the language of the
majority of the people, merely an auxiliary tool.

(Note too that Indonesian, because it presents itself as the only means of
access to "modern" (read: Western) culture, combined with a bit of Javanese
(the actual majority people) imperialism, is driving many regional languages
toward extinction; this need not happen in Eur. because of the basic
cultural equality, which doesn't exist in Indonesia).

Hmm-- not sure I've said anything, but maybe another perspective has
stimulated your thinking.
Roger :-))

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