Re: Of accents & dialects

Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets wrote:
> Selon R A Brown <ray@...>:
>
>>  > geographically variable and
>>  > subjective.  Before sound recording and
>>  > phonetic script it was literally harder to
>>  > codify pronunciation.
>>
>> The French managed it fairly well - much better than the proponents of
>> RP ever did in Britain. But, of course, they had their Acad�mie
>> Fran�aise to lay down the law on such things - English has never had any
>> comparably authoritative body.
>>
>
> Well, you have to realise that the French government had to do much more than
> that to get the will of the Acad�mie become law. And most of what was done was
> basically state persecution of minorities (in the name of Equality. Bah!).
I know - tho it must surely have made the French government's task
easier in that there was an authoritative body to lay down what is and
is not 'correct' French.

But things were no better in Britain till the last century. It is well
known that Gaelic was ruthlessly suppressed in both Ireland & Scotland.
Irish Gaelic gained its freedom, so to speak, when Ireland (except for
the 6 counties of the north) were given independence in the 1920s.

I'm not sure when things became less oppressive for Scots Gaelic, but I
guess by the end of the 19th century it was no longer felt that the
Highlanders were likely to push for reinstatement of the Stuart monarchs!

Welsh was severely repressed in Welsh schools in the 19th century. Any
child caught speaking Welsh had to wear the "Welsh Knot" - a piece of
wood hung around the neck. Persistence in speaking the language would be
dealt with by corporal punishment. I guess having David Lloyd George, a
Welsh-speaking Prime Minister, did much to promote a more enlightened
outlook.

But it wasn't until the last century that Britain started taking a more
enlightened attitude to minorities; this became very much more marked in
the second half of the century.

[snip]
>
> Even today, the position of the French government on regional languages is
> ambiguous. They don't dare to move explicitly to destroy them any longer, but
> they refuse to give them the status and protection that the European Union asks
> member states to give them.
Let's hope more enlightened attitudes will eventually prevail.

> So you see, it's not that easy to destroy the dialectical variation within a
> language. One needs serious human right breaking to achieve it. And even then,
> France hasn't managed to get rid of all regional accents, although those only
> survive in very rural areas and border regions, especially in the South.
I know - Vive le Midi!

--
Ray
==================================
http://www.carolandray.plus.com
==================================
Frustra fit per plura quod potest
fieri per pauciora.
[William of Ockham]

Reply