Re: CHAT: language and politics (was CHAT: conlangs and mental illness)

On Fri, 14 May 1999, Danny Wier wrote:

>
> To get back on topic a little more, and this could pertain to conlanging and
> concultures, I'm interested in learning about language and how it relates to
> social and political issues.  There was a debate about three years ago
> (doesn't seem to be much of an issue now) about whether or not the federal
> government of the US should make English the sole official language.
> (Strangely, this was supported in the House by liberals like Sheila Jackson
> Lee as well as conservatives like Newt Gingrich.)  Many states (in fact
> every Southern state except Texas) have done so already; New Mexico has
> English and Spanish while Hawaii has English and Hawaiian.  Indigenous and
> immigrant language issues in UK/Commonwealth as well as France, Germany,
> Russia/former USSR and (mainland) China interest me.
>
In the Netherlands (and as far as I know in the rest of the European
Union), there are three grades of official languages: Official Language,
Official Minority Language and Class 2 Minority Language. This only
holds for indigenous languages; immigrant languages are another chapter.
Official Languages and Official Minority Languages can be used in
official situations, like government forms and so on - in the
Netherlands Dutch is the Official Language, and Frisian an Official
Minority Language. Sallands, Stellingwerfs and I think a Limburgian
Dialect are Class 2 Minority Languages: recognized as a language, but
you can't force the government to understand you when you speak them.
But they are subsidizable (is that a word?).  And then there are local
dialects. Very much in vogue, and strangely enough, they all seem to
spell all vowels as 'ao' or 'ai'...

In my own concultural world Andal, any civilized person needs at least
five languages, of which they might think that three are just one
language. (I've just put up a conversation between a girl learning her
fourth language and her teacher on
http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/andal/languages/charyan_languages.html)
The government only uses the classical language, and anyone who wants to
have a civil service job must learn it, or take a circuitous route via
the military (where you don't have to know classical Charyan to enter,
since all soldiers are uncivilised ruffians anyway). The emperors
subjects have almost nothing to do with the government, so they can get
by without Classical Charyan. The myriad languages of the uncountable
ethnic minorities are important only if they are your neighbours.

Boudewijn Rempt  | http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt