'language destroyers' (was: What to Call Non-Conlangers)

On Saturday, March 5, 2005, at 03:44 , Sally Caves wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Damian Yerrick" <tepples@...>
>
>> "Ray Brown" <ray.brown@...> wrote:
>>> But, if you asked most people what the opposite of
>>> 'construct' is, they'd probably answer 'destroy'. So the opposite of a
>>> language constructor, is arguably a 'language destroyer' - someone who
>>> wants the whole word to speak English  :)
>>
>> Think of the former policies toward Native American languages
>> in the United States, where speaking Injun in school was a
>> punishable offense.
>
> Ahem!  Think of nineteenth-century Wales.  Little miners' sons in school
> with signs on them: "Do not speak Welsh to me."
Yes, the sign was on a small wooden board, hung around the offenders neck;
  it was known as the "Welsh Tongue". However, it has to be admitted that
in the industrialized parts of southern Wales in the 19th century, the
Welsh-speakers themselves for the most part pro-actively supported the
English only policy in schools. It was seen, along with education, as a
means of enabling their sons (and daughters) to escape from the valleys
and advance themselves in the world. That is why as an L1 in the south,
Welsh survived only in rural Carmarthenshire. Happily, however, the 2nd
half of the 20th cent has seen a revival of Welsh learning once again in
the rest of southern Wales.

Ray
===============================================
http://home.freeuk.com/ray.brown
ray.brown@freeuk.com
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Anything is possible in the fabulous Celtic twilight,
which is not so much a twilight of the gods
as of the reason."      [JRRT, "English and Welsh" ]

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