Language Minority

[altzarina]

Ok, I dont really think this would be related to communism, but am supposed to do a paper on language minority, and was interested to know what you all think about it?

Do you really think that Language should be politicised and minorities should be demarcated according to their languages?

Basically a minority group is formed only when it runs the risk of existing. The abnegation of Political and economic forces leads to a sudden revival of their tradition and languages...a need for identification arises which exacerbates their vehemence and with brutal force they would try to exhume their culture and languages. These cultural symbols are required for political power but they are definitely not the only means to an end. They are a subset of a large problem...minorities should be adressed at its grassroot level of economic and political autonomy. Like Michel de certau says, The unity initially appears in a cultural form because it is deprived of its own means from strandpoint of politcs and economy.

As I belong to India, I would be arguing keeping the Indian context in mind. Many languages that are facing "existential" problems here, belong to the groups and communities that have a disturbed past or are from politically instable areas. (Tribals, refugees, backward classes, Muslims etc) Recently I read an article about how the Muslim scholars here are struggling to protect Urdu which is now on the verge of extinction. I guess in this case it is important to also note that the Muslim population in India is suffering from extreme illiteracy and regressive ideas. In such an atmosphere, due to lack of education...the fate of the language ultimately lies in the hand of only few affluent scholars within the minority. It is impossible to promote minority literature and art, when most of them are suffering from abject poverty and are bereft of basic resources(same with the tribals).

Also, The minority languages at times are supressed because the majority deem the revival as a threat to their position and believe it would encourage seperatism. If we want to address these minorites and form conducive policies for them, the immediate approach would be through language, but as I mentioned before, only promotion of language wouldnt help them put forward their interest.

I think politics should address the grassroot level issues that create minorities rather than politicizing language.

What are your views? I would also like to know about different language minorities in other countries and how it is being dealt.

:)

[Aeturnal Narcosis]

people who don't speak the common tongue are minorities - they face the same dificulties that most generally accepted minority groups face, especially problems with unfair treatment in work.

though i agree that all people who move outside their homeland should learn the common language of their new, i do so only because i believe this best benefits the immigrant - if everyone around you is speaking x-ese, and you speak y-ish, how would you be able to survive in the x-ese community?

and as far as the going-out-of-existence thing: they face the threat of assimilation.

personally, i feel that immigrants should learn the common language (and be aided in doing so upon their arrival) to hel them better survive in the new culture as far as work is concerned, but i think they should also be encouraged to retain their ethnolinguistic identity.

[RedKnight]

I feel that peoples should be able to use there native languge within there ethno-cultural communitys, but also there should be a common language as well. For example, Russian was the common language of the Soviet Union, yet Ukranian is the native language of Ukraine. Parents could decide rather they wanted there children taught in Russian or in the native language. But students still have to learn russian in sixth grade. So maybe Hindi could be the common language of India, while Urdu could be the native languge. that would be my arguement if I were to write the essay.

[loveme4whoiam]

I'm in complete agreement with Aeturnal Narcosis, immigrants should learn the language of the country they are entering. This is an exceedingly annoying habit emerging among English immigrants to Spain and France in which they actively take over a town - so much so that there are more English-speakers than Spanish in the middle of a Spanish town!

RedKnight's point about there being a common language is a good one as well - being united by a common language can only help people break down nationalist barriers. By all means keep native languages alive - in fact it should be encouraged, as it is (to some extent) in Cornwall and Wales attempting to keep Gaelic alive - but also unite people of an entire country, or group of countries, with a common language.

[troll]

What about the idea of a globally universal language? Something simple to learn, like Spanish. Hypothetically speaking, does anyone think that COULD be a possibility, even in the next 50-60 years?

[RevMARKSman]

Originally posted by [email protected] 08, 2006 03:31 pm
What about the idea of a globally universal language? Something simple to learn, like Spanish. Hypothetically speaking, does anyone think that COULD be a possibility, even in the next 50-60 years?
Someone's already trying to do that. I think it might work eventually.

Esperanto (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto)

[Whitten]

The issue with Esperanto is that its based very heavily on european languages, and draws heavily from the new-latin, germanic and slavic languages, which may eliminate its appeal as a "world language", especially when speakers of different european languages usually dont have excessive trouble getting their points across.

[Janus]

Someone's already trying to do that. I think it might work eventually.
Esperanto has been around for a long time and has never really caught on. And like Whitten said, it is still very much a Eurocentric language.

[phoenixoftime]

New Zealand's Maori community just about had their language die out in the 1960s, through systematic repression by the government (i.e. not supporting any Maori language education, making it illegal to speak Maori in government institutions, and general economic discrimination against the Maori people). However a huge investment in the Maori community in general, through better education, healthcare and economic aid, in addition to strong governmental promotion of the language, has resulted in the language growing rapidly.

Our experience here has broadly been, as you say, trying to attack the main factors which cause minorities.

[chebol]

loveme4whoiam wrote:


By all means keep native languages alive - in fact it should be encouraged, as it is (to some extent) in Cornwall and Wales attempting to keep Gaelic alive -

No such thing! Gaelic has nothing whatsoever to do with either Wales or Cornwall. The gaelic language is a Q-Celtic language; Welsh ('Cymraeg' - which is still very much alive) and Cornish which actually died out, and is now undergoing probably futile attempts to revive it) are P-Celtic languages. About as different as Portuguese and Romanian.