XPost: soc.culture.welsh, soc.culture.cornish, soc.culture.irish   
   XPost: soc.culture.scottish   
   From: micheil@shaw.ca   
      
   On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 18:31:41 +0100, "Westprog"    
   wrote:   
      
   >allan connochie wrote:   
   >...   
   >> Well it depends what you mean by prestige purposes? Linguistically the   
   >> argument of language or dialect may be tenuous but in reality it does   
   >> make an actual difference. For instance certain langauges are   
   >> officially recognised as such. That is the likes of Gaelic, Welsh,   
   >> Cornish and Scots are recognised as minority languages within the UK   
   >> by all the authorities that matter. In the case of Scots and Gaelic   
   >> that means by Holyrood, Westminster and Brussels. Hence people can   
   >> talk about arbitrary this and that but in reality all these modes of   
   >> speech  mentioned do have at least some level of protection not   
   >> afforded to the likes of the Northumbrian dialect. Linguistically it   
   >> perhaps make no sense as Northumbrian is closer to Border Scots than   
   >> Shetlandic is, yet Border Scots and Shetlandic are recognised as   
   >> dialects of the Scots language whilst Northumbrian is still thought   
   >> of as a dialect of English. Logic doesn't always mirror actual   
   >> reality. Hence it means that some bairns at least should no longer be   
   >> mocked and admonished by the likes of their teachers simply for   
   >> speaking their own tongue.   
   >   
   >I didn't give the political and financial element sufficient weight,   
   >obviously. I meant to say that it might be very important for one group of   
   >people to have their language recognised as a language, while another group   
   >might not care as much. Politics seems to outweigh academic purity.   
      
   What I find interesting is how political language actually is. Most   
   countries at one time or another have tried to eliminate regional   
   dialects and languages and in many instances, expecially in Brittany,   
   this has led to civil disobedience and clashes with the police. Today   
   there seems to be no suppression and Breton language schools,   
   newspapers and radio stations apparently operate with impunity.   
      
   There is a movement in the north of England to retain local dialects   
   and it seems to be quite successful, as speaking with a south English   
   accent seem to be regarded locally as beyond contempt.   
      
   British efforts to suppress Scots and Gaelic need no reminder here.   
      
   The Highlander   
   Tilgibh smucaid air do làmhan,   
   togaibh a' bhratach dhubh agus   
   toisichibh a' geàrradh na sgòrnanan!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)