On Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 9:55 AM, Gerard Meijssen gerard.meijssen@gmail.com wrote:
I do not understand why people who speak English equate the ability to speak a language with a country.. English, French, German, Dutch and many many other languages are spoken in multiple countries. Consequently it is wrong to call people who support their mother tongue nationalist.
It may not always be the case, but for smaller languages, especially languages which are closely tied to a particular region, the two might very well be closely connected. Just because english isn't tied to a single country and there is no sense of nationalism in it, that does not prove the point for all languages. It is an over-simplification to ignore the possible ties between the two.
--Andrew Whitworth