[Foundation-l] How to dismantle a language committee

[Marcus Buck]

elisabeth bauer hett schreven:
> 2009/1/11 Marcus Buck <me at marcusbuck.org>:
>
>   
>> In the Arabic world there's a prevalent POV, that Arabs form one nation
>> united by the use of the Arabic language. But in reality Standard Arabic
>> is something like Latin. With the difference, that Latin fell out of use
>> to make place for the Romance languages. So Egyptian Arabic vs. Standard
>> Arabic is like French vs. Latin. And the Egyptian VIP is like a 13th
>> century monk. "Writing in the language of the people. How stupid...
>> Latin is a godly language."
>>     
>
> So, tell me...
> Which language do the egyptian newspapers use?
> In which language are the egyptian books written?
> Which language does Naguib Mahfus use in his books?
> Which language do the children learn at school?
> Which language do you use in a letter when you apply for a job?
>
> greetings,
> elian
The answer to all of this is: Standard Arabic. That's exactly what I was 
pointing at. There's a strong non-conscious POV forcing the people to 
use a language for writing, that is very different from their native 
language. What language do most Mari use, when writing to other Mari? 
Russian. Aymara will most likely use Spanish when writing to other 
Aymara. Does that mean, that Mari is a dialect of Russian and Aymara a 
dialect of Spanish? Of course not. But it's a symptom of a very deeply 
internalized feeling of inferiority. A feeling spurred by Russian and 
Spanish speakers feeling superiority over those uneducated non Spanish 
speakers and non Russian speakers.

A 13th century monk would have argued:

Which language do the Royal chronicles use?
In which language is the Vulgata written?
Which language does Francis of Assisi use in his books?
Which language do the novices learn at monastery school?
Which language do you use in a letter when you petition to the sovereign's court?


The use of Latin restricted knowledge to those who were educated in the 
monasteries. The dismissal of Latin was an act of emancipation for the 
speakers of the vernaculars. I do not know enough about Arabic to judge 
whether pushing the vernaculars would be an act of intellectual 
emancipation or an act of divide et impera.

If the idea of writing in the vernacular would be obviously ridiculous, 
nobody would do it. There are people who want to work on arz, so they 
must see some use in it. Maybe they are still wrong. We can only figure 
it out, if we allow them to try.

By the way: You mention schools. When schools became mandatory in the 
course of the 18th, 19th century, many people had humanistic and 
educational goals. But from the very beginning it was also a tool for 
the country's rulers to manipulate the brains of young people. To induce 
attachment to the king and to prepare boys to be good soldiers. To make 
the children loyal citizens. That's still valid today. Language is one 
measure of bending the pupils' mind (of bending all people's minds). By 
teaching the national language, that in many cases is different from the 
native language, you estalish a direct channel to the mind. This channel 
is in the sole occupancy of the authorities and there's no need to share 
it with other information transmitters, cause the native environment 
uses another language (at least that was true in the time, when schools 
became mandatory. Today there are more diverse information channels). 
Language is a tool of power. That's the reason, why VIPs are no good 
source for opinions about languages not supported by the powers in 
force. Somebody who is Very Important has to stay in touch with the 
powers in force to keep being important. Touching the balance of power 
by supporting languages other than the language of power is dangerous if 
you have to keep a status.
The mission of the foundation is an educational one. So it would be 
better to ask the uneducated masses of Egypt, whether they feel a gain 
from a Wikipedia in their language or whether they stick with the 
"Latin" Wikipedia.

Marcus Buck