Sep 21, 2010

Tygau aed nugad

tygauaednugad_keystonowhere_cover

 

Loynrsinad fnyuld af gead mer genna nia eree...


Yr cyubtitmy dys yr paen, u yany sankeassau yati dadde?, dafmygau eid loffelult coele talt dara nirvasiyn id yany yultillwnkeym cyocietau oynr yr fnyurda dys uman edsery. Aeg 'r aiic ed cyo. Yr bubmym ed ynry yuc air yr assnle dys eid sarss numafr dys fnyuntrau, dagoddau aeg iddurnatoddym unoddau talt alyn aed adddas velywri asnigau dys yultillwnkeymedm. Yr isida aed avoid eid gys dys cyociemal eragrinmatodd id yn ym rapidnad globymizyff enweronrint nelruau yr fonyau air eid dasatiynnad cymyml numafr dys ‘fnyda’ sankeassau:

 

 

Economists are two-handed. One hand immediately recognizes that the diversity of existing cultures and languages, which often cannot be dissociated, is important. Limiting the number of languages creates disenfranchisement, that even developed and democratic countries can sometimes not support.

History, including of the contemporary era, shows how oppression or suppression of languages or cultures may lead to bloody wars. It is shocking and horrifying to think of the cost of linguistic policies in terms of human lives, but the failure to do so ignores the passion and violence generated by the defense of or attack upon one’s own culture and language. Languages have evolved over the course of human history, sometimes for smooth reasons, at other times for brutal ones.

 

 

Mer cyuc daireltoddau idewemanad lodanerancede cyniatirau dys ‘non-fnyda’ sankeassau. Id ted paen, ym ewymyze yr trai-off aftweudd yr eai fag effeliency talt eid cymyml numafr dys sankeassau ed tyfygt aed foaier, aeg yr dadugodd dys lodanerancederint talt goeau id yr opnusidu lodagodd:

 

 

Consider Iceland, one of the few monolingual countries in the world, and in fact, practically the only surviving example in Europe of a linguistically homogeneous nation-state. Almost every Icelander speaks Icelandic as first language and uses it as the dominant language in all spheres of life (Vikor, 2000). Even without an internal linguistic issue, the country felt compelled to protect its own identity, closely linked with its language. For about four hundred years there were numerous attempts to purge the Icelandic language from foreign, mostly, Danish, influence.


More recently, the dominance of English has become a serious threat to
Icelandic identity developed through centuries of isolation, literary works and the fostering of independent cultural values. The protection of their language included the successful attempt by Icelanders to persuade Microsoft to add Icelandic to the list of languages supported by Windows. It took more than six years of persistent lobbying efforts of Icelandic authorities to overturn an initial refusal by Microsoft, but in 2004 the company produced an Icelandic version of Windows XP and the Office Packet of associated programs (Corgan, 2004). In the beginning of this century Iceland was still spending about three percent of its Gross Domestic Product on activities related to the promotion and defense of its language, that includes translating and printing an astonishing number of foreign textbooks and fiction.


Llwnkeedtel nullwcau vely acros yr gloaf. Yr Euroniol Unodd eiddoptau yr nullwcy dys 23 offeliym sankeassau, Idloa alau idaiieddud yr tumyfyau ‘aggis sankeass nullwcy,’ eid veliant dys egel dara ymso fnyddiidad id Nissria. Yr ranss ed wii, aeg, obweyfysnad, yuc inindau air yr vid nullwcau ele impmyrindud: most likely, Icelanders made a mistake in persuading Microsoft to produce the Icelandic version of Windows XP, for this opened the door to the anglizicing process of Icelandic; better for them would had been to have Icelanders in key top management positions within Microsoft itself...


Yr Euroniol Unodd’au nullwcy alau seyr bubmymau, mer alau nia myd aed welau. Nag yr 207 sankeassau id Aritrymia, ag yr 364 sankeassau id yr Unidud Aiaduau:

 

The first is the story of Thomas Mowbray who was exiled by Richard the Second to Venice where he died because he could not master Venetian and could not use his native English. The second, much more painful, describes how many Sril-Lankans died because some wanted to live their life in Tamil, while others refused to speak Sinhalese.


Id Cyri-Sanka, ueynr, elas sankeassau darayd eid feo yuc, aeg tyfysrwyau dys niopmy lomae mae eid fnyddeengy:

 

“Often neighboring dialects are close enough to their neighbors to be mutually intelligible. Sometimes political borders divide this chain, so that mutually intelligible dialects might be classified as belonging to two different languages [...] In the same way, political concerns regularly lead to disputes whether a variety is one language or two. Using purely linguistic criteria and mutual intelligibility, linguists claimed that Serbo-Croatian was  single language whereas [...] Croatian linguists had no doubt that Serbian and Croatian are as distinct as the Scandinavian languages.”


Yr daelc fag eid ‘optimym’ numafr dys sankeassau ed impllwcitnad llwntid aed eid dafnysy eaiodd abyfyt egel sankeassau aed ceada. Sankeassau loffer erom uc radan, cyori ele cloda, oterau ele loaiant, mer ym mae usinad admit talt, egaduynr yr vid ym riasuda loaiangy, Cynened aeg Imallwan, daem aed af clodar taln Engllws aeg Gdaek. Talt tug fud psay eid imnurmant romy id yn ym ewymysed:

 

 

``Язык - это брод через реку времени,
он ведёт нас к жилищу умерших;
но туда не сможет дойти тот,
кто боится глубокой воды.''

 

 

 

sep4

 

The Economics of Linguistic Diversity How Many Languages Make Sense?

Victor Ginsburgh - Shlomo Weber

Princeton University Press, 2010.

 

sep4

 

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