On Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 11:47, M. Williamson <node...@gmail.com> wrote: > Milos, it is a fantasy of many that is not supported by research, that just > because people are rich or have technology, their language will magically > not die.
I wouldn't say that it is a fantasy, but bold speculation :D I am not saying that wealth is the most important factor, not even technology in general, but enormously increased level of communication during the last 10-15 years, which is not counted inside of the present researches. >From what I see during the last dozen of years, many languages are in the process of revival: Celtic languages, some Uralic languages etc. Cases of Manx and Livonian are impressive, for example. When I heard for the first time about revival of Welsh, I was thinking that it is a noble, but fruitless attempt. However, it is not anymore an exception, but such revivals are occurring at more and more places. And we have examples of bilingual community with dominant LWC, but living native language through many generations. Sorbian languages are the example. No, it won't be used very actively, but it will survive as a language of specific culture and because of identity purposes. Manx, Livonian and many indigenous languages have chances to survive like that. Welsh has chances to survive as fully recovered language. > This process is repeating itself around the world, not just with poor and > illiterate people, but also with rich and well-read people who find more > economic and social benefits in using a LWC. This is unfortunate, but so far > nobody has been able to find a remedy, and just writing encyclopedias in > minority languages doesn't seem like a viable solution to the problem of > language attrition and death, although perhaps it helps to raise the > prestige a bit. Not just encyclopedias, but books, dictionaries, even news sources. All of that is inside of our job description. But not just that: gathering active community around Wikimedia projects is almost the ticket for language survival. _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
