At 2006-01-05 13:03:47 +0530, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > The word 'vernacular' is a generic, insulting term, historically used > by former colonial masters. It literally means 'languague of the slave > or servant' and is derogatory. Vernacular could be applied for any > non-English language.
Just for the record: Vernacular does *not* literally mean "language of the slave or servant". It means only native or indigenous to a place, and its use is not considered derogatory. (The word *does* ultimately derive from the Latin "verna" for a slave born in the master's house, but that meaning was never preserved in common usage, nor apparently in the intermediate Latin root "vernaculus", which means domestic or native. By the time our "former colonial masters" got their hands on the term, it was thoroughly cleansed of any slavic(!) associations.) It's a different matter entirely that the British were contemptuous of many aspects of our vernacular cultures. > The word you seek is 'Indic' Indic may be the better term anyway, but only because it's more specific and descriptive. -- ams _______________________________________________ ilugd mailinglist -- ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org/
