elisabeth bauer hett schreven: > 2009/1/11 Marcus Buck <m...@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 _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
