Re: [tied] Affects of immigrant communities in language change

In a message dated 8/8/01 5:00:43 AM Central Daylight Time, h5@...
writes:

It's true that official Swedish history has for a long time focussed
on the Svear, neglecting other parts of the country, but some of the local
history writing that has sprung up as a reaction against this seems equally
biassed to me.

Dear Hakan,

   It is quite normal for national historians, at least until the last half
of the 20th C. or so, to ignore the historic contributions of their minority
populations, it is much more comfortable to believe in the historical
imperative than give credit to others.

   Before the American Civil War there was a doctrine called Manifest
Destiny in the US which took as its assumption that the Anglo-Saxon USA was
destined to rule the continent of North America. This provided the
ideological basis for the settlement of the West and the subjugation of all
the native Indian tribes by force of arms and the theft of their lands.

  The survivor enclaves, aboriginal or language, can have their own
literatures that portray a Golden Age some time in their past when they were
conquerors or overlords and the present ruling national group were the
interloping tribes. They can attribute negative attributes to their present
bretheren by recalling, right or wrong, the evils of their conquest and
slaughter by the feroceous and bloodthirsty enemies.

Best regards, John Piscopo
http://www.johnpiscoposwords.com
PO Box 137
Western Springs, IL 60558-0137
(708)246-7111