Re: [tied] Re: Gimbutas.

>Marc wrote
>> Do you think so? IMO the upper class can & does impose their
>language, at least after several generations. This is what we saw in
>Gallia (Latin replaced Celtic up to the Rhine, later the invading
>Germanic tribes replaced Latin in N & E Gallia up to line that
>connects the capitals of the bishoprics). Brussels 100 years ago was
>Dutch-speaking except for the palace & government (the bourgeoisie,
>as in all cities in N-Belgium, spoke both, but wrote in French), now
>it's mostly French-speaking, although in other N-Belgian cities the
>French-speaking upper class has disappeared. Only in England the
>Normans did not impose their language, but they were a very small
>minority. In France, French replaces all other dialects & languages.
>In Germany, Low-German is disappearing. In the Netherlands, Frysian
>has almost disappeared. In Great Brittain, Welsh is disappearing. The
>best example is perhaps that even Ireland speaks English.

>In actual fact, after centuries, the number of Welsh speakers is
>growing again!

Is this so? Welsh speakers at school perhaps, who have to learn this
language at school instead of at home? We see the same phenomema in
French-Flanders, where more Dutch is learned at schools than before, but
where Dutch probably will disappear (if only because the Flemish dialect
there (still spoken in rural regions by old people) is very different from
standard Dutch). I believe it was Louis XIV who annexed this region
(Duinkerke etc.) some 300 years ago. And we see the same in Friesland
(official bilingual Dutch-Frysian), where officially more Frysian is
learned, but less at home I'm afraid.

> What happened is an interesting case study in
>linguistic survival. With the state run comprehensives and grammar
>schools no offering Welsh language studies, the chief way of
>distinguishing between elite private schools and non-elite government
>schools was that the former offered Welsh language, the latter did
>not.
>Thus the speaking of Welsh, which for centuries had been a marker of
>low socio-economic status, suddenly became a marker for high
>socio-economic status. It became a "fashionable thing" to be able to
>speak Welsh and the Welsh language (Cymric) has started to grow as a
>result. Even the BBC has started producing Welsh Language programs
>in Wales!
>This reversal has been studied by other Celtic languages as a way in
>which they can be preserved. It will be interesting to watch what is
>going to happen to Urse, Scots Gaelic, Breton, Manx and even the
>recent revival of Cornish in future years.
>I wonder if we could make reviving IE "fashionable"? ;-)
>Regards John

Hebrew was revived in Israel. If you can construct a new state somewhere
where the government etc. speaks IE, your plan may be possible...

Marc Verhaegen
http://www.onelist.com/community/AAT
http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~mvaneech/Verhaegen.html