Re: [tied] Re: language shift ( it was Celts & Cimmerians)

From: alex
Message: 27106
Date: 2003-11-13

Glen Gordon wrote:
> John:
>> From what I understand, bith Canada and the USA had similar
>> institutions, and an attempt to force abandonment of native
>> languages.
>
> Yes, Canada did have such institutions unfortunately. We may have
> had the Underground Railway but it seems us Canucks largely chose
> the Aboriginals as our cultural punching bags. Ever seen "Black Robe"?
> Really cool Canadian movie relating to the clash between European
> and Native cultures. At any rate, there are many reasons why
> languages are "abandoned", "let go", "pulled away" from us, etc.
> I don't know why Alex is fighting this and making it into an Anglo
> conspiracy.
>
>
> = gLeN

I am not fighting it. I just have disputed the word "abandon" which
imply a decision made consciously by someone to left something. And I
did not believe into this decision being consciously made but merely in
the fact a language simply dies due becoming inoperative.
You are right to say languages dies out. But there are Languages which
does not die out.
Take the Aromanians in Slavic countries. They will die maybe out, but we
have 1500 or 1000 years since they survived as enclaves.
More interesting should be the Aromanians in Albania which did not
shifted back to "Dacian" if Albanian should be the Dacian Lang. as
assumed.

P.S. I used the generic term Aromanians without making the special
denomination for each group in each region.
Alex