Re: 'Standard' alphabets and *-centricity

--- In qalam@egroups.com, "John Hudson" <tiro@...> wrote:

> --- In qalam@egroups.com, "Steven Loomis" <srl@...> wrote:
> > I hear a lot of comments in the USA from people who speak in

terms

> of
> > "standard" versus "foreign" alphabets, meaning latin versus
> > non-latin. For example, "Oh good, Maltese is written using
> > the normal [sic] alphabet." (Even though non-English letters are
> > used.)
>
> This is similar to the notion, held by many North Americans I have
> met, that only foreigners have accents. I have not encountered this
> quite so often lately, but when I first moved to Canada people

would

> say 'Oh, you have an accent!' I'd grown up in Wales where it was
> commonly understood that everyone has an accent.
>
> I think both notions -- that only foreigners have accents and the
> Latin alphabet is the 'normal' one -- are simply symptoms of
> ignorance and poor education. Once you explain to someone what an
> accent is, or what an alphabet is, and expose them to something of
> the diversity of language, both spoken and written, it is

impossible

> for them to maintain the errant notions.

I suppose to some degree its a question of location, of where they
live, and the diversity of languages used in the area.

Here in various parts of Melbourne, Australia, its common for me to
walk down the street and see signs in shops and banks in a variety of
langauges and scripts. Its all just part of the streetscape.