Re: Language-Change, Slang, Evolution
I believe there needs to be an administrative language, one in which all official business is conducted and which is the default one in which laws are expressed (to avoid dual definitions), just as there is for communication at sea and in the air. As so much international business is now conducted in English, it seems the likeliest lingua franca for at least the next generation or two, so it makes even more sense in the US where all established official usage is in English (don't fix what ain't bust).
I've lived in a couple of bi-lingual jurisdictions, and visited more, and am very aware of the issues that Aenlic raises:
The question is how to establish a norm to allow people to interact efficiently with officialdom without crushing their cultural identity (remember the minority language may be native, as in Wales or Ireland) or drowning in a sea of translators and interpreters in an officially multi-lingual society, where nothing ever happens 'til the translator shows up. It IS possible for people to be bilingual, at least to a survival level, so I don't see a second language as a problem per se.... y yo creo espaniol es una idioma muy hermosa, y no es dificil. Es la mejor segunda lingua en las americas.A good example is the British outlawing the local Gaelic language in Ireland. I don't view such attempts at oppression to be a good thing.
Of course, "Spanish" is an interesting one in a multi-lingual context. Spain itself is multi-lingual: Castellano, Catalan, Andaluz, Gallego, Euzkadi.... you think Canada's tough? In Spain, ATMs give you about 8 language choices before you start (ok, some for tourists)... still the country seems to keep working, and long-suppressed languages are rebounding.
The whole French idea of fixing the language in aspic is a little revealing, a little disturbing. Yes, things change (and Lemur - are you calling my mother-tongue a ho'??), even the French language -- evolution tells us one thing - adapt or die or get stuck in a niche. Globally French is becoming marginalised, there isn't the same internationalism amongst Francophone nations that there is amongst the anglophones. I think English, Aussies, Yanks, Kiwis etc feel more part of a commonality than French, Quebequois, Malians, Walloons, Haitians and Senegalese do. I think this last effort to keep French pure is like putting on a good face for the death mask, the last twitch of Gallic arrogance, perhaps.
But there is a role for dead languages: Latin, especially. Not only is it forebear to the romance languages (French, Italian, Spanish etc), but it is dead, unchanging. It's definitions are constant - this is what makes it so useful for fields such as law and medicine.
So, to stop wibbling, yes there should be an "official" language, for official matters, but it is not something that should be imposed in the street, or in the home, or in the bar. But in the Courts, in school, on voting slips, in government records, yes. Does it have to be English? Maybe Latin would be better....
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Originally Posted by Marshal Murat
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