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From: deb5@midway.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: State Intervention onf behalf of English [was Re: "Cultured"language
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References: <5dq4ns$r49@fs7.ece.cmu.edu> <33047544.167EB0E7@pia.bt.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 23 Feb 1997 22:18:51 GMT
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In article <33047544.167EB0E7@pia.bt.co.uk>,
Alwyn Thomas  <alwyn@pia.bt.co.uk> wrote:

[vast majority of article deleted; the previous poster made the point that
 Irish was being kept alive largely through state intervention]

>Hasn't it struck you that state intervention is being used extensively
>in England and the USA to keep the English language in reasonable shape?

What do you consider "state intervention"?  If this includes public
education in all its forms, then I suppose you can call it "extensive",
but then you've lost the parallel to the Irish case (where the vast
majority of entering pupils are monolingual English speakers).  Outside of
this, I'm not sure what you could be talking about.  Recent years have
seen the elevation of English to the status of "official language" in
several states where this was not previously the case, but, AFAICT, these
declarations are largely symbolic and contain *no* provisions for
alteration of the language.  AFAIK, none even *define* the variety beyond
such general lables as "(Standard) American English"; no dictionaries,
style guides, or descriptive or prescriptive grammars are cited.  The only
concrete result of such laws is to prohibit the optional printing of
official documents (such as state income tax forms or fishing licenses) in
languages other than "English".  In other words, state intervention in
language matters in the USA pales in comparison to that of even the most
liberal EU countries.


-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
