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Interesting Radio Program: Who Owns English?

de creedelambard, 2012-septembro-02

Mesaĝoj: 8

Lingvo: English

creedelambard (Montri la profilon) 2012-septembro-02 21:46:21

We don't hear much from Canada on Lernu!, so I don't think this has been reported on. CBC Radio recently aired a series on languages called Babel. The final episode is entitled "Who Owns English?" and is an interesting look at the distribution of English outside the traditional English speaking countries (e.g. in India and China) and what that means for those of us who think of English as "our" language.

http://www.cbc.ca/babel/episodes/2012/08/27/episod...

Click the "listen" button just under the first graphic. I had no problem listening to it on my Linux laptop; I can't imagine it would be any problem for Mac and Windows users.

Vestitor (Montri la profilon) 2012-septembro-03 00:39:35

I just listened - the host sounds like a computer!

An interesting programme. I think they dwelt a little too much on the idea that there are emerging differences developing between the 'Englishes'. It only seems to be relatively small numbers of words in the lexicon and many of them were quite easy to guess.

It's not that astonishing, two cities right next to each other like Manchester and Liverpool have a lot of peculiar vocabulary and also structures, but neither would dispute that they were speaking the same language. It's obvious that local experience would bring this about. How far can it be pushed? As soon as the changes become too great for two things to be called the same, one of them (and clearly the one no longer resembling the original) becomes something else. Either that or the altered thing claims the name through sheer numbers and influence.

American English is really not distant enough from British English to warrant being considered a separate language, since large differences in pronunciation, lexicon, syntax and grammar are evident all over the UK and it's still considered the same language.

sudanglo (Montri la profilon) 2012-septembro-03 10:24:12

large differences in pronunciation, lexicon, syntax and grammar are evident all over the UK
When you stop to think about this, it's strange isn't it? Especially when you consider how small the country is, and how we were the first with the railways, and had national radio and TV early on.

That there should be variation within American English seems far less surprising given the size of the country.

Of course, from a British point of view, all deviations of colonial English are deviant. Anybody who says 'noos' for 'news' risks the noose.

Edit: Oh dear! The presenter can't distinguish between babble and Babel

erinja (Montri la profilon) 2012-septembro-03 11:32:32

This is another one of those threads that would be better off in the Esperanto forums.

In this forum we speak IN English, but the general topic of the threads should be Esperanto - not English.

Vestitor (Montri la profilon) 2012-septembro-03 12:02:46

To deviate a little, but remain on-topic, does the Esperanto community (particular those very involved) feel some ownership of Esperanto? Or at least a strong stewardship?

erinja (Montri la profilon) 2012-septembro-03 12:33:02

Stewardship of Esperanto is off-topic for a "Who owns English" thread. I suggest starting a new thread on that topic. Suggested title - "Who owns Esperanto?"

Vestitor (Montri la profilon) 2012-septembro-03 12:43:34

It's getting a bit silly now. An on-topic post is off-topic because it is posted to an off-topic thread! Sometimes things just move a little more organically in free-association.

The moderation is coming across as a bit heavy-handed.

creedelambard (Montri la profilon) 2012-septembro-03 13:19:33

erinja:This is another one of those threads that would be better off in the Esperanto forums.

In this forum we speak IN English, but the general topic of the threads should be Esperanto - not English.
The reason I posted this here is because it relates to one of the meta-ideas of Esperanto - namely, that English is perceived as the international language, but that (1) it isn't really, and (2) to the extent that it is, that creates questions that would be answered by using Esperanto instead. It's very much in the spirit of articles about the "language problem" that appeared in the ELNA Bulteno when I was active in Esperanto back in the 70s. That's not clear from my description, but it's in the radio program. Certainly if the program had been about chair upholstery, North Korean cyberwarfare or any other unrelated topic, I wouldn't have posted it.

The reason I posted it here is because had I started a thread in the Esperanto forums with a post like "Jen radioprogramo pri 'Kiu Posedas La Anglan?' el Kanado, sed bedaŭrinde ĝi estas nur en la angla", you can imagine the reaction I would get from people who would have no way of understanding a half hour of spoken English. They'd have been able to practice their Esperanto by chewing me out, and rightly so.

That's the logic behind posting this. I'll step away from the discussion now.

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