The status of Flemish in Belgium & its relationship to Dutch are described from the perspective of a Swiss living in a multilingual country & speaking a German dialect while writing High German. ...Discussed are (1) the historical events leading to the split - geographic, political, & linguistic - between Flemish & Dutch, (2) the subordinate status of Flemish to French following the creation of Belgium as an independent state in 1831, (3) the literary tradition of Flemish, (4) the struggle for the recognition of the linguistic rights of the Flemish majority in the 19th & 20th centuries, (5) the adoption of Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands (General Cultivated Dutch) as the standard written language for the Flemish community in Belgium, (6) the differences between Flemish & Standard Dutch & the question of Flemish speakers' competence in the latter, (7) the cumbersome language regulations in Belgium today sanctioning the smallest detail of language status/use, & (8) the spoken dialect/written standard diglossia comparisons with the situation in German-speaking Switzerland. Z. Dubiel
Etymology, pronunciation, & meaning of the German word Holokaust 'holocaust' are examined. Deriving from Greek holos 'whole' & kausis 'burning', the meaning of Old Greek holokautoma 'sacrifice by ...burning' & New Greek olokautoma 'fire catastrophe' is related to that of the German item, which means 'mass murder, especially by burning' & which is primarily used for the mass murdering of Jews by Nazis during WWII. Regarding pronunciation, a proposal is made to pronounce the word according to Standard German pronunciation rules, rather than in an English manner; it is argued that, although the word has become re-popularized through English, the traditional German pronunciation is etymologically more correct. Other derivations from Greek kausis (eg, kaustisch 'caustic') are also discussed. S. Paul
The disapperance of the German noun Neger 'Negro' from the vocabulary of the mass media is attributed to linguistic taboo & political correctness. The word was a legitimate designation traceable to ...the Latin etymon niger 'black' but negative connotations accumulated as the influence of English, where nigger became an invective associated with disparaging & offensive usage, led to its perception as politically incorrect. Neger was replaced with Schwarze 'the black' & to a lesser extent, with Afrikaner 'African' or Farbiger 'colored'. The adjective black is now used in English to derive designations for a whole range of associated concepts & (eg, black capitalism, black English). Neger, however, persists in various phraseologisms in Swiss German. Z. Dubiel
Whereas many countries with multiple official languages often experience difficulty & cultural strife, Switzerland has managed to avoid such problems. This is attributed primarily to the fact that ...the majority language group does not insist on dominating the national media, but rather concedes privileges to the other language groups. This is especially apparent in budget allocations for TV & radio: 42.2% was recently allocated to German-language programming, 33% to French, 23.5% to Italian, & 1.1% to Rhaeto-Romansch. These numbers are compared to language population proportions of 63.6% German, 19.2% French, 6.6% Italian, & 0.6% Rhaeto-Romansch, respectively. The fact that the different language groups in Switzerland for the most part lie within geographically distinct regions is said to be beneficial in maintaining this balance. The erosion of Rhaeto-Romansch speakers as recorded by the 1990 census is also discussed. 11 References. Adapted from the source document
SUMMARYThe Equilibrium of Languages in SwitzerlandThe peace between the different language groups of Switzerland is essentially based on the fact that the majority does not derive advantage of its ...preponderance. Sometimes it even concedes privileges to the smaller groups, most evidently in the allocation of the budgets for radio and television and in the subsidies for the cultivation of Rhaeto-Romansch and Italian. It is a benefit that the borderlines between the different language units are rather well defined. There are only two bilingual towns, Bienne and Fribourg, and the emergence of linguistic enclaves is prevented. Only in the Grisons is there a strong infiltration of Swiss-German speaking people in traditional Romansch territories. The last census (1990) which did not reveal appreciable changes in the proportion of the major languages, showed a considerable deterioration in the situation of Romansch, a symptom that afflicts the fellow-citizens in other regions very much.RESUMOLa ekvilibro de la lingvoj en SvislandoLa paco inter la diversaj lingvaj grupoj en Svislando cefe bazigas sur la fakto, ke la plimulto rezignas profiti de sia superpezo. Kelkfoje gi ec privilegias la pli malgrandajn grupojn; tio plej frape evidentigas en la distribuo de la bugeto por radio kaj televido profite al la pli malgrandaj lingvoj kaj en la federaciaj subvencioj por la kulturado de la romanĉa kaj itala lingvoj. Estas avantago, ke la limoj inter la lingvaj unuoj estas sufice klaraj. Nur du dulingvaj urboj ekzistas: Biel/Bienne kaj Freiburg/Fribourg. Nur en Grizono infiltras svisgermane parolantaj personoj en tradicie romancajn regionojn. La lasta popolnombrado (1990), kiu generale ne montris notindajn sangojn en la proporcio de la lingvoj, malkasis konsiderindajn malbonigojn en la situacio de la romanĉa lingvo, simptomo kiu tre cagrenas la kunfederacianojn en la aliaj regionoj.
The Swiss German Diglossia Baur, Arthur
Language problems & language planning,
10/1987, Letnik:
11, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
German-speaking Switzerland is traditionally included in the territory of the German lang. This affiliation, however, is a mystification as Standard German is used in Switzerland only in writing ...whereas it is never used by Swiss German speakers in oral communication. The so-called colloq German that suppressed dialects in Germany & Austria is nonexistent in Switzerland. Swiss German (Schwyzertutsch) is linguistically considered to be a dialect but is an official "standard" lang in German Switzerland. Because of this, there are many problems for those Swiss from Italian & French parts of Switzerland who learned Standard High German in school & are unable to communicate in it in daily contacts with Swiss Germans. Morphologically, Schwyzertutsch is a modern linguistic type; phonologically, however, it represents an early stage of lang development. 8 References. HA Tr & Modified by Z. Dubiel
Svisgermana diglosio Baur, Arthur
Language problems & language planning,
01/1987, Letnik:
11, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Schweizerdeutsches WörterverzeichnisDie deutschsprachige Schweiz wird gewöhnlich zum deutschen Sprachgebiet ge-zählt. Dies ist aber eine Mystifikation, da die deutsche Standardsprache in der Schweiz ...zwar im schriftlichen Gebrauch durchaus vorherrscht, unter Schweizern im Gespräch nie gebraucht wird. Die sogenannte deutsche Umgangssprache, die bei den nörd-lichen und östlichen Nachbarn der Schweiz die Dialekte sehr stark zurückgedrangt und abgewertet hat, kommt in der Schweiz nicht vor. Das Schweizerdeutsche, das lin-guistisch gesehen ein Dialekt und politisch gesehen eine Sprache ist, beherrscht das öffentliche Leben in einem Masse, dass anderssprachige Schweizer, die in der Schule Deutsch gelernt haben, sich beklagen. Zum Schluss macht der Autor einige linguistische Vergleiche und halt fest, dass das Schweizerdeutsche (Schwyzertütsch) lautlich eine frühere Sprachstufe festhält, morphologisch aber einen moderneren Sprachtypus reprä-sentiert.
The Rhaeto-Romansch lang, spoken by 35,000 people in the Swiss canton of Grisons, is in great danger, although it enjoys generous moral & financial support from all of Switzerland. Up to now, a major ...handicap in the use of the lang for practical purposes in legislation, administration, commerce, & even in posters & signs has been the lack of a common written lang for all forms of Romansch. Topographical obstacles in this mountainous area, coupled with religious antagonisms & the lack of a capital city to serve as a cultural center, have led to the creation & development of five different written forms since the invention of printing. This lack is more acutely felt today than ever before. Accordingly, the Romansch League, the coordinating body of all Romansch societies, commissioned a professor at the U of Zurich, Heinrich Schmid, to develop guidelines for a common written lang for all regions, although earlier individual efforts of this kind had failed. In 1982 Schmid presented his lang program to the Romansch League, which, after a few minor changes, accepted & published it. Over the past four years this new lang, based primarily on the regional langs of the lower Engadine & of the Rhine Valley, has found much support & is already widely used in practice despite opposition in conservative circles. The postal service, government agencies, & business are already using it, but there is some hesitation among literary figures. It is reasonable to conclude that the purely experimental phase of the project is now over, & that the experiment is a success. 11 References. Modified HA
RESUMOLingvo-planado en minoritata lingvoLa retoromanca lingvo, parolata de 35'000 personoj en la svisa kantono Grizono, troviĝas en granda dangero, kvankam ĝi ĝuas tre grandaniman moralan kaj ...fmancan subtenon el tuta Svislando. Granda handikapo por la utih'go de tiu lïngvo por prak-tikaj celoj en la leĝfarado, en administracio, en komerco kaj ec sur afisoj estis gis nun la manko de kornuna skriblingvo por ĉiuj romanĉoj. La topografiaj obstakloj en tiu montara lando, la konfesiaj antagonismoj kaj la manko de ĉefurbo kiel kultura centro kaǔzis, ke kvin diversaj skriblingvoj ekestis kaj evoluis depost la eltrovo de la presarto. Hodiaǔ tiu manko estas pli sentata ol iam. Pro tio la Romanĉa Ligo, kiu estas la supera organo de ciuj romancaj societoj, donis la taskon al profesoro en la universitato de Zurich, Heinrich Schmid, ellabori la gvidlniojn por komuna superregiona skriblingvo, tio, malgraǔ ke pli fruaj individuaj provoj estis malsukcesintaj. En 1982 profesoro Schmid submetis sian lingvoplanon al la Romanĉa Ligo, kiu post malmultaj retusoj akceptis kaj publikigis ĝin. En kvar jaroj tiu nova lingvo bazigante precipe sur la regionaj lingvoj de la malsupera Engadino kaj de la antaua Rejnvalo, trovis multan subtenon kaj jam estas vaste uzata en la praktiko spite al kontraǔstaro de konservemaj rondoj. Posto, ŝtataj instancoj kaj komerco jam utiligas gin, sed la verkistoj ankoraǔ hezitas. Tarnen oni rajtas konkludi, ke la. pure eksperimenta fazo jam pasis.SUMMARYLanguage Planning in a Minority LanguageThe Rhaeto-Romansch language, spoken by 35,000 people in the Swiss canton of Grisons, is in great danger, although it enjoys generous moral and financial support from all of Switzerland. Up to now, a major handicap in the use of the language for practical purposes in legislation, administration, commerce, and even in posters and signs has been the lack of a common written language for all forms of Romansch. Topographical obstacles in this mountainous area, coupled with religious antagonisms and the lack of a capital city to serve as a cultural center, have led to the creation and development of five different written forms since the invention of printing. This lack is more acutely felt today than ever before. Accordingly, the Romansch League, the coordinating body of all Romansch societies, commissioned a professor at the University of Zurich, Heinrich Schmid, to develop guidelines for a common written language for all regions, although earlier individual efforts of this kind had failed. In 1982 Professor Schmid presented his language program to the Romansch League, which, after a few minor changes, accepted and published it. Over the past four years this new language, based primarily on the regional languages of the lower Engadine and of the Rhine Valley, has found much support and is already widely used in practice despite opposition in conservative circles. The postal service, government agencies, and business are already using it, but there is some hesitation among literary figures. It is reasonable to conclude, however, that the purely experimental phase of the project is now over.
