LINGUIST List 2.262

Thursday, 30 May 1991

FYI: Bilingual Jurors, Hist of lg sciences, Sci.lang abstracts

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. , Re: Bilingual Jurors
2. , Association for this history of language sciences
3. Derek Gross, Abstracts from sci.lang

HIGH COURT CITES BASIS TO REJECT BILINGUAL JURORS is on the front page
of the Miami Herald today. I imagine everyone has gotten some review
of the Supreme Court decision in today's paper, but I thought I'd
send the following comment by David Waksman, an assistant state
attorney in Miami: He is cited as reporting that in state court,
translation problems are dealt with on the spot. "Our judges for
years have told Spanish-speaking jurors that 'if you disagree with
the translation, raise your hand, call it to my attention and we'll
deal with it then.'" How reasonable. 

NORTH AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE HISTORY OF THE LANGUAGE SCIENCES

The North American Association for the History of the Language Sciences
was founded in December 1987 to promote, encourage and support the history of
the sciences concerned with language, such as linguistics, anthropology, philos
ophy, psychology, sociology, history of ideas, history of science and other
disciplines, both theoretical and applied, from the earliest beginnings
to the present, including non-European traditions. In addition to the critical
presentation of the origin and development of particular ideas, theoretical
concepts, terms, schools of thought or particular trends, the Association
is interested in the discussion of the methodological, philosophical, and
epistemological doundations of a historiography of the language sciences.

The Association promotes these aims by issuing a newsletter (twice annually)
to keep members in touch and informed about upcoming meetings, including
those of other societies, ongoing research projects and recent publications
in the field. The Association also sponsors a meeting held jointly
with the Linguistic Society of America's annual meeting. Thus the next
meeting will take place in January 1992 in Philadelphia.

Dues for the organization are $10 (American) or 12$ (Canadian). Annual
membership runs from June 1 to May 31. Dues should be sent to the
Treasurer, with checks drawn on US banks made out to NAAHOLS, and checks
drawn on Canadian banks made out to Talbot Taylor:

Professor Talbot Taylor
Treasurer, NAAHOLS
Department of English
College of William and Mary
Williamsburg VA 23185

For more information and copies of the latest newsletter, contact:

Professor Douglas Kibbee
Department of French
University of Illinois
2090 Foreign Language Building
707 South Mathews Avenue
Urbana IL 61801

[Originally posted by T. Geller (gellerucunix.san.uc.edu) to sci.lang]

As a member of The Esperanto League for North America, I receive (along
with their regular newsletter) ELNA Update, a small, general-interest language
newsletter. Along with some Esperanto news, it contains quite a bit of
interesting other stuff. Here are some headlines and excerpts from the
1991/2 issue:
==========================
TURKISH PLAN TO PERMIT KURDISH IS IN TROUBLE
A government bill to ease restrictions on the use of Kurdish has
encountered resistance in the Turkish parliament and may die there.

The Bill would lift a ban that made it a crime for Kurds to speak their
own language in public or listen to their traditional songs.

...[the bill] would not affect restrictions on teaching Kurdish in
schools or publishing newspapers and books in Kurdish.
(San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 14, 1991)
---------------------------
FRENCH LANGUAGE FORBIDDEN IN ALGERIA
The Algerian parliament has approved a law, similar to one introduced by
Col. Khaddafi in Libya, which makes Arabic the sole official language
of the country. Its use is now obligatory for all government documents,
as well as in trade and schools.

It is now a crime in Algeria to use a foreign language (French is the
one most often used) for any of these purposes. Punishments range from
invalidation of documents to fines from $100 to $500. Businesspeople
who use French words on their products risk having their factories and
shops closed.
(Heroldo de Esperanto, #6, 1991)
---------------------------
FRENCH SPELLING REFORM FIZZLES (CONTINUED)
Opposition to the proposed French spelling reform is increasing. The
goal of the reform is to make spelling more phonetic.

Strong opposition is growing not only in France but in Canada and
Switzerland as well. Among the groups which have formed to protest the
proposed changes are The Association to Save the French Language
(l'ASLAF) and The Committee Robespierre which proposed "a moral
guillotining tto everyone who dares to profane the French language."
(Heroldo de Esperanto, #6, 1991)
---------------------------
DUTCH SPELLING CHANGES
Spelling changes are being introduced in the Netherlands, although more
successfully than in France.

French loan words such as _bureau_, _cha^teau_, and _cadeau_ are now
being written as _buro_, _sjato_, and _kado_ by some newspapers, while
English imports _showroom_, _session_, and _social unit_ are now being
written as _sjoowroem_, _sesjen_, and _soosjel joenit_.
(Heroldo de Esperanto, #6, 1991)
---------------------------
COMPUTER DICTIONARY IN IRISH
A constant problem for speakers of minority languages is the lack of
up-to-date technical dictionaries. A new computer dictionary appeared
has just appeared in Irish, which will now allow Irish speakers to use
their language in the computer field instead of English, which until now
has enjoyed a monopoly there.

In recent years the Irish government and publishers in and outside
Ireland have published a large number of technical dictionaries and
lists, including ones for medicine, science, the military, music, trade,
etc.
(Monato, Feb. 1991)

============================

There are a few other interesting articles, having to do with Puerto
Rican statehood being opposed on language grounds, Esperanto, English
problems in other countries, and so on. The newsletter (4 pp.,
quarterly) is free to all members of "The Friends of Esperanto," at 
$7.50/year. Available from:
ELNA
P.O. Box 1129
El Cerrito, CA 94530
Tel: (415) 653-0998

Hope you enjoyed!

[End Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 262]