LINGUIST List 6.248

Sat 18 Feb 1995

Disc: Latvian Language Policy

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1. NO SLEEP FOR THE WEARY, Latvian Language Policy
2. Micheal Palmer, -0500 (EST)
3. Hartmut Haberland, Re: 6.192 Latvia's language policy

I have found the topic of "linguistic human rights violations" particularly
interesting, but I am a little confused as to what constitutes such a
violation. Marc Picard writes, "Personally, I would hope that Latvians
would take any measures they deem necessary to get everybody in their
country to speak their language." If someone were to issue such a statement
about the language situation in the United States (particularly with regards
to native speakers of Spanish who are residents/citizens of the US), I am
sure that some group would throw up its arms in protest of the oppression
of this segment of the population. Is this what is meant by a "linguistic
human rights violation"? Is it something more severe? Or are we looking
at other countries and applying different standards than those which we apply
in the United States?

Mark Mitton
Carleton College Northfield, MN 55057
mittonmcarleton.edu

The intensity of recent postings on language policy left me a little
worried. Do these people (I won't mention names) also support an
English-only policy for the US? I certainly hope not. My home language
is Spanish, and I *would* consider it a violation of my linguistic human
rights to be forced to use English in situations where doing so is
required by nothing more than the law.

Micheal W. Palmer
Mellon Research Fellow
Department of Linguistics
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Message 3: Re: 6.192 Latvia's language policy

What about giving Martin the benefit of the doubt and assume that
"Russian-speaking Estonians" is a slip of the keyboard for "Russian-speaking
Latvians"?
Hartmut Haberland