Hello fellow linguists and language learners! I was born in Belarus, the country the titular language of which has turned into a minority language. The indigenous language of Belarusians is losing its ground to Russian, the second official language in the country.
I have written an extensive essay on this problem - http://belarus.blogsome.com/2008/09/05/the-belarusian-language-is-doomed.
I argue that even if Belarus became more democratic the language problem would not go away, as the globalizing society would not necessarily care to preserve the mother's tongue. The language could be supported by the state, but this is a temporal remedy. Eventually, the language would hardly escape the demise.
I am raising this issue here, because I have seem many topics discussing small languages like Lithuanian and Estonian. I believe that all small languages are in danger as the world is globalizing.
And... There is absolutely nothing wrong about it. As to me, repressive language policy is worse.
I have written an extensive essay on this problem - http://belarus.blogsome.com/2008/09/05/the-belarusian-language-is-doomed.
I argue that even if Belarus became more democratic the language problem would not go away, as the globalizing society would not necessarily care to preserve the mother's tongue. The language could be supported by the state, but this is a temporal remedy. Eventually, the language would hardly escape the demise.
I am raising this issue here, because I have seem many topics discussing small languages like Lithuanian and Estonian. I believe that all small languages are in danger as the world is globalizing.
And... There is absolutely nothing wrong about it. As to me, repressive language policy is worse.