>From: cindy@solan10.solan.unit.no (Cynthia Kandolf)
\nSubject: Return of the US Language UL
\nMessage-ID:
\nDate: 12 Jul 92 16:43:24 GMT
\nSender: news@ugle.unit.no (NetNews Administrator)
\nDistribution: alt
\nOrganization: \/home\/ludviga\/cindy\/.organization
\nLines: 52<\/p>\n
Those of you who have been around here for longer than you care
\nto admit (like me) may remember the time someone brought up a legend
\nabout German having narrowly missed becoming the official language of
\nthe United States. This is a common story, and the usual cap to it
\nis that Congress voted – by a majority of one vote – to make English
\nthe official language of the US, this significantly altering the
\ncourse of development in the US textbook publishing industry.<\/p>\n
The story is false. Matter of fact, the US at present does not have
\nan “official” language in the sense of a language declared by law to
\nhave special status; English is merely the de facto standard.
\nThere _was_ indeed some discussion about which language to adapt,
\nwith some strong seperatists arguing that English was the language
\nof the “enemy”. However, there were no cliff-hangers as suggested
\nby the legend mentioned above; the strong seperatists were a minority
\ngroup, and it was pretty clear from the start that most people
\nconsidered changing from English to be too much trouble. All this
\njunk was discussed the last time around, but i wanted to summarize it
\nfor those who weren’t with us then.<\/p>\n
The reason for bringing this up is that i have found an incident that
\nmay be the source of this UL. (Drum roll.) My source is the
\n_Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language_, by David Crystal, published
\nby the Cambridge University Press, (c)1987. In the interest of
\ncompleteness, ISBN 0 521 26438 3.<\/p>\n
from page 365:<\/p>\n
_A planning myth_<\/p>\n
Probably the best-known myth in the history of language planning is
\nthe story that German nearly became the national language of the US in
\nthe 18th century, losing to English by only one vote in the
\nlegislature (the “Muhlenberg” legend). In fact, all that was involved
\nwas a request, made by a group of Virginia Germans, to have certain
\nlaws issued in German _as well as_ in Englih. The proposal was
\nrejected by one vote, apparently cast by a German-speaking Lutheran
\nclergyman, Frederick Muhlenberg (1750-1801). But the general status
\nof English as the majority language was never in doubt. (After S.B.
\nHeath and F. Mandabach, 1983.)<\/p>\n
[End quote]<\/p>\n
Just to show that i did my homework, the paper referred to is:
\nHeath, S.B., and Mandabach, F. 1983. Language status decisions and
\nthe law in the United States. In J. Cobarrubias and J.A. Fishman
\n(eds.), _Progress in language planning: international perspectives_
\n(Berlin: Mouton), 87-105.<\/p>\n
-Cindy Kandolf
\n cindy@solan.unit.no
\n Trondheim, Norway<\/p>\n
