English as the official language of Europe

Tell me you're kidding. Please.


Ken

I think it's because so many people don't like, or hate, the US. Seriously. And
maybe they associate speaking English with the US.

But that is just speculation. Don't know, and really don't care.

Maybe they should make Maltese the official language. Makes as much sense
as anything else.


Ken

Sociolinguistics.

When blacks first came to America they were not an English speaking people and they adapted a pigeon English so they could communicate with their owners (sorry for that word, but that was the situation at the time), yet they kept elements of their own languages for two reasons - African languages didn't contain consonant clusters and English words were hard to say, and two - they needed to be able to also communicate with other blacks from a diverse number of tribes with dialectical differences. It must have been a very difficult situation to communicate at all.

Over the years, as they became more used to an English speaking culture their language evolved to more closely resemble that of the English speaking culture, but they were still separate enough from the culture to hold enough differences for them to retain a separate identity from the mass culture, which I would suppose at that point they despised and wanted not to be associated with. Holding the differences allowed them to hold a separate social identity.

Now here comes the dawn of black independence - which left blacks free in one sense but dirt poor. Multi-generational homes were not uncommon, so younger generations had the elders, complete with their own ways as examples and teachers, so they learned the older forms of the social sector's language.

Now enters affirmative action which is meant to integrate social sectors - in this case standard English speaking whites, and blacks with their strongly unique dialects. The blacks that started to climb socially became more integrated with white communities and less inclined to have multi-generational homes, so the standard languages were absorbed more readily by the moneyed black sector.

Today:
1>the poor still live in multi-generational homes which allow old language habits to survive.
2>While integration is accepted to a point, people (of all sectors) enjoy the company of their own races, history, etc. and will gravitate to their own - and they will keep separate dialect from those of other sectors, a practice which is a universal part of owning a group identity. For blacks that means keeping some of the traditional, yet nonstandard speech habits. In the white communities you will also see varied sectors using English that is non-standard.
3>Some of the non-standard speech of the younger blacks not only signify them as black, but as YOUNG, rad, and kewl. Most white kids have some crazy speech habits of their own that identify them to each other as being young, rad, and kewl. Kids of either race drive their elders crazy with it.

Also:
1>You will find in poor sectors which are predominately black, that the whites in those neighborhoods will often adapt the speech habits of the the blacks, the predominant culture in the sector -- the reverse is true, but the blacks will hold more to their own cultural speech as a racial identity indicator when they are in predominantly white neighborhoods.
2>Many of the poor whites whose grammar is sub-standard aren't making mistakes, they are using language that gives them an identity within their surrounding social environments. The standard language of the higher classed people, who are often scorned by the poorer groups, is not unknown - it is rejected.
3>You will find people of any race, social status, etc. use the speech habits of either their predominant social order unless they are interested in moving their identity to a different sector, and then they will pick up the speech habits of the sector that they wish to be included into. This is the reason that those who speak more standard English are accepted first for the higher paying corporate positions.
4>You will find sub-dialects in people's speech. For instance, you can usually tell on the phone if someone is black or white (not always). While the black speaker may be speaking completely standard English, you will still hear an inflection on their words that signal the speaker is black - you will know you are speaking to a person who has integrated into a fairly well to do social sector (or wants to) yet wants to retain an identity with their own race.

The reason you notice all this in American blacks is because of the highly abnormal social evolution they suffered in this country. If you speak to blacks in countries in which their soical integration was natural, and in which the predominant cultures are other than their own race, you will not notice the differences. Depending on which social groups they identify with, however, there will still be divergences from the standard.

OK, I could see this post as being deleted, but please take it in the spirit intended.

I went to provincetown, MA today with my father, my jewish stepmother, and 2 jewish friends.

The two jewish women looked at this blouse. They LIKED it! I couldn't believe it! I tried to casually draw their attention to "the indian symbol"! I even joked about how they shouldn't bend to the side, to set it at an angle.

A few minutes later, my father said "They decided not to buy the blouse! You know why?" I said "NO. Why?". He said "Because it had a n... s....... on it!". I said "NO, it's an iindian symbol. What did you think I was talking about?".

So you can sometimes not anticipate how changing something can change its perception. It did seem to be an OK blouse, etc... but trying to explain the history of that symbol is probably someone NOBODY wants to do, least of all a jewish person.

Steve

Number 1, Steve - I said it was a pidgin - even though I misspelled it. It has advanced from that point to a regular non-standard dialect of American English.

Number 2 - The "hype" I spewed can be learned very easily by taking around 60 credits of Linguistics at a major University - Mine was University of Michigan and if you need to check my credentials to be able to speak on the subject with authority, my professor was Dr. Barry -who will not be there any more, but can probably be contacted through the college. I had a GPA in Linguistics of 4.3 - that .3 is honorary, mark of achievement.

All in all that is not a brag - just telling you I have respected credentials in the subject at that University so am not really concerned about someone on a forum telling me I am "spewing hype". It seems you would be more respectful when disagreeing about a subject of which you know very little.

WOW! After what you said, I guess I should also state that MY tone is simply because I heard such stuff WAY too much. And seeing classes created for it, etc... was just TOO much. I actually THANKED the liberator for being so reasonable, etc...

It is certainly NOTHING against black languages. HECK, Uhura's name on the first star trek was a nod to swahili, a REAL African language. I will acknowledge that, appreciate it, etc... Heck, If it caught on, I would try to learn it. And one person came up with an artificial language, named esperanto, that has a following. AGAIN, reasonable because, although it is contrived, it was contrived to try to create a language that no one group can lay a claim to it, and everyone would have to learn.

BUT WOW, thanks for your last post. BTW I really am sorry it diidn't make you feel better.

Steve