Dialects and languages dying in Texas

[Valmy]

http://www.utexas.edu/features/2010/01/11/dying_languages/

especially:

Most linguists agree about 6,000 languages exist in the world today, and in the next century about 90 percent will disappear.

5,400 languages dying, just 599 more to kill.  Go English!

[Zanza]

I read an interesting article recently about what they called "Globish" - a dumbed-down version of English. Most non-native speakers only know about 1500-2000 words, don't understand idioms etc. That's actually a big problem for the British diplomats at the EU apparently. Everybody there speaks English and understands each other just fine - until the British appear and speak in their much more complicated English that no one gets.

[Barrister]

While there are some remarkable languages out there that are on the endangered species list, are "Texas German" and "Texas Czech" really worthy of study?

Send some linguists up here.  Yukon has a dozen or so first nations languages, all spoken by very few people, that are at risk of being forgotten to history.

[Slargos]

Once White has turned into a brownish shade of sludge, does it really matter what language those freaks of nature will speak?

[Lettow77]

 That's a bit overly critical, Slargos. Whites have a future in Texas, as well as hispanics. It it a successful fusion there- Texas is a multicultural success story, as far as such things exist.

[Slargos]

That's a bit overly critical, Slargos. Whites have a future in Texas, as well as hispanics. It it a successful fusion there- Texas is a multicultural success story, as far as such things exist.

Pfft. I give it another 50 years. 100 at the most.

[DisturbedPervert]

I read an interesting article recently about what they called "Globish" - a dumbed-down version of English. Most non-native speakers only know about 1500-2000 words, don't understand idioms etc. That's actually a big problem for the British diplomats at the EU apparently. Everybody there speaks English and understands each other just fine - until the British appear and speak in their much more complicated English that no one gets.

They shouldn't feel bad.  I can't understand the British either.

[Grinning_Colossus]

Once White has turned into a brownish shade of sludge, does it really matter what language those freaks of nature will speak?

Yes. Language shapes thought, and English-speaking peoples have the best record of any of expanding the rights of man and furthering technological progress. Just think of how clearly and precisely you can express your thoughts here in English versus the inchoate mess that must pass for an internal monologue in your guttural arctic mother tongue.

[Slargos]

Once White has turned into a brownish shade of sludge, does it really matter what language those freaks of nature will speak?

Yes. Language shapes thought, and English-speaking peoples have the best record of any of expanding the rights of man and furthering technological progress. Just think of how clearly and precisely you can express your thoughts here in English versus the inchoate mess that must pass for an internal monologue in your guttural arctic mother tongue.

Precious. 

[Ed Anger]

While there are some remarkable languages out there that are on the endangered species list, are "Texas German" and "Texas Czech" really worthy of study?

Send some linguists up here.  Yukon has a dozen or so first nations languages, all spoken by very few people, that are at risk of being forgotten to history.

Fuck the Injuns.

[dps]

A

While there are some remarkable languages out there that are on the endangered species list, are "Texas German" and "Texas Czech" really worthy of study?

Send some linguists up here.  Yukon has a dozen or so first nations languages, all spoken by very few people, that are at risk of being forgotten to history.

Fuck the Injuns.

Are they HOTT?

[Barrister]

A

While there are some remarkable languages out there that are on the endangered species list, are "Texas German" and "Texas Czech" really worthy of study?

Send some linguists up here.  Yukon has a dozen or so first nations languages, all spoken by very few people, that are at risk of being forgotten to history.

Fuck the Injuns.

Are they HOTT?

Some are.

[alfred russel]

While there are some remarkable languages out there that are on the endangered species list, are "Texas German" and "Texas Czech" really worthy of study?

Send some linguists up here.  Yukon has a dozen or so first nations languages, all spoken by very few people, that are at risk of being forgotten to history.

Maybe linguists would rather study Texas German in the US instead of first nation languages in the yukon.

[ulmont]

I read an interesting article recently about what they called "Globish" - a dumbed-down version of English. Most non-native speakers only know about 1500-2000 words, don't understand idioms etc.

Sounds like the "Special English" that the Voice of America uses.
http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/about_special_english.cfm

[Darth Wagtaros]

I am concerned about the near extinction of Breton and Cornish.  The rest can be fucked for all Mb cares.