Blog 15 - Mixing in English: Deal or No Deal?

Bilingual speakers often mix the two languages that they know, as we have discussed extensively in class. This phenomenon has been noticed by Welsh speakers who often times slip English into their speech. Language purists claim that this mixture of Welsh and English is “watering down” the Welsh language and Welsh speakers who talk in Welglish (which is an entirely made up word) sometimes feel guilty for diluting their native language. This belief that mixing languages weakens them seems to be fairly common among language purists across cultures. I remember having an analogous conversation about Spanglish earlier in this quarter. However, in Wales, many language campaigners and academics believe that by slipping English into their speech, people are actually helping sustain the Welsh language and are in fact sustaining it. They maintain that the usage of English words in Welsh is merely a natural change in the language and “the fact that a language was constantly changing proved it was alive.”

I thought that this perspective has some really interesting consequences and raises some really intriguing questions. What about languages which haven’t changed in centuries, like Icelandic? Are they still alive? Do the language purists have any merit in opposing mixing languages? Is this mixing of languages just another example of the hegemony of the English language? And then at the root of this issue, is it actually beneficial to have English slowly seeping into Welsh, or any other language for that matter?

The first question posed above challenges the claim that live languages must be dynamic and adaptive to the times. In other words, they must change to be alive. The most immediate counterexample that I could think of was the Icelandic language, which I wrote about nearly a month and a half ago. Not a single word from the oldest preserved Icelandic texts written around 1100 CE has changed. Nonetheless people continue to speak Icelandic and it’s the primary language of Iceland and so it’s almost definitely alive. However, although it seems to be a static language, I think it is changing and evolving. Although the words from 1100 CE are all the same and grammatical constructions are the same, today there are some new words in Icelandic to describe new languages. The government either uses old words or coins new words based upon Icelandic roots to describe new concepts, like the Internet or a telephone. They just don’t use other languages whatsoever. So, although Icelandic entirely resists foreign influence, it slowly adds new words and concepts. Similarly, I think that all live languages must change by necessity simply because people and societies and cultures change. By our nature, we create and innovate, and these creations and innovations often cannot be described by current constructions and vocabulary. So, languages must develop new constructions. Otherwise, the language will become obsolete, which is basically a polite way of saying that it will die. Therefore, I think that mutability is a legitimate criterion for deeming a language alive.

What about the language purists? I think because of our recognition of the importance of diversity, we tend to instinctively scoff at language purists who try to protect languages from outside influences (at least I know I do). However, they do have some valid points and concerns. Languages are an integral part of their cultures and the use of English threatens to slowly erode languages, and thereby erode their cultures. Although the use of English seems innocuous and this destructive process may be a long and gradual, it still poses a threat. Although diversity is great and commendable, it shouldn’t come at the cost of severely crippling a culture. So, the language purists have some justification in their attempts to protect their native language from foreign languages and particularly from English. After all, English has regularly been a hegemonic influence in the past because of colonial history and its widespread use.

So, the question remains, is this hegemonic influence a good thing? It certainly has benefits and costs. But do the benefits outweigh the costs? By hegemonic influence, I mean that English seeps into other languages and sometimes replaces them entirely. As for benefits, by having elements of English in a wider group of people, or just by having a wider group of people speaking English, international and intercultural communication becomes that much easier, which is tremendously important in our ever-globalizing world. Also, many would argue that this process of incorporating foreign languages is a natural one. I don’t think that this is necessarily a benefit as it’s a fallacy of logic (Argumentum ad naturam) to claim that something is good simply because it’s natural. As for costs, we have the language purists’ concerns that the introduction of English into another language diminishes that language’s integrity. By diluting the language, the introduction of English effectively dilutes the native culture as well. So I think this is the trade-off that the Welsh face by mixing English and their native language: Increased intercultural communication in exchange for giving up some amount of cultural identity.

However, I think that they can control just how much of their cultural identity they will lose by using English. As long as they are prudent about maintaining the usage of Welsh, they will retain the important parts of their Welsh identity. They just need to be careful that English doesn’t overrun their native language. If the Welsh act accordingly, as I think they will, I’m fairly sure that they will reap the benefits of using English without giving up anything significant. So, although the language purists may still not be enthralled, I think that the academics and language campaigners referenced in this article are on the right track. After all, languages do change and the world doesn’t fall apart every time that they do.



http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/wales-news/2007/11/24/how-a-few-english-words-can-help-to-keep-our-welsh-language-alive-91466-20153846/