Minority

Shaetlan: a young language with old roots – a Nordic language now officially recognized

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A Danish review of the book can be read here.

Shetland is an archipelago and it belongs administratively to Scotland. Scotland belongs administratively to the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is liberated from the European Union, but it used to be part of the EU. The British do not feel European, at least a small majority, so they brexited. The Scots do not feel English, but they are not allowed to vote for independence. The Shetlanders do not feel Scottish, and there are a fair few who would like to have Home Rule, somewhat like the Faroe Islands have within the Danish Kingdom. There are some 23,000 people in Shetland (yes, IN Shetland, not ON Shetland). They have their … ↪

Now recognized: An old language with Scandinavian roots in the North Sea

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Shetland landskab

Shaetlan is a Mixed Language spoken in the Shetland archipelago, the northernmost part of the UK. As shown in the blog from 2022, it emerged due to a long drawn contact situation. There was a situation stable of Norn/Scots bilingualism. Norn was a West Scandinavian variety and Scots a West Germanic variety. This bilingualism was additionally in sustained contact with the Dutch/Low Germanic varieties. Those were spoken by those involved in the Hanseatic and Dutch fishing trades. This multilingual ecology led to Shaetlan, a Grammar-Lexicon Mixed Language with a predominantly Scandinavian grammar, but with a mainly Anglian vocabulary.

Shaetlan serves as an example after the fact for Bakker’s type of mixed languages that he calls G-L languages. These tend … ↪

Tamazight – Language, power, and identity in North Africa

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Berber flag.svg

This is a translation and updated version by Mena B. Lafkioui of her original article in Dutch, which can be read here. A Danish translation is available here.

Language is central to the Amazigh claim. Through language, the Imazighen are able to understand and fully appreciate their millennia-old and richly layered linguistic and cultural heritage. At the same time, language functions as a crucial symbol and instrument of power. If the Imazighen wish to preserve and further develop their Amazighness or Tamuzgha – that is, their transnational collective Amazigh identity – then speaking and writing in Tamazight is indispensable.

The vast majority of today’s North African population descends from the Imazighen, the original inhabitants of the region. Tamazgha, … ↪

On linguistic inequality and means to fight it

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(Danish version)

(Spanish version)

On March 1st, Donald Trump signed an executive order “Designating English as the Official Language of The United States.”[1] This is a symbolic gesture, for sure, to fuel the nationalist discourse that helped Trump reach the White House again. A confirmation, also, of the hostile history of the country toward multilingualism. A recent post on Lingoblog explained that American settlers’ annexation of native peoples’ land resulted in the loss of 90% of the languages once spoken in the territory.[2] The fate of immigrant languages has not been much better. Assimilation to English by the third generation has been the norm in the country. It is not by chance that the … ↪

Call for applications: take part in the 14th edition of Liet International, the competition for songs in minority languages ​​in Bastia, Corsica!

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Liet

You can read a Danish version of the article here, a French version here and a Corsican version here.

On Friday 22nd of November 2024, Bastia will host the 14th edition of Liet International, the European minority language song contest for singers and bands who sing in a European regional or minority language, created in 2002. After thirteen previous editions in Friesland (The Netherlands), Sápmi (Sweden), Brittany/Breizh (France), Udin/Udine (Italy), Xixón/Gijón (Spain), Oldenburg (northern part of Germany), Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino (Norway), Ljouwert/Leeuwarden (Friesland, the Netherlands) and Tønder/Tondern (Denmark), Liet International will visit Corsica for the first time. 

ViaStella, the local TV network, branch of France Télévisions, in charge of the live broadcast of the show in Centru Culturale Alb’Oru. For … ↪