Linguae Europaeae

by Arturo Vergara | Editor: Jessica Nicholas (PhD Candidate in French) Bio: Arturo Vergara, a bilingual speaker of English and Spanish, is a Senior in Psychology. In this bilingual blog entry on Manx, written for the ‘Language and Minorities in Europe’ (418) EUC survey class, he draws the reader into the universe of customs and sounds of a tiny regional minority language of the British Isles: Manx. La Isla de Man… Tal vez están pensando que ese lugar es simplemente irreal, un lugar de ficción, como una Isla Paradisíaca, el lugar de origen de la Mujer Maravilla y sus Amazonas. Bueno, eso no es, y la foto no es un “meme” de internet en alguna lengua irreal. Es tan real como la computadora que estás usando. Es malo que no podemos decir eso con certeza sobre el lenguaje que hablan en esta isla. La situación concerniente al idioma es una de esas historias que no tienes ni idea de qué se refiere hasta que ¡ZAS! La noticia te pega en la cara como cuando alguien te golpea con un...

by Arturo Vergara | Editor: Jessica Nicholas (PhD Candidate in French) Bio: Arturo Vergara, a bilingual speaker of English and Spanish, is a Senior in Psychology. In this bilingual blog entry on Manx, written for the ‘Language and Minorities in Europe’ (418) EUC survey class, he draws the reader into the universe of customs and sounds of a tiny regional minority language of the British Isles: Manx. The Isle of Man…  You may be thinking that the place is simply made up, a place as fictional as Paradise Island…the homeland of Wonder Woman and her Amazons. Well, it is not and that picture is not a meme in some made up language. It is as real as the computer you are staring at. Too bad we cannot say that with certainty for the language spoken in this island. The situation concerning the language is one of those stories you have no idea about until, BAM! The news hits you like someone swinging a sack of potatoes to your face to get your full attention. Image Source Well th...

by Josh Erb | editor: Jessica Nicholas, PhD Candidate in French | Josh Erb is a Senior in Global Studies. Josh is interested in many topics related to cultural heritage, policy and identity, and was attracted to Celtic languages in a class session devoted to language endangerment and the revitalization of insular regional minority languages in Europe (418). In this blog entry, he makes an inspiring plea for revitalizing the seriously endangered Celtic language of Manx.  In 1974, Edward ("Ned") Maddrell, the last native speaker of Manx Gaelic, died . “So what?” you would be tempted to ask. Why should anyone be concerned with the loss of one language in a world that has approximately 6,500 or more? What significance does the loss of a man named Ned Maddrell and his mother tongue have for the rest of us? In our globalized world, we are often hard-pressed to find answers to these questions. This is especially true for those of us who were blessed with being native spe...