nooj wrote:Save me your misplaced outrage, if you've read any of my previous posts, you know I am a opponent of imperialist, colonialist languages like English, Spanish, Russian, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Chinese etc and the states behind them. Do we need to have a contest of 'I am more opposed to linguistic imperialism'? I'm sure I'd win.
I'm not sure why you're trying to convert this into a pissing contest. It isn't.
nooj wrote:But persecution, unless it is straight out genocide (read my previous posts on how the British acted towards the peoples of my country), can take many forms, and psychic violence is just as important as physical violence. Parents are to blame for not transmitting their language, in the sense that they accept and regurgitate the same linguistic ideology that they are brainwashed into.
This doesn't make any sense. How are parents to blame for violence committed against them?
nooj wrote:I've heard uncountable accounts from kids (now adults), who relate how their parents refused to teach them the language, because 'it's a useless language, it won't be good for anything'. Certainly they are victims, but brainwashed victims can also be powerful perpetuators of the abuse. Taking the example of France, the best agents that the monolingual state ever had was native speakers of their languages who were convinced that their languages were worth nothing.
If you don't believe me, read actual members from minority language communities. I can cite you Breton language activists who believe in a 'psychic shock' that turned a language community of over a million strong at the start of the century into 150,000 something now. Their argument is that Bretons became convinced and convinced themselves that their language was worth nothing.
Part of language revitalisation must also involve psychological healing and fortification.
Of course; there are similar tales of linguistic trauma from indigenous peoples in the Americas and Australia. But it makes no sense to claim that it was the parents' own fault. It wasn't.