Klarinet Archive - Posting 000356.txt from 2004/03

From: Audrey Travis <vsofan@------.ca>
Subj: Re: [kl] English and American
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 17:41:28 -0500

Joe, my sense over the years is that when people talk about Quebecois (I'm Canadian and know nothing about Cajun so I won't comment on that), people *are* denigrating Quebecois as being inferior to true Frech as spoken in France. Perhaps some of the British are suggesting the same
about English as spoken in the States. Not that I agree - I believe that all languages change and evolve according to need and environment and I agree that there are dialects of the same language, sometimes so different that speakers of 2 different dialects can barely understand
one another. But my main point is that my experience, based on inflection, facial expressions and body language is that people who talk about these 2 dialects as being inferior really do mean it.

Cheers

Audrey

Joe Fasel wrote:

>
> I've heard people claim that Québécois or Cajun French "isn't
> French", but that's hyperbole: They don't really mean it.
> I don't think anyone seriously denies that these are dialects
> of a single supranational language, just as all the dialects
> on both sides of the pond and in the Commonwealth are all
> English. This was all I meant by saying that the phrase
> "the American language" is silly.