Official regulation of English

[stefan_kar]

Why does the English langauge not have any official regulation and are there any plans to make it regulated?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ural_languages

[Anglika]

Originally Posted by stefan_kar

Why does the English langauge not have any official regulation and are there any plans to make it regulated?

List of language regulators - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Why should it have such restrictions placed on it? Attempts have been made in the past and they have never succeeded.

It benefits from having great flexibility and freedom to change.

[konungursvia]

It is totally against the grain in the English-speaking world to regulate English. Basically, we recognize it's a free mixture of Anglo-Saxon, French, Latin, Greek and every other language, and no single regulatory style would suit it, therefore, regulation would merely stifle it.

Also, we are politically inclined toward freedom of choice..... generally speaking. I'd bet 99% of English speakers would be against setting up something like the Académie Française.

Just as Shakespeare knew of the Three Unities and other generic restrictions and traditions in classical theatre, he never chose to follow them -- and he ended up being the greatest dramaturge of all time. That is English!

[Tdol]

Originally Posted by stefan_kar

Why does the English langauge not have any official regulation and are there any plans to make it regulated?

List of language regulators - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Who could represent such an international language in an official capacity? I'm not convinced that regulation would achieve much; I think it would generate a lot of friction and its decisions would be ignored. Webster managed to change AmE spelling without consulting such a body and I think that the ease with which English can change is one of its great strengths, so putting a brake on it might be counterproductive.

[Hortence]

As I'm a speaker of French, I'm absolutely in agreement with you. Not that I don't like my native language, on the contrary, but rather because Francophone from Québec are debating with the Académie française and their own Office de la langue française over words for so many years now. The French language would be more dynamic and attractive if its lexis were fixed by common usage like it is in English.

[Tdol]

And how successful are these boards? The Académie Française doesn't seem to be making much ground in convincing people not to use English loan words. When I was living in Portugal, the government of the day had a go at spelling reform, adopting some Brazilian Portuguese spellings, but everyone just carried on the way they always had. In a country like the UK with our 'metric martyrs', market stallholders who wouldn't use the metric system and were all over the papers, the more excitable sections of the media would have a field day.

[Hortence]

The Office de la langue française, in Québec, isn't that successful in pushing French words over English one in oral communication since, as you know, words live their own life no matter what is done to stop it; it's useful though in helping speakers of foreign languages to integrate the French community, which, I must say, they don't do heartily. English is essential in America and French is not seen as being part of their American dream: Money speaks in English here! In my mind, it’s the responsibility of the French speakers in America to keep their language alive by reinventing and using it toward and against all. No institution will ever succeed in imposing a formal lexis to a population without their complicity. This should be done the other way round.

[SUDHKAMP]

Languages and its words are coined in common man's tongue mint. Any effort to regulate such process would prove counter productive for the language.

[konungursvia]

Originally Posted by Hortence

The Office de la langue française, in Québec, isn't that successful in pushing French words over English one in oral communication since, as you know, words live their own life no matter what is done to stop it; it's useful though in helping speakers of foreign languages to integrate the French community, which, I must say, they don't do heartily. English is essential in America and French is not seen as being part of their American dream: Money speaks in English here! In my mind, it’s the responsibility of the French speakers in America to keep their language alive by reinventing and using it toward and against all. No institution will ever succeed in imposing a formal lexis to a population without their complicity. This should be done the other way round.

Unfortunately, this is the flip-side of the love for freedom I was lauding in the Anglo-Saxons. Forced integration is, in the English-speaking world, inhuman to the point of bordering on fascism. Sorry for the thorny words, but I think that's a true statement of how it's seen in English-speaking countries, where no one tells you to eat your hard-boiled egg at a certain time of day, or to refrain from wearing anything foreign on your head....

Vive la liberté !

[Hortence]

"(...) inhuman to the point of bordering on fascism." Yes, these are words for which one should say sorry. Forced integration was a route error, but Quebekers will get out of it stronger and better for they are a profoundly democratic society. Vive la liberté!