FYI: J.R.R. Tolkien on the importance of l14n

From: John Cowan (cowan@locke.ccil.org)
Date: Mon Jun 14 1999 - 11:13:17 EDT


From J.R.R. Tolkien, "English and Welsh", repr. _The Monsters And
The Critics_, ISBN 0-395-35635-0:

# Málin eru höfuðeinkenni þjóðanna --- 'Languages are
# the chief distinguishing marks of peoples. No people
# in fact comes into being until it speaks a language
# of its own; let the languages perish and the peoples
# perish too, or become different peoples. But that
# never happens except as the result of oppression and
# distress.'
#
# These are the words of a little-known Icelander of
# the early nineteenth century, Sjéra Tómas Sæmundsson.
# He had, of course, primarily in mind the part played
# by the cultivated Icelandic language in spite of
# poverty, lack of power, and insignificant numbers,
# in keeping the Icelanders in being in desperate times.
# But the words might as well apply to the Welsh of Wales,
# who have also loved and cultivated their language for
# its own sake (not as an aspirant for the ruinous honor
# of becoming the lingua franca of the world), and who by it
# and with it maintain their identity.
(p. 166)

-- 
John Cowan      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
                        e'osai ko sarji la lojban



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