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There were deliberate measures to eradicate or at least seriously compromise the viability of all languages except English basically everywhere that is today part of the United States and Canada. That's a historical fact.
I can understand your thinking on the issue as at one time the French lay claim to the majority of the north American land mass until those dastardly English came along and spoiled everything
I can understand your thinking on the issue as at one time the French lay claim to the majority of the north American land mass until those dastardly English came along and spoiled everything
And a whole bunch of other peoples too. Way more than the French in fact.
So you are saying it was a contrived conspiracy to dominate the French?
"In 1919, Maine prohibited speaking French in school, a policy that remained until 1969. That prohibition, combined with anti-immigrant sentiment aimed at French speakers, drove the language underground, said Tony Brinkley, a researcher at the University of Maine Franco-American Center." "Until 1960, a Maine state law forbid the use of any language but English in public school education, and French was of course not allowed in politics."
"Because the use of all other languages, including French, had been banned in the courts of England in 1731, this means that in Nova Scotia (1749), and Prince Edward Island (1769) English becomes the only official language."
"More than a century has passed since French was banned in Ontario elementary schools, but Joanne Gervais said the effects of Regulation 17, which remained in effect 1927, are still being felt today."
"From the 1890s until the 1960s, English was the only language in which most government services were provided outside of Quebec (which was functionally bilingual) and using French in the courts or in schools was often illegal."
"During the first half of the 20th century, there were 60 French language schools in Prince Edward Island. However, due to a consolidation of the school system, the number of French schools declined to only one by the late 70s. A second school opened in 1980 and, 20 years later, three new French schools opened in the province."
There were deliberate measures to eradicate or at least seriously compromise the viability of all languages except English basically everywhere that is today part of the United States and Canada. That's a historical fact.
I can understand your thinking on the issue as at one time the French lay claim to the majority of the north American land mass until those dastardly English came along and spoiled everything
French was banned in the United States and declared illegal until the mid-20th century. That's long after the US became independent and was no more colonized. German was also banned, albeit for different reasons. Dutch was also banned. After French's share has fallen to below 10%, in Lousiana, Maine, etc., the ban on French was suddenly lifted. It was only after the US had turned monolingual, that it allowed other languages than English. "Freedom of language" means in the US nothing more than the freedom of English to take over.
Last edited by QuebecOpec; 05-09-2018 at 02:51 PM..
French was banned in the United States and declared illegal until the mid-20th century. That's long after the US became independent and was no more colonized.
And you likely wouldn't have two thirds of the aboriginal languages in the country with less than 1000 live speakers like you do today.
French was banned in the United States and declared illegal until the mid-20th century. That's long after the US became independent and was no more colonized. German was also banned, albeit for different reasons. Dutch was also banned. After French's share has fallen to below 10%, in Lousiana, Maine, etc., the ban on French was suddenly lifted. It was only after the US had turned monolingual, that it allowed other languages than English. "Freedom of language" means in the US nothing more than the freedom of English to take over.
How could a language be "banned and declared illegal" in the United States? The First Amendment protecting speech is not limited to English only; and the US has no official language, at least not in the Canadian de jure sense (though certainly in the de facto one).
If you are referring to disallowing non-English languages in public schools (except, I presume, for classes designed to teach a foreign language), and American state and federal courts, and government offices providing service in English only and refusing to speak anything else, then I can see your point. But a "ban on French, Dutch, and German" implies to me that those languages were not allowed to be spoken in public, no media in those languages was published or imported, and no businesses could call themselves a name in those languages (if French was illegal, then did the Chez Michel French restaurant have to become House of Michael, with menus printed in English only?). Any state or federal laws banning such things would clearly violate the First Amendment.
I'll grant that the Americans took steps to discourage the use of non-English languages in such publicly-funded spheres as education and government, up to and including a ban on French as the language of everyday instruction in Maine public schools (to use one of your examples). But I am curious as to how any American state or federal government could legally prevent private individuals, businesses, and organizations from communicating in whatever language they wanted; when to do such would be unconstitutional.
ETA in light of AJ's comment: When it comes to indigenous languages, I'll grant that they were made illegal, in both the US and Canada. But I'd suggest that that is a whole other matter, involving a lot more baggage than just language, as we all know.
]How could a language be "banned and declared illegal" in the United States? The First Amendment protecting speech is not limited to English only; and the US has no official language, at least not in the Canadian de jure sense (though certainly in the de facto one).
But a "ban on French, Dutch, and German" implies to me that those languages were not allowed to be spoken in public, no media in those languages was published or imported, and no businesses could call themselves a name in those languages (if French was illegal, then did the Chez Michel French restaurant have to become House of Michael, with menus printed in English only?). Any state or federal laws banning such things would clearly violate the First Amendment.
But I am curious as to how any American state or federal government could legally prevent private individuals, businesses, and organizations from communicating in whatever language they wanted; when to do such would be unconstitutional.
Good that you ask - I'll provide you these information right now on how the US banned all languages other than English.
Here you have for answer: "the First Amendment “is not a guaranty of the right to use a language other than the language of this country—the English language.”§ 19. Print, newspaper or publication in foreign languages
"Ten days after the approval of this act [Oct. 6, 1917] and until the end of the war, it shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, or association, to print, publish, or circulate, or cause to be printed, published, or circulated in any foreign language, any news item, editorial or other printed matter, respecting the Government of the United States, or of any nation engaged in the present war, its policies, international relations, the state or conduct of the war, or any matter relating thereto. ...
Any print, newspaper, or publication in any foreign language which does not conform to the provisions of this section is declared to be nonmailable, and it shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, or association, to transport, carry, or otherwise publish or distribute the same, or to transport, carry or otherwise publish or distribute any matter which is made nonmailable by the provisions of the Act relating to espionage, approved June fifteenth, nineteen hundred and seventeen."
Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/h...9----000-.html
"In addition, new laws regulated the use of foreign languages. Responding to a growing sentiment that using anything but English gave aid and comfort to the enemy, the Trading with the Enemy Act (50 USC Appendix), passed in June, 1917, suppressed the American foreign-language press and declared non-English printed matter unmailable without a certified English translation. Across the country, state and local ordinances forbade the use of foreign languages, urged immigrants to switch to English immediately, and punished those who failed to comply. On May 23, 1918, Iowa Gov. William Harding banned the use of any foreign language in public: in schools, on the streets, in trains, even over the telephone, a more public instrument then than it is today. For Harding, the First Amendment “is not a guaranty of the right to use a language other than the language of this country—the English language.”"
"At the federal level, Congress responded to a new wave of isolationism that was sweeping the country with the Immigration Act of 1924. The law slowed immigration from the nonanglophone countries of Europe to a trickle and denied admission to anyone from just about everywhere else (Asians were banned completely, and in the debate over the bill, Jews were singled out as particularly unassimilable). When immigration re-opened again in 1965, Americans who, after more than 40 years of “reform” simply assumed that their country had always been monolingual, reacted to the new, unfamiliar immigrant languages by declaring English endangered, attacking bilingual education, and passing new laws making English the official language of government, the workplace, and the schools."
Businesses therefore could not work in any language they wanted, it had to be English and they could not choose the language of communication.
Edit: I noticed that you are from Anglo-Canada and not the US. Well, anyway Anglo-Canada and the US have the same beliefs with regards to monolingualism and pseudo freedom of languages and Canada uses "increase bilingualism" as a code word for "let English take over".
Last edited by QuebecOpec; 05-09-2018 at 05:33 PM..
I've personally met people who were still alive back in the day and who'd had their mouths washed out with soap for speaking French and not English in schools in Louisiana.
I am also pretty sure there are still people alive today who went through similar stuff for speaking aboriginal languages in residential schools in Canada.
Some people should read up on John Dewey and education. He grew up in Burlington, Vermont, about an hour from the border with Quebec. I wonder if that's a coincidence.
French was banned in the United States and declared illegal until the mid-20th century. That's long after the US became independent and was no more colonized. German was also banned, albeit for different reasons. Dutch was also banned. After French's share has fallen to below 10%, in Lousiana, Maine, etc., the ban on French was suddenly lifted. It was only after the US had turned monolingual, that it allowed other languages than English. "Freedom of language" means in the US nothing more than the freedom of English to take over.
Your language was banned and you just rolled over and accepted it? no wonder the North American French are now confined to a small area called Quebec, you guys were way to easy to dominate
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