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ManandCulturesintheFaceofThreat...
authoritiesareAnglo-Saxonand/orwriteinEnglish.Maybeitisnotsosurprising
-itisthem,bydefinition,whoshouldbestseetheincreasingdisappearanceof
culturaldifferencesuponwhichtheirveryscienceisbased.
Years,nay,decadesagoMajorWilliamMarmadukeThompsonwrote:
EveryoneknowsthatsincethewholeworldisEnglish-speaking,theEnglishman’s
privilegeistounderstandnolanguageotherthanhisown.Andevenifhedoesun-
derstandinnocasemusthestooptolettingitbebelievedthathedoes.7
OneNapoleonBuonaparte-aCorsican,letusremember,sointhefinal
countthesonofalinguisticminority-issometimesreportedtohavesaidthat
amanspeakingonlyonelanguageisworthhisown50%.
Thetwomostsuccessfullanguagerevivalsofthe20thcentury,Cornishatits
onsetandHawaiiantowardsitsend,arebothlocatedintheareastodayalmost
unanimouslyregardedEnglish-speakingonly.TheCornishandtheHawaiians
alreadyareinthelanguageGardenofParadise.Theydonotseemtorelishit.
HenryJenner,thefatheroftheCornishrevivalmovement,hadthefollowing
tosay:
WhyshouldCornishmenlearnCornish?Thereisnomoneyinit,itservesnopracti-
calpurpose,andtheliteratureisscantyandofnogreatantiquityorvalue.Theques-
tionisafairone,theanswerissimple.BecausetheyareCornish.8
Herewecometotheconceptofparamountimportancetobothaphilologist
andaculturalanthropologist,and,dareIventuretosuggest,toeverythinking
memberofthehumanrace.Thenameis“identity”.Today’sworldseemstobeon
themoveasneverbefore.Nobodyis,oratleastshouldbe,surprisedattheTurks
inGermany,theArabsinFrance,thePakistanisinNorway,allthepeoplesofthe
lateBritishEmpireintheUnitedKingdom,andforthatmatter,theVietnamese
inPoland.9ThereislittledoubtthatIcanearnmuchmoreelsewherethaninmy
7QuotedfromPierreDaninos,MajorThompsonLivesinFrance,London1957,p.67.
8ThisstatementcomesfromJenner’sTheGrammaroftheCornishLanguage,London1904.
IquoteitafterPeterBerresfordEllis,TheCornishLanguageanditsLiterature,LondonandBos-
ton1974,p.153.
9AstheVietnamesearethelargesttrulyOrientalcommunityinPolandletmementionthe
twomajorstudiesofthatgrouppublishedrecently:TeresaHalikandEwaNowicka,Wietnamczycy
wPolsce.Integracjaczyizolacja?(TheVietnameseinPoland:IntegrationorIsolation?,publ.by
theUniversityofWarsawin2002)andAdamJelonek,Wietnamczycy.Systemywartości,stereo-
typyZachodu(TheVietnamese:ValueSystems,WesternStereotypes,publ.byScholarPublishers,
Warsaw2004).
