Enthusiasts for threatened languages and cultures express views such as that "diversity of languages is a value in itself, similar to biodiversity," that "each language has value in itself, and it should be preserved, perhaps like a work of art," and that "languages are essential to peoples and nations. Language is related to identity, culture, and memory. Language erosion is cultural genocide."1 These views have gained ground in recent years.
Even Paris, long hostile towards minority languages (a minister in a former government asserted that for the sake of French unity the Breton language must disappear), has, albeit rather grudgingly, more or less accepted their right to exist.
Taking this chauvinist attitude further, the author of a French book on the metric system went so far as to claim that the twin pillars of civilisation are the French language and the metric system!
The double standards in relation to the cultural heritage of Britain can increasingly be seen from the attitude on the one hand to the minority languages as a precious heritage to be protected, and on the other to our traditional weights and measures as something to be derided and abandoned.
Not long ago it was a common practice to punish children who spoke Welsh or Gaelic at school in the classroom or the playground. The same attitude often resulted in forcing left-handed children to write with the right hand, however unhappily. Both prejudices have since been very largely abandoned.
Yet officialdom’s view is that our weights and measures are culturally and practically of little worth, and that the widespread preference in Britain for them is something we must be forced to get over.
Government initiatives fostering Europe’s linguistic cultures are in stark contrast to the attitude shown towards Britain’s measurement heritage. Why is there no respect for our popular, practical, traditional weights and measures, which have long been part of our language and culture?
Compulsory abandonment of traditional means of measurement is in remarkable contrast with the totally different attitude now adopted by European governments towards minority languages.
The Council of Ministers Convention of the Council of Europe approved in 1992 the European Charter of Regional and Minority Languages.
This stated that, "Considering that the protection of the historical regional or minority languages of Europe, some of which are in danger of eventual extinction, contributes to the maintenance and development of Europe's cultural wealth and traditions;
Considering that the right to use a regional or minority language in private and public life is an inalienable right conforming to the principles embodied in the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political rights, and according to the spirit of the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms;" etc, various objectives and principles were agreed. Among these were the following:
Also, "In determining their policy with regard to regional or minority languages, the Parties shall take into consideration the needs and wishes expressed by the groups which use such languages."2
The Council of Europe adopted the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 1992. After five ratifications the Charter came into force on March 1st, 1998. In 1994, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. After twelve ratifications the Convention came into effect on February 1st, 1998.3
The EU claims a deep interest in Europe’s diverse heritage. The Treaty on European Union, signed in 1992 (the Maastricht Treaty) states that, "The Union shall respect the national identities of its Member States".
We are told that, "The Treaty on the European Union … mentions the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Member States in its Article 126 (Education, Vocational Training and Youth) and pledges respect to their national and regional diversity in Article 128 (Culture).
The European Commission has "subsidized initiatives for the promotion and defence of the minority languages of the European Union, both at European level — like the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages and the Mercator Information Network — and specific projects of the various linguistic communities." The European Parliament "has had an Intergroup for Minority Languages since 1983. The Intergroup is made up of members of nearly all the political groups within the Parliament and meets regularly each month".4
EBLUL speaks for about 50 million EU citizens who speak a language other than the official language of the State in which they live.
The Bureau promotes and defends the autochthonous regional or minority languages of the countries of the European Union and the linguistic rights of those who speak these languages.
Since 1984 EBLUL "has thus been uncovering Europe's hidden linguistic heritage and offering speakers of regional and minority languages a voice at European level, a voice that represents an integral part of our common European culture and which enriches the present and future of the Union, in whose shape all citizens have a role to play", so ensuring the future of "Europe's linguistic mosaic".
In 1981 the European Parliament adopted the Arfé Resolution. A second resolution was adopted two years later in which the Commission of the European Communities was asked to continue to intensify its activities to promote these languages. One of the ways to do this was to set up an organisation to represent minority or regional language speakers at European level.
In 1987 the European Parliament's Kuijpers Resolution pointed out that EC Member State Governments and the European Commission should propose some concrete directives for the conservation and the promotion of the regional or minority languages and cultures of the European Community.
In 1994 the European Parliament — with an almost unanimous vote — adopted the Killilea Resolution on linguistic and cultural minorities. This text endorses the previous Resolutions and urges the Member States to support the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of the Council of Europe; it also calls on the European Council and the European Commission to continue their support and encouragement for European organisations representing linguistic communities.5
The following Internet sites provide the relevant texts:
1. http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Paul.Treanor/eulang.html
2. http://www.troc.es/ciemen/mercator/CE2-GB.HTM
3. http://www.eblul.org/i-gb.htm
4. http://europa.eu.int/abc/obj/treaties/en/entr2b.htm
5. http://www.eblul.org/WHAT2-GB.HTM
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