Description

You’ve read about the issue of language rights as a human right. You’ve spent some time looking at a particular case as you’ve prepared for your group presentation. We’ve talked about the difficulty associated with language rights (i.e. does granting full rights to use their mother tongue relegate speakers of minority languages to marginal places in society? Or is it simply a matter of personal choice for the individual speaker?). For the second journal assignment, you will write your own stance on the issue of language rights as a human right.

 

In preparing your journal entry, you should try to reflect on some or all of the following:

• What does it mean to say you believe in (or don’t believe in) language rights? In this part of your discussion, you should include some statement of what you understand the term “language rights” to mean, and you should also clearly state your own position with relation to that understanding.
• Think about specific practices you’ve read about or heard about. What are examples of good practices in multilingual societies in your opinion? What are negative examples? You can use information that you found with relation to your reading and preparation for your own presentation or data from the presentation of other groups or from the assigned readings.
• Think about your own position on the issue of language endangerment and language preservation. Would you say that you are a Conservationist, a Preservationist or a Darwinian? What is your view on the issue of loss of linguistic diversity? Is it a bad thing? Why or why not?

 

In no less than one and no more than two typed, single-spaced pages, organize your observations regarding how language is manifested in and important to your personal identity. Please use margins of no more than one inch and a 12-point font.

 

Grading info:

The assignment is worth up to 10 points.

• Clearly address the topic.
• Be sure to include specific and concrete examples relevant to the issues of language rights and minority language use in your discussion.
• Use academic language organized into coherent, well-formed paragraphs.
• Be sure that your text conforms to the guidelines outlined above.

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