Tuesday 27 October 2015

Don't Speak That! It's Not Yours...

Does a language 'belong' to its native speakers?

By definition, something that belongs to us is something that we own, control, have control over. We can own a car, yes. If you take my car you're punishable by law. But what if you speak my language? Have I got the right to take your words from your mouth, to tell you you're not welcome in my language?



Are native speakers the ones who make the rules?

When language is borrowed, it is changed. The quirks of EU English, Globish, Chinglish, or any of the miscellaneous mashes of language that people speak every day, show it. Do native speakers have the right to take English back from those who are using it in a different way?

Do native speakers have the right to stop others from using their language?

Can English (or French, Chinese, or Hindi...) be patented, licensed and distributed in controlled amounts?

No.

Language is interchange, currency, commodity. Who owns money? (But who owns it, really?) Who owns electricity? Who owns the air in your lungs?

Language exists in the space between people. By using it, we give it away. When we release language into the world it's subject to interpretation, misunderstanding, judgement, plagiarism, endless mixing and remixing. And then it's not ours any more.

To truly 'own' language we would have to never communicate, to keep it locked up in a box.

If we 'own' language we are like dormant volcanoes.

The true value of language is not in its possession but in its use.

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