Linguistics.... Re: Datahands (getting OT)

I'm very interested in this topic. I'm finding it hard to resist chiming 
in, but as a moderator I feel obliged to mention that it's getting just 
a bit off the list topic.

Out of curiosity, is there a group that discusses language revival, 
survival, or loss? Let us know, and we can move the topic over there.

Thanks,
Marcus

PS: Recently read that over 3000 languages (half or more of the world 
total) will die with the current generation. Also read (heard in a 
lecture, actually) that something like 95% (98?) of the world population 
speaks one of only 20 languages as a first or second language. I'm not 
sure if there are keyboard layouts for all 20. We could talk about that!

Marco Amans wrote:
> Eduard Werner/Edward Wornar schrieb:
>   
>> So I gather you are a member of the Occitan minority?
>>   
>>     
> This is a difficult question!
>
> Occitan speaking people have the same French national feeling as other 
> French people. There is no Occitan national conscience, except in very 
> limited circles. So very few Occitan people see themselves as members of 
> a national minority. The situation is very different from the situation 
> in Catalonia for example.
>
> My father is a native Occitan speaker, but he has never spoken it with me.
> Until I was aged 15 and discovered old Provençal poetry, I thought 
> Occitan was just a jargon for old and ignorant people.
>
> I have learnt Occitan almost like a foreign language and, sadly, I have 
> almost never the opportunity to speak it with people of my generation (I 
> am 48).
>
> So I feel I cannot really say that I am a member of the Occitan minority.
>
>   


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