Home: Forum: English: The USA has NO Official language

The USA has NO Official language

Damian   Sun Jun 22, 2008 10:39 am GMT

mjd: I humbly yield to what you said! Maybe I need to stop relying too much on the information I get from that much quoted (by me) website British Expats in the USA, but I have to say that a fair wee number of them have been taken aback by some of the comments made by some Americans they have met over there who appear to genuinely believe that the English Language is something which evolved in the USA following 1776! I know it's very difficult to think that could be true but that's what some of the Brits have said in their posts on the site, so unless they are born liars or are mentally defective in some way (highly unlikely!) I take what they say as factual. In my job that can be pretty hazardous, believe me when I say that! ;-) OK - let's pinpoint everything down to that prime date in American History - 04/07/1776 OR, as you understand it - 07/04/1776! Consider the Declaration of American Independence Dpocument: At the signing of the Declaration of Independence the new established "States of America" were represented as follows: New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton Every single name (with the possible exception of the last name Paca, in Maryland) is thoroughly British, and many such names are found all over the UK today. Indeed, many of the signatories of that document were actually Scotsmen, and i can also see three names which suggest the guys came from Wales originally. In the light of all this, I truly concede that you guys have every right to claim the English Language as genuinely YOURS! It's yours to do what you like with, and that you certainly have done....in your own inimitable way! ;-) It all adds to the richness and variety of OUR common Language! Now I'm off out to meet some of my mates where we can all communicate in our own variety of the Language - basically Scots, with a touch of our own version of Scottish style RP, with maybe just a hint of Scottish style Estuary in some of us. What an amazingly interesting Language we all share! Cheers!

Amabo   Sun Jun 22, 2008 1:59 pm GMT

"You are an idiot mate, no surprise English is a spelling mess, chaotic gramar with americanisms and britishisms that conflict. English is crying for an academic body to clean the junk and standardise the spelling mess. Please help your children learn a decent language, and help yourself to spell it right without a spell checker." English is crying out for absolutely nothing. It is used across the globe as the international language of politics and economics. The UN uses it, the EU uses it and multinational corporations depend on it every second of the day. Sorry pal, English is on a roll; it's doing just fine, thank you. You can keep your silly academy.

Amabo   Sun Jun 22, 2008 2:05 pm GMT

"I suggest IPA as the standard spelling. That'd be cool" If you imposed IPA as the "standard spelling" it would no longer be IPA but just another alphabet. IPA is used to represent actual spoken sounds, not "standard language." If IPA were the English alphabet, spelling would have to vary to accommodate every dialect.

Johnny   Sun Jun 22, 2008 3:15 pm GMT

<<If IPA were the English alphabet, spelling would have to vary to accommodate every dialect. >> Yes, that's why it would be cool. Why should I write "bury", if I don't say "bury", but "berry"? Why should you write "centre" instead of "center", when there are no "r sounds" in it? Write "centa", lol. The fact is that English spelling makes no sense, and I can imagine a day when there will be several dialects that are 100% mutually intelligible but still written the same way. Maybe in 2190, "red" in California English, "rut" in London English, and "rout" in Sydney English will sound the same, and "No trespassing" will be written the same but... incomprehensible. Nay trunpassel! lol

Amabo   Sun Jun 22, 2008 3:23 pm GMT

"The fact is that English spelling makes no sense." Actually it makes perfect sense. Obviously it must since we are all successfully reading and understanding each other's posts.

Skippy   Sun Jun 22, 2008 3:28 pm GMT

The US never adopted an official language because the language-division was largely state-based. Congress thought that the states would be better suited to decide what an "official language" would be and how much they were willing to allocate to spend on translating. In Pennsylvania, German was widely spoken, for example. There is a myth (I think called the Muhlenberg Myth) which says that Americans would all be speaking German were it not for one vote in 1795 that made English the official language. In reality, this was just a discussion of whether or not certain documents would be translated on state funds.

Guest   Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:21 pm GMT

Amabo, you are most certainly incorrect. English was spoken, yes, but those foreign languages didn't just disappear. There were still huuuuuuuuuuuge Dutch speaking populations left in New Jersey and upstate New York, huge German speaking populations in Pennsylvania, etc. The US has never, ever, evvvvvvver been a monolingual country.

Guest   Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:25 pm GMT

Of course by the 19th century everyone was forced by law to learn English, so that ended that. Imagine doing something like that now.

Spanglish   Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:39 pm GMT

"English is crying out for absolutely nothing. It is used across the globe as the international language of politics and economics. The UN uses it, the EU uses it and multinational corporations depend on it every second of the day. " The international English is nothing like British English. The British English needs an Academy, to regulate the literary language otherwise Brits will end up speaking shitty slang, and have a denatured grammar by the international speakers that make their own rules, and you'll end up speaking Spanglish. Unofficially British English is regulated by the BBC (a bloody TV/Media instead of a Real linguistic academy) and the American English is regulated by McDonalds...

Guest   Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:40 pm GMT

ahahaha McDonalds. The only people who eat at McDonalds are Europeans and poor people.

Guest   Sun Jun 22, 2008 8:12 pm GMT

Again, people here should know that British English is unofficially regulated by the BBC (BBC English), but the real problem is; the Language should not be regulated by a commercial television channel, and needs a proper Linguistic Academy. However Britain has no such linguistic institutions in place, and because English drastically changed with every invasion from the continent. Linguistically Modern English is quite an immature language, and didn't have the time to mature, while emerging into numerous international variants. I think BBC should do other things and stop regulating the British English.

Guest   Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:53 am GMT

"[T]he Language... needs a proper Linguistic Academy." What do you people not understand here? English is fine, thanks. It needs no help from a "proper" academy of any sort. Very statist European thinking. Doesn't go over at all with English speakers.

Amabo   Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:58 am GMT

That last posting was mine, by the way. "Amabo, you are most certainly incorrect. English was spoken, yes, but those foreign languages didn't just disappear. There were still huuuuuuuuuuuge Dutch speaking populations left in New Jersey and upstate New York, huge German speaking populations in Pennsylvania, etc. The US has never, ever, evvvvvvver been a monolingual country." Did I say it was? I merely pointed out the obvious: the other languages were and are irrelevant since English was - and remains - the "lingua franca" if you will. I believe you'll find the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were both written in - surprise! - English. Now why would that be?

Guest   Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:48 am GMT

"English is fine, thanks. It needs no help from a "proper" academy of any sort." Typical american ignorant. No English is not fine, American English is full of slang and detested by the British, and regarded as very uncultivated.

Money Talks   Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:57 am GMT

American English is not a Cultural Language, and you dont really need an academy to regulate a commercial language like American English, and nobody cares anyway. British English (received pronunciation) as a prestigious language is already regulated by many unofficial English academies.