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From: Aidan Kehoe <kehoea@parhasard.net>
Newsgroups: sci.lang
Subject: Re: Alice Masak French died (5-7-2013)
Date: Sat, 06 Jul 2024 21:53:22 +0100
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 Ar an séiú lá de mí Iúil, scríobh Ross Clark: 

 > [...] Crystal quotes passages relating to the present state of the Inuit
 > language and the difficulties of carrying it on.

It’s rare to see it explicitly stated that the usual dynamic (absent active
efforts to extirpate a language) is economic; Irish-language communities on the
west coast, Yakuts, Lurs have all tried poverty, the opportunities in the
English, Russian and Persian-speaking world generally mean less poverty and
even wealth; money is better than no money. I have no particular insight into
the Inuit situation but I suspect it’s similar. I suppose the rarity of the
statement is partly down to the politics and the self-interest of those who
take an interest.

The Dutch wouldn’t have excellent English if there wasn’t an economic advantage
to it.

-- 
‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /
How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’
(C. Moore)