Source : The LINGUIST List 21.386, Saturday January 23, 2010
Qs: Source of 'Monolingualism is Curable' Quote
Editor for this issue: Elyssa Winzeler
<elyssa
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The Linguist List has already helped to find the sources of several linguistic proverbs and aphorisms (e.g. 'A language is a dialect with an army and navy', 'All grammars leak', 'Languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey'), so I'm hopeful that it might also help me with this one:
'Monolingualism is curable.'
or: 'Monolingualism is a curable disease.'
or: 'Monolingualism can be cured.'
(or 'Einsprachigkeit ist heilbar', 'Le monolinguisme est curable', etc.)
This sentence appears on posters, bumper stickers and buttons advertising language learning but also prominently in the linguistic literature (most notably as the title of the 1997 issue of 'Sociolinguistica', but also as the title of an obscurely published monograph by Elizabeth Diop, Fremantle 1984). I have not been able to identify its ultimate origin but found several conflicting attributions:
1. Gregory Stephens (in: The American South in a global world, Chapel Hill 2005, p.208f.) attributes it to Carlos Fuentes (with an interview in the 1989 TV film 'Crossing Borders: The Journey of Carlos Fuentes' as a source).
2. Erica Burman (in: Deconstructing developmental psychology, New York ²2008, p.199) attributes it to Tove Skutnabb Kangas (in 'Minority education: From shame to struggle', Avon 1988, p.13), where she describes monolingualism as follows: 'Monolingualism is a psychological island. It is an ideological cramp. It is an illness, a disease which should be eradicated as soon as possible because it is dangerous for world peace'. Burman claims that it was from here that the Instituto Central America took the idea for the slogan 'El monolingualismo es curable'.
3. Timothy Reagan (in: Journal of Research and Development in Education 17:3, 1984, p.17) from Washington, D.C. reports that this slogan appeared on 'a current bumpersticker'.
4. Romedi Arquint (in: From theory to practice: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Strasbourg 2002, p.35) refers to 'Todisco's well-known aphorism: 'monolingualism is a disease, of that there is no doubt, but it can and must be cured!'', but I have not been able to find the exact source of this yet (or indeed even made sure which Todisco is meant here).
5. Paolo E. Balboni (in: Transition Studies Review 11:3, p.11) refers to 'Anthony Mollica's celebrated phrase, 'monolingualism can be cured'', an idea which was 'anticipated by Andrée Tabouret Keller in the 1980s'. I have not been able to find a concrete reference either for Mollica or for Tabouret Keller.
6. Helen Penn (in: Participatory learning in the early years: Research and pedagogy, New York 2009, p.20) calls 'monolingualism is curable' a 'South-American saying'.
Does anybody have a clue who is right, or know any other (possibly earlier) source, or the exact context in which the mentioned people have used the phrase?
Thank you very much for your replies to me; I will post a summary of the results.
Daniel Buncic (Slavic Department of Tübingen University)
1. Gregory Stephens (in: The American South in a global world, Chapel Hill 2005, p.208f.) attributes it to Carlos Fuentes (with an interview in the 1989 TV film 'Crossing Borders: The Journey of Carlos Fuentes' as a source).
2. Erica Burman (in: Deconstructing developmental psychology, New York ²2008, p.199) attributes it to Tove Skutnabb Kangas (in 'Minority education: From shame to struggle', Avon 1988, p.13), where she describes monolingualism as follows: 'Monolingualism is a psychological island. It is an ideological cramp. It is an illness, a disease which should be eradicated as soon as possible because it is dangerous for world peace'. Burman claims that it was from here that the Instituto Central America took the idea for the slogan 'El monolingualismo es curable'.
3. Timothy Reagan (in: Journal of Research and Development in Education 17:3, 1984, p.17) from Washington, D.C. reports that this slogan appeared on 'a current bumpersticker'.
4. Romedi Arquint (in: From theory to practice: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Strasbourg 2002, p.35) refers to 'Todisco's well-known aphorism: 'monolingualism is a disease, of that there is no doubt, but it can and must be cured!'', but I have not been able to find the exact source of this yet (or indeed even made sure which Todisco is meant here).
5. Paolo E. Balboni (in: Transition Studies Review 11:3, p.11) refers to 'Anthony Mollica's celebrated phrase, 'monolingualism can be cured'', an idea which was 'anticipated by Andrée Tabouret Keller in the 1980s'. I have not been able to find a concrete reference either for Mollica or for Tabouret Keller.
6. Helen Penn (in: Participatory learning in the early years: Research and pedagogy, New York 2009, p.20) calls 'monolingualism is curable' a 'South-American saying'.
Does anybody have a clue who is right, or know any other (possibly earlier) source, or the exact context in which the mentioned people have used the phrase?
Thank you very much for your replies to me; I will post a summary of the results.
Daniel Buncic (Slavic Department of Tübingen University)
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