For your reading pleasure, here are a couple of linguistics-related links that were sent to me today. The first - a blog entry called Linguae non Francae - was sent to me by my mom. It’s a great refutation of the terribly short-sighted argument that we’d be better off if we all spoke the same language; it cites Joshua Fishman, who has written excellent books on language and identity; and it’s followed up by "a nuanced critique of Irish language and Irish identity", which is pretty much what I’m planning to write my dissertation on. All in all, a great link to find in my inbox this morning…

The second link - a Wired News article - was sent to me just ten minutes ago by Jeremy. It’s a great refutation of the terribly narrow-minded view that the Internet is killing the English language; it cites David Crystal, who has written an excellent book on language death; and it echoes some of the things I myself have thought about the Internet - namely, that anything which gets so many people reading and writing can’t be all bad. And hey, there’s nothing wrong with the occasional emoticon or two.

And please forgive me for not critiquing the articles in depth - a long day of translating and a big glass of red wine with dinner have made me competely incapable of nuanced thought of my own, so I’ll leave you with the links while I go make a nice cup of coffee and shut my brain off for a while…