Note to Linguistic Fascists

Hi. I found you while Stumbleing Upon. I have subscribed to your RSS on My Yahoo, so you will be hearing from me. For the record I am an over 50 radical who loves to get angry.

Well, it appears that I must be a linguistic fascist, then.

I have argued in favor of investing in the promotion of a national language on the same grounds on the grounds of developing a common infrastructure. We set standards in a number of areas as a way of making things run more smoothly and at reduced costs. We have standards regarding everything from the threads in a screw to the labeling of products.

A national language would simply help the economy run more efficiently as it eliminates the costs of translation, missed communication, or non-communication simply because the audience does not speak the language.

In defending the national language as an infrastructure improvement I have argued that the government should invest in this standard, and not simply demand that citizens learn a common language. The benefits of a common language will accrue across the whole economy, so it is only fair that people throughout the economy pay for the development of this infrastructure.

I have a more complete development of this argument in A National Language.