Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience
Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience
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政治、语言和思想：索马里的经历
DOI：
10.2307/412609
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发表时间：
1977
影响因子：
1.4
通讯作者：
D. Laitin
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
D. Laitin
当索马里共和国获得独立时，其议会政府决定采用三种官方语言：英语，意大利语和阿拉伯语，所有外国接触语言。由于该国绝大多数公民讲一种单一的语言，即索马里语，当时没有书面形式，这一决定使治理变得极其困难。然而，选择任何一种语言都同样有问题，因为说官方语言的人将自动成为特权阶层。独立12年后，一个军政府宣布索马里语为官方语言，拉丁语为基本文字，从而解决了这场激烈的争议。希望这一选择将促进政治平等和加强民族文化。“政治，语言和思想”是对索马里共和国语言和政治如何相互关联的探索。利用历史和实验证据，大卫D.莱廷证明，官方语言的选择可能会对一个国家的政治发展进程产生重大影响。莱廷研究的第一部分试图解释为什么议会政府无法就国家脚本达成一致，并评估多年的犹豫不决的社会和政治后果。莱廷展示了强制使用非土著语言是如何产生不平等的，从而侵蚀了该国民主的自然社会基础。第二部分试图将语言与政治思想和政治文化联系起来。通过对索马里双语学生的访谈和角色扮演的分析，莱廷证明了某些政治概念在用不同语言表达时的影响是完全不同的。他的结论是，选择一种语言的影响远比以前想象的要复杂得多，因为改变一个民族的语言就是改变他们的政治思维和行为方式。"
When the Somali Republic received independence, its parliamentary government decided to adopt three official languages: English, Italian, and Arabic all languages of foreign contact. Since the vast majority of the nation's citizens spoke a single language, Somali, which then had no written form, this decision made governing exceedingly difficult. Selecting any one language was equally problematic, however, because those who spoke the official language would automatically become the privileged class. Twelve years after independence, a military government was able to settle the acrimonious controversy by announcing that Somali would be the official language and Latin the basic script. It was hoped that this choice would foster political equality and strengthen the national culture. "Politics, Language, and Thought" is an exploration of how language and politics interrelate in the Somali Republic. Using both historical and experimental evidence, David D. Laitin demonstrates that the choice of an official language may significantly affect the course of a country's political development. Part I of Laitin's study is an attempt to explain why the parliamentary government was incapable of reaching agreement on a national script and to assess the social and political consequences of the years of nondecision. Laitin shows how the imposition of nonindigenous languages produced inequalities which eroded the country's natural social basis of democracy. Part 2 attempts to relate language to political thought and political culture. Analyzing interviews and role-playing sessions among Somali bilingual students, Laitin demonstrates that the impact of certain political concepts is quite different when expressed in different languages. He concludes that the implications of choosing a language are far more complex than previously thought, because to change the language of a people is tochange the ways they think and act politically."