Stewart and Cooper will be vindicated

THE EDITOR, Sir:

On Monday a brief letter from R. Oscar Lofters was published in which he expressed amazement at the hypocrisy of Drs Cooper and Stewart in promoting recognition of the Jamaican language alongside English.

The present attitude toward the Jamaican language is strikingly similar to that toward English in the Middle Ages. Thus Alister McGrath in his book, The Story of the King James Bible and How it Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture could write:

'It is not generally realised that the languages of the elite in English society in the early fourteenth century were French and Latin. English was seen as the language of the peasants, incapable of expressing anything other than the crudest and most basic of matters ... How could such a barbaric language do justice to such sophisticated matters as philosophy or religion? To translate the Bible from its noble and ancient languages into English was seen as a pointless act of debasement.'

In this regard, a Jamaican proverb comes readily to mind: 'ol' time sinting cum bac hagain!' Or in the language of the Preacher, "There is nothing new under the sun." Stewart and Cooper will one day be vindicated.

I am, etc.,

D. PALMER

Kingston