Proposal to Adopt Gurblian as National Language

Proposal to Adopt Gurblian as National Language

The independence of Prunia represents the end of colonialism in the country. With this belief, I am pleased to recommend the Language Planning Commission (“LPC”) to adopt Gurblian as the country’s national language. In addition, to help facilitating the country’s daily operation, I suggest the LPC to promote French as official language.

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Gurblian stands out from the pool due to the special characteristics of the Gurblians group. First of all, it makes up a significant share of the total population in Prunia. The Gurblians are widespread across the country. Unlike Zormics, who reside in mountainous area and have limited communication channels with other ethnic groups in the country, the Gurblians have wonderful geographical benefit to come into contact with other groups and to work together with them during the process of developing and standardizing a writing system for the new national language.

The second reason to select Gurblian is to reduce potential conflict caused by the adoption of national language among different ethnic groups. The facts that the Gurblians are peaceful and that all other ethnic groups like them are important factors to choose the Gurblians’ language. We have already seen many conflicts occured in other countries when ethnic groups fighting to promote their own languages to be the national languages. In Prunia, the conflict between the Zormics and the Gerr is quite intense. These two groups have similar proportion of population, and both retain important place for the country: the Zormics take important position in the army, protecting the country from invasion from northern tribes; the Gerr is the major force of the country’s transportation and commercial activities. Therefore, selecting either of Zormic or Gerr will probably lead to strong opposition from the other group, following by request of separation from Prunia.

Last but not least, as a symbolic language of the country, the national language must be able to serve as the representative of the country’s spirit and value. The Gurblians’ “strong sense of solidarity and ethnic identity” demonstrates patriotism, which is important for strongly connecting all different ethnic groups to each other. Unlike the Ralluans’ elitism and the Pombos’ image of being uncivilized and violent, the Gurblians’ value is what the country can promote as a core value for the entire country.

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The main problem of selecting Gurblian over others is the lack of a written form, resulting in the limited cultural influence. Therefore, the most important step is to codify the language by setting up grammatical rules and creating a written form for the language. Generally, this job should be performed by the Ralluans, who take highly control of the country’s literary intelligentsia. In order to facilitate the process, the Ralluans should be allowed to use a developed language to communicate. Here, by legalizing French as official language, the scholars who participate in this project acquire better tool to communicate and exchange ideas. On the other hand, since French has been used by administrators of all groups and media, it can serve as a lingua franca during the transitional period. However, the large scale of French usage must only be temporary. Once the Gurblian codification is finished, the government must take action to promote Gurblian to keep French from replacing Gurblian’s status.