Another government tries in vain to stop language change.

Slovakia’s Ministry of Culture has proposed an amendment that would give it the right to impose fines of up to EUR 100 for poor use of the national language. The move has been prompted by a rise in bad grammar and the increasing number of English words in common use even when native alternatives exist.

‘Bad grammar’? What does that mean? Native speakers, being native speakers, have a perfect command of the grammar of their language. All right, so some dialects may deviate from the perceived standard. But why punish them? It’s going on all the time. Much of the syntax of a language goes on below the level of conscious awareness anyway.

How are they going to enforce this? Are they going to fine individuals? No, just like Iran’s recent attempt, it’s all going to fall onto the media and sign-makers.

Jozef Bednar, a spokesman for the ministry, confirmed that the proposed punishment would not apply to individuals who stumble over their language but would punish advertising copy, billboards and public signs. Representatives of the country’s large Hungarian minority have already condemned the proposal.

There’s the rub. This is an attempt to punish speakers of minority dialects, but dressed up in the guise of pedantry. Not a very attractive guise, but there you are.

Hungarian media: they’re coming down on you. You have the tools to fight back, if you want. It should be simple to find linguistic skeletons in the closets of the leaders responsible for this action. Surely some of them have used loanwords or less-desirable syntax in speeches before. To the archives! Find those quotes and demand that those leaders be fined.