The desire to use language as a sign of national identityis a very natural one, and in res

The desire to use language as a sign of national identity

is a very natural one, and in result language has played a 【B1】 ______

prominent part in national moves. Men have often felt the 【B2】 ______

need to cultivate a given language to show that they are

distinctive from another race whose hegemony they resent. 【B3】 ______

At the time the United States split off from Britain, for 【B4】 ______

example, there were proposals that independence should be

linguistically accepted by the use of a different language from 【B5】 ______

those of Britain. There was even one proposal that Americans 【B6】 ______

should adopt Hebrew. Others favoured the adoption of

Greek, though, as one man put it, things would certainly be

simpler for Americans if they stuck on to English and made 【B7】 ______

the British learn Greek. At the end, as everyone knows, the 【B8】 ______

two countries adopted the practical and satisfactory solution

of carrying with the same language as before. 【B9】 ______

Since nearly two hundred years now, they have shown 【B10】 ______

the world that political independence and national identity

can be complete without sacrificing the enormous mutual

advantages of a common language.

【B1】