If this were anywhere else in the world, the treatment of the Saxonic language, Zeahsisch/Saxish, would be cited as a case of oppression. Zeahsisch is a language with a long history, being spoken in the South of England since at least the end of the Roman occupation. Stephen Oppenheimer claims in his book the ‘the Origins of the British’ that it goes even further back, being spoken here before the coming of the Romans. He believes that the English language belongs to the North Germanic groups of languages which includes Danish, Swedish and Norwegian as well as the extinct Gothic, whereas Zeahsischh belongs to the West Germanic group along with German, Dutch and Flemish. He blames the British, i.e., Welsh, monk Gildas for causing the confusion between the Angles and Saxons in people’s minds. He says that the English scholar the Venerable Bede was more careful, making the distinction and writing that the invaders were ‘either Angles or Saxons’, whereas Gildas for anti-Saxon propoganda purposes sought to confuse the invading Angles with the indigenous Saxons. The cultural differences between English England and Saxon England are thus very ancient.
Saxonic language and culture have come under enormous attack during the last fifty years. The media and the education system have led that attack. The BBC in particular is responsible for spreading Common English/Ancwe (Anglo-Norman conventional written English) at the expense of Zeahsisch. We, rightly, are concerned about the loss of species, but the loss of a culture and its language should also be of concern.