Algunos profesores y estudiantes del Programa de Lingüística Teórica de la Eötvös Loránd University-MTA de Budapest (que supongo estarán afectados por los recortes económicos en las universidades europeas) han decidido celebrar el vigésimo aniversario del departamento con una nueva versión en inglés de «We Are The World».

Los lingüistas húngaros reivindican su función social a la hora de hacer más comprensible el mundo en que vivimos. Juzguen ustedes mismos (la letra va debajo):

There comes a time / When we heed a certain call, / When linguists must come together as one. / There are people speaking, / They bind and c-command; / It’s grammar, the greatest gift of all.

We can’t go on / Pretending day by day / That we know our language works in the brain. / We are all a part of / God’s linguist family, / And the truth, you know, grammar’s all we need.

Estribillo: We are the world, / We are the linguists, / We are the ones who make a brighter day / By making theories. / There’s a choice we’re making / By forming hypotheses / And we’ll describe a language / Just you and me.

Send them a research group / So they’ll know that someone cares / And their data will be thoroughly explored. / God has shown us / By turning stone to bread / That even a linguist must be fed.

Estribillo

When you’re criticized / There seems no hope at all, / But if you just believe / There’s a usage-based approach. / Well, well, well, well, let us realize / That debates will always come / Even though we stand together as one.

Estribillo