language-planning

LanguagePlanningDefinitionoflanguageplanning•Languageplanningisagovernmentauthorized,long-term,sustained,andconsciousefforttoalteralanguage’sfunctioninasocietyforthepurposeofsolvingcommunicationproblems.SomeBasicIssues•Languageplanningisanattempttointerferedeliberatelywithalanguageoroneofitsvarieties.Thatattemptmayfocusoneitheritsstatuswithregardtosomeotherlanguageorvarietyoritsinternalconditionwithaviewtochangingthatcondition,oronbothofthesesincetheyarenotmutuallyexclusive.Thefirstfocusresultsinstatusplanning;thesecondresultsincorpusplanning.Statusplanning•Statusplanningchangesthefunctionofalanguageoravarietyofalanguageandtherightsofusethosewhouseit.E.g.whenspeakersofaminoritylanguagearedeniedtheuseofthatlanguageineducatingtheirchildren,theirlanguagehasnostatus.Corpusplanning•Corpusplanningseekstodevelopavarietyofalanguageoralanguage,usuallytostandardizeit,thatis,toprovideitwiththemeansforservingeverypossiblelanguagefunctioninsociety.Consequently,corpusplanningmayinvolvesuchmattersasthedevelopmentofanorthography,newsourcesofvocabulary,dictionaries,andaliterature,togetherwiththedeliberatecultivationofnewusessothatthelanguagemayextenditsuseintosuchareasasgovernment,education,andtrade.•Cobarrubiashasdescribedfourtypicaldecision-makinginlanguageplanninginaparticularideologiesthatmaymotivateactualsociety:thesearelinguisticassimilation,linguisticpluralism,vernacularization,andinternationalism.•Linguisticassimilationisthebeliefthateveryone,regardlessoforigin,shouldlearnthedominantlanguageofthesociety.•Linguisticpluralism,therecognitionofmorethanonelanguage,alsotakesavarietyofforms.Itcanbeterritoriallybasedorindividuallybasedortheremaybesomecombinationofthetwo.•Internationalizationistheadoptionofanon-indigenouslanguageofwidercommunicationeitherasanofficiallanguageorforsuchpurposeaseducationortrade.E.g.EnglishinSingapore,India,thePhilippines,andPapuaNewGuinea.Resultsoflanguageplanningdecisions•Asaresultofplanningdecisions,alanguagecanachieveoneofavarietyofstatuses.•Alanguagemayberecognizedasthesoleofficiallanguage,asFrenchinFranceorEnglishintheUK.•Twoormorelanguagesmayshareofficialstatusinsomecountries,e.g.EnglishandFrenchinCanadaandinCameroon;FrenchandFlemishinBelgium.•Alanguagemayalsohaveofficialstatusbutonlyonaregionalbasis.e.g.GermaninBelgium.Alanguagemaybea“promoted”language,lackingofficialstatus,butusedbyvariousauthoritiesforspecificpurposese.g.manylanguagesinCanada,andSpanishinNewMexico.Atoleratedlanguagesisonethatisneitherpromotednoreitherproscribedorrestricted,e.g.BasqueinFrance,AmerindianlanguagesinNorthAmerica.Finally,adiscouragedorproscribedlanguageisoneagainstwhichthereareofficialsanctionsorrestrictions.E.g.BasqueintheearlyyearsofFranco’sregimeinSpain.Twootherissuesareworthyofcomment•Thefirsthastodowithwhatlanguagerightsimmigrantstoacountryshouldhaveinaneraofwidespreadimmigrationmotivatedbyavarietyofconcerns.•Oneviewisthatimmigrantsgiveuptheirrightstotheirlanguagesandtheirculturesbymigrating.•Theoppositeviewisthatnooneshouldberequiredtogiveupamothertonguebyreasonofsuchmovement.•Thesecondissueconcernstheproblemofidentifyingtherightkindsofdatathatmustgointoplanningdecisions.planningmustbebasedongoodinformation,butsometimesthekindsofinformationthatgointoplanningdecisionsarenotveryreliable.AvarietyofSituations•Inthissectionwewilllookatavarietyoflinguisticsituationsintheworldtoseesomeinstancesofplanning.•Franceservesasagoodexampleofacountrywhichhasasinglenationallanguageanddoselittleornothingforanyotherlanguage.•AdjacenttoFrancewehaveinonedirectionthemultilingualismofSwitzerlandandinanotherthebilingualismofBelgium.TodayFrenchandFlemish(Dutch)co-existinasomewhatuneasytruceinBelgium.•SpaintherecentrevivalofCatalanisofinterest.Thecatalanshavehadalongandproudhistory,traditionallyregardingthemselvesasmoreprosperousandprogressivethantheCastiliansandconstantlyhavingtoassertthemselvestoseethattheywerenotexploited.•DuringtheSpanishCivilWar.Cataloniasuffereddreadfully,oneofthewar’sresultswasthesuppressionofCatalan,andthiswasnoteffectivelyendeduntilafterFranco’sdeathandtherestorationofademocraticsystemofgovernment.•Turkeyprovidesagoodexampleofverydeliberatelanguageplanningdesignedtoachievecertainnationalobjectivesandtodothisveryquickly.KemalTurkishhadnovocabularyformodernscienceandtechnology,itwaswritteninanunsuitableArabicorthography,andwasstronglyinfluencedbybothArabicandPersian.In1928,AtaturkdeliberatelyadoptedtheRomanscriptforhisnewmodernTurkish.•Sinceonly10%ofthepopulationwasliterate,therewasnomassobjectiontothechanges.itwaspossibletousethenewscriptalmostimmediatelyinstepstakentoincreasetheamountofliteracyIthecountry.•Inthe1930sKemalpromotedafurthermoveawayfromArabicandPersianinthedevelopmentofthenewvocabularythatthelanguagerequiredinordertomeettheneedsofscienceandtechnology.•The“sunlanguagetheory”wasdeveloped,atheorywhichsaidtothatTurkishwasthemothertongueoftheworldandthat,whenTurkishborrowedfromotherlanguages,itwasreallytakingbackwhathadoriginallybeenTurkishanyway.•IntheformerSovietUniontherewasagreatamountofla