Language Planning and Policy

1. Language Planning and Policy • Covers many issues – orthography, education, administration, international communication, language rights • Mainly concerned with national government policy but not always – churches, universities, local govts.

2. continued • General – language planning is the deliberate attempt to change linguistic behaviour (deliberate language change) • Or to stop it changing • Language policy – general principles behind such attempts

3. General Questions • Is language planning possible? • Is planning in general possible? – record of planned economies is very poor • What about planned languages? • Yes, sometimes – but often at a high cost – money, minority/majority rights, bureaucracy Quebec’s “language police”

4. continued • Is language planning desirable? – many sociolinguists would say no • Compare fate of English vs French

5. Corpus Planning • Internal structure and features of languages –pronunciation, spelling, syntax • Changes in Malay – compare place names • In English – no central control – Oxbridge and the Times, BBC – regional accents of news readers

6. continued • Writing systems sometimes a problem –which system? Political implications • Central Asia/Azerbeijan – shift from Cyrillic to Roman (but not Arabic) – each script linked with political ideology

7. continued • Spelling reforms – modest American reforms in English, reforms in Malay/Indonesian, proposals for German • New words – often a political or religious issue – divergence of Hindustani – “native” words in Icelandic and French • Codifying and teaching grammar

8. Example: Icelandic • Language Institute – 36 terminology committees -- keeping English out by inventing new Icelandic words • Computer – tolva – combines words for number and prophetess • frioD jofur -- thief of peace (pager) • TV screen – sk jar cow’s amniotic sac

9. Standardisation • Standard linguistic rules – local, national, regional, national Range of standardisation • Oral languages without writing systems – not used in education or for “high” purposes, lot of variation –Aslian languages • Partial standardisation – written language, used in primary education – Yoruba, Tamil

10. continued • Restricted standardisation – language is not used in law or higher education or is used for religion but not for science – Arabic? Hebrew? • Mature standardisation – language is used in all types of communication – how many?

11. Status planning • Relationship between languages – often reflects political conflict and status of those who speak (or granparents) spoke the language • Northern Ireland – demands for official recognition of Irish (and then Ulster Scots)

12. continued Allocation of functions • National or official – symbolic or ceremonial • Malay in Singapore (national anthem) • Irish (political parties – a chara (Oh friend) in letters • Welsh, Maori, African languages in South Africa

13. continued • Provincial – French in Quebec, Welsh, Catalan, Iban in Sarawak • Lingua franca – Swahili, Lingala • Group – Roma, Yiddish • Educational – Latin, Sanskrit, Pali , Classical Arabic

14. continued • Literary – Hebrew, Latin • Religious – Sanskrit etc • Mass media • Industrial, services • Also prestige and acquisition planning – cintai bahasa

15. Language planning processes: selection • Choice of language or variety for certain functions • originally gradual and unplanned – East Midlands dialect – standard English • Parisian French, Kano Hausa

16. continued • Deliberate creation of standard language from a specific dilaect, Basque, Indonesian, Bahasa Melayu from Johore-Riau, Pilipino from Tagalog • Most powerful or numerous dialect becomes the standard • Not always – Tuscan – standard Italian

17. Codification • Creation of linguistic standards or norms • Graphisation – writing system • Grammatication – syntax and morphology • Lexicalisation – new words • Done by language academies, government bodies, individuals

18. Implementation • Production of written materials • Extension of domains • Marketing • Enforcement – official or unofficial, occasionally violent

19. Case studies • Indonesia – many different languages – Javanese largest numbers of speakers but many varieties – admin language Dutch – Malay a trade language • National language before independence – Malay • Dutch – no international value, fear of Javanese domination

20. continued • Singapore – dominant Chinese population – but spoke stigmatised dialects – no natural resources • Multilingual policy – some free choice – encouragement of 2 H varieties • Linguistic variety reduced – English/Mandarin bilinguals dominant group

21. continued • Malaysia – dominant Malay group • No role for minority vernaculars – spoke stigmatised varieties • Malay national and official language • Modified in recent years

22. continued • Timor Leste • Local language Tetum – a L variety • Official language Portuguese • 1975 occupied by Indonesia – then independent – Portuguese became the national language

23. Modernisation • Lexical enrichment • Borrowing (often politically motivated) • Extension of existing words • neologisms

24. conclusion • Language planning – successful when supported by social or economic forces or political interests – French, Catalan, Mandarin in Singapore • Less successful if opposed by economic or political forces – Irish, Welsh, anti-Singlish, anti-rojak • Often unsuccessful – preserve Aboriginal or Amerindian languages