Language Planning and Policy for MA .pptx

Language planning and policy presentation

1. MA ELT 5103 SOCIOLINGUISTICS

2. Language planning and policy

3. Definitio n Language planning is defined as the development of policies or programs designed to direct or change language use, as through the establishment of an official language, the standardization or modernization of a language, or the development or alteration of a writing system. In other words, it’s the attempt by a group or organization to change or control the way people speak or write . According to Weinstein (1980, p. 56), ‘Language planning is a government authorized, long-term , sustained, and conscious effort to alter a language’s function in a society for the purpose of solving communication problems’.

4. Contemporary Language Planning A good deal of language planning after the Second World War was undertaken by emerging nations that arose out of the end of colonial empires. These nations faced decisions as to what language(s) to designate as an official for use in the political and social arena. Such language planning was often closely aligned with the desire of new nations to symbolize their newfound identity by giving official status to the indigenous language(s) (Kaplan, 1990, p. 4). Today , however, language planning has a somewhat different function. A global economy, growing poverty in some nations of the world, and wars with their resulting refugee population have resulted in great linguistic diversity in many countries. Thus, language planning issues today often revolve around attempts to balance the language diversity that exists within a nation's borders caused by immigration rather than by colonization."

5. national language vs Official language A national language is the language of a political, cultural and social unit. It is generally developed and used as a symbol of national unity. Its functions are to identify the nation and unite its people. An official language, by contrast, is simply a language which is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc. In multilingual countries, the government often declares a particular language to be the national language for political reasons. The declaration may be a step in the process of asserting the nationhood of a newly independent or established nation, for instance, as in the case of Swahili in Tanzania, Hebrew in Israel, Malay in Malaysia and Indonesian in Indonesia. Where this national language cannot serve all the internal and external functions of government business, however, it has then been necessary to identify one or more official languages as well. So French is an official language in many countries, such as the Ivory Coast and Chad, where France was previously a colonial power, and Arabic is an official language in Israel alongside Hebrew.

6. The identification of official languages may also be necessary when the choice of national language is problematic. In multilingual India, for example, attempts to give Hindi sole status as the national language have not succeeded. Fourteen regional Indian languages are recognised as official languages alongside English and Hindi for the country as a whole, and in addition different states each have their own official languages. Telegu , for instance, is the official language of the state of Andhra Pradesh. Some multilingual countries have nominated more than one national language . The Democratic Republic of the Congo-Zaire, for instance, has four African languages as national languages, Lingala , Swahili, Tshiluba and Kikongo , alongside French as an official language. Lingala is, however, the official language of the army. In Haiti, the 1983 constitution declared Haitian Creole a national language alongside French, but it was not until 1987 that the Creole was granted official status.

7. Why do we require it? As language is an ever-evolving expression of human communication, language planning is absolutely not something that a language requires. However, many governments and other organizations do uphold language planning policies in order to achieve certain goals regarding how people speak or write. Most often, this is done to solve communication problems through standardizing the use of a single language or through reducing the number of languages spoken within a region. Language planning may also be used to revitalize dead or dying languages for cultural purposes. 

8. types of language planning Corpus planning refers to  prescriptive intervention in the forms of a language. This may be achieved by creating new words or expressions, modifying old ones, or selecting among alternative forms. It aims to develop the resources of a language so that it becomes an appropriate medium of communication for modern topics and forms of discourse, equipped with the   terminology  needed for use in administration, education, etc. Corpus planning is often related to the  standardization  of a language, involving the preparation of a normative orthography, grammar, and dictionary for the guidance of writers and speakers in a speech community. Efforts at linguistic purism and the exclusion of foreign words (linguistic protectionism) also belong to corpus planning, as do spelling reform and the introduction of new writing systems. For a previously unwritten language, the first step in corpus planning is the development of a writing system.

9. Status planning refers to deliberate efforts to allocate the functions of languages and literacies within a speech community. It involves status choices, making a particular language or variety an 'official language', 'national language', etc. Often it will involve elevating a language or dialect into a prestige variety, which may be at the expense of competing dialects . Status planning is often part and parcel of creating a new writing system. Status planning tends to be the most controversial aspect of language planning .

10. Acquisition planning concerns the pedagogical aspects of language in general including the mother tongue, second language and foreign languages. It involves efforts to increase language proficiency in learners, wider distribution of instructional facilities and opportunities, enhancing the effectiveness of teaching methods and materials and such other related activities. Such efforts in a multilingual context are directly related to the demands of language spread and are determined by policy issues pertaining to status, assimilation and pluralism. Acquisition planning takes place in concentric circles of different levels and involves government agencies, universities, educational institutions and autonomous private language development organizations.

11. Language planning: only for third world? Theoretical positions emerging from the early phases of Language Planning studies that Language Planning was more required for newly independent and developing nations of the third world. The equation was such that ‘language conflict’ was more in third world countries and effective Language Planning strategies were required more in those nations. This was an extension of the colonial white man’s burden and ‘civilizing efforts’ paradigm applied to language planning studies and perceptions. Rubin et.al., (1971: XIV) point to “strong government concern with language” in developing and new nations and assert that “such a ‘policy approach’ to language and communications development contrasts with the ‘cultivation approach’ of many western nations...”. There has also been the tendency to look at ‘multilingualism’ as an impediment to development and growth and not conducive to economic prosperity. Fishman (1972:60) feels that “...linguistically homogeneous polities are usually economically more developed.” J . Pool opines (Fishman 1972:213) “...a country that is linguistically highly heterogeneous is always underdeveloped or semi developed and a country that is highly developed always has considerable language uniformity. Language uniformity then, is a necessary but not sufficient condition of economic development and economic development is a sufficient but not a necessary condition of language uniformity .”

12. language planning principles Linguistic Assimilation and Nationalism : Nationalism often favors linguistic assimilation to make sure that every member of a speech community is able to use the dominant language. It is a cause for a dominant language to gain prestige and become superior over the minor languages. In extreme case, linguistic minorities are given little or no rights. This kind of ideology has occurred in France in which the government planned to eliminate the non- standard varieties; which has resulted in modern language policy by French Revolution. This principle actually states that every person within society should be fluent in that society’s dominant language. Linguistic Pluralism: Linguistic pluralism promotes the coexistence of different language groups and their right to maintain their languages on an equitable basis. It is the opposite of assimilation. This principle teaches that it is better to have multiple languages within society. For example: Switzerland with French, German, Italian and Romansh (all as official languages). Singapore have English, Malay, Tamil and Chinese as official languages. Vernacularization : Vernacularization is the situation in which indigenous or national languages are restored or modernized and officially recognized instead of or alongside an international language of wider communication. It is a principle that wants to restore a native language into a community spoken l anguage . For example: In Madagascar, both French and Malagasy enjoy official status. In Israel, Hebrew was revived and installed as a national language. Internationalization : This principle promotes adopting a non-indigenous language in order to communicate easily with other nations. English now is considered to be global language, and is taught worldwide.

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