Language planning
By Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_planning
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Language planning refers to deliberate efforts to
influence the behaviour of others with respect to the acquisition,
structure, or functional allocation of language. Typically
it will involve the development of goals, objectives and
strategies to change the way language is used. At a governmental
level, language planning takes the form of language
policy. Many nations have language
regulatory bodies which are specifically charged with
formulating and implementing language planning policies.
Characteristics
The term language planning has often been identified
with a third world context, being seen as a tool for the
establishment of standardised national languages as a part
of modernisation
and nation
building. In fact, language planning is neither a modern
phenomenon nor is it confined to the third world.
Language planning is not necessarily conducted at the national
level. It can also be carried out by ethnic, religious or
occupational groups. In the case of language communities
that are divided by borders, language planning may also
involve more than one country (on the governmental or non-governmental
level) or international or regional bodies and conferences.
One international organization (based in the U.S.)
that is involved in considerable amount of language planning
around the world, especially for people with unwritten languages,
is SIL
International.
Language planning can also go from the bottom up, such
as the movement for non-sexist
language in the U.S., which originated with grass-roots
feminist groups, or the N'Ko
movement in West
Africa.
Category
Language planning can be divided into three sub-dimensions:
Corpus 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. Corpus planning 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 standardisation
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 (see linguistic
protectionism) also belong to corpus planning, as do
spelling
reform and the introduction of new writing systems (e.g.
that of the Turkish
language). For a previously unwritten language, the
first step in corpus planning is the development of a writing
system.
Status planning
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 (see article on Language
policy).
Acquisition planning
Acquisition planning concerns the teaching and learning
of languages, whether national languages or second
and foreign
languages. It involves efforts to influence the number
of users and the distribution of languages and literacies,
achieved by creating opportunities or incentives to learn
them. Such efforts may be based on policies of assimilation
or pluralism.
Acquisition planning is directly related to language spread.
While acquisition planning is normally the province of national,
regional, or local governments, bodies such as the British
Council, Alliance
française, Instituto
Cervantes, Goethe-Institut,
Società
Dante Alighieri, Instituto
Camões, and latterly the Confucius
Institute are also very active internationally promoting
education in their respective languages.
Further reading
- BASTARDAS-BOADA, Albert (2007) "Linguistic
sustainability for a multilingual humanity", Glossa.
An Interdiscipinary Journal, vol. 2, n. 2.
- BASTARDAS-BOADA, Albert (2002) "World
language policy in the era of globalization: Diversity
and Intercommunication from the perspective of 'complexity'",
Noves SL. Revista de Sociolingüística.
- BASTARDAS-BOADA, Albert (2002), “The Ecological perspective:
Benefits and risks for Sociolinguistics and Language Policy
and Planning”, in: Fill, Alwin, Hermine Penz, & W.
Trampe (eds.), Colourful Green Ideas. Berna: Peter Lang,
pp. 77-88.
- TAULI, V. (1968) Introduction to a theory of language
planning, Uppsala.
- CALVET, L.J. (1987) La guerre des langues et des
politiques linguistiques. Payot, Paris.
- COBARRUBIAS Juan, & FISHMAN Joshua (1982) (ed.)
Progress in language planning: international perspectives,
coll. Contributions to the sociology of language n° 31,
Berlin/New York/Amsterdam: Mouton
- COOPER, R. L. (1989) Language planning and social change,
Cambridge University Press, New-York.
- FISHMAN Joshua (1974) (ed.) Advances in Language Planning,
The Hague: Mouton
See also
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_planning
Published - December 2008
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