[lg policy] bibitem: Representation in the articulation of language policy objectives

[Harold Schiffman]

Representation in the articulation of language policy objectives

Carl, Jenny and Stevenson, Patrick (2008) Representation in the
articulation of language policy objectives. In, Sociolinguistics
Symposium 17 (SS17), Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 03-05 Apr 2008. .
http://eprints2.eprints.soton.ac.uk/64292/

Full text of this item is not available from this server.

Abstract

The formulation of language policy in the European context entails not
only an abundance of documentation (position papers, reports,
guidelines, strategies, legislative proposals etc) but also the
involvement of many individual political actors operating at different
levels within civil society: officials and advisers in the Commission
and other supranational bodies (such as the Council of Europe),
government ministers, civil servants, directors of government-funded
agencies (such as the Goethe Institute or the Instituto Cervantes),
representatives of minority groups and so on. While policy documents
are scrutinised by political and linguistic analysts in terms of their
content and the discourses in which it is embedded, the articulation
of policy objectives by diverse individual actors, which prefigures
and shapes the policies, generally remains unobserved below the level
of public statements by politicians. It may inform the analysis of
published policy, but is not typically subjected to analysis itself.
In this paper, we will suggest that an analysis of ways in which
language policy objectives are articulated in discussion is an
important but often neglected dimension of the investigation of
language policy development. Drawing on interviews with individuals
involved in the formulation of policy in relation to German in central
Europe (in particular in Hungary and the Czech Republic), we will look
at how government officials (both in Germany and Austria and in their
neighbouring states), functionaries in government-funded agencies,
representatives of German minority associations, and German language
teachers position themselves as both a) individuals, who have their
personal experiences with and opinions on the subject, and as b)
representatives of a wider community with certain vested interests.
Our attention will focus on ways in which our interviewees repeatedly
move between expressions of their personal motivations and the goals
of the community they speak for. The question then is how these two
dimensions - the personal/micro and the collective/macro - relate to
one another, how they influence each other, and whether they
strengthen or conflict with each other. Using the conceptual framework
of positioning theory, we will try to shed light on the discursive
‘mechanics’ of the interplay between individual and collective
positions adopted by these representative figures.


Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
ID Code: 64292
Date of issue: April 2008
Uncontrolled Keywords: language policy, europe
Alternative Locations: http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/ss17
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PD Germanic languages
P Language and Literature > PB Modern European Languages
School or Centre: School of Humanities > Modern Languages
Deposited By: Stevenson, Prof Patrick
Deposited On: 05 January 2009

http://eprints2.eprints.soton.ac.uk/64292/

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