[lg policy] Language policy | World Articles

[Harold Schiffman]

All:

The article below came up on my "google alert" for the topic of
"language policy" and I'm forwarding
it with the warning that it sounds like it was translated from another
language (perhaps French) by an
automatic translation program of sorts.  But even so, it makes some
interesting points.  Read on!  (hs)

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Language policy | World Articles
Posted By: Richard Tan on August 13, 2011 at 7:09 am

It calls policy language, language development or linguistic
development, any conduct by a State or an international organization
on any or several languages spoken in the territories under its
sovereignty, to change the corpus and status, generally to in use,
sometimes to limit expansion, or even work towards its eradication.
The use of bilingual road signs and signals is probably the main
symbolic instrument of perception and institutionalization of the
bilingual reality of a territory.

A language policy may be to evolve the corpus of a language by
adopting a writing system, by setting the vocabulary by the
establishment of lexicons and dictionaries, stopping rules grammar and
spelling, by fostering terminology to limit loans to foreign
languages, etc.

It can also be to change the name of a language, in the form on the
name of the region of the State that you want to distinguish (Moldova,
Montenegro…) or historical and cultural references different
(Hindi/Urdu, Malay/Indonesian, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian). In the
former USSR the names of most of the minority languages had changed
(Toungouses = Evensk, Zyrianes = Komi…).

It can still be to change the status of a language, for example in
declaring official language or by using the unique language of
administration and justice, or on the contrary, removing these roles.

Finally it may even go up to recreate a language whose use was lost,
this is the case of the Hebrew language in Israel.
Implicit policy

All States have a language policy, declared or not. Those who report
not linguistic official policy, as is the case in the United States,
in fact promote the majority language of the State and its
administration, at the expense of other languages.

Language policies are particularly important in multilingual States,
who are sometimes brought to legislate sometimes in lesser detail.
This is the case in Belgium for Dutch and French. It is also a
sensitive issue in many countries, including the France, to the
growing hegemony of the English.
Hostility towards some languages: linguistic protectionism

Language policies often advocate the protection of one or several
languages. It is sometimes close linguistic protectionism with regard
to certain measures which, in France, to curb the dominance of English
in France (quota of francophone songs from 40% to the radio, Toubon
law, etc.).
Hostility towards minority languages in France

The France is officially no language policy against Aboriginal
languages other than French, nor any in their favor: she refuses to
“recognize” and give them official status. However, the attitude of
the administration is often hostile or less subject to caution.

    The family allowance funds would refuse to pay grants

        at crèches in langue bretonne (Vannes) [to test]
        Breton children (Rennes) reception centres [to test]

    Academy inspectors oppose public bilingual classes openings

        Lorient:

    Some regional languages can theoretically nevertheless be selected
LV2 second living foreign language) in public institutions. But, in
fact, education does not exist and is ever proposed [in test]. Unknown
section beginner LV2, as foreign languages, at the level of the 4th
class in public colleges.

    The ((troisième LV3 foreign language) is sometimes, but is not
open to students of sections scientific, economic or technical [to
test].

Law and force

The use of regional languages and their place in a formal language is
sometimes very sensitive. In this case, the language policy often
reflects the force political relationship between the central
Government and local power: desire for domination and assimilation in
France, or, conversely, trends in a wider, as in Catalonia autonomy.
Types of language policy

Many countries are conducting a language policy, be it official or implied.

    No official status of minority languages:

        Algeria
        United States
        France

experimentation with language policy with the Public Office of the
Basque language: http://www.mintzaira.fr/

        Turkey

    Official status for minority languages:

        United Kingdom
        Russia
        Moldova
        Spain

    Bilingualism or multilingualism:

        Belgium
        Belarus
        Canada
        Ireland
        Pakistan
        Switzerland

    Rénomination of a language policy:

        Indonesia
        Moldova
        Montenegro
        Pakistan
        ex-USSR

    Reconstruction of a language policy:

        Israel

See also

    Language policy of the France
    Language policy of the European Union
    Linguistic imperialism. Cultural imperialism
    Diglossia
    Geopolitics
    Multilingualism
    Conseil supérieur de la langue française

External links

    Language management in the world (Situations and particular
linguistic policies in 349 States or autonomous territories
distributed in 193 countries)
    language policies of the countries of the European union

Bibliography

        “The war of languages and language policy” of Louis-Jean Calvet.

    Plurilingualism is subconsciously perceived in our societies
through the myth of Babel. Linguistic pluralism, not be understood as
a richness, is experienced as a confusion of languages, divine
retribution which puts an end to the construction of the Tower, by
impeding communication between peoples. This imagination is linguists
who are trying to establish the use of a single language in the
borders of the States or to invent artificial universal languages.
This planning is the concrete form of the language policy. If the war
is the continuation of politics by other means, language policy is the
opposite a civil form of the war of languages. Investigations and
cases, African, Latin American, European and Asian studies, the author
analyzes here these policy issues and calls for respect for the
diversity linguistics.

    Louis-Jean Calvet is Professor of Sociolinguistics at
Aix-en-Provence. He is the author in the collection “Pluriel” of the
history of the writing.

        “The policy of the French language” of Marie-Josée de
Saint-Robert, Que sais-je?

    Analysis of the intervention of the State in France in the field
of language, shows how political will translates into action and how
were managed, over these past decades, influences and issues sometimes
contradictory.
    (The text is limited to policy implementation in France since the 1960s.)

        “Contexts and performances in linguistic contacts by political
decision: substitution versus diglossia in the perspective of the
world” of Albert Bastardas-Boada, to Diverscité languages, 1997.

For the Arab world (Lebanon):

    Plonka Arkadiusz, the idea of Lebanese language after its ‘ īd ‘
Aql, Paris, Geuthner, 2004, ISBN 2-7053-3739-3.
    Plonka Arkadiusz, “linguistic nationalism in the Lebanon around
its ‘ īd ‘ Aql and the idea of Lebanese language in the revue
«lebnaan» in the new alphabet”, Arabica, 53 (4), 2006, pp. 423-471.

    48px Society.svg Language policy Policy portal
    24px Nuvola apps gaim Language policy Languages Portal

http://languagescommunication.com/languages-communication/world-languages/language-policy-world-articles/

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