[lg policy] blog: Language Policy

[Harold Schiffman]

Language Policy

Increasingly, I am interested in the field of Language Policy. I am
constantly surprised when I am reminded of this, as it seems far too
much of a social science for me - but it is true that policies that
are the direct result of politicians, language speakers, special
interest groups, and researchers have a profound impact on people’s
lives. So, I’ve started seeing what I can learn in this field, and
below are the first efforts. As always, I am open to any
collaboration.

Language Policy in Central Asia

I am interested in several language areas, but Central Asia is the
most prominent among them (the others being China, Malta, Northern
California, the Eastern United States, and Scotland). In particular, I
am interested in the history of language conflict and current policies
in (the otherwise unrelated) Kurdistan, the Tarim Basin (both
currently, and in the Tocharian era), and Nuristan.

I had the privilege to review Harold Schiffman’s book for the
LinguistList, Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and
Its Neighbors, and I hope to continue to research the area.

Endangered Languages and Constructed Languages

As I am an experienced conlanger, I have noticed many similarities in
constructed language use and policy to endangered languages, and in
particular to languages which are undergoing revival. I am currently
working on a manuscript describing similarities between the formation
of different groups of Na’vi learners who influenced policy on the
Learn Na’vi forums in the early days of the language, and factions
interested in preserving and recreating languages such as Cornish.
Some of this work has been influenced by research by my friend from
Linguists Outside Academia, Dave Sayers.

Economics and Linguistics

I have been compiling research for several years about the
implementation of language policies regarding minority languages in
linguistically diverse countries, and the affect on the speakers. This
is a very broad field, but I’m hoping to sink my teeth deeper into it.
I have no current plan for tentative research, here.

http://richardlitt.github.com/language-policy.html


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