LANGUAGE PLANNING - Dr. Alicia Pousada

LANGUAGE PLANNINGDefinitions,models, andexamples

Definitions of LP Language planning is generally defined asan intervention intended to influencelanguage or language use.Cooper (1989) defines language planning as"deliberate efforts to influence the behavior ofothers with respect to the acquisition,structure, or functional allocation of theirlanguage codes" (p. 45).

Definitions cont Blommaert (1996) considersplanning "to cover all casesauthorities attempt, by whatevershape a sociolinguistic profilesociety" (p. 207).languagein whichmeans, tofor their The objectives are usually social, political, oreconomic in character.

Definitions cont Herriman & Burnaby (1996) view languageplanning as the actual realization of languagepolicy. When policies are deliberately andconsciously created, they usually involvesome form of planning.When there is no official language policy, thelinguistic status quo becomes the implicitpolicy (cf. English in the U.S.).

English-only policy in U.S.

Haugen (1983)

Eastman (1983)1.LanguageChoice:selectinglanguage(s) to be plannedthe2. Policy Formulation: articulating the planthrough a planning agency or authority(determination: deciding on the plan’spurpose)

Eastman cont 4. Policy Codification: technically preparingthe formulated and determined policy5. Policy Elaboration: extending what hasbeen technically prepared (that is, theformulated language change) to all areaswhere the change is intended to take place.

Eastman cont 6. Policy Implementation: putting into effectthe planned change by means of anorganization generally supported by theplanning authority or agency

Eastman cont 7. Policy Evaluation: assessing the whole plan(steps 1-5) to see where changes might beneeded to ensure that communication isenhanced and unit and solidarity achieved,that is, whether language planning hasworked

Cooper (1989) This framework provides us with arubric for the questions that must beanswered when we look at languagespread, whether planned or unplanned.

1. Who What characteristics (e.g., positionwithin communication network, needachievement, openness to change)distinguish adopters from non-adoptersand early adopters from late adopters?

Who cont. What characteristics (e.g., h communication networks inwhich a language spreads rapidly fromnetworks in which it spreads slowly ornot at all?

2. Adopts Do different levels of adoption (awareness,evaluation, knowledge, usage) spread atdifferent rates and to different extents? Do the levels of adoption necessarily form ascale whereby awareness serves as aprerequisite for evaluation, evaluation forknowledge, and knowledge for usage?

3. What What structural characteristics (e.g.,diversity of the variety that must belearned, similarity to varieties in thepotential adopter's verbal repertoire)are associated with differences in theextent and rate of adoption?

What cont What functional characteristics (e.g.,skills required, between group versuswithin-group interaction, interactionwith respect to horizontal versusvertical integration) are associatedwith differences in the extent andrate of adoption?

4. WhenHow much time is required for a givenlanguage variety to be adopted by agiven communication network undergiven conditions? What characteristics are associatedwith differences in the shape ofdiffusion curves?

5. Where What kinds of social interaction within whattypes of societal domain promote or retardthe acceptance of innovation?What are the characteristics of thoseindividuals who are likely to be influential asagents of change with respect to what typesof adopter and for what levels of adoption?

6. Why What national and personal incentives forplanners to promote (or hinder) languagespread are related to differences in theextent and rate of spread?What incentives for potential adopters toaccept (or reject) a language variety arerelated to differences in the extent and rateof spread?

7. How What language-planning activities aremost likely to be successful for differenttypes of adopter at different levels ofadoption, through different types ofchange agent, and under differentsociopolitical and economic conditions?

Language planning in actionLanguage planning is oftencarried out by governmentsand language academies;however, newspapers orbroadcast media, publishinghouses, political groups,community agencies, and religiouscenters may also be important languageplanning agents.

Constitution of Ireland: Article 8(1) The Irish language as the nationallanguage is the first official language.(2) The English language is recognized as asecond official language.(3) Provision may, however, be made by lawfor the exclusive use of either of the saidlanguages for any one or more officialpurposes, either throughout the State orin any part thereof.

Constitution of Spain:Artículo 3 El castellano es la lengua Española oficial delEstado. Todos los españoles tienen el deber deconocerla y el derecho a usarla.Las demás lenguas españolas serán omas de acuerdo con sus Estatutos.La riqueza de las distintas modalidades lingüísticasde España es un patrimonio cultural que será objetode especial respeto y protección.

L’Academie Française La principale fonction de l’Académie sera detravailler, avec tout le soin et toute la diligencepossibles, à donner des règles certaines à notrelangue et à la rendre pure, éloquente et capable detraiter les arts et les sciences."The primary function of the Académie will be towork, with all possible care and diligence, to give ourlanguage definite rules and to make it pure,eloquent, and capable of dealing with art andscience." - Article 24

International Commission onZoological Nomenclature ICZN was founded in 1895 for the purposeof creating, publishing and revising theInternationalCodeofZoologicalNomenclature (i.e., names for species). Italso rules on uncertain cases andpublishes its rulings in the Bulletin ofZoological Nomenclature.

ACADEMY OF THE HEBREWLANGUAGE Created in 1953, the Academy of the HebrewLanguage works to: (1) investigate andcompile the Hebrew lexicon; (2) study itsstructure, history, and offshoots; (3) direct itsdevelopment so as to fulfill its daily andacademic needs by establishing the lexicon,grammar, characters, orthography, andtransliteration.

Swedish National LanguageCommittee The Swedish National Language Committee workswith general language usage as well as scientificand professional terminology. Its members representfive universities, the Swedish Academy and variousroyal academies, public schools, broadcastingcompanies, newspapers, writers, and theatres. TheCommittee’s main concern is with changes inmodern Swedish. It publishes research in a widerange of linguistic and language planning topics,along with dictionaries and a quarterly journal.

Chinese: Planning of Pǔtōnghuà The official language of the People's Republic ofChina is Pǔtōnghuà or simplified Chinese ("commondialect")It is based on the dialect of Beijing with vocabularydrawn primarily from the Mandarin dialects of thesouthwestThe China National Language and CharacterWorking Committee founded in 1985 promotesStandard Mandarin and Mandarin Level proficiencyfor Chinese native speakers.

Pǔtōnghuà cont All slang and regionalisms are excluded.Exemplary modern Chinese literature isused as a grammatical model.No official efforts to replace the regionallanguages, but Pǔtōnghuà serves as alingua franca throughout China.December 2004 survey of language userevealed that only 53% (700 millionpeople), speak Pǔtōnghuà, but almost100% understand it.

Pǔtōnghuà cont Knowledge of Pǔtōnghuà is vital for employment,and level on exam determines what sorts of jobs onecan occupy.Another aspect of planning Pǔtōnghuà concernsnorms for the romanized variety (pinyin) adopted in1979.Pinyin is the standard transliteration norm used bythe International Organization for Standardization,the Singapore government, the Library of Congress,,and many other international institutions. It is veryuseful for entering Chinese language text intocomputers.

ConclusionLanguage planning is the wave of the future.Every nation will be involved in one way oranother. It is vital that we all understand thebasic principles in order to approachlanguage issues calmly and judiciously.Linguists have an important role to play inthis effort.

References Blommaert, J. (1996). Language planning asa discourse on language and society: Thelinguistic ideology of a scholarly tradition.Language Problems and Language Planning,20(3), 199-222.Cooper, R. (1989). Language planning andsocial change. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

References cont Eastman, C. (1983). Language planning: Anintroduction. Novato, CA: Chandler & SharpPublishers.Haugen, E. (1983). The implementation ofcorpus planning: Theory and practice. InCobarrubias, J. & Fishman, J.A. (eds.).Progress in language planning. Berlin:Mouton, 269-289.

References cont Herriman, M., & Burnaby, B. (1996).Language policies in English-dominantcountries. Clevedon, England: MultilingualMatters.Kaplan, R. B. & Baldauf, R. B. 1997.Language planning: From practice to theory.Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

(2) The English language is recognized as a second official language. (3) Provision may, however, be made by law for the exclusive use of either of the said languages for any one or more official purp