Language policy is both an interdisciplinary academic field and implementation of ideas about

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

use. Some scholars such as

Joshua Fishman Joshua Fishman (Yiddish: שיקל פֿישמאַן — Shikl Fishman; July 18, 1926 – March 1, 2015) was an American linguist who specialized in the sociology of language, language planning, bilingual education, and language and ethnicity. ...

and Ofelia García consider it as part of sociolinguistics. On the other hand, other scholars such as Bernard Spolsky, Robert B. Kaplan and Joseph Lo Bianco argue that language policy is a branch of

applied linguistics Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, psychology, Communication stu ...

. As a field, language policy is also known as

language planning In sociolinguistics, language planning (also known as language engineering) is a deliberate effort to influence the function, structure or acquisition of languages or language varieties within a speech community.Kaplan B., Robert, and Rich ...

or language policy and planning, and is related to other fields such as language ideology, language revitalization, and

language education Language education refers to the processes and practices of teaching a second language, second or foreign language. Its study reflects interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary approaches, usually including some applied linguistics. There are f ...

, among others.

Definitions

Language policy has been defined in a number of ways. According to Kaplan and Baldauf (1997), "A language policy is a body of ideas, laws, regulations, rules and practices intended to achieve the planned language change in the societies, group or system" (p. xi). Lo Bianco defines the field as "a situated activity, whose specific history and local circumstances influence what is regarded as a language problem, and whose political dynamics determine which language problems are given policy treatment” (p. 152). McCarty (2011) defines language policy as "a complex sociocultural process nd asmodes of human interaction, negotiation, and production mediated by relations of power. The 'policy' in these processes resides in their language-regulating power; that is, the ways in which they express normative claims about legitimate and illegitimate language forms and uses, thereby governing language statuses and uses" (p. 8).

Overview

Language policy is broad, but it can be categorized into three components. Spolsky (2004) argues, "A useful first step is to distinguish between the three components of the language policy of a speech community: (1) its language practices – the habitual pattern of selecting among the varieties that make up its linguistic repertoire; (2) its language beliefs or ideology – the beliefs about language and language use; and (3) any specific efforts to modify or influence that practice by any kind of language intervention, planning, or management" (p. 5). The traditional scope of language policy concerns language regulation. This refers to what a government does either officially through

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...

, court decisions or policy to determine how languages are used, cultivate language skills needed to meet national priorities or to establish the rights of individuals or groups to use and maintain languages.

Implementation

The implementation of language policy varies from one state to another. This may be explained by the fact that language policy is often based on contingent historical reasons. Likewise, states also differ as to the degree of explicitness with which they implement a given language policy. The French Toubon law provides a good example of explicit language policy. The same may be said for the Charter of the French Language in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. Scholars such as Tollefson argue that language policy can create inequality:

"language planning-policy means the institutionalization of language as a basis for distinctions among social groups (classes). That is, language policy is one mechanism for locating language within social structure so that language determines who has access to political power and economic resources. Language policy is one mechanism by which dominant groups establish hegemony in language use" (p. 16).

Many countries have a language policy designed to favor or discourage the use of a particular

or set of languages. States, local authorities or pressure-groups can promote bilingual signage or can agitate for translations of newspaper articles. Although nations historically have used language policies most often to promote one

official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...

at the expense of others, many countries now have policies designed to protect and promote regional and ethnic languages whose viability is threatened. Indeed, whilst the existence of linguistic minorities within a jurisdiction has often been considered to be a potential threat to internal cohesion, states also understand that providing language rights to minorities may be more in their long-term interest, as a means of gaining citizens' trust in the central government. The preservation of cultural and linguistic diversity in today's world is a major concern to many scientists, artists, writers, politicians, leaders of linguistic communities, and defenders of linguistic human rights. More than half of the 6000 languages currently spoken in the world are estimated to be in danger of disappearing during the 21st century. Many factors affect the existence and usage of any given human language, including the size of the population of native speakers, its use in formal communication, and the geographical dispersion and the socio-economic weight of its speakers. National language policies can either mitigate or exacerbate the effects of some of these factors. For example, according to Ghil'ad Zuckermann:

"Native tongue title and language rights should be promoted. The government ought to define Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander vernaculars as official languages of Australia. We must change the linguistic landscape of Whyalla and elsewhere. Signs should be in both English and the local indigenous language. We ought to acknowledge intellectual property of indigenous knowledge including language, music and dance."

There are many ways in which language policies can be categorized. Université Laval sociolinguist Jacques Leclerc elaborated the field for the French-language web site (put on line by the CIRAL in 1999). The collecting, translating and classifying of language policies started in 1988 and culminated in the publishing of (vol. I to VI) at Presses de l'Université Laval in 1994. The work, containing some 470 language-laws, and the research leading to publication, were subsidised by the Office québécois de la langue française. In April 2008, the web site presented the linguistic portrait and language policies in 354 States or autonomous territories in 194 recognised countries. Leclerc, Jacques
"Page d'accueil"
in ''L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde'', Québec, TLFQ, Université Laval, 2007 (in French).

Language regulators

List of language regulators This is a list of bodies that consider themselves to be authorities on standard languages, often called language academies. Language academies are motivated by, or closely associated with, linguistic purism and prestige, and typically publish p ...

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

* The Academy of the Hebrew Language * Akademio de Esperanto *

Association of Spanish Language Academies The Association of Academies of the Spanish Language (; ASALE) is an entity whose end is to work for the unity, integrity, and growth of the Spanish language. It was created in Mexico in 1951 and represents the union of all the separate academies ...

* Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies * Board for Standardization of the Serbian Language (Serbia, Montenegro, Republika Srpska) * Bòrd na Gàidhlig ( Gaelic in Scotland) * Commission on the Filipino Language (Philippines) * Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Malaysia) * Dutch Language Union * Foras na Gaeilge (Irish) * Institut d'Estudis Catalans * Badan Pengembangan Bahasa dan Perbukuan (Indonesia) * Norwegian Language Council * Office québécois de la langue française * Ofis Publik ar Brezhoneg ( Breton in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

) * Pan South African Language Board * Real Academia Española * Swedish Language Council * Welsh Language Commissioner

References

Bibliography

* Tollefson, J. W. (1991)
Planning language, planning inequality: Language policy in the community
London: Longman. * Spolsky, B. (2004)
Language policy
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Spolsky, B. (2009)
Language management
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Johnson, D. C. (2013)
Language policy
London: Palgrave MacMillan. * Cooper, R. L. (1989)
Language planning and social change
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Zein, S. (2020)
Language policy in superdiverse Indonesia
New York and London: Routledge. * Ginsburgh, V., Weber, S. (Eds.). (2016)
The Palgrave Handbook of Economics and Language
London: Palgrave Macmillan. *Michele Gazzola,Torsten Templin, Bengt-Arne Wickström, (2018)
''Language Policy and Linguistic Justice''
Springer. *Shohamy, Elana (2006). ''Language Policy: Hidden Agendas and New Approaches.'' London: Routledge. * Hult, F.M., & Johnson, D.C. (Eds.) (2015). ''Research Methods in Language Policy and Planning: A Practical Guide.'' Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell . * Crawford, James (2000)
''Language Policy Website.''
* Bastardas-Boada, Albert (2012).
Language and identity policies in the 'glocal' age
'. Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Autonòmics. * Bastardas-Boada, Albert (2013). Language policy and planning as an interdisciplinary field: Towards a complexity approach,
''Current Issues in Language Planning''
Volume 14, 2013 - Issue 3-04. *Bastardas-Boada, Albert (2019)
''From language shift to language revitalization and sustainability. A complexity approach to linguistic ecology''
Barcelona: Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona. . *Kadochnikov, D. (2016). Languages, Regional Conflicts and Economic Development: Russia. In: Ginsburgh, V., Weber, S. (Eds.)
The Palgrave Handbook of Economics and Language
London: Palgrave Macmillan. 2016. pp. 538–580. * Spolsky, Bernard (2012).
The Cambridge Handbook of Language Policy
'.

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

. *Silva, Diego B. (2019)
Language policy in Oceania
''Alfa, Rev. Linguíst.'' 63 (2). * Zuckermann, Ghil'ad and Walsh, Michael 201
'Stop, Revive, Survive: Lessons from the Hebrew Revival Applicable to the Reclamation, Maintenance and Empowerment of Aboriginal Languages and Cultures'
''Australian Journal of Linguistics'' 31.

External links

Language Policy Division
of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

Language Policy in Kyrgyzstan
University of Pannonia, Hungary {{DEFAULTSORT:Language Policy