Language Policy and

Planning

Facultad de Humanidades

Escuela de Ciencias del LenguajeSeminario de Lingüística Aplicada

Prof. Carlos Mayora

December 2014

• Definitions

• Factors influencing the field

• Historical developments

• Models

• Scope

• Current issues

Contents

Definitions

Definitions

…la asignación de recursos, por parte de las personas que tienen autoridad para ello, para el logro de metas relacionadas con el estatus y el corpus del lenguaje; ya sea con relación a nuevas funciones –usos funcionalesdel lenguaje– que se desea desarrollar o con respecto a viejas funciones que necesitan ser descartadas.

Pereira, 2013, p. 387

Definitions

The discipline of language planning has been defined as systematic, future-oriented change in language code (corpus planning), use (status planning), learning and speaking (language-in-education planning) and/or language promotion (prestige planning) undertaken by some authoritative organisation – most frequently by governments, but increasingly by other organisations – with some community of speakers.

Baldauf, 2012, p. 234

Definitions

Se entiende por políticas lingüísticas la toma de decisiones de carácter normativo con respecto al uso de las lenguas en una nación, comunidad u organización […] la planificación lingüística se refiere al proceso sistemático para la elaboración e implementación de una política lingüística

Mayora, en prensa

Definitions

…language planning [can be considered] the quintessentialexample of applied linguistics, combining as it does the need for theoretical understandings about language and a requirement for application to real lifesituations.

Baldauf, 2012, p. 234

Factors influencing the field

Macro sociopolitical

Epistemological

Strategic

Ricento, 2000

Factors influencing the field

Factors influencing the field

Macro sociopolitical(social and political events and processesthat call for the need of a language policy)

Stateformation/desintegration

Wars

Migration

Globalization

Factors influencing the field

Epistemological

(paradigms of knowledge and research)

Positivism

Post modernism

Neo-Marxism

Factors influencing the field

Strategic

(Practical reasons for doinglanguage planning)

Design and implementation

Evaluation

Criticism

Social change

Historical development

Early Work: Modernization

Second stage: Failure of modernization

Third stage: The New World Order

Ricento, 2000

Early work: Modernization

Time period: Post world war II to the late 60’s

Macro sociopolitical factors: The end of the war, rise of postcolonial states in Africa, Asia and America.

Epistemology: Positivism

Strategic: National unity and modernization

Second stage

Time period: Mid 70’s to early 1990’s

Macro sociopolitical factors: Neo-colonialism, The cold war and the failure of modernization

Epistemology: Relativism and post-modernism

Strategic: Evaluate and criticize the language policies from the early work era

Third stage

Time period: Late 1990’s - today

Macro sociopolitical factors: Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union, Globalization

Epistemology: Relativism and neo-marxism

Strategic: Language ecology, linguistic rights, social change, social inequalities.

Models or approaches to language planning

Classical approach

Language management approach

Domain approach

Critical approach

Baldauf, 2012

The classical approach

Language planning and policy for…

Status planningSocial roles and

perceptions of the languages.

Corpus planningDescription of the

languages in a country/polity

Language-in-education

Linguistic components in curricula (national and

foreign languages)

Prestige planningThe “image” of the society transmitted

through the language.

The language management approach

LPP involves

Identifying a deviation from

language(s) use

Evaluating language

use

Designing/implementing a new

norm

Evaluating the norm

The domain approach

According to this approach, different languages in a polity can be assigned different status and roles in different domains (family, religion, the workplace, etc.). Language planning consists on in-field, ethnographic and interdisciplinary research to determine what role and in what domain each language should receive.

Critical approaches

They evaluate and analyze how language policies perpetuate or challenge existing ideologies and power relations.

Make extensive use of discourse analysis and critical discourse analysis

Seek to transform reality rather tan merely describing it or prescribing it.

The scope of language planning and policy

The scope of language planning and policy

National language or languages:

How many languages are spoken in the polity and by how many people?

Should there be one national language or many?

Should all national languages be part of the legal/administrative system?

The scope of language planning and policy

Language in education:

In what language are students instructed?

What foreign languages are included in the curricula?

What weight is given to foreign languages in the curricula?

The scope of language planning and policy

Minority languages:

How many languages are there in the polity?

What is the status of each?

What access to power and social opportunities are given to the speakers of minority languages?

In what language are they educated?

The scope of language planning and policy

Supra-national unions:

As international allegiances and multinational agreements emerge, new economic and political blocks emerge (the EU or Mercosur). Then:

How many members does the supra-state polity has? What languages do they speak? What languages are to be used in meetings? In what languages are documents to be published?

Current issues

Current issues

• The internationalization of English

• Exclusion and inequality through language

• The death of languages

• Intercultural communication

«…el hecho es que los políticos, no muy sofisticados en asuntos lingüísticos, son quienes toman las decisiones, y las toman en gran medida de acuerdo a sus propias e individuales lealtades lingüísticas»

(Kaplan, 1992, p. 151).

Current issues

“…como idioma nacional, se le confiere al castellano mucho más prestigio y utilidad que a cualquier idioma indígena. La estigmatización de estos últimos […] forma parte de la ideología lingüística nacional y permea toda la dinámica de contacto. [Cabe destacar el] hecho de que el ejercicio del poder pasa inexorablemente por el castellano, cuyos hablantes imponen, con mayor o menor sutileza, las reglas del juego. ”

Villalón, 2011, p. 148

Current issues

EU languages permeate the ongoing processes of creating a “union” […] language policy at the supra-national level is largely implicit and covert. As some languages are more “international” than others the equality of the 11 languages has in fact always been a myth

Phillipson, 2001

Current issues

Baldauf, R.B. (2012). Language planning: Where have we been? Where might we be going? Revista Brasileira de Lingüística Aplicada, 12(2): 233-248.

Kaplan, R. (1992). Applied linguistics and language policy and planning. En Grabe, W. y Kaplan, R. (Comps.). Introduction to applied linguistics (pp. 143-165). Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

Mayora, C. (en prensa). Aportes de la lingüística aplicada al estudio del poder. Lenguaje, 43(1).

Pereira, S. (2013). Planificación y políticas lingüísticas en la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras a nivel universitario: un análisis de percepciones. Lenguaje, 41(2): 383-406

References

Phillipson, R. (2001). English yes, but equal language right first. The guardian [online version]. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2001/apr/19/guardianweekly.guardianweekly1

Ricento, T. (2000). Historical and theoretical perspectives in language policy and planning. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 4(2):196-213.

Villalón, M.E. (2011). Lenguas amenazadas y la homogeneización lingüística de Venezuela. Boletín de lingüística, 23(35-36): 143-170.

References