Language policy An Introduction - PowerPoint Presentation

1. Language policyAn Introduction

2. Language managementFormulation and proclamation of a explicit plan or policy about language use

3. Language policy and planningLanguage policy – expressiion of ideological orientations and viewsLanguage planning – proposals for the actual implementation of a language policy; a deliberate language change

4. Language ideologyA speech community’s beliefs on what value to apply to each of the language varieties that make up its repertoire

5. Stages in language planning (haugen 1966)1. Selection2. Codification (spelling, grammar, vocabulary)3. Implementation (newspapers, books, textbooks, pamphlets)4. Elaboration (terminology and stylistic development)

6. How do you recognize language policy?The easiest to recognize – policies that exist in the form of clear-cut statements in official documentsThey may take the form of-A clause in a national constitution A language lawA cabnet documentAdministrative regulation

7. Constitutional provisionsAbout 125 of the world’s constitutions express some language policy; cc. 100 name one or more official languages with special privileges of use; nearly hal (78) name a single official languageIn 32 of these 78 cases there is a clause protecting other minority, national or indigenous languagesMany constitutions – no mention of language, apart from some human rights clauses saying that persons arrested or tried are entitled to interpreters, or that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of a list of characteristics including language

8. Major language policy factorsThe sociolinguistic situationThe nature of political organization

9. Correcting language usageGovernments take on the task of managing bad language: in the USA, obscenity is constitutionally left to state or local government, but the federal government has a law dealing with any obscenity that crosses state linesBlasphemy – a crime in some jurisdictionsManaging and mitigating racist languageControlling personal namesStamping out sexist language

10. Linguistic purismPurism favors native sources and tries to close off non-native sources; closely connected with national feeling

11. Criteria for defining language as badA wide range of motivations: moral or religious rejection of violence and overt sexual behaviour, a religious concern for conformity and against blasphemy; a liberal objection to racism and sexism; a conservative objection to innovation: an ethnocentric fear of foreignisms; a state- supported movement for national identity

12. Language cultivationStandard language – „a codified form of language, accepted by and serving as a model to, a larger speech community”An official language has gained its status by the formal recognition of a government‘national’ language – language most widely used in a territory, or emotional, with an implication of serving asnational symbol

13. Standard languagesLanguages used for sacred texts: Latin, classical Arabic, HebrewNational languages like French or English – associated with a Great Tradition: a set of beliefs about the relation of the language to the history of the people in order to support their symbolic status; strong ideological and political supportStandard language – ‘consensus of what educated speakers accept as correct’A belief in correctness, that there is a correct and desirable form of the language, distinct from normal practiceThe first critical need for stadardization – a writing system; scripts – often associated with sacred texts

14. Language policy domainsFamilySchoolReligionThe workplaceNations and statesSupra-national groupings

15. familyMonolingual – bilingual (intermarriage, immigration)Decisions to transmit or not to transmit a heritage language (external pressures)

16. schoolLanguage education policyThe gap between the language of the home and the language of schoolMother tongue education?Systems that start teaching in the children’s home language and introduce the standard in the first few years and move to instruction in the standard or official language at various stagesSome start teaching in the colonial or official language from the first day and assume that pupils will pick it up from simple immersion

17. schoolA second aspect of language policy – teaching of other languagesMost countries have language policies that define foreign language teaching

18. religionThe distribution of major types of writing systems correlates closely with the distribution of the world’s major religionsA religion often preserves an earlier version of a language for public ceremonies, particularly when sacred texts are maintained in the originalReligious observances help maintain a language after immigrationIntertwining of missionary activities and colonization

19. The workplaceBusiness firms often establish their own language policies

20. Local governmentLocal governments often responsible for public educationChoice of language for public signs

21. Nations and statesNationalism – important factor in language policies

22. Supranational organizationsTensions between pragmatic and sybbolic considerationsEU: 24 official languages, 3 working languagesMother tongue + 2Rights of minority languages

23. French language policyFrench – the unifying and sole language for the areas under French ruleAcademie francaise (1635) – the first and defining example of language planningIncreasing use of French in formal domains – a need to develop and cultivate it; purify it of obscure archaic regional terms; the language of common people – also proscribed; the result: an aristocratic literary language, with high status and authority

24. French language policyIn 1635 the Paris Parlement recognized its responsibility for the French language and books written in French. It was „to give explicit rules to our language and to render it pure, eloquent, and capable of treating the arts and sciences”This scholarly group, supported later by legislation, was to develop the monolingual hegemony of the French languageThe Academy’s role: to guard the French language and to act as a patron of the artsIt was originally envisaged that the Academy would work on 4 products: a dictionary, a grammar, a rhetoric and a poetics

25. French language policyThe Constituent Assembly in 1790 accepted bilingualism, passing decrees suppoting translation into local languages and salary increases for bilingual teachersIn 1791 the Jacobins took power and called for the development of a centralized state; education was to have a central role, and equality could only be granted if everyone spoke the same languageEducation – one of the most important duties of the stateA common language would support communication on a national level

26. French language policyStandard French, the language of the elite, was the choiceRegional languages came to be associated with feudalismFrench – the national symbol, other languages – prohibitedIn 1880’s the Third Republic put the Jacobins’ policy into effect by making primary education free and compulsoryLaw Toubon (1994) „By virtue of the Constitution, French is the language of the Republic, and the French language is the fundamental element of the character and heritage of France”

27. legislationThe edicts of Villers-Cotteret (1539) – only French could be used in courts, in legal documents and in judgements – Latin replaced by a national languageDecrees of 1794 converted church schools into state schools that were required to use French, banning regional languages; not enough teachers to carry this policy into effectIn 1881 the minister of education repeated that French must be used in all schoolsIn 1972 President Pompidou said that „there is no place for regional languages in France which is destined to play a fundamental role in Europe”

28. LegislationA law passed in 1975 established that French must be used in commerce, in public places, in the media and in public service1994 Law Toubon – made French compulsory in consumer affairs, employment, education, audiovisual communication and colloquia and congresses held in France. Civil servants were required to use official terminologyAnyone employed by the state (civil servants and teachers) had to follow the Constitution and use French, including all terms approved by their Ministry’s terminological committee1973 Frankophonie

29. LegislationTerminological committees strenghtened, coordinated by central agenciesNo other national language has developed such elaborate and well-financed network of government and semi-government agencies1951 Deixonne Law permitted the teaching of Basque, Breton, Catalan and Occitan for up to 3 hrs a week as part of general education; Corsican added to the list in 1974Since 1994 Basque and Breton bilingual schools; a ruling in 2002 annulled earlier decisions to permit bilingual education in regional languages

30. French coloniesAll levels of administration, public life and education – in FrenchCivilizing mission: spreading the French language and culture, avoiding the use of languages of „primitive peoples”French taught as pure Parisian, no regional variation recognizedLocal African languages repressed except in religious settings

31. French language policyDriven by a desire to assert national unity, homogeneity and identity in the multilingul regions under developing political controlThe main threats to the language – internal: the regional varieties that encouraged diversity and detracted from central powerToday: the main threat is English – the main driving force for the French language policy

32. The spread of englishEnglish today – in a stronger position in the world than any other language, today or in the pastAlready in 1970’s English was the language of diplomacy (95 out of 126 members of UN received working documents in English, the language of 70% of the world’s mail, the first language of cc. 300 million people, the second language of many more, the language of air control

33. Causes of LANGUAGE spreadColonization, urbanization, education, religion, political affiliation

34. Conspiracy theory„linguicism” – intentional destruction of a powerless language by a dominant oneGranting overrepresentation to one language at the expense of anotherLinguistic imperialism

35. English language policy?UK – unwritten constitutionThe US Constitution – no mention of languageUK devolution – restored the status of Celtic languages in Wales and ScotlandNo clear tradition of centrally directed language policy

36. English diffusion in the ukWelsh – still strong for centuries after the 1536 Act of Union had made English the only language of law and government; most of Wales – still Welsh speaking in the mid-18th c.In 19th c. public schools began to discourage the use of Welsh

37. Standard English: Received Pronunciation (RP)From 19th c, educated at highly selective public schools in the south of England, the elite promoted standard English with its own prestige accent: Received Pronunciation (RP)Anyone outside this elite group – disadvantagedNo need for formal explicit language management

38. English in the coloniesIn most parts of the British empire – the number of English-speaking settlers was rather smallThe responsibility of the colonial power – to educate the indigenous populatio in order to modernize the countryElementary education – in the local vernacular, with gradual transition through bilingual to monolingual English instruction in the more selective higher levelsToday: in half of 20 former colonies English was an official language or was legally recognized

39. The global language systemMutually unintelligible languages – connected by plurilingual speakers, forming ordered hierarchical systemsMost languages – peripheral, used for spoken communication only; speakers of peripheral languages tend to acquire the same second language, which becomes central to their regionCc 100 languages occupy a central position in the global language system: used by 95% of the world’s population: education, the media, administration, lawWhen speakers of a central language learn another language, it is often on a higher hierarchical level

40. The global language systemFrom an economic viewpoint, choosing a standard language is an investment, and it is more valuable the longer it survives and the more people use itFinal stages of language death – the growing shortage of speakers is a cause for others to stop using it; in the rush to acquire a central language: the more speakers it has, the more people want to learn itThis model explains the global shift towards English; the power of attraction of central, super-central and global languages

41. The global language systemEconomic, technological, political, social, religious and structural changes – causes for the spread of a language; they provide the centripetal force that raises the value, desirability and attractiveness of a languageThe opposite trend: centrifugal symbolic forces underlying efforts to establish or maintain ethnic or local or national languages: resistance to English or other dominant languages: reversing the language shift

42. The global language system1) the spread of English – not a direct result of language management2) English as a global language needs to be taken into account by any nation state in its language policy

43. Does the us have a language policy or just civil rights?US – absence of an explicitly organized and implemented language policyOpposition to establishing a language academy or any other administrative body charged wih its implementationFrom its colonial beginning, the American linguistic pattern marked by diversityColonization – linguistically diverse; Spanish (1513), English (1583. Newfoundland); Dutch 1623, French (1605), Dutch (1513), German 1683 Philadelphia)19th c. increase in migration; ‘melting pot’: de-ethnization and Americanization

44. Does the us have a language policy or just civil rights?Non-English languages – most likely to be preserved in those groups that were denied or resisted social mobilityForced integration and anglicization of Native AmericasChinese and Japanese immigrants were kept outside the school systenWorld wars – xenophobia, nationalism; Anti-German sentimentBilingualism came to be associated with inferior intelligenceBy 1930’s US ideology – firmly monolingualConflicting tensions: bilingualism v.monolingualism

45. Us practice and beliefsMost private and public business – conducted in EnlishMany individuals and communities continue to use their heritage languages

46. Us language managementAttacks on policies permitting the use of other languages in US schoolsAdoption of the immigration quotas in the 1920’s, the flow of non-English speaking immigrants slowed downA handful of rural schools remained bilingual1960’s: growing immigration – the issue became important againEducation – outside the constitutional authority of the federal government meant that there was no consistent national ideology and no possibility of developing a uniform federal language policy

47. Language as a civil rightUS courts have defended the rights of speakers of languages other than EnglishMeyer v. Nebraska (1923) the Supreme Court ruled that while the states could require English as the medium in public schools, they could not do this for private schoolsIn 1973 the Federal Court for the US Eastern District of Texas held that the absence of a bilingual education progran violated the 14th AnendmentIn 1974 Portales v Serna Circuit Court of Appeals held that Title VI gave children with limited English-speaking ability the right to bilingual ediuation

48. Civil rights act (1964)Provided a basis for the federal government to intervene in language managementPupils declared to be linguisticaly disadvantaged

49. Bilingual education act (1968)Provided funding for educational programmes taught in languages other than EnglishExpired in 2002The original legislation proposed to teach English to children from non-English-speaking backgroundsA continuation of the Civil Rights Act, providing a remedy for discrimination against pupils who did not speak EnglishNot intended to provide support for the maintenance of the languages of minority groupsCampaigns against bilingual education

50. Language in civil rightsIt has become accepted in US and Europe that there is a fundamental and civil right for there to should be no discrimination against an individual based on languageIn its most rudimentary form this led to the requirement that a person charged with a crime be told the details of the charge in a language s/he understandsIn its most elaborate form – provision of government services in such a way that they are accessible to all

51. English-only policy in the usaDeveloped in dealing with conquered people (Native Americans), immigrants (Germans)US English Inc. Founded in 1983 – goal: to make English the official language in the USAEnglish First – founded in 1986: lobbies in favour of English-only legislation and against bilingual education

52. summaryFundamental factors for language policy:1. the sociolinguistic situation2. national ideology3. the existence of English as a global language4. the notion of language rights

53. summaryUS: the common language belief system started off as pluralistic and multilingual, went through an anti-immigrant and isolationist monolingual phase starting in the late 19th c.; now: a strong tension between multilingualism and monolingualismDiscouraging any effort to teach languages other than EnglishLanguage management – left to the statesUS language policy – complex and difficult to disentangleLanguage practice – Enflish dominant, with large pockets of multilingualism

54. summaryLanguage beliefs: everybody should learn English; all remain free to learn and use whatever other language they chooseLanguage management – uncentralized, the exception being civil rights driven programmes and federal services for allFears about the rapid increase in the numbers of speakers of other languagesFailure to date both of English-only movements and bilingual educationFederal government (defence and intelligence) has developed a strong policy aimed to build up national foreign language capacity, but remains unwilling to do the same in the educational system

55. Language rightsApplication of civil rights to language, which emerged from the interpretation of courts, legislators and bureaucrats of constitutionally protected civil rights for minoritiesMany countries name in their constitution or laws a single national or official language, but then modify the intolerance by proclaiming protection of one or more minority languagesThe term „minority” not numerical; rather: superordinate or subordinate status; other dimensions: whether the minority is legally recognized or not, and whether it is indigenous or immigrant

56. Language rightsTerms: language rights, linguistic rights, linguistic human rightsDistinction between individual rights (e.g. the right to choose which language to speak in private) and collective rights of a language community (the right to use and maintain its language)Difference of opinion as to whether the responsibility for language maintenance resides – with the speakers of the language or with nation state in which they live

57. The origin of linguistic rightsMedieval period: peasants spoke their dialects, members of the ruling classes – multikingual; the Church – universal, with the use of LatinThe first stirrings of nationalism – the RenaissanceStable national borders started to develop in 16th c.Gradually centrally governed nations started to raise the status of one language or variety, and so produce the likelihood of linguistic minoritiesThe Reformation – religious use of the national vernacular

58. The origin of linguistic rights2 opposing tendencies: one that treated every Christian language equally, and a second (illustrated by the Ordonnance de Villers-Cotterets favoring French in 1539 and the Act of Union in England of England and Wales favoring English over Welsh in 1536)Following the French Revolution’s proclamation of political and linguistic nationality, and confirmed by the German concept of nation as cultural reality, belonging to a linguistic minority was a cause for exclusion or forced assimilation

59. The origin of linguistic rightsCompulsory education and universal military service – technques for standardizing the national languageGradually, legislation providing support for certain kinds of linguistic diversity started to appearAnti-discrimination and equal opportunity

60. Language rights between the world warsThe peace treaties signed after the First World War – protection for selected minorities in defeated enemy countries or in new states carved out of defeated empires in Central and Eastern EuropeThe Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations included provisions for rights of linguistic minorities in Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, and in setting up new nations in Europe and the Middle EastProvision of equality for individual members of linguistic minorities; this included a means to preserve the special characteristics of minorities, including their language

61. Language rights between the world warsAny state signing the treaties agreed that all its nationals, including members of minority groups, should be free to use any language in private, in business, in religion, in the press or any publications or at public meetingsAccess to state organsAppropriate interpreting and translation in court proceedingsIn the towns and districts with a sufficient proportion of nationals with a mother tongue different from the official language, their children should be permitted to receive primary education in their mother tongue; the learning of the offucial language - obligatory

62. Linguistic rights in the 2nd half of the 20th c.The UN Charter (1945) – respect for human rights and fundamental freedomsUniversal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) – language as one of the criteria for non-discrimination1957 International Labor Organization – the right to basic education in indigenous languages, measures to preserve the vernacular languages1960 the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education – the right to education and use of minority languages1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: specific language rights: administration of justice

63. Linguistic rights in the 2nd half of the 20th c.These conersns for language rights – focused on individual rather than collective rights of linguistic minoritiesStarting in cc. 1990’s, an increasing number of international agreements asserted individual linguistic rights1989 International Labor Organization Convention no. 169 – rights of indigenous peoples1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: linguistic needs of a child belonging to minority groups

64. Linguistic rights in the 2nd half of the 20th c.1990 UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families1992 UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities1993 a Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous PeoplesMost linguistic rights – derivable from general human rights, namely the principles of non-discrimination and freedom of expression

65. the council of europe1992 The European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages: protection of autochtonous regional and minority languages; dialects and immigrant languages excluded; each state could specify its minority languages falling under the Charter’s protection; languages could be either territorial or non-territorial1998 The Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities

66. The organization for security and cooperation in europeConflict prevention55 member states1996 the Hague recommendations on education rights of national minorities1998 the Oslo recommendations on the linguistic rights of national minorities1999 Lund recommendations on the effective participation of national minorities in public lifeMotivation – to reduce tension in multilingual societies and to avoid conflict

67. summaryFrench Revolution – support of the notion of one nation, one languageInternational and European treaties: freedom of language choice, the right of linguistic minorities to use and teach their languages, the obligation of the state to teach its official language to all and to provide access to government services to speakers of other languagesLanguage rights – derived from principles established for civil or human rights

68. The european union24 official languagesEuropean Bureau for Lesser Used Languages: support for selected minority languagesImportance of minority languages in the field of culture;support for multilingualism