LANGUAGE PLANNING
Lauren Morley
Miranda Jones
Weronika Podgorska
Megan Adam
Stacey Roach
BACKGROUND TO LANGUAGE PLANNING
•
Sir William Jones that almost all languages root back to one ‘proto’, or ‘parent’ language.
The Proto-Indo-European language is an unrecorded language that is believed to be the
ancestor of all Indo-European languages.
•
6900 spoken world languages, but during the 1990’s only 104 languages were granted
official state in the then 195 political states (Daoust 1997:451-2).
•
Nowadays, just over 60% of the World’s population speak one of the top 30 languages as
their native tongue (Ethnologue, 2005).
BACKGROUND TO LANGUAGE PLANNING
•
Einar Haugen (1950’s) Language Planning refers to “all conscious efforts that aim at
changing the linguistic behaviour of a speech community” (Deumert, 2009: 371)
•
Language planning can be initiated to push a certain language towards a stipulated goal.
•
Language Planning can either encourage or dissuade people from speaking a language.
THEORETICAL DIVISION OF LANGUAGE
PLANNING
Language Planning – definitions
•
According to Haugen (1950s): “all conscious efforts that aim at changing the linguistics
behaviour of speech community”
•
According to Fishman (1987): "the authoritative allocation of resources to the attainment of
language status and corpus goals, whether in connection with new functions that are aspired to,
or in connection with old functions that need to be discharged more adequately"
•
Dictionary definition (dictionary.com): “ the development of policies and programs designed to
direct or change language use, as though the establishment of an official language, the
standardisation or modernisation of language, or the development or alternation of writing
system.”
THEORETICAL DIVISION OF LANGUAGE
PLANNING
Dimensions of language planning:
•
Kloss (1967):
Corpus planning - internal structure of language  language standardisation (creation and
establishment of a uniform linguistic norm)
Status planning - function of language, allocation of new functions, e.g. official, provincial,
international
•
Haarmann (1990)
Prestige Planning – “creating a favourable psychological background which is crucial for the
long-term success of language planning activities (…)” (Deumert, 2009)
Another new dimension:
Acquisition planning – promotion of language.
THEORETICAL DIVISION OF LANGUAGE
PLANNING
The process of language planning:
Haugen (1983)
1. Selection
2. Codification
3. Implementation
4. Elaboration/ Modernisation
THEORETICAL DIVISION OF LANGUAGE
PLANNING
Revised language planning model (table) and explanation
Form
(policy planning)
Function
(language cultivation)
1.
Selection
(decision procedures)
1.
Implementation
(educational spread)
a.
a.
1.
Problem indentification
Allocation of norms
Codification
(standalisation procedures)
a.
a.
1.
Correction procedures
evaluation
Elaboration
(functional development)
a.
a.
graphisation
gramatification
a.
terminological modernisation
b. stylistic development
lexication
a.
Society (status planning)
Language (corpus planning)
c.
The examples of language planning are Catalan and Irish...
internationalisation
EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE PLANNING:
CATALONIA
Llei de Normalització Lingüística, 1983 (Law of Linguistic Normalisation) in Catalonia:
1. Full co-official use of Catalan in government, the judiciary, education and public
signage
2. Government financial support of Catalan language activities
The 3 main aims of this law:
1. Normalisation of Catalan
2. Focus on education
3. Linguistic immersion
EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE PLANNING:
CATALONIA
Process of normalisation had 3 broad initial goals:
1. Achieve the symbolic promotion and functional institutionalism of Catalan in all key
public/private domains
2. Redress illiteracy in Catalan, and any remaining sense of inferiority attached to Catalan
3. Gain the commitment of first language Spanish speakers to Catalan via a ‘policy of
persuasion’
EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE PLANNING:
CATALONIA
• Overall success in achieving first two aims, second still remains contested
• Catalan citizens have the right to use Catalan on all public and private
occasions
• Virtually all written/oral work in local authorities undertaken in Catalan
EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE PLANNING:
CATALONIA
Focus on education
•
Catalan given priority in education after the 1983 law
•
90% preschools/elementary schools opted for predominantly Catalan-medium
programs
•
Extensive program of language support for teachers, production of bilingual
textbooks and other curriculum materials, training in the theory and methodology of
immersion language education
EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE PLANNING:
CATALONIA
Linguistic Immersion / Catalan Linguistic Policy Act
•
The 1983 law having succeeded, a new structure was felt necessary
•
Implementation of a single model of Catalan immersion for all schools at
preschool/elementary level
•
Unified nature of the Catalan immersion system reinforced by (1998) Ley de Política
Lingüística (Catalan Linguistic Policy Act)
•
Controversy and opposition generated
INEFFECTIVE LANGUAGE PLANNING: IRELAND
•
6th to 9th century Irish spoken as a common vernacular alongside Latin (May, 2008).
•
8th century Irish surpassed Latin established itself as the principal literary and religious
medium (May, 2008 and Edwards).
•
16th century Henry VIII indirectly and directly discouraged Irish English began to advance.
•
Irish language decline due to:
-
Abandonment of Irish by the Catholic church
-
Impact of rural depopulation
-
An apparent willingness of Irish speakers to also abandon the language
INEFFECTIVE LANGUAGE PLANNING: IRELAND
1922- Constitution of the Irish Free State, Article 4:
The national language of the Irish Free State is the Irish language, but the English language
shall be equally recognised as an official language…
Despite the marked regional bias in the distribution of Irish-speakers at the time, the language
policy was applied to the state as a whole. In English speaking regions the policy sought to
create bilingualism. In this way the policy was one of language revival.
INEFFECTIVE LANGUAGE PLANNING: IRELAND
The Irish state’s language strategy had four elements…
-
The maintenance of Irish as the spoken language in those areas where it was still the community
language
-
Revival of the language for Irish-speakers
-
The use of Irish within the public services
-
To modernize and standardize the language.
These elements were executed and continued through the following years through…
Education, public administration, the law, the media, language standardization
…domains in which Irish has not been used for centuries.
INEFFECTIVE LANGUAGE PLANNING: IRELAND
Education:
In Ireland the teaching of Irish is as follows…
-
Irish is taught to all pupils from the beginning of primary school;
-
It is taught mainly as a subject;
-
There is no significant naturally occurring pressure to use the language outside of school
-
The aim is produce spoken proficiency (as against an academic knowledge of the
language or an emphasis on reading and writing)
INEFFECTIVE LANGUAGE PLANNING: IRELAND
Public Administration:
1926 60% of the labour force employed in agriculture. 50% of these people could be
classified as the ‘bourgeoise or petit bourgeois’.
‘bourgeoise or petit bourgeois’= employers or self-employed or employed within family-run
enterprises
Irish became a requirement for those entering the general grades in public service.
INEFFECTIVE LANGUAGE PLANNING: IRELAND
Language Standardization:
•
Irish language standardization began in 1922 when the state funded work in the fields of
Irish orthography and grammar.
•
In 1945 a guide to a standardized spelling system was published.
•
In 1953 a publication of a guide to the standardized principles of Irish grammar
•
In 1959 an English-Irish dictionary became available and 1977 an Irish-English dictionary
was published.
INEFFECTIVE LANGUAGE PLANNING: IRELAND
1960’s/1970’s
•
The 60s there were substantial changes in economic policy and Ireland experienced
increased economic prosperity.
•
International Capitalism.
•
The Census of 1971 indicated a continuing process of population loss and language shift
in Irish speaking areas.
•
The Irish language policies moved away from language revival towards the maintenance
of the language.
•
The focused shifted to teaching Irish as a subject.
•
1973 Irish state examinations discontinued.
•
1980 3% of children being taught Irish.
INEFFECTIVE LANGUAGE PLANNING: IRELAND
•
GIDS (Joshua Fishman)
NOW YOU’VE HEARD ABOUT CATALAN AND
IRISH...
What are the similarities and differences
between the two language planning
strategies?
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES: CATALAN &
IRISH
Similarities:
•
Both governments created laws in their language planning, initially enforcing plans
•
Both governments made the attempt to integrate the language into the educational
system
•
Both governments reinforced the standardisation of the language through the creation of
grammar books and dictionaries
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES: CATALAN &
IRISH
Differences
•
In Catalonia schools taught in Catalan whereas Irish was taught as a separate subject, therefore was used
less
•
Unlike Catalonia where there was a formal assessment in the Catalan language (grammar and spelling etc)
Ireland had no formal assessment to monitor progress and success of the system put into place
•
Irish was not encouraged outside of school, whereas Catalan was (e.g. used at home with family)
•
Irish schools focused on only spoken proficiency, whereas pupils were made to be proficient in all aspects
(reading and writing)
•
It also took many years for Irish to be standardised as grammar, spelling and bilingual dictionaries were not
produced until years after the first language planning laws were created in 1922, this also made it more
difficult for foreigners to learn the language. However, Catalan grammar rules and bilingual dictionaries were
created shortly after by Pompeu i Fabra (created English-Catalan dictionaries and course books for
example)
•
Irish was only focused on the upcoming generations, meaning other generations working in the public sector
did not speak Irish, it was not a requirement for those already working. However, in Catalonia, classes were
offered for those illiterate in Catalan, in order to improve proficiency of very aspect of the language for all
generations.
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES: CATALAN &
IRISH
Conclusion
•
Effective Language Planning requires Prestige (or status) and Reward (or utility), a
language must be perceived as prestigious and its speakers must feel its value and
importance socially and economically, without this language shift will continue
•
Strubell i Trueta (1991) states "a language can only survive in a community in this day
and age, if the community itself strives to achieve its use in all aspects of its everyday life
… If the community does not aim to make its language useful, because another language
covers all functions outside the home, then the other language will become […] 'its'
language"
•
Cooper (1989) made the important point that prestigious languages introduced from the
outside that give opportunities of economic and social advancement have always been
quickly learnt by the colonised people
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW:
• Why do we use language planning?
• What are the 4 mains types of language planning?
• How did Catalonia effectively utilise language planning?
-
Think about: education, linguistic immersion etc..
• Why was language planning unsuccessful in Ireland?
-
Think about: education, public administration, language standardization etc..
• What was similar/ different about the approach taken by Catalonia and
Ireland? Why were they successful/ unsuccessful?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
•
Benton, R A (1981). Schools as agents for language revival in Ireland and New Zealand
In: B Spolsky ed. 1986. Language and Education in Multilingual Settings, Clevedon:
Multilingual Matters LTD.
•
Coluzzi, P (2007) Minority Language Planning and Micronationalism in Italy, 2007,
Switzerland: International Academic Publishers
•
Cooper (1989) Language Planning and Social Change, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press
•
Daoust, D. (1997), ‘Language planning and language reform’, in F.Coulmas (ed.), The
Handbook of Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, pp. 436-532
•
Darquennes, J. (2007) Paths to Language Revitalization, Contact Linguistics and
Language, Volume 30. Pgs 61-76
•
Deumert, A., (2009), Language Planning and Policy in R.Mesthire, J.Swann, A.Deumert,
W.L.Leap eds. (2009), Introducing Sociolinguistics (2 nd edition), Edinburgh University
Press
BIBLIOGRAPHY
•
Edwards, J. (1984) Irish and English in Ireland In: P Trudgill ed. 1984. Language in the
British Isles. Cambridge: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. Pgs 480-498
•
Ethnologue (2005), ‘Languages of the World’ (15 th edition), Available online:
http://www.vistawide.com/languages/top_30_languages.htm, [Last accessed: 11 th October
2012]
•
Kaplan, R.B and Baldauf, R.B. (1997) Language Planning from Practice to Theory, New
York: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
•
Malone, Dennis (2003). Developing curriculum materials for endangered language
education: Lessons from the field. International Journal of Bilingual Education and
Bilingualism, Volume 6, Issue 5. Pgs 332-348.
•
May, S. (2001) Language and minority rights: ethnicity, nationalism and the politics of
language. Harlow, Longman.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
•
May, S. (2008) Language and minority rights: ethnicity, nationalism and the politics of
language, New York: Routledge.
•
Milligan, L. (2007), ‘A Systems Model of Language Planning’, Available online:
http://www.ling.cam.ac.uk/camling/Manuscripts/CamLing2007_Milligan.pdf, [Last
accessed: 11th October 2012]
•
Ó Riagáin, P. (1996) Irish Language Production and Reproduction 1981-1996 In: J A
Fishman ed. (2001) Can Threatened Languages Be Saved?: Reversing Language Shift,
Revisited : A 21st Century Perspective. New York: Multilingual Matters LTD. Pgs 195- 214.
•
Ó Riagáin, P. (1996a) Irish Language Production and Reproduction 1981-1996, Oxford:
Clarendon Press
•
Woolard, K., and Gahng, T.J. (1990) ‘Changing Language Policies and Attitudes in
Autonomous Catalonia’, Volume. 19, Issue. 3, pp. 311-330