QUESTIONING THE PROBLEM OF LINGUISTIC
DIVERSITY
Mulyoso
English Lecturer of STIBA MALANG
Abstract: Language planning until the 1980s was based on the premise that
linguistic diversity is a problem which can be overcome only by
streamlining and central planning. The major conceptual shift that is now
occurring namely that linguistic diversity may in fact be on asset as well as
a solution to former problems, and language maintenance is the primary
focus of this article. It examines two distinct views on the question of
language maintenance. The first one is dealing with a problem of social
justice, since it is not right that society after society should lose language
and that those who continue to speak a non-main-stream language are
educationally and economically disadvantaged. The second view suggest
that the trend toward monolinguism and monoculturalism is the problem:
that diversity itself is a necessary precondition of economic and social wellbeing and that the cost of preserving such diversity small compared to its
benefits.
Keywords: Linguistic
maintenance.
diversity,
Language
planning,
Language
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