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 Richard B. Baldauf Jr. Language Planning from Practice to Theory. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters ltd., 1997 Robert L. Cooper (1989) defines language planning as "the activity of preparing a normative orthography, grammar, and dictionary for the guidance of writers and speakers in a non-homogeneous speech community" (p. 8). Along with language ideology and language practices, language planning is part of language policya typology drawn from Bernard Spolsky's theory of language policy. According to Spolsky, language management is a more precise term than language planning. Language management is defined as "the explicit and observable effort by someone or some group that has or claims authority over the participants in the domain to modify their practices or beliefs" (p. 4) Language planning is often associated with government planning, but is also used by a variety of non-governmental organizations such as grass-roots organizations as well as individuals. Goals of such planning vary. Better communication through assimilation of a single dominant language can bring economic benefits to minorities but is also perceived to facilitate their political domination.Cobarrubias, Juan. "Ethical Issues in Status Planning." Progress in Language Planning: International Perspectives. Eds. Juan Cobarrubias and Joshua Fishman. New York: Mouton Publishers, 1983. It involves the establishment of language regulators, such as formal or informal agencies, committees, societies or academies to design or develop new structures to meet contemporary needs.Language: An Introduction, Lehmann, W.P., 1983, Random House
Language ideology
Four overarching language ideologies are proposed to explain motivations and decisions.
Internationalization the adoption of a non-indigenous language as a means of wider communication, as an official language or in a particular domain, such as the use of English in India, Singapore, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and South Africa.
Linguistic assimilation the belief that every member of a society, irrespective of their native language, should learn and use the dominant language of the society in which they live. An example is the English-only movement of some residents of the United States.
Linguistic pluralism the recognition and support of many languages within one society. Examples include the coexistence of French, German, Italian, and Romansh in Switzerland; and the shared official status of English, Malay, Tamil, and Mandarin Chinese in Singapore. The coexistence of many languages may not necessarily arise from a conscious language ideology but rather the relative efficiency of communicating in a shared language.
Vernacularization the restoration and development of an indigenous language, along with its adoption by the state as an official language. Examples include Hebrew in the state of Israel, Quechua in Peru and Māori in New Zealand.
Goals Eleven language planning goals have been recognized (Nahir 2003):Nahir, Moshe. "Language Planning Goals: A Classification." Sociolinguistics: The Essential Readings. Eds. Paulston, Christina Bratt and G. Richard Tucker. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003 Language purification – prescription of usage norms in order to preserve the "linguistic purity" of language, protect language from foreign influences, and guard against perceived language deviation from within Language revival – the attempt to restore to common use a language which has few or no surviving native speakersLinguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann claims that any attempt to revive a no-longer spoken language is likely to end up with a hybrid - see Zuckermann, Ghil'ad, "Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns". In Journal of Language Contact, Varia 2 (2009), 40-67. Language reform – deliberate change in specific aspects of language or extralinguistic elements, such as grammar and orthography, in order to facilitate use Language standardization – the attempt to garner prestige for a regional language or dialect, developing it as the chosen standard language of a region Language spread – the attempt to increase the number of speakers of a language Lexical modernization – word coining or adaptation Terminology unification – development of unified terminologies, mainly in technical domains Stylistic simplification – simplification of language usage in lexicon, grammar, and style. That includes changing the use of language in social and formal contexts. Interlingual communication – facilitation of linguistic communication between members of distinct speech communities Language maintenance – preservation of a group's native language as a first or second language where pressures threaten or cause a decline in the status of the language Auxiliary-code standardization – standardization of marginal, auxiliary aspects of language, such as signs for the deaf, place names, or rules of transliteration and transcription
Types Language planning has been divided into three types:
Status planning
Status planning is the allocation or reallocation of a language or dialect to functional domains within a society, thus affecting the status, or standing, of a language.
Language status Language status is distinct from, though intertwined with, language prestige and language function. Language status is the given position (or standing) of a language against other languages.Edwards, John. "Language, Prestige, and Stigma," in Contact Linguistics. Ed. Hans Goebel. New York: de Gruyter, 1996. A language garners status according to the fulfillment of four attributes, described in 1968 by two different authors, Heinz Kloss and William Stewart. Both Kloss and Stewart stipulated four qualities of a language that determine its status. Their respective frameworks differ slightly, but they emphasize four common attributes: Language origin – whether a given language is indigenous or imported to the speech community Degree of standardization – the extent of development of a formal set of norms that define 'correct' usage Juridical status Sole official language (e.g. French in France and Turkish in Turkey) Joint official language (e.g. English and Afrikaans in South Africa; French, German, Italian and Romansh in Switzerland) Regional official language (e.g. Igbo in Nigeria; Marathi in Maharashtra, India) Promoted language – lacks official status on a national or regional level but is promoted and sometimes used by public authorities for specific functions (e.g. Spanish in New Mexico; West African Pidgin English in Cameroon) Tolerated language – neither promoted nor proscribed; acknowledged but ignored (e.g. Native American languages in the United States in the present day) Proscribed language – discouraged by official sanction or restriction (e.g. Welsh in the UK in the past, Breton, Alsatian and others in France; Elfdalian and Gutnish in Sweden; Galician, Basque and Catalan during Francisco Franco's regime in Spain; Macedonian in Greece;Wardhaugh, Ronald. "Planning," in An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2008 indigenous American languages during the boarding school eracite Jennifer Jones, Dee Ann Bosworth, Amy Lonetree, "American Indian Boarding Schools: An Exploration of Global Ethnic & Cultural Cleansing", Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways, 2011, accessed 25 January 2014) Vitality – the ratio, or percent, of users of a language to another variable, such as the total population. Kloss and Stewart both distinguish six classes of statistical distribution. However, they draw the line between classes at different percentages. According to Kloss, the highest level of vitality is demarcated by 90% or more speakers, followed by 70%, 40%, 20%, 3%, and less than 3%. According to Stewart, the six classes are determined by the following percentages of speakers: 75%, 50%, 25%, 10%, 5%, and less than 5%.
William Stewart outlines ten functional domains in language planning:Stewart, William A. "Sociolinguistic Typology of Multilingualism," in Readings in the Sociology of Language. Ed. Joshua Fishman. The Hague: Mouton Publishers, 1968. Official – An official language "function[s] as a legally appropriate language for all politically and culturally representative purposes on a nationwide basis." The official function of a language is often specified in a constitution. Provincial – A provincial language functions as an official language for a geographic area smaller than a nation, typically a province or region (e.g. French in Quebec)Cooper, Robert L. Language Planning and Social Change. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Wider communication – A language of wider communication (LWC) may be official or provincial, but more importantly, it functions as a medium of communication across language boundaries within a nation (e.g. Hindi in India; Swahili language in East Africa) International – An international language functions as a medium of communication across national boundaries (e.g. English, formerly French as a diplomatic and international language) Capital – A capital language functions as a prominent language in and around a national capital (e.g. Dutch and French in Brussels) Group – A group language functions as a conventional language among the members of a single cultural or ethnic group Educational – An educational language functions as a medium of instruction in primary and secondary schools on a regional or national basis (Urdu in West Pakistan and Bengali in East Pakistan) School subject – A school subject language is taught as a subject in secondary school or higher education (e.g. Classical languages) Literary – A literary language functions as a language for literary or scholarly purposes (Academese) Religious – A religious language functions as a language for the ritual purposes of a particular religion (e.g. Liturgical Latin for the Latin Church within the Catholic Church; Arabic for the reading of the Qur'an)
Robert Cooper outlines two additional functional domains (mass media and work) and distinguishes three sub-types of official functions: A statutory language is a "de jure" official language A working language is used by a government for daily activities A symbolic language is used as a state symbol
Corpus planning Corpus planning refers to the prescriptive intervention in the forms of a language, whereby planning decisions are made to engineer changes in the structure of the language.Ferguson, Gibson. (2006). Language Planning and Education. Edinburgh University Press. Corpus planning activities often arise as the result of beliefs about the adequacy of the form of a language to serve desired functions.Hornberger, Nancy H. (2006). "Frameworks and Models in Language Policy and Planning", in Thomas Ricento, An Introduction to Language Policy, Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 24–41. Unlike status planning, which is mostly undertaken by administrators and politicians, corpus planning is generally the work of individuals with greater linguistic expertise. There are three traditionally recognized types of corpus planning: graphization, standardization, and modernization.
Graphization