NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Language planning

Language planning refers to deliberate efforts to influence the behaviour of others with respect to the acquisition, structure, or functional allocation of language. Typically it will involve the development of goals, objectives and strategies to change the way language is used. At a governmental level, language planning takes the form of language policy. Many nations have language regulatory bodies which are specifically charged with formulating and implementing language planning policies. Many countries have a language policy designed to favour or discourage the use of a particular language or set of languages. ... This is a list of bodies that regulate standard languages. ...

Characteristics

The term language planning has often been identified with a third world context, being seen as a tool for the establishment of standardised national languages as a part of modernisation and nation building. In fact, language planning is neither a modern phenomenon nor is it confined to the third world. Modernization is the process of changing the conditions of a society, an organisation or another group of people in ways that change the privileges of that group according to modern technology or modern knowledge. ... Nation-building refers to the process of constructing or structuring a nation using the power of the state, especially a foreign one. ...

Language planning is not necessarily conducted at the national level. It can also be carried out by ethnic, religious or occupational groups. In the case of language communities that are divided by borders, language planning may also involve more than one country (on the governmental or non-governmental level) or international or regional bodies and conferences. NGO redirects here. ...

One international organization (based in the U.S.) that is involved in considerable amount of language planning around the world, especially for people with unwritten languages, is SIL International. For other uses, see United States (disambiguation) and US (disambiguation). ... SIL International is a worldwide non-profit evangelical Christian organization whose main purpose is to study, develop and document lesser-known languages in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy and aid minority language development. ...

Language planning can also go from the bottom up, such as the movement for non-sexist language in the U.S., which originated with grass-roots feminist groups, or the N'Ko movement in West Africa. Gender-neutral language (gender-generic, gender-inclusive, non-sexist, or sex-neutral language) is language that attempts to refer neither to males nor females when discussing an abstract or hypothetical person whose sex cannot otherwise be determined, as opposed to more traditional language forms, which may use male or female... The word NKo written in the NKo alphabet NKo is both a script devised by Solomana Kante in 1949 as a writing system for the Mande languages of West Africa, and the name of the literary language itself written in the script. ... Western Africa (UN subregion) Maghreb[1] West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ...

Category

Corpus planning

Corpus planning refers to prescriptive intervention in the forms of a language. This may be achieved by creating new words or expressions, modifying old ones, or selecting among alternative forms. Corpus planning aims to develop the resources of a language so that it becomes an appropriate medium of communication for modern topics and forms of discourse, equipped with the terminology needed for use in administration, education, etc. Corpus planning is often related to the standardisation of a language, involving the preparation of a normative orthography, grammar, and dictionary for the guidance of writers and speakers in a speech community. Efforts at linguistic purism and the exclusion of foreign words (see linguistic protectionism) also belong to corpus planning, as do spelling reform and the introduction of new writing systems (e.g. that of the Turkish language). For a previously unwritten language, the first step in corpus planning is the development of a writing system. In linguistics, prescription can refer both to the codification and the enforcement of rules governing how a language is to be used. ... Terminology is the study of terms and their use â€” of words and compound words that are used in specific contexts. ... A standard language (also standard dialect or standardized dialect) is a particular variety of a language that has been given either legal or quasi-legal status. ... In philosophy, normative is usually contrasted with positive, descriptive or explanatory when describing types of theories, beliefs, or statements. ... The orthography of a language specifies the correct way of using a specific writing system to write the language. ... For the rules of English grammar, see English grammar and Disputes in English grammar. ... For other uses, see Dictionary (disambiguation). ... Linguistic protectionism is any state policy introduced to protect a given language from the expansion of a stronger language (usually a language with a much greater number of speakers), or against mixing (or deliberate compatibility) with a different dialect or a closely related language. ... The aim of spelling reform is to make spelling easier for learners and users by removing its difficulties. ... Turkish ( IPA ) is a language spoken by 65â€“73 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. ... Writing systems of the world today. ...

Status planning

Status planning refers to deliberate efforts to allocate the functions of languages and literacies within a speech community. It involves status choices, making a particular language or variety an 'official language', 'national language', etc. Often it will involve elevating a language or dialect into a prestige variety, which may be at the expense of competing dialects. Status planning is often part and parcel of creating a new writing system. Status planning tends to be the most controversial aspect of language planning (see article on Language policy). An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in the countries, states, and other territories. ... A national language is a language (or language variant, i. ... For dialects of programming languages, see Programming language dialect. ... A prestige dialect is the dialect spoken by the most prestigious people in a speech community large enough to sustain multiple dialects. ... Many countries have a language policy designed to favour or discourage the use of a particular language or set of languages. ...

Acquisition planning

Acquisition planning concerns the teaching and learning of languages, whether national languages or second and foreign languages. It involves efforts to influence the number of users and the distribution of languages and literacies, achieved by creating opportunities or incentives to learn them. Such efforts may be based on policies of assimilation or pluralism. Acquisition planning is directly related to language spread. While acquisition planning is normally the province of national, regional, or local governments, bodies such as the British Council, Alliance française, Instituto Cervantes, the Goethe-Institut, and latterly the Confucius Institute are also very active internationally promoting education in their respective languages. Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics Language acquisition is the process by which the language capability develops in a human. ... A second language (L2) is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue (L1). ... A foreign language is a language not spoken by the indigenous people of a certain place: for example, English is a foreign language in Japan. ... Cultural assimilation (often called merely assimilation) is an intense process of consistent integration whereby members of an ethno-cultural group, typically immigrants, or other minority groups, are absorbed into an established, generally larger community. ... Main articles: Pluralism and Multiculturalism Cultural pluralism exists when all groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities. ... Logo of the British Council British Council building in London British Council, Hong Kong The British Council is one of the United Kingdoms cultural relations organisations and which specialises in educational opportunities. ... The Alliance franÃ§aise logo The Alliance franÃ§aise (AF) is a non-profit organisation whose mission is to promote French language and culture outside France. ... Instituto Cervantes enblem Created by the Spanish government in 1991 the Instituto Cervantes is a worldwide non-profit organisation dedicated to the teaching of Spanish as a second language, as well as the promotion of Spanish and Hispanic American culture throughout non-Spanish-speaking countries. ... Goethe in der Campagna The Goethe-Institut (GI) is a German non-profit organisation whose mission is to promote German language and culture outside of the German-speaking countries. ... Logo of the Confucius Institute. ...

Contents

Characteristics

Category

Corpus planning

Status planning

Acquisition planning

Further reading

See also

Contents

Characteristics GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Category

Corpus planning

Status planning

Acquisition planning

Further reading

See also

Characteristics