Lauren Morley

Miranda Jones

Weronika Podgorska

Megan Adam

Stacey Roach

LANGUAGE PLANNING

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 PLANNINGLanguage 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 PLANNINGDimensions 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

The examples of language planning are Catalan and Irish...

Form(policy planning)

Function (language cultivation)

Society (status planning)

1. Selection(decision procedures)

1. Implementation(educational spread)

a. Problem indentification a. Correction proceduresa. Allocation of norms a. evaluation

Language (corpus planning)

1. Codification(standalisation procedures)

1. Elaboration (functional development)

a. graphisation a. terminological modernisationa. gramatification b. stylistic development

c. lexication a. internationalisation

EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE PLANNING: CATALONIALlei 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:

3. Normalisation of Catalan

4. Focus on education

5. Linguistic immersion

EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE PLANNING: CATALONIAProcess 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: CATALONIAFocus 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: CATALONIALinguistic 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: IRELAND1922- 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: IRELANDEducation:

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: IRELANDPublic 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: IRELANDLanguage 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: IRELAND1960’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 & IRISHSimilarities:

• 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 & IRISHDifferences

• 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 & IRISHConclusion

• 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 (2nd 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: 11th 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