scholarly journals Translinguistic apposition in a multilingual media blog in Rwanda: Towards an interpretive perspective in language policy research

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Gafaranga
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Single Source ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Interpretive Perspective

AbstractResearchers have called for studies that link the macro and the micro in language policy research. In turn, the notion of ‘micro’ has been theorised as referring either to the micro implementation of macro policies or to micro policies. In this article, a third way of thinking about the relationship between the macro and the micro in language policy—referred to as the interpretive perspective—is proposed. In this perspective, macro language policies and micro language choice practices are seen as interdependent, as shaping each other. The article substantiates this view drawing on a practice I call translinguistic apposition and that I have observed in a variety of ‘most highly regulated’ texts in Rwanda. However, for an in- depth understanding, the practice is described drawing on data from a single source, namely the Rwandan multilingual media blog www.igihe.com. The article demonstrates how this practice can be seen as shaped by the Rwandan macro language policy and, conversely, how the same macro policy can be seen as written into being through the same micro level practice. (Language policy, micro language policy, micro implementation of macro policy, translanguaging, translinguistic apposition, interpretive perspective)

Dilemmatic aspects of language policies in a trilingual preschool group

Multilingua ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tünde Puskás ◽  
Polly Björk-Willén
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Central Position ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Preschool Curriculum ◽  
Societal Level ◽  
Micro Level

AbstractThis article explores dilemmatic aspects of language policies in a preschool group in which three languages (Swedish, Romani and Arabic) are spoken on an everyday basis. The article highlights the interplay between policy decisions on the societal level, the teachers’ interpretations of these policies, as well as language practices on the micro level. The preschool group is seen as a complex context for negotiating language policies and expectations regarding language use. The theoretical framework builds on Billig’s work on ideological and everyday dilemmas that we argue are detectable at both levels of the analysis. The analysis of the ethnographic material shows that the explicit language policy formulated in the Swedish preschool curriculum leads, in practice, to ideological, pedagogical and everyday dilemmas. Moreover, an unwillingness to set rules for children’s language choice combined with the central position of free play in Swedish preschool practice has led to a situation in which children fall short of their potential to develop bilingual competence.

University language policies and language choice among Ph.D. graduates in Estonia: The (unbalanced) interplay between English and Estonian

Multilingua ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (3-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Josep Soler-Carbonell
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Academic Language ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
National Language ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Discussion Section ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Global Language ◽  
A Site

AbstractThe role of English as a global language and its consequences for the internationalization of higher education are matters that have increasingly drawn the attention of researchers from different fields of language and communication. In this paper, an overview of the situation in Estonia is presented. The Estonian context has not previously been analyzed along these lines. The author suggests looking at Ph.D. dissertations as a site of tension between the need to effectively incorporate English as an academic language and the need to maintain Estonian as the national language. The article views this question in the context of some relevant language policy documents and other macro indicators. It then focuses on the number of Ph.D. dissertations defended at four main public universities in the last few years and the languages they have been written in. It appears that, although the language policy documents seem to correctly capture this tension between English and Estonian, the language most commonly used when writing dissertations is overwhelmingly English, with only the humanities providing some counterbalance to that trend. The current situation is different from that of past decades, when English was absent from Estonia’s scientific production and Estonian was significantly employed in that context, alongside Russian. In the discussion section, some lines for further inquiry are presented, together with a proposal for integrating complexity theory in such analyses.

The porous borders of language and nation

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren R. Zentz
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Linguistic Ideologies ◽  
Local Language ◽  
Central Java ◽  
Research Interviews

This analysis of language use and legislation in globalization highlights challenges to and crossings of the borders of Indonesian nationalist ideologies and local language ecologies. Through the specific workings of language and languaging in situ, here explored through three brief examples of language use and ideologies in Central Java, I analyze university English majors’ discussions of the local meaningfulness of English. The analysis demonstrates that institutional language policies are simultaneously subverted by and influential in local language hierarchies. The discussions analyzed come from the students’ written Sociolinguistics class assignments while I was their teacher and from research interviews that they participated in with me, both in which I ask participants about the borders of what can be defined as the English language, and the borders of linguistic ideologies and nationalism in contemporary Indonesia. With an intent stemming from the very origins of language policy research to generate ideas for how state apparatuses might better serve their constituents (Fishman, 1974), this information is essential for understanding the limitations and opportunities that states are instrumental in creating among their citizenries.

scholarly journals Remarks on the Diversity of Theoretical Perspectives in Language Policy Research

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leandro Rodrigues Alves Diniz ◽  
Elias Ribeiro da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives

ABSTRACT In this article, which opens the second issue of Volume 19 of Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada, we discuss some existing epistemological divergences in language policy research. In the first section, two lines of divergence will be outlined: (i) the focus on official versus de facto language policies; (ii) the conception of language policymakers versus subjects of language policies. In the second section, based on the analysis of titles of thematic issues, dossiers and books recently published in Brazil, we argue that this diversity of perspectives may be clearly noticed in the research carried out in the country. We finish our text highlighting some issues that have gained strength in the Brazilian research agenda.

Macro-Level policy and Micro-Level planning

2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 3.1-3.18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Barkhuizen ◽  
Ute Knoch
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
South African ◽  
National Language ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Linguistic Context ◽  
Language Practices ◽  
Micro Level

This article reports on a study which investigated the language lives of Afrikaans-speaking South African immigrants in New Zealand. Particularly, it focuses on their awareness of and attitudes to language policy in both South Africa and New Zealand, and how these influence their own and their family’s language practices. Narrative interviews with 28 participants living in towns and cities across New Zealand reveal that while living in South Africa they were generally aware of macro-level language policies in the country, and were able to articulate how these policies influenced language practices at work and within their families. The absence of an explicit national language policy in New Zealand means that these immigrants, on arrival in New Zealand, base their understanding of the linguistic context in the country on the language practices that they observe in their day-to-day lives. It is these observations which guide their decision-making with regard to their own and their family’s language practices.

Changing language policies and attitudes in autonomous Catalonia

1990 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn A. Woolard ◽  
Tae-Joong Gahng
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Public Language ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
The Status ◽  
Symbolic Value

ABSTRACTThe effects of language policies on the symbolic value of the linguistic repertoire merit consideration in needed studies of the consequences of language status planning. Since achieving political autonomy within Spain in 1979, Catalonia has instituted a number of policies, particularly in education, to enhance the status and use of Catalan. A matched guise test was conducted among students in Barcelona in 1980 and again in 1987 to gauge changes in attitudes toward Catalan and Castilian. Conflict between positive status and negative solidarity values of Catalan for nonnative speakers found in 1980 appears to be resolved in 1987. Three aspects of public language policy have attenuated ethnic constraints against nonnative use of Catalan, but further changes in social relations may be necessary to alter patterns of language choice. (Language attitudes, language policy, Catalonia)

scholarly journals Perceptions of invisible Zhuang minority language in Linguistic Landscapes of the People’s Republic of China and implications for language policy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Grey
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Zhuang Language ◽  
Socially Situated

Abstract The article presents data from a 2013–2019 ethnography of Zhuang language policy to support an analysis of implications for language policy research and scholarship of findings about the (in)visibility of publicly displayed Zhuang. The analysis challenges core assumptions of language policy-making, advocacy and scholarship and explicates the general implications of this challenge beyond China, particularly for minority languages. The most important assumption that this article interrogates is that a written language on display will be recognised as that language by its speakers. Further, it argues that literacy, script, and other language policies impact on display policies and must work together; they do not in the Zhuang case. In making a case for language policy informed by ethnographic research, this article reviews the foundations of socially-situated analyses of Linguistic Landscapes. To galvanise further such research and articulate it to policy-makers, the article employs the term ‘lived landscape approach’.

Language Policies and Sign Languages

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronice Müller de Quadros
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Deaf People ◽  
Language Policy And Planning ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
The Third ◽  
Policy And Planning ◽  
Future Work ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter argues for specific actions needed for language planning and language policies involving sign languages and Deaf communities, based on the understanding of what sign languages are, who the signers are, where they sign, and the sign language transmission and maintenance mechanisms of the Deaf community. The first section presents an overview of sign languages and their users, highlighting that sign languages are often used in contexts where most people use spoken languages. The second section addresses the functions, roles, and status of sign languages in relation to spoken languages, as well as the relationship between Deaf communities and hearing society. The medical view of deafness, which has a significant impact on language policies for Deaf people, is critically considered. The third section offers examples of language policies, especially related to the use of sign languages in education, and an agenda for future work on sign language policy and planning.

scholarly journals Internationalization and Language Policies in Brazil: What is the Relationship?

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe Furtado Guimarães ◽  
Kyria Rebeca Finardi ◽  
Janayna Bertollo Cozer Casotti
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Internationalization Of Higher Education ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Educational Levels ◽  
The Core ◽  
National Programs ◽  
Science Without Borders ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACT The article reflects on the relationship between the internationalization of higher education and language policies in Brazil. The study provides a review of language policy literature and internationalization policies materialized in national programs, such as the Science without Borders (SwB) and the Languages without Borders (LwB). The analysis of internationalization policies suggests that language policies are at the core of the internationalization agenda, concerning the role of English in this process; however, the role of other foreign/additional languages (L2s) still seems to be disconnected, whereby other languages lack funding and alignment with solid language policies at all educational levels. The analysis of language policies reveals the need to think about the role of L2s at different educational levels as well as in multilingualism in Brazil and in the internationalization of higher education.

Towards a fuller understanding of language use in Wales

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lowri Angharad Hughes Ahronson
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Language Policy And Planning ◽  
Planning Activity ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Policy And Planning

This article considers the importance of developing a holistic understanding of the factors that influence language choice and examines two periods of intense language policy and planning activity in Wales. Part 1 looks at the historical context of the interaction between Welsh and English, focusing on the pivotal years 1880–1920. Part 2 turns to the present day and to measures put in place to influence the use of Welsh. In both periods, language policy and planning has operated across many spheres with the aim of either maintaining the use of Welsh or triggering a switch to using Welsh. In light of these discussions, Part 3 considers the kind of research needed to further develop the field and suggests that long-term micro-level study of an individual’s language choice may help us better understand the nuances of this issue and thus better shape policies and initiatives that respond to these complexities.

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