Language Policy in South Asia

1981 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 60-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Braj B. Kachru
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
National Language ◽  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
The Political ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
The Status ◽  
Regional Languages

In the political divisions within South Asia there has traditionally been no organized effort for language policies.1 Language was essentially related to one's caste, village, district, and state. Beyond this, one identified with languages associated with religion (Sanskrit or Arabic), or learned and literary texts (mainly Sanskrit and Persian). At the time of Indian independence (1947), one task of the new government was to unravel the status and position of almost 560 sovereign states which were ruled by an array of mahārājās, nawābs, and lesser luminaries, depending on the size and the revenue of each state and subdivision. Each state state was a kindgom unto itself, and such political divisions did not foster a national language policy. In India, the largest country in South Asia, four languages were used for wider communication as bazār languages or languages of literature and intranational communication: Hindi (and its varieties, Hindustani and Urdu), Sanskrit, Persian, and later, English (cf., for Sanskrit, Kachru and Sridhar 1978; Sharma 1976; for English, Kachru 1969; 1982a). The Hindus tended to send their children to a pāṭhśālā (traditional Hindu school mainly for scriptural education) for the study of the scriptures and some basic knowledge of the śāastras (Sanskrit instructional texts, treatise), and the Muslims tended to send their children to a maktab (traditional school for Koranic instruction). The denominational schools (vidyāZaya) provided liberal arts instruction in Sanskrit, Persian, Hindi, Arabic, or in the regional languages.

scholarly journals Polityka językowa w Polsce a wpływ języka angielskiego na polszczyznę

LingVaria ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Mańczak-Wohlfeld
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
21St Century ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Political System ◽  
American English ◽  
The Political ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
The Status ◽  
Polish Language ◽  
The Impact

Language Policy in Poland in the Context of the Impact of English on Polish The paper examines the way and the extent to which language policies have affected the development of the Polish language. However, the purpose of the present paper is to highlight the change in attitude towards the increasing impact of English on Polish. The influence of English became more prominent in Poland after the change in the political system in 1989, and has for the most part been in the area of lexical borrowings. However, the influence of English is not only restricted to the inflow of English loanwords, but also extends to their relatively high frequency of usage. In addition, there is evidence of other types of influence that are non-lexical. However, the impact of English on Polish has not been as extensive as is claimed by some Polish linguists who since the early 1990s have lamented over the decline of the Polish language caused by the ”flood” of British and American English borrowings. Indeed, the status of English as a lingua franca was considered itself to be a threat to Polish, with even the possibility of the extinction of the tongue. This concern about language purity led to the creation of the Polish Language Council in 1996, whose aim has been to advise on and describe (rather than prescribe) linguistic behaviours among Polish language users. This legislative body was behind the Polish Language Act passed in 1999. Its purpose, however, has been to protect Polish rather than to purify it and to minimize the foreign influences (which mainly refer to English) rather than to eradicate them. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the Polish linguists’ attitude towards the ”Anglicization” of the Polish language has changed dramatically and it is now believed that the influence of English makes Polish richer and more globalized.

scholarly journals Politics of Language in Indonesia (1975-2015): Study of History and Language Policy

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-139
Author(s):  
Sudaryanto Sudaryanto ◽  
Soeparno Soeparno ◽  
Lilis Ferawati
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Scientific Meeting ◽  
National Language ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
The Political ◽  
Language Politics ◽  
Language Version ◽  
Political Concept ◽  
Language And Literature ◽  
Regional Languages

Indonesia has a political concept of language that is always updated in a certain period of time. The concept was born from a scientific meeting entitled “Seminar Politik Bahasa Nasional” (1975), “Seminar Politik Bahasa” (1999) and finally, “Seminar Politik Bahasa” (2015). Each scientific meeting produces a concept of language politics that is complementary and updates the previous concept. Furthermore, the concept of language politics is closely related to the implementation of a language policy in Indonesia. The research method used is content analysis. The data sources used are books, document archives, and photographs that record language political events over a period of 40 years. The results of this study indicate that (1) the concept of national language politics in the version of the Seminar Politik Bahasa Nasional (1975) focuses more on aspects of Indonesian, regional languages, and foreign languages; the political concept of the national language version of the Seminar Politik Bahasa (1999) focuses more on aspects of Indonesian language and literature, regional language and literature, and foreign languages, and the national language politics version of the Seminar Politik Bahasa (2015) emphasizes improving the function of Indonesian language into an international language; and (2) the political concept of national language 1975 and 1999 language politics became the elaboration of Pasal 36 UUD 1945 and the 2015 political concept of language became the elaboration of UU No. 24 Tahun 2009 and PP No. 57 Tahun 2014.

PELAKSANAAN KEBIJAKAN BAHASA DI PULAU BURU (Implementation of Language Policy In Buru Island)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
HARZIKO
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Research Method ◽  
National Language ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Large Influence ◽  
District Government ◽  
Joint Study ◽  
Regional Languages

Politically, in Indonesia there are three languages, namely the national language, regional languages, and foreign languages. Long before the language policy was adopted to determine the function of the three languages, the leaders of the Indonesian struggle were based on the fact that Malay had been widely used as a lingua franca throughout the archipelago throughout the archipelago and that the system was quite simple, had established and adopted the Malay language. became the unifying language for all of Indonesia and gave it the name of Indonesian. This study aims to describe the Indonesian language policy carried out by the district government in hurry. the benefits of the research are expected to be a joint study and understanding to uncover the picture of language policies that have been carried out by the district government in preserving language. the research method is descriptive qualitative. the data in this study are all the rules made by the district government in implementing language policies. the results of the study showed that the language policy in the hurry was still very minimal due to the still large influence of the Malay language that happened in the community.Keywords. Languange, Indonesian Buru. Maluku

scholarly journals Constraining Factors to the Adoption of Kiswahili as a Language of the Law in Tanzania

1993 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Rwezaura
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
National Language ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
The Political ◽  
Colonial Power ◽  
Francophone Africa ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
The Status ◽  
Historical Fact ◽  
European Colonialism

The political and economic problems of language policy in modern Africa have continued as a reminder of the unforgettable historical fact of European colonialism. Today there are two major regions of Africa known as Anglophone and Francophone Africa. Much as many African leaders would have wished to discard the language of the former colonial power and substitute an indigenous language, this has proved problematic because in many cases there is not a single widely-spoken local language. In some cases any attempt to raise the status of one indigenous language into a national language would have provoked wasteful inter-ethnic conflict.

scholarly journals Competing Desires and Realities: Language Policies in the French-Language Classroom

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Giovanangeli
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
National Level ◽  
National Language ◽  
French Language ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Way

French language policy has historically centred on ways French can be considered a dominant and influential language. It has done this since the Middle Ages, by allowing the French language to serve as a political tool. On an international level, language was a way of subjugating conquered peoples (former colonies). It promoted France’s international status (by the 18th century French was the diplomatic language of Europe). On a national level, the French language was one of the ways governments were able to centralise political power (suppression of regional languages). One of the ways French language authorities have promoted the use of language has been through education policies and the way language is taught in schools. For example, the French language was imposed on the colonised territories of France through teaching in missionary schools. Within France, stringent laws were adopted, in particular during the nineteenth century, allowing the French language to replace local languages in schools. In France today, language policies continue to exist and to have an influence on the way we view language and society. One of the main priorities of French language policy is to protect the status of the national language in particular with respect to the increasing use of English as a global dominant language in areas such as science, technology, tourism, entertainment and the media (Nunan: 2007, 178). Consequently, France has adopted policies to respond to this linguistic climate. This has implications on the way the French language is taught both within France as well as outside of France. This paper will examine some of the policies and agencies created over recent years that affect the French language. It will also identify some of the consequences these policies have on the teaching of language. Finally it will argue that a space has been created within the language classroom that attempts to find a compromise between the language policies of the French government and the realities of spoken French in society.

Language policies for Hong Kong schools since 1997

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Kan ◽  
Bob Adamson
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
International Communication ◽  
National Language ◽  
Medium Of Instruction ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Mother Tongue Education ◽  
Important Means

Francis of Education (print)/1474-8479 (online) Article 2010 Language in education debates in Hong Kong focus on the role and status of English (as the former colonial language and an important means for international communication); Cantonese, the mother tongue of the majority of the population; and Putonghua, the national language of China. This paper examines the language policy formulated in 1997–1998, and finds that it radically departed from previous policies by mandating the use of Cantonese as the medium of instruction in secondary schools. The paper then analyses two subsequent policy revisions and concludes that, while the tonal emphasis on mother-tongue education has remained, the policy revisions have reversed the language policy to previous practices that emphasised the importance of English.

scholarly journals Legislative regulation of linguistic relationships in Ukraine

2019 ◽  
pp. 127-144
Author(s):  
Iuliya Makarets
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Support ◽  
National Language ◽  
State Legislation ◽  
World Community ◽  
Linguistic Model ◽  
Legislative Regulation ◽  
The Status ◽  
State Language

The article focuses on the issue of legislative regulation of linguistic relationships in Ukraine. The ability of a national language to function as a means of consolidation and national identification depends to a large extent on state linguistic policy, political support that the language receives. The state legislation on language is indicative in this regard while it establishes the status of languages, the linguistic model and the linguistic regime. In accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine, the Ukrainian language is a state language in Ukraine. The dynamics of the Ukrainian legislation on languages illustrates the inconsistency of the implementation of this constitutional norm. The article analyzes the milestones of its formation. The content of the basic laws in the sphere of linguistic relationships (Law of the USSR ‘On Languages in the Ukrainian SSR’ (1989), the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Principles of the State Language Policy’ (2012), which is invalid now, and the new Law of Ukraine ‘On the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as a State Language’ (2019)), the socio-political tendencies, that preceded their adoption, their evaluation by tpublic and world community as well as their consequences for linguistic situation in Ukraine are described. The possibility of official bilingualism approving is studied. The article analyzes historical, cultural and political preconditions for the adoption of official bi- or multilingualism by other states, acceptability of this linguistic model for Ukraine and possibility to overcome existing linguistic contradictions.

De Nederlandse taal als luxe-waar op de Surinaamse markt?

1979 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 137-154
Author(s):  
Hugo W. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Intermediate Stage ◽  
European Population ◽  
National Language ◽  
Official Language ◽  
The Status ◽  
Dutch Language ◽  
The Government ◽  
Attitudinal Changes

In the multilingual community of Surinam the official language is Dutch. This language has occupied the official status during almost three centuries of colonial government, the intermediate stage of self-government (as part of the kingdom of the Netherlands from 1954 through 1975) and after complete independence in 1975. Though the status of official language did not change, a different language policy had to be adopted with respect to different role components in each of four historical periods. The language policy adopted in each of these periods can be considered the result of social changes which took place, and of attitudinal changes with respect to the functioning of other languages in the community. The changing role of the Dutch language in the four periods is discussed in terms of its changing socio-linguistic profile. The first change was that from an ethnic group specific position (the European population only) to an obligatory position which concerned the whole population. In each of these two periods Dutch was used in relation to all main functions (communication* education., religion and literature). During the period in which Dutch played the ethnic specific role the language Sranan was used as a promoted language to perform the same functions for the slave population of the 17th, 18th and 19th century. This language was also used as language of communication between the Europeans and the slaves. The social change from a slavery society to a society of citizens only had forced the governement to discourage the use of Sranan and to consider Dutch the only language in the country. This obligatory position was eventually disregarded in favor of a partial role of the Dutch language in a multicultural society. The recognition by the government of a multitude of cultural ambitions has led it to accept the possibility of the sharing of functions among languages. Especially with respect to intergroupcoinmunication and literature, the recognition-of the role of Sranan as national language became the main feature of this period. However, the emergency of Surinam-Dutch, as a variety (xized language) of the Dutch language used by the majority of the Dutch speaking community in Surinam, has given the governement of the new republic of Surinam an opportunity to promote cultural integration by means of this language variety. Though this too will have to share functions with Sranan (inter-group communication, literature, etc.), it is suggested that a stan-dardized version might not only change its promoted language status into that of national official language but also give a better criterion to judge and to stimulate performances in education and literature.

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 nationalization of Swahili in Kenya

1976 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyndon Harries
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
National Level ◽  
Dar Es Salaam ◽  
National Language ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Capital Cities ◽  
Normal Expression ◽  
The Status ◽  
Linguistically Appropriate

ABSTRACTThe decree of 4 July, 1974, by President Kenyatta, proclaiming Swahili as the national language of Kenya is discussed with reference to questions of feasibility and expediency. The alternatives to the President's decree are considered, and reasons for the decision are suggested.Comparison of the status of Swahili in the capital cities of Kenya (Nairobi) and Tanzania (Dar es Salaam) is made to illustrate the special difficulties confronting the Kenya government in making the President's decree effective. The parliamentary response is crucial, but the dominance of English in Nairobi, the capital city, where Swahili has not always been much valued, indicates a wider gap between intention and the possibility of fulfilment than in Dar es Salaam.The need for proficiency in Swahili is viewed in the Kenya situation, and this is related to what is linguistically appropriate. The nationalization of Swahili results in secularization of a language that found its normal expression in the setting of Islam. What is linguistically appropriate in Swahili on the national level is often inappropriate to members of the Swahili coastal community. Kenyans are likely to opt for their own modifications of Standard Swahili, basing this on the Mombasa dialect, but up-country Swahili is the foundation upon which greater proficiency can be achieved. (Language planning, language policy, regional and social stratification of varieties, Swahili; Kenya, Tanzania.)

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