scholarly journals Translation and language policy in the dynamics of multilingualism

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (243) ◽  
Author(s):  
François Grin
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Recent Criticism ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Linguistic Human Rights

AbstractMany of Fishman’s contributions to understanding language in society stress the importance of dynamics, drawing attention to the complex interplay of micro-, meso- and macro-level factors from which an integrated pattern emerges. Our understanding of language dynamics, therefore, should encompass processes unfolding at various levels and provide accounts that do justice to these interactions, while delivering an analysis broad enough to constitute a sensible basis for successful language policy. Such concerns, illustrated in particular by Fishman’s work on reversing language shift, call for revisiting this issue by focusing on the role of translation. Translation is linked to language dynamics, and it is both a conduit of language policies and a condition for their success, but these interconnections need to be explicitly acknowledged. Whereas translation studies often approach translation itself as a self-contained process, it certainly emerges from multilingual contexts, but is also, at least in part, dependent on language policies. Translation contributes to the maintenance of linguistic diversity and societal multilingualism which are, reciprocally, dependent upon the practice of translation. This examination confirms the ongoing soundness of the fundamentals of Fishman’s approach to “language-in-society” and helps to assess some recent criticism toward core notions of classical sociolinguistics that Fishman helped develop and disseminate, such as multilingualism, which is being called into question by current notions such as “English as a lingua franca” and “languaging”. The very existence of translation as a social, economic and political practice suggests that societal multilingualism cannot satisfactorily be described without resorting to classical sociolinguistic concepts like “named” languages, mother tongue and domain, which are crucial to successful policies and, hence, to the maintenance of the linguistic human rights to which Fishman’s work has made such essential contributions.

scholarly journals The Ukrainian language in the polylingual space of Transcarpathia

2021 ◽  
pp. 3-19
Author(s):  
Halyna Shumytska ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
The State ◽  
Border Region ◽  
National Minority ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
State Language

This article explores trends in language policies in the Transcarpathian region during 1991–2020 within the general Ukrainian sociopolitical context. It is argued that the status of the Ukrainian language as the state language in the region has become strengthened as evidenced by recent developments in language planning and language policy, including the adoption of the Law “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Lan-guage as the Official Language”. However, the manipulation of the language question in Ukraine, especially in the border regions, has taken on a political character, spreading beyond the borders of the state, threatening the constitutional order and the state sovereignty of Ukraine, in particu-lar in education, economics, and legal sphere. In Transcarpathia, a multi-ethnic border region in the extreme west of Ukraine, warrants attention of both scholars and politicians. This article looks into the changes in the Ukrainian language policies in the local state administration, and the importance of the Ukrainian president office in this regard. Specific features of the linguo-political situation in Transcarpathia, viewed at different periods of its development from the independence of Ukraine in 1991 on-ward, are presented. This study determines the role of the media in shaping a regional linguo-political situation, including the Internet media language space. The paper provides data of a comprehensive analy-sis of the results of the 2017–2019 external independent evaluation as an indicator of language competence of the participants of EIE, the results of research on the perception of educational language innovations in the region through a survey of different categories of respondents during 2018, the monitoring of experimental experience in implementing elements of multilingual edu-cation in educational institutions in Ukraine, particularly in Transcarpathia. The author outlines prospects for continued research in the framework of the project “Debat ing Linguistic Diversity: Managing National Minority Languages in Ukraine and Russia” (2020–2023). Keywords: language policy, language situation, state language, mother tongue, minority language, multilingual education, mass media.

scholarly journals The role of suppressive language policies in language shift and language loss

1989 ◽  
pp. 123-135
Author(s):  
Eduardo Hernández Chávez
Keyword(s):  
Language Shift ◽  
The United States ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Language Loss ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
The Status ◽  
Linguistic Human Rights ◽  
Political Conditions

The Skutnabb-Kangas and Phillipson analysis of linguistic human rights is used as a basis for understanding language replacement phenomena in the United States. Use of Spanish in Chicano communities is shifting rapidly to English despite the huge numbers of recent immigrants who are dominant in Spanish. Accompanying this shift is a precipitous loss of proficiency by Spanish speakers. Such replacement of a language does not depend on personal choices made by speakers, but on the socio-political conditions within the country. Political goals of profits, exploitation, and hegemony drive classist, racist and ethnicist policies whose purpose is to neutralize resistance to the status quo. These are couched in liberal-sounding myths that justify linguicism, which strives to suppress minority cultures and to acculturate their members in order to pacify perceived ethnic group conflict. The Skutnabb-Kangas and Phillipson Linguicism Continuumn is used to demonstrate the degree of linguistic repression in selected U.S. institutions.

Language Use and Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges for Policy-Makers and Educators in Northeast Vietnamese Areas

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-130
Author(s):  
Ha Ngan Ngo ◽  
Maya Khemlani David
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
The Status ◽  
Wedding Songs

Vietnam represents a country with 54 ethnic groups; however, the majority (88%) of the population are of Vietnamese heritage. Some of the other ethnic groups such as Tay, Thai, Muong, Hoa, Khmer, and Nung have a population of around 1 million each, while the Brau, Roman, and Odu consist only of a hundred people each. Living in northern Vietnam, close to the Chinese border (see Figure 1), the Tay people speak a language of the    Central    Tai language group called Though, T'o, Tai Tho, Ngan, Phen, Thu Lao, or Pa Di. Tay remains one of 10 ethnic languages used by 1 million speakers (Buoi, 2003). The Tày ethnic group has a rich culture of wedding songs, poems, dance, and music and celebrate various festivals. Wet rice cultivation, canal digging and grain threshing on wooden racks are part of the Tày traditions. Their villages situated near the foothills often bear the names of nearby mountains, rivers, or fields. This study discusses the status and role of the Tày language in Northeast Vietnam. It discusses factors, which have affected the habitual use of the Tay language, the connection between language shift and development and provides a model for the sustainability and promotion of minority languages. It remains fundamentally imperative to strengthen and to foster positive attitudes of the community towards the Tày language. Tày’s young people must be enlightened to the reality their Tày non-usage could render their mother tongue defunct, which means their history stands to be lost.

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.

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.

scholarly journals Language Policy and the Use of English as the Medium of Instruction in Pakistan

2021 ◽  
pp. 229-237
Author(s):  
Saadia Mesti
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Planning ◽  
Medium Of Instruction ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Linguistic Context ◽  
Implementation Challenges ◽  
Regional Language ◽  
The Government ◽  
Pluralist Approach

Pakistan is linguistically a diverse country. The language policies of successive governments resemble a kind of educational apartheid, where local languages have continuously been neglected. The paper reviews the various language policies in Pakistan, and then, critically examines the existing language policy, and its implications on medium of instruction. The analysis suggests that linguistic cohesion with multi-linguistic policies are needed to adopt a multi-lingual approach in language planning policy in Pakistan. A more pluralist approach to language planning and policy (the mother tongue and regional language for local/regional communication, Urdu for national use, and English for national and international communication) may present a range of implementation challenges. The study is significant because it will shade light on the linguistic situation in Pakistan, and on the government language policy. It will also try to figure out how Pakistan can develop an ecologically valid model for bi/multiliteracy for such complex linguistic context.

scholarly journals Microplanning and Language Policy in Morocco

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 103-113
Author(s):  
Aziz MOUMMOU
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Language Policy And Planning ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
Local Practices ◽  
Independent States ◽  
Policy And Planning ◽  
Globalized World ◽  
Newly Independent States

Language policy and planning (LPP) has undergone an epistemological turn. Early LPP works approached linguistic diversity as a problem; especially for the newly independent states, but in today’s globalized world, multilingualism is the norm. A major issue that characterizes contemporary LPP in Morocco and needs further investigation is the interaction between macro-policies and local practices. Most top down language policies face resistance from speech communities. The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the role of micro-planning and local agents in implementing a workable language policy. The aim is to reduce the gap between LPP research and local practices by using an ethnographic approach. Ruiz orientational model and Spolsky’s management theory provide a rich theoretical framework. Micro-planning can translate central policies into local practices.

Arthur K. Spears (ed.), Race and ideology: Language, symbolism, and popular culture. (African American Life Series.) Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1999. Pp. 242. Hb $39.95, pb $19.95.

2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-125
Author(s):  
Leela Tanikella
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Linguistic Relativity ◽  
State University ◽  
Racial Inequalities ◽  
Wayne State University ◽  
Introductory Textbooks ◽  
Racial Hierarchies ◽  
And Linguistics

Following a long tradition in anthropology and linguistics, introductory textbooks typically claim that all languages are equal and have an equal potential for communication and thought. The theoretical model posed in this anthology, as articulated by contributor Angela Gilliam, similarly suggests that “all languages are equal in terms of their expressive potential” (p. 84). However, editor Arthur K. Spears and the contributors aim to situate linguistic relativity within a framework of political, social, economic, and (most centrally) racial inequalities. The key theme of the collection is the centrality of politics, particularly what Spears terms “racial hierarchies of oppression” (13), in the study of language and linguistic diversity. As the contributors provide detailed historical, economic, and social frameworks for their studies, they demonstrate a claim made by Dell Hymes more than two decades ago that linguistic relativity “omits the costs and the constitutive role of social factors” (1973: 64). Thus, this edited volume challenges the tradition of claiming linguistic equality and demonstrates sociolinguistic inequality; it is part of a theoretical movement in this direction also exemplified by Zentella 1995, Hymes 1996, Schieffelin, Woolard & Kroskrity 1998, and Kroskrity 2000.

scholarly journals Myths and Realities about Language of Instruction in Pakistan: Parental Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 1055
Author(s):  
Habibullah Pathan ◽  
Khalid Hussain Channa ◽  
Shumaila Memon ◽  
Waqar Shah
Keyword(s):  
Language Ideology ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Language Of Instruction ◽  
Constant Comparative Method ◽  
Sampling Constant

Language of learning and language of state requires proper awareness in multilingual countries. It demands much clarity if the role of a language in learning is to be acknowledged on the academic achievement grounds. Language of instruction is a controversial issue in Pakistan. Language policies and practices play vital role in shaping the perceptions of individual for the choice of any language. These perceptions may be based on reality or merely myths. Parents are major beneficiary or sufferer of the outcome of the education of their children. This article aims to explore perceptions of parents for the choice of language for the education of their children. By drawing upon Woolard & Schieffelin’s Language Ideology Model (1994), this paper analyses how parents perceive the importance of language of instruction for the education of their children. The researchers conducted 20 semi structured interviews from parents of Hyderabad Town by using Maximum Variation Sampling. Constant Comparative Method (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) of analysis is used as an analytic technique to discover perceptions of parents regarding language of instruction for the education their children. This research implies that perceptions of parents are fraught with myths and misunderstandings of past practices and unclear language policies in Pakistan. This study recommends that parents’ voice must effectively be included in the making of language policy and they must be made aware of the researches in learning mother tongue or second language as the language of instruction for the education of their children.

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