Slide 18: language shift language shift

Finally what happens when one language in a mulitilingual speech community begins to dominate and the other, native language begins to disappear?

This is called a language shift.

A language shift can be defined as:

The gradual or sudden move from the use of one language to another.

The result of the contact of two languages can be the replacement of one by the other. This is most common when one language has a higher social position. This can lead to the extinction of a dialect or a whole language entirely.

This is a major concern for some countries with the spread of English.

When a linguistic community ceases to use their original language, we speak of language death.

I have included a reading about this for our seminar. It talks about how languages are dying out and how some scholars are trying to save them before they completely disappear. I think you will find it interesting.

SO LET’S SUM UP BRIEFLY:

So far we have talked about:

• multilingualism

• Language as a code and code-switching

• Speech communities, again

• Your verbal repertoire

• Code-mixing

• Borrowing

• Pidgins

• Creoles

• Hawiian Pidgin-Creole and Gullah

• And language shift

Now, I would like to talk about language planning and policy. This is obviously an important issue right now in Ukraine

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Language planning and policy

One very natural response to the variation that often occurs when two different languages meet is to call for a political solution.

When a nation considers or implements laws to control a language, this is called language planning.

SLIDE 19: LANGUAGE PLANNING

Your book uses the International Encyclopedia of Linguistics’ definition of language planning—I like this definition as well:

Language planning: a deliberate, systematic, and theory-based attempt to solve the communication problems of a community by studying the various languages or dialects it uses, and developing a policy concerning their selection and use; also sometimes called language engineering or language treatment. Corpus (‘body’ of the language) planning deals with norm selection and codification, as in the writing or grammars and the standardization of spelling; status planning deals with initial choice of language, including attitudes toward alternative languages and the political implications of various choices.

There are two different parts to language planning mentioned in the definition I just gave you of language planning: Corpus planning and Status planning

SLIDE 20: TYPES OF LANGUAGE PLANNING

CORPUS LANGUAGE PLANNING

Corpus planning: is the planning, changing and standardizing the actual components of the language: spelling, vocabulary, pronunciation, letter system (orthography), grammar, etc. Efforts to rid English of gender bias is an example of this, as is the different attempts to standardize the English language.

STATUS LANGUAGE PLANNING

Status planning: is different. It is linked to the official recognition which a national governments attaches to various languages, and or to restrict the use of minority languages. This is where the government chooses a language and a dialect of that language over other languages. This decision confers status and privilege on both the language and dialect, and THE PEOPLE WHO SPEAK THAT LANGUAGE AND DIALECT.

Status planning issues include: the designation of an official language or languages of instruction in schools, in the government, on ballots etc.

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION LANGUAGE PLANNING

A third type of language planning is called:

Language acquisition planning:

That is, the language policy decisions concerning the teaching and use of language and their careful formulation by those empowered to do so, for the guidance of others.

For example how much Russian, Ukrainian, or even English is taught in schools in Ukraine.

HOW ARE LANGUAGE POLICIES CREATED?

How are language policies created? Sometimes there are centralized groups of scholars who work to create the policies either inside the country or outside of it. Again though it is almost always the people in power who create the policy. I have given you a brief description of a policy-planning group in your readings. It is the INTAS paper.

INTAS is the International Association for the Promotion of Co-operation with Scientists from the New Independent States of the Former Soviet Union.

As we speak they are attempting to formulate a language policy for Ukraine—take a look and see if you agree with their goals.

SLIDE 21: PROMOTING LANGUAGE POLICY

The stated reasons for promoting language change from one variety to another, or from one language to another, often sound noble and usually cite a greater good for all the people of a nation. There is, however, more at issue than just language. Two important points to remember are:

• Remember, language involves social interaction and social behavior.

• Language can become a weapon for political power and social control.

Motivations for using language as an instrument of social control are influenced by scholarly and popular attitudes toward language variation and multilingualism. The image of the Tower of Babel, that is of a fall from a unified, holy language to the condition of language chaos, so many languages, is frequently used in countries where there are deep majority group fears and prejudices directed at a minority.

In societies where the majority of the population is monolingual—that is they speak only one language—a good example is the United States, and English, people view monolingualism as an ideal, natural state, where as multilingualism is viewed as a temporary, unnatural condition.

Other people see multilingualism as the natural state and any language defining policy as a dangerous threat to their own language, if its not the majority.

This is interesting because language planning is most frequently done to attempt to solve conflicts over language.

SLIDE 22: A COMMON SCENARIO

COMMON SCENARIO

A common scenario: A country is going through a period of rapid social and demographic change. People who had previously enjoyed privilege and high status feel threatened by a newly mobilized language minority group. Fearing the lost of their position, the elite argue for a “unifying” official language—theirs of course. Meanwhile the language minority people become frustrated because they cannot rise to any prominent political, social, or economic positions since they find themselves blocked by not knowing the now dominant, official language. The minority begins to view the official language policy with suspicion and promote their own language. The majority in turn grows more nervous of the minority and promotes its language…the cycle can continue and lead to even greater social unrest.

Finally, in defining language policies there is also a need to distinguish between EXPLICIT or official language policies and IMPLICIT or unofficial language policies.

EXPLICIT LANGUAGE POLICY

Explicit policies are the obvious stated language policies of a nation: for example Ukraine. There is a stated official language, Ukrainian, used for all government documentation.