1. LANGUAGE PLANNING, POLICY AND REVITALIZATION LING 283 June
25, 2015 Guest Lecturer: Edwin Ko
2. LANGUAGE (RE)VITALIZATION Language planning and policy is a
core aspect of language revitalization. Development of programs
that result in re-establishing, or sustaining, a speech community
of an endangered language. 50 to 90 percent of the worlds 6000-7000
languages will disappear by the end of the century. Top 10
languages in the world spoken by around half the worlds population.
Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, English, Bengali, Portuguese,
Arabic, Russian, Japanese and German.
3. WHY SHOULD WE CARE?
4. LANGUAGE PLANNING All conscious efforts that aim at changing
the linguistic behavior of a speech community. (Haugen 1966) Ex.
Creating or reforming a writing system. LANGUAGE POLICY Top-down,
official policy towards language at the federal level. Directly
influences the vitality of local languages. Ex. Kurdish language in
Turkey.
5. LANGUAGE PLANNING Four dimensions of language planning:
Corpus Planning Status Planning Acquisition Planning Prestige
Planning
6. CORPUS PLANNING Concerned with language itself and its
internal structure. Process of corpus planning may include:
Selection Codification Orthography development Grammatication
Lexicalization Elaboration
7. CASE STUDY: NORTHERN POMO Selection Northern Pomo has
multiple dialects. Which dialect should we choose to revitalize?
Should we try to revitalize them all?
8. CASE STUDY: NORTHERN POMO Lexicalization and Elaboration
Chicken in Northern Pomo, [kajina] and [kajna], are borrowings from
Spanish gallina. Northern Pomo has many borrowings from Spanish.
Should a new word be created? Who decides when there are no longer
fluent speakers?
9. CASE STUDY: NORTHERN POMO Orthography development Types of
orthography: Alphabetic (i.e. Roman alphabet) (Semi-)syllabic (i.e.
Cherokee script) Logographic (i.e. Chinese script) Consonantal
(i.e. Arabic script) Mixed (i.e. Japanese)
10. CHEROKEE SCRIPT
11. CASE STUDY: NORTHERN POMO Orthography development
Linguistic, sociological, cognitive, technological, and
sociopolitical considerations. Generally, the best orthography is
an alphabetic orthography. What are the advantages and
disadvantages of using the English orthography for a different
language like Northern Pomo (which has a more complex sound
system)? What about inventing a completely new script?
12. NORTHERN POMO SCRIPT
13. CASE STUDIES: MEDUMBA AND ZAPOTEC Medumba and Zapotec are
tonal languages. Should tone be included in the writing system? For
Medumba, the committee (CEPAM) decided not to include tone. to eat
n For Zapotec, tone is incorporated into the writing system. he ate
fruit odkko ndixxh
14. CASE STUDIES: MEDUMBA AND ZAPOTEC
15. STATUS PLANNING Attempts to secure official/political
recognition for a language, and expand of the domains in which a
language Is used. The distinction between language vs. dialect may
be an issue for recognition. Only 4% of the worlds languages are
official languages in the states in which they are used.
16. CASE STUDY: MORI Mori is an indigenous language of New
Zealand. In 1867, an act was passed that made English the sole
language of instruction in the schools. Soon, English replaced Mori
in government, and Mori was limited to church and tribal meeting
places. By 1970s, Mori was a disappearing language. In 1987, Mori
was recognized as an official language of New Zealand. Today,
government departments and agencies have bilingual names, and there
are two TV channels in Mori.
17. ACQUISITION PLANNING Also known as language-in-education
planning. Deliberate attempts at increasing the number of speakers
of a language. Grenoble and Whaley (2006): a crucial domain for
language usage is educationWhen mandatory schooling occurs
exclusively in a national language, the use of local languages
almost inevitably declines. Case studies: The immersion program for
Mori, which has been extended to Hawaiian, Blackfoot, Mowawk,
etc.
18. CASE STUDY: NORTHERN POMO Implementation Oftentimes
conducted by the state, but also committees and tribal councils. We
built a language-learning website that is being developed into the
curriculum at the schools.
19. PRESTIGE PLANNING Aimed at promoting a positive or negative
view of a language the acceptance or rejection of planning efforts.
Many minority languages have been stigmatized (but not always).
Closely tied to language attitudes and language rights. Prestige is
important for endangered languages.
20. WELSH NOT
21. INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOLS
22. INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOLS I was eleven years old [when I went
to Covelo], and every night I cried and then Id lay awake and think
and think and think. Id think to myself, If I ever get married and
have children Ill never teach my children the language or all the
Indian things that I know. Ill never teach them that, I dont want
my children to be treated like they treated me. Thats the way I
raised my children. (Hinton 1994)
23. LANGUAGE POLICY Most often work at the national level, and
sometimes at the regional level. Language policies at both national
and region levels may conflict. No Child Left Behind Act Requires
standardized testing in English. Native American Languages Act
Guarantees the right to education and development of Native
American languages. What seems lacking about the Native American
Languages Act? How does it benefit Native American Languages?
24. CASE STUDY: CANTONESE CHINESE In 1997, Hong Kong was
returned to China. By law, the median of instruction must be in
Mandarin. Attitudes on Cantonese in the mainland have been widely
negative. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me63GK-Byh8 In 2012, the
Guangdong National Language Regulations was enacted requiring the
Guangdong province to broadcast in Mandarin Chinese dialect
programs must first be approved the government. It is difficult to
calculate the timing but in the medium- to long-term, Cantonese is
an endangered language. Stephen Matthews (University of Hong
Kong)
