DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

COURSE TITLE: APPLIED LINGUISTICS

COURSE CODE: ENL 422

GROUP ONE(1) PRESENTATION

TOPIC: LANGUAGE PLANNING AND POLICY

LANGUAGE PLANNING AND POLICY.

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

The term 'language planning' refers to measures taken by official agencies to influence the use of one or
more languages in a particular speech community. Language planning is the deliberate effort made to
influence the acquisition, structure and function of a particular language in a speech community by the
government. According to Kaplan and Baldauf(1997),a language policy is a body of ideas,laws,
regulations,rules and practices intended to achieve the planned language change in the society,group or
system. Language policy is an official set of rules for language use and form within a nation-state.

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The emergence of language planning and policy as a coherent field was closely tied to the fact that newly
independent states in the post colonial era(mainly Asia and Africa) were seen as in need of appropriate
modernization and development programs. The concept of language planning and policy was first invoked by
the linguist Will Winrich in the early 50s in New York. He was working on the context of immigrant languages
and dialects in interrelation with each other and with English. His famous work titled "Language vand
Contact" published in 1963,discussed bilingualism and the fading of a first language band replacing with
second language. He noted that speakers in bilingual community do not keep their language and dialect
separate but produce a hybrid. Language planning and policy arise out of sociopolitical situations where,for
example, speakers of various language compete for resources or where a particular linguistic minority is
denied access to basic rights.

Language planning is usually done by the government or its agencies concerning the choice of national
language or official language(s),ways of spreading the use of a language,spelling reforms,the addition of new
words to the language and other language challenges. Through language planning,an official language policy
can be established and implemented. Language planning is usually embedded in the language development
of a country,hence for a language to be developed,there must be consistent planning,policy and maintenance
by the relevant authorities.

DIMENSIONS OF LANGUAGE PLANNING

There are three major types of language planning, they are:

1.Status planning ( the social standing of a language)

2. Corpus planning (the structure of a language)and

3. Acquisition planning.

Language planning may occur at the macro-level (the state) or the micro-level (the community).

STATUS PLANNING

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Status planning is the allocation or reallocation of a language or dialect to functional domains within a
society, thus affecting the status of a language.

Language status is distinct from, though intertwined with, language prestige and language function. Language
status is the given position (or standing) of a language against other languages.

Heinz Kloss and William Stewart both stipulated four qualities of a language that determine its status. Their
respective frameworks differ slightly, but they emphasize four common attributes:

1.Language Origin – whether a given language is indigenous or imported to the speech community.

2. Degree of standardization – the extent of development of a formal set of norms that define 'correct' usage.

3. Juridical Status - whether a given language is a sole official language,joint official language,promoted
language e.t.c.

4. Vitality – the ratio, or percent, of users of a language to another variable, such as the total population.

CORPUS PLANNING

Corpus planning refers to the prescriptive intervention in the forms of a language, whereby planning
decisions are made to engineer changes in the structure of the language. Corpus planning activities often
arise as the result of beliefs about the adequacy of the form of a language to serve desired functions. Unlike
status planning, which is mostly undertaken by administrators and politicians, corpus planning is generally
the work of individuals with greater linguistic expertise.There are three traditionally recognized types of
corpus planning: graphization, standardization, and modernization. Graphization refers to development,
selection and modification of scripts and orthographic conventions for a language. The use of writing in a
speech community can have lasting sociocultural effects, which include easier transmission of material
through generations, communication with greater numbers of people, and a standard against which varieties
of spoken language are often compared. The process of standardization often involves one variety of a
language taking precedence over other social and regional dialects of a language. Another approach, where

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dialects are mutually intelligible, is to introduce a poly-phonemic written form that is intended to represent
all dialects of a language adequately but with no standard spoken form. If one dialect is chosen, it comes to
be perceived as supra-dialectal and the 'best' form of the language. Choosing the standard language has
important social consequences, as it benefits the speakers whose spoken and written dialect conforms
closest to the chosen standard. The chosen standard is generally spoken by the most powerful social group
within society, and it is imposed upon other groups as the form to emulate, making the standard norm
necessary for socioeconomic mobility. In practice, standardization generally entails increasing the uniformity
of the norm, as well as the codification of the norm. Modernization occurs when a language needs to expand
its resources to meet functions. Modernization often occurs when a language undergoes a shift in status,
such as when a country gains independence from a colonial power or when there is a change in the language
education policy. The main force in modernization is the expansion of the lexicon, which allows the language
to discuss topics in modern semantic domains.

ACQUISITION PLANNING

Acquisition planning is a type of language planning in which a national, state or local government system aims
to influence aspects of language, such as language status, distribution and literacy through education.
Acquisition planning can also be used by non-governmental organizations, but it is more commonly
associated with government planning. Acquisition planning is often integrated into a larger status of a
language in which the status of a language is reviewed and changes are finally introduced through education
systems ranging from primary schols to the universities.

This process of change can entail an alteration in students textbook formatting,a change in method of
teaching an official language,or the development of a bilingual language program.

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE LANGUAGE PLANNING AND POLICY

1. Political Factor: These are considerations that relate the general policy of a country to its language policy.
The government is the chief-actor in the process of language planning and it uses language to achieve it's
other aims such as political stability and economical benefits from other nations. The political factor is a very
crucial one in language planning because the existing political structure determines the direction to be taken
in language planning. Also,it is the responsibility of the government to provide funds for the implementation
of a language policy, hence,the failure or success of meeting this responsibility or otherwise is one major way
in which politics influences language planning.

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2. Linguistic Factor: Linguistic factors can be regarded as those factors that need to be considered von the
part of a language in relation to other languages. It relates to the status and characters of a language,as well
as the similarities between languages. Such considerations would inform why a speech community,a country
for instance would prefer language like English to a language like Chinese. The former has simpler characters
compared to the complicated characters of the latter. Differences and similarities between languages are
important in language planning.

3. Socio-demographic Factor: This relates to the numbers of speakers of the languages and their
geographical distribution. The actors in language planning usually consider not only the majority language but
also the minority languages. This factor influences language planning binvthe sense that if the majority of
people for whom the language ks being planned do not speak the language, it will lead to failure. Also,if the
language planning and it's geographical distribution does not reflect the social lives of the speakers,the
planning process may not see the light of the day. Hence,the society and its geographical distribution in
which language planning have to be carried out is a contributing factor that influences language planning.

4. Religious Factor: It is always safe to consider religion when planning a language,since a multi-lingual
society is often not mono-religion. For instance,since Hausa is very close to the Arabic language (language of
Islam) and subsequently the Islamic religion, choosing Hausa as an officaila language in Nigeria may be
considered as a way of imposing Islam on Nigerians. Another example was in India,when Hindi was chosen as
the national language;speakers of other languages protested because Hindi is associated with the Hindu
religion.

5. Financial Factor: This has to do with the consideration of finance in the process of planning a language.
Language planning can be draining,so adequate planning of financial resources is essential. The presence of
enough financial resources can make a language planning work,as its absence can equally make it fail.

6. Socio-psychological Factor: Socio-psychological factor concerns the attitudes of people towards a

language.This relates to language attitudes. In language planning,both the attitudes of the majority language
speakers and that of the minority language speakers must be taken into considerations. Language planning
can be followed by acceptance,if not,a crisis of legitimacy may arise in which authority behind the system and
the policy on which it is based are questioned, challenged and ultimately rejected.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LANGUAGE PLANNING AND LANGUAGE POLICY

Language planning and language policy though closely related, differ in their scope and focus. The following
are the differences between both concepts:

1. Language planning focuses on Language policy are body of

the implementation of language laws,ideas and rules intended to
policies. It involves the active achieve some planned language
practical measures aimed at

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developing, modifying or change.
reforming a language.

2. Language planning It establishes the overall

encompasses aspects like corpus goals,principles and frameworks
planning,status planning and for managing language use.
acquisition planning.

3. Language is often seen as a Language policy can be reactive

proactive and intentional responding to social,political,or
process,where deliberate cultural factors that impact
decisions are made to shape a language use and status.
language.

LANGUAGE POLICIES IN NIGERIA

The first language policy ever in Nigeria was in 1977 and this was on education. The National Policy on
Education introduces a three language formula. Three parts of the policy specifically mentions language
related matters. Section 1:8 of the policy states that, in addition to appreciating the importance of a language
in the educational process, and as a means of preserving the people’s culture, the Government considers it to
be in the interest of national unity that each child should be encouraged to learn one of the three major
languages other than his own mother tongue. In this connection, the Government considers the three major
languages in Nigeria to be Hausa, Igbo and Hausa. It suffices to say that though this is not a language policy in
itself, it was the first time official pronouncement was made that defines three of the indigenous languages
as major while others are by implication “minor”. It was also the first and only document that assigns a role
for the indigenous languages in the National Education system. Section3.15 (4) adds that, “Government will
see to it that the medium of instruction in the primary school is initially the mother tongue or the language of
the immediate community and at the later stage, English.

The 1979 Federal Constitution in its own part contains provision for the functional status of languages in the
country, mostly for official, legislative and governing purposes. Paragraph 51 of this Constitution spelt out
that, “the business of the National Assembly shall be conducted in English language and in Hausa, Igbo and
Hausa when adequate arrangements have been made therefore”. Paragraph 91 of the same Constitution
went further to state that, “the business of the House of Assembly shall be conducted in English, but the
House may in addition to English conduct the business of the House in one or more other languages spoken
in the state as the House may by resolution approve”.These attempts were made to address the Nigerian
national language question. The implementation of these policies has met with little or no success at all

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. It was in recognition of the failure of these policies that the government sponsored a seminar on the
implementation of the language provisions of the national policy in education in October 1991. The
importance of the seminar to the language was underscored by the fact that participants comprises not only
top government dignitaries but also some of the best brains and renown linguists and language education
experts in the country, many of whom were the brain behind the language policy itself. Some the reasons for
the failure of the policy were discussed in this seminar and some recommendations were made to serve as
guide to the government for future amendment to the language policy and its implementation. The
recommendations made by the panel no doubt emphasized on practical aspects of the implementation of the
language policy, mostly as it relates to the language of education. These recommendations were not carried
out and were ignored immediately the panel members left, because the policies and the recommendations
lack sincerity of purpose because goals were not set and means had not been selected for their effective
implementation. They remained a paper tiger because there was no enabling decree for it's implementation.

The panel for implementation of the language provisions of the National policy on education in October 1991
partially addressed the problem of definition of the language of immediate community in its
recommendations. However, there are still some abysses that need be filled before the language policy can
function properly. Considering language policies thus far, all we have had, had been either language policy on
education or functional status policies and not a national language policy.

REFERENCES

Cooper, Roberts(1989) Language Planning and Social Change. Cambridge University Press,pp.30

Igboanusi, H. (1997) Language and Nationalism: The Future of English in Nigeria’s Language Policies.
Context: Journal of Social and Cultural Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp.21-36

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Spolsky, Bernard. (2004). Language policy. Cambridge University Press.

National Open University of Nigeria (2010). The English Language in Nigeria ,pp.197-207

UNESCO. (2003). Education for all: Towards inclusive quality education for all. UNESCO.

UNESCO. (2009). Atlas of the world's languages in danger. UNESCO.

Wright, Sue. (2004). Language policy and language learning: Gypsy children in Europe and Central Asia.
Multilingual Matters

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_policy.