Tuesday, June 10, 2014

What is language planning? Why do we require it? What are various types of language planning?

What is language planning?


Language planning is defined as


the development of policies or programs designed to direct or change language use, as through the establishment of an official language, the standardization or modernization of a language, or the development or alteration of a writing system.


In other words, it’s the attempt by a group or organization to change or control the way people speak or write.


Why do we require it?


As language is...

What is language planning?


Language planning is defined as



the development of policies or programs designed to direct or change language use, as through the establishment of an official language, the standardization or modernization of a language, or the development or alteration of a writing system.



In other words, it’s the attempt by a group or organization to change or control the way people speak or write.


Why do we require it?


As language is an ever-evolving expression of human communication, language planning is absolutely not something that a language requires. However, many governments and other organizations do uphold language planning policies in order to achieve certain goals regarding how people speak or write. Most often, this is done to solve communication problems through standardizing the use of a single language or through reducing the number of languages spoken within a region. Language planning may also be used to revitalize dead or dying languages for cultural purposes. 


Types of language planning


There are two main types of language planning. Corpus planning is concerned with choosing and institutionalizing conventions and norms. This can include deciding what constitutes proper grammar or orthography (the proper way to write a language). Status planning is concerned with determining which language is the correct one to use, and whether or not alternate languages are accepted or rejected. For example, in some countries there are regional languages that are regarded as official within their own contexts, in addition to the official national language(s). The suppression of language, with the intent of driving cultural and linguistic assimilation, would also fall under this category. 

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