Language is one of our world’s most powerful tools, and throughout history, governments and large organizations have used different forms of language planning as a way to control that power. In a broad sense, language planning is an organized effort by a major entity to change a society’s language. These efforts can be, and usually are, done for the good of the people. In Ancient Greece, for example, different Greek variants were simplified and standardized into a language known as Attic in order to improve trade and diplomacy. In modern-day India and the Philippines, the promotion of English through public education has led to greater job opportunities and increased wealth. In other cases, however, one language may be promoted in an effort to push out other languages and groups, as seen in colonization the world over.
Types of Language Planning
Language planning itself is a spectrum, and its actions may take an institutionalized, top-down approach where governmental language policies are developed and later reflected in how society speaks, or they can take a more grassroots bottom-up approach, where a marginalized or at-risk group fights to make changes to how we use different languages. These actions can take a variety of forms, some of which overlap, but below are three of the largest types of language planning.
Status Planning
This involves promoting a language and/or mandating its use in governmental and educational environments. This is usually done to preserve a native or traditional language in the face of another language’s growing strength. One example is the mandate in Quebec, Canada that all government documents and signage must be made available in both English and French. There is even a “Language Police” that works to prevent the encroachment of English words and expressions into the French language.
Another modern example of this can be seen in Paraguay, where students are required to study and learn the native Guarani language throughout primary and secondary school. Supporters see this as an important step in preserving Paraguay’s cultural and linguistic heritage. At the same time, detractors believe that students would have better job prospects later in life by focusing on Spanish, particularly in rural schools where resources are scarce.
Corpus Planning
This typically entails the standardization of how a language is written and spoken, and it is done to better concentrate different dialects and variants into a single, “stronger” language. Corpus planning efforts may involve the creation of dictionaries or texts that serve to anchor the language. The publication of several English dictionaries, such as the Oxford Dictionary in 1884, played a key role in standardizing the language and promoting overall literacy.
In China, parts of Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution also involved significant corpus planning, as promoting the pinyin system greatly simplified the complex process of writing Chinese characters. Critics at the time, however, viewed pinyin’s use of Roman letters as an insult to the traditional Chinese identity, and even as succumbing to Western influence.
Acquisition Planning
This type of language planning is aimed at increasing the number of speakers of either a native or “imported” language. The promotion of a native language at a national level, like Guarani in Paraguay and requiring students in Ireland to study the Irish language, can also be categorized as acquisition planning, as the goal is to maintain and/or increase the overall number of speakers.
In the face of increasing globalization in the 20th century, many countries made concentrated efforts to promote the use of “imported” languages, like French, Arabic, and English. The advancement of English in countries like India, the Philippines, and South Korea, has helped graduates compete in the global job market. While these moves have undoubtedly helped with internationalization and commerce, detractors view this as a type of forced assimilation to a foreign language, and essentially a new wave of linguistic colonization.
