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This paper surveys the development of language policy over the last 40 or more years, particularly with respect to linguistic minorities and the attendant problems of illiteracy and lack of access to basic education among these groups. While there are discernible, emerging trends in the area of language policy, we make considerable effort to point out that the evolution of such policy in the past has often been the product of an unpredictable confluence of national and international politics, economics (at all levels), social, cultural, and religious differences, intrigue, historical accident, human perversity, and serendipitous circumstances.

Language policy is an issue of critical importance in the world today. In this introduction, Bernard Spolsky explores many debates at the forefront of language policy: ideas of correctness and bad language; bilingualism and multilingualism; language death and efforts to preserve endangered languages; language choice as a human and civil right; and language education policy. Through looking at the language practices, beliefs and management of social groups from families to supra-national organizations, he develops a theory of modern national language policy and the major forces controlling it, such as the demands for efficient communication, the pressure for national identity, the attractions of (and resistance to) English as a global language, and the growing concern for human and civil rights as they impinge on language. Two central questions asked in this wide-ranging survey are of how to recognize language policies, and whether or not language can be managed at all

While literacy has always been central to language planning work, there are fewer studies which focus primarily on literacy as a language planning activity. This volume investigates the complex issues and social and political pressures relating to literacy in a variety of language planning contexts around the world

The Skutnabb-Kangas and Phillipson analysis of linguistic human rights is used as a basis for understanding language replacement phenomena in the United States. Use of Spanish in Chicano communities is shifting rapidly to English despite the huge numbers of recent immigrants who are dominant in Spanish. Accompanying this shift is a precipitous loss of proficiency by Spanish speakers. Such replacement of a language does not depend on personal choices made by speakers, but on the socio-political conditions within the country. Political goals of profits, exploitation, and hegemony drive classist, racist and ethnicist policies whose purpose is to neutralize resistance to the status quo. These are couched in liberal-sounding myths that justify linguicism, which strives to suppress minority cultures and to acculturate their members in order to pacify perceived ethnic group conflict. The Skutnabb-Kangas and Phillipson Linguicism Continuumn is used to demonstrate the degree of linguistic repression in selected U.S. institutions.

'Language attrition' describes the loss of, or changes to, grammatical and other features of a language as a result of declining use by speakers who have changed their linguistic environment and language habits. In such a situation there may, for example, be simplification in the tense system or in certain properties of subordinate clauses; some vocabulary items might fall into disuse and phonetic features may be restructured. These changes can be affected by features of the speaker's environment, but also by his or her attitudes and processes of identification. This book provides a detailed and up-to-date introduction to the way in which language attrition can affect language, as well as to the extra- and sociolinguistic features involved. It also familiarizes the reader with experimental approaches to attrition and data analysis techniques and provides hands-on guidelines on how to apply them

It is only in recent years, after a surprising long period of neglect, that political theorists began to engage with the evident normative dimension of policymaking on language. Within the body of literature that has emerged in this process, the conceptual framework of language rights maintains a central position. The article examines this emerging debate on language rights, and identifies both advantages and drawbacks of committing the debate on normative language policy primarily to the language of rights. While recognising the valuable contribution of the refined analytical tools of political theory to the debate on normative language policy, it raises concerns about its relatively limited engagement with linguistics and sociolinguistics as distinct fields of inquiry, and therefore the adequacy and relevance of the work it produces. The article argues for the need to develop a new conceptual framework for normative language policy, and concludes with an outline for a more informed theory-building process.

Michael Scott addresses a range of central questions about the meaning of religious language and discourse. - Should we treat religious discourse at face value or are there fundamental differences between religious discourse and other areas of descriptive discourse? - Is 'God' a name and how does it refer? - Are religious utterances metaphorical? - Do religious utterances express feelings, intentions or stances as well as or instead of beliefs? The book draws on current research in the philosophy of language as well as work in theology and Continental Philosophy to develop a novel theory of religious language. New work and original insights are also presented on the historical development of research in the field. This is first original, wide-ranging account of the meaning of religious language in over two decades.

The article offers a different interpretation of Antony Flew's views about the problem of religious language. This interpretation shows that Flew's ideas can be perceived as a critique of belief in the content of religious statements, rather than a critique of their meaning. By interpreting his thought in this way, it is clear that Flew's approach is not new and we can find similar ideas in the history of theological thought. In connection with this interpretation, the authors analyze prevalent theories related to this problem in order to identify the principal doctrines used to find a new solution. In this regard, the new potential solution is assessed in order to complete the approach previously undertaken. The main idea is to merge two distinct and also contrasting concepts found in the literature: "natural" and "sacred". Such a merging can begin with the concept of natural language as a theory drawn from the literature on the philosophy of language. According to the principles of the philosophy of language adopted by this article, religious language is rooted in natural language, but it is distinct from other forms in that it is the customized use of natural language by the saints of a particular religion. By offering an explanation to natural language, it is possible to view saints as the ones who used natural language in order to talk about the divine sacred realm. Similar to previous thinkers who spoke about religious language, the authors offer their own analogy. This analogy is compared and contrasted with previous ones to reveal the advantages of the proposed new view of the problem of religious language. The authors propose a new type of natural language with the special characteristic of being sacred.

The world's languages in crisis / Michael Krauss -- The changing linguistic ecology of the Pacific region / Peter Mühlhäusler -- Why something should be done / Daniel Nettle and Suzanne Romaine -- Linguistic, cultural and biological diversity / Luisa Maffi -- The ecology of language revival / John Edwards -- Language policy and the ecological turn / Alistair Pennycook -- Human rights and language wrongs : a future for diversity? / Tove Skutnabb-Kangas -- English only worldwide or language ecology? / Robert Phillipson and Tove Skutnabb-Kangas -- Globalizing English : are linguistic human rights an alternative to linguistic imperialism? / Robert Phillipson -- Class, ethnicity and language rights : an analysis of British colonial policy / Janina Brutt-Griffler -- Language rights: moving the debate forward / Stephen May -- Language and ethnic minority rights / Lionel Wee -- Survey article : the justification of minority language rights / Alan Patten -- A liberal democratic approach to language justice / David Laitin and Rob Reich -- The language of democracy : vernacular or Esperanto? : a comparison between the multiculturalist and cosmopolitan perspectives / Daniele Archibugi -- Cosmopolitanism and global English : language politics in globalisation debates / Peter Ives -- Contesting public monolingualism and diglossia : rethinking political theory and language policy for a multilingual world / Stephen May -- Language rights as an integral part of human rights / Fernand de Varennes -- Minority language rights in international law / Robert Dunbar -- Language rights : the "Cinderella" human right / Stephen May -- Language policy, language education, language rights : indigenous, immigrant and international perspectives / Nancy Hornberger -- Native American languages in and out of the safety zone, 1492-2012 / Teresa McCarty -- African mother-tongue programmes and the politics of language : linguistic citizenship versus linguistic human rights / Christopher Stroud -- Multilingualism of the unequals and predicaments of education in India : mother tongue or other tongue? imagining multilingual schools / Ajit Mohanty

Language maps provide illustrations of linguistic and cultural diversity and distribution, appearing in outlets ranging from textbooks and news articles to websites and wall maps. They are valuable visual aids that accompany discussions of our cultural climate. Despite the prevalent use of language maps as educational tools, little recent research addresses the difficult task of map construction for this fluid cultural characteristic. The display and analysis capabilities of current geographic information systems (GIS) provide a new opportunity for revisiting and challenging the issues of language mapping. In an effort to renew language mapping research and explore the potential of GIS, this dissertation is composed of three studies that collectively present a progressive work on language mapping. The first study summarizes the language mapping literature, addressing the difficulties and limitations of assigning language to space before describing contemporary language mapping projects as well as future research possibilities with current technology. In an effort to identify common language mapping practices, the second study is a map survey documenting the cartographic characteristics of existing language maps. The survey not only consistently categorizes language map symbology, it also captures unique strategies observed for handling locations with linguistic plurality as well as representing language data uncertainty. A new typology of language map symbology is compiled based on the map survey results. Finally, the third study specifically addresses two gaps in the language mapping literature: the issue of visualizing linguistic diversity and the scarcity of GIS applications in language mapping research. The study uses census data for the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Statistical Area to explore visualization possibilities for representing the linguistic diversity. After recreating mapping strategies already in use for showing linguistic diversity, the study applies an existing statistic (a linguistic diversity index) as a new mapping variable to generate a new visualization type: a linguistic diversity surface. The overall goal of this dissertation is to provide the impetus for continued language mapping research and contribute to the understanding and creation of language maps in education, research, politics, and other venues. ; Ph. D.

1. Introduction -- 2. Stages of language endangerment -- 3. Working in a community; case study: N/uu / by Matthias Brenzinger & Sheena Shah-- 4. Identity and attitudes -- 5. Language knowledge and use -- 6. The sociolinguistic setting -- 7. Linguistic processes -- 8. Policy and planning -- 9. Language reclamation -- 10. Methodology -- 11. Conclusion -- Glossary of terms -- References -- Index.

In this contribution we review and assess the specificities of vitality and revitalization of sign languages in a context of atypical endangerment. The contribution focuses on concrete examples of revitalization measures, both implemented and not yet implemented, based on the Catalan Sign Language (LSC) community context, such as the important role of language documentation, the reasons of the precarious situation in education and a proposal to establish an inclusive educational model, and finally the potential of an open learning resource offering greater access to sign language education. ; This contribution has been possible thanks to the SIGN-HUB project, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 693349, to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and FEDER Funds (FFI2015-68594-P), to the Government of the Generalitat de Catalunya (2014 SGR 698), to Obra Social La Caixa (LSC Corpus, Institut d'Estudis Catalans), and to AGAUR-Govern de la Generalitat de Catalunya (MOOC funding: Resolució ECO/1247/2014, de 29 de maig).