Language policy: a slim guide

This book is about policy decisions concerning language and as such probes the origins and conceptual foundations of the relationships between state and language. On the basis of specific examples from around the world it explains the principal issues of language policy today. After the conceptual and theoretical foundations of the field have been laid out in the first two chapters, subsequent chapters analyse the choice of languages, their varieties and written forms as a subject of policy making. To the extent that this is necessary or conducive to understanding present-day policy disputes concerning language, their historical background is sketched to show how some kinds of issues became politically problematic. The reader will be made to see language policy unfolding between hegemony and homogeneity, on one hand, and identity claims and diversity, on the other. The fact that these are contemporary terms gives reason to reflect on the contingency of state-language relations and the conflict potential of language regimes. In many polities it is today taken for granted that the government should be involved in language regulation. As with all policy matters, it may be asked whether this is a necessity (of modern states), a blessing, or a curse. This question is the common thread that runs through the chapters of this book.