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The paper aims at identifying common features in various fields of sociolinguistic research which would help rationalize methodological procedures and increase their efficiency. To this end, the paper discusses Language Management Theory, which focuses on the metalinguistic activities or behavior toward language of various social actors. Such metalinguistic activities represent a common denominator interconnecting seemingly heterogeneous fields of sociolinguistic research. The paper considers the possibilities of connecting such fields in various research areas. These include processes of language standardization and destandardization, the establishment of pluricentric standards, language attitudes research, the conceptualization of descriptive versus prescriptive linguistics, gender-related issues, language law, the management of multilingualism, and efforts aimed at strengthening the status of a language in a state or international organization. The discussion focuses on phenomena of agency, processes of the behavior toward language, the interconnection of the micro and macro levels of these processes, and the need to take socio-cultural, communicative as well as linguistic dimensions into consideration. Such a synthetic perspective would help generate and answer new fruitful research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses some of the challenges to mainstream research in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) thrown up by "critical perspectives", which encompass contributions from postmodern theory as well as recent developments in the range of specialties known as "critical studies". Since these challenges influence substantial tracts of scholarly discourse about linguistic diversity as well as about social and political responses to this diversity, it is useful to take stock of the corresponding claims and assess their import for language policy and planning (LPP) as a field of inquiry. Based on this examination, I argue that unless one is willing to buy uncritically into the problematic epistemological tenets of critical perspectives, their usefulness remains limited and is confined to heuristic side effects. The latter concern, in the main, a deeper treatment of the tension between language politics and language policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A closer interdisciplinary engagement by geographers, ethnographers and sociolinguists has resulted in new thematic issues being investigated and more sophisticated methodological approaches being adopted. The development of advanced IT and AI capabilities, particularly the wider adoption of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), has opened up new means of exploring and representing aspects of human behaviour. Of particular note is the appreciation by sociolinguistics of the various spatial perspectives currently being utilised in sub-disciplines such as studies of the interactions within metropolitan multilingual contexts, linguistic landscapes, new speaker research and applied language policy. This paper calls for a greater mutual reciprocity and syncretic interpretation of several key issues and promising methodologies. It also indicates how sociolinguists can contribute to significant societal debates on language policy and planning as part of social planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, language policy (LP) at the University of Salzburg (Austria), a mid-size seemingly monolingual university, serves as an example to analyse (potential) language conflicts at the institutional level considering the roles played by German, English and 'immigrant' languages at the university. Language management, beliefs, and (reported) language use by different stakeholders in higher education (administrators, academic and administrative staff and students) are contrasted, also taking into consideration different linguistic backgrounds (German as L1, German as L2 and German as a foreign language). This offers an overall perspective on institutional LP that is still group sensitive, one that reveals two different hidden language conflicts: the non-addressed conflict between the two most important and visible languages at the university by far, German and English, as well as the neglected and negated conflict between German and the hidden "immigrant" languages. A consistent 'internationalisation at home' strategy would address these hidden conflicts and show backwash effects on ideas of language use in education as well as in society in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview is presented with Peter Trudgill, a renowned figure in sociolinguistics. Trudgill critiques the concept of sociolinguistic "waves" over the last decade, expressing skepticism towards the three-wave approach emphasizing social meaning and stylistic practice. Topics include Trudgill's disapproval of the three "waves" model in sociolinguistic historiography, emphasizing linguistic goals over ethnographic shifts.

The present study deals with the presence and role of the Sardinian language in the linguistic landscape of sixteen villages in the province of Oristano, Sardinia. Specifically, their entry signs and street name signs were photographed and analysed using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. In the entry signs, Sardinian was found to have a very strong presence, generating a high degree of bilingualism with Italian, as recommended by national and regional language policies. Systematic bilingualism could not, however, be observed in the street name signs, where Italian clearly prevails. Notwithstanding, the local language is visible in around a quarter of all street name signs. Complying with the provisions of national and regional legislations, Sardinian is used in the majority of street signs to recall the historical memory of the communities. Nonetheless, signs could be found where Sardinian is used in parallel bilingual texts to express exactly the same content as Italian, fostering a modern vision of the minority language. The present work shows how top-down language policies can be locally implemented or re-interpreted in the linguistic landscape; moreover, the article sheds light on how street naming can be exploited to influence society's perception of minority languages and convey messages of local or regional/national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the context of the internationalisation of higher education, language matters have become increasingly prominent for universities across a wide variety of contexts. This has made the higher education domain an attractive site for applied linguists and sociolinguists to investigate in close detail. One relatively consolidated idea is that contexts in which English has made further incursions in universities are more internationalised than those settings where English has penetrated to a lesser extent. In line with that, a supposed north-south divide in European higher education has been conceived of, with universities in the north leading in terms of internationalisation efforts, while those in the south lag behind. In this article, I problematise this idea and suggest instead that a narrower and more focused contrastive analysis between language ecologies across different countries and contexts might be more useful. In doing that, we can thus avoid the dangers of binarism and lumping that can come associated to holding preconceived geographical borders. In particular, the comparative analysis proposed here allows us to highlight two key issues that seem to be highly pressing in present-day higher education domains: the language-ideological and the socio-economic. I build the argument in the paper by utilising empirical material from Estonia and Catalonia, two contexts that have been at the centre of my own work in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on issues related to sign language policies in Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs) in Europe. Drawing on the analytical framework proposed by Darquennes/Du Plessis/Soler (2020, i. e. this volume), which serves to address HEI language planning issues at macro, meso and micro levels, we carry out an inventory of how these issues play out for sign languages across Europe. Our investigation reveals the scarcity of information about sign language policies in HEIs, relating to both sign language as a language of instruction and as a subject of study. What becomes clear is that language planning activities (sign language acquisition, sign language status and corpus planning) are taking place in many countries but tend to go undocumented and unresearched. Given the increase in formal recognition of sign languages across Europe, coupled with the ratification of the UN's Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) by all EU member states, it would seem logical to expect that the status and prestige of sign languages would rise, with greater visibility of, and planning for, incorporation of sign languages in HEIs. However, the reality of the situation is unclear, suggesting the need for coordinated effort, supported by key pan-European bodies like the Council of Europe, the European Centre for Modern Languages and the European Commission, to ensure that sign language policy is on the agenda as parts of a rights-based response to deaf communities and the sign languages of Europe. Equally important is the need for European HEIs to embrace sign languages and ensure that they are part of the linguistic landscape. This will support and promote the status planning of sign languages and open up access to HEIs for deaf communities, a group that remains under-represented in academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I zoom in on linguistic justice for language groups who do not enjoy either local territorial dominance or equality with other language groups within the state. My question is: is there a separate linguistic justice category for such language groups whose recognition is 'subordinate' to that of other language groups? Does subordinate linguistic justice exist? A positive answer would mean that groups who belong to the category would not necessarily want to look at territorial dominance or equality as the proper ideal of linguistic justice: subordinate linguistic justice would not be an oxymoron. The answer I develop is indeed positive; it is possible for language groups to be in such a position of subordination while justice is fulfilled, but only under certain conditions. Nonfulfillment of one of these conditions generates reasons of justice for such groups to emancipate themselves from the position of subordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the publication of William Stokoe's Sign Language Structure in 1960, there was a proliferation of linguistic research addressing different aspects of sign languages. The emergence of this research had implications not only for linguistics as an academic discipline, but also for the deaf community itself. One area in which the study of sign languages and the growing activism of deaf communities overlapped in powerful ways was in calls for the official recognition of sign languages – that is, with respect to status planning. In addition to status planning, there have also been clear examples of corpus planning, acquisition planning, and prestige planning with respect to sign languages. Although efforts to engage in language planning for sign languages, and to develop and implement language policies for such languages, share many characteristics with language planning targeting spoken languages, in other ways they are quite distinctive. In this article, an overview of language planning and policy for sign languages is provided, followed by discussions of the linguistic human rights of sign language users and the role of language policies for sign languages in efforts to ensure civil rights for deaf individuals and communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a practical project to develop a language policy for an English-Medium-Instruction university in Uzbekistan. Although the university is de facto English-only, it presents a complex language ecology, which in turn has led to confusion and disagreement about language use on campus. The project team investigated the experience, views and attitudes of over a thousand people, including faculty, students, administrative and maintenance staff, in order to arrive at a proposed policy which would serve the whole community, based on the principle of tolerance and pragmatism. After outlining the relevant language and educational context and setting out the methods and approach of the underpinning research project, the article goes on to present the key findings. One of the striking findings was an appetite for control and regulation of language behaviours. Language policies in Higher Education invariably fall down at the implementation stage because of a lack of will to follow through on their principles and their specific guidelines. Language policy in international business on the other hand is characterised by a control stage invariably lacking in language planning in education. Uzbekistan is a polity used to control measures following from policy implementation. The article concludes by suggesting that Higher Education in Central Asia may stand a better chance of seeing through language policies around English-Medium Instruction than, for example, in northern Europe, based on the tension between tolerance on the one hand and control on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to trends such as internationalization, migration and the knowledge economy, universities globally are under pressure to open their doors to as many students as possible. In South Africa, massification of higher education has two additional dimensions to the above. Firstly, it has to provide a forum for creating a socially inclusive society. Further to this, it has to compensate for the inferior standard of basic education. Together these factors compound the number of diversity variables that require management, particularly as far as language and academic literacy imperatives are concerned. This chapter examines how massification is unfolding at one institution of higher learning in the country and how it fuels systemic problems in a particular teacher training programme. What distinguishes the students in this undergraduate course from those in other programmes is that they constitute the future educators responsible for literacy development in the first years of schooling, precisely where literacy levels are deplorable and of critical concern. The study considers relevant policies, institutional support and curricula, before scrutinizing student performance. Two main findings emerge: Successful massification of higher education is highly dependent on quality basic education in which language instruction and the development of academic literacies are foregrounded at school level. This in turn requires comprehensive teacher training programmes that are attentive to sociolinguistic realities and theoretical underpinnings of language learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops a user perspective, applied both to law as discourse and normative practical reason - law, religion - and to linguistic communication. In multilingual contexts, this perspective requires special adaptation, because the communities of users may use different languages for the creation of new norms, and for their judicial interpretation and application. The possibilities for contesting meaning are enhanced where multilingual normative communication is involved. Important consequences then follow as regards legislative drafting, statutory interpretation and multilingual contexts of conflict-resolution. The EU is the classical multilingual institutional setting where these ideas are tested. Although in the EU only those languages that are official or co-official at the level of the Member State are immediately recognised as official languages, the EU operates as a genuine multilingual system of law, the most impressive official multilingualism in the world. Discourses exploring the EU's political identity tend to see this multilingualism as an obstacle to the development of a demos rather than a salient feature of its multicultural and federal-like Constitution. This paradox is compared to the linguistic identity of the Basque Country, which is analysed in its different territories from the legal and sociolinguistic perspectives, where the legal status of Basque is subordinated to the official language regime of France and Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the example of Scotland in order to examine the ways in which issues, arguments and claims that implicate linguistic justice are framed and presented in public discourse and in different kinds of practical contexts. It takes a positive rather than normative approach, identifying and analysing the main issues and lines of argument that have emerged in practice, rather than testing a particular theoretical understanding of linguistic justice. The article examines the key principles and understandings that underpin the current policy regime and the nature of provision for particular languages in Scotland, especially the autochthonous Scottish Gaelic language, which receives particular concern from policy-makers but also attracts controversy. Other important language varieties include Scots; Polish, Urdu, Punjabi and Chinese; and British Sign Language. Anomalies and inconsistencies are identified and analysed in relation to provision for different languages in different fields, disparities that often have political or ideological ramifications and require to be understood in the distinct Scottish socio-political context. In the final section, the article addresses in the position of different languages in the Scottish education system, attempting to discern the extent to which greatly varying levels of provision for different kinds of languages can be understood in terms of linguistic justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, inspired by Spolsky (2004), pursues three goals: 1. to demonstrate the terminological shift from "language planning" towards "language management", 2. to point out that this shift is facilitated by the growing influence of a particular theory of language management, which I refer to as Language Management Theory, 3. to present the central features of the theory, arguing that it is well suited not only to the analysis of language macro-planning but also to language micro-planning, the analysis of which is frequently called for during the process of formulating the language policy in various areas of the world including Europe and the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the language standardisation process in Castilian or Spanish language in Spain. Discussed is the acceptance of the standard Spanish language in various cultures. Noted is the significance of the bottom-up decision-making on language planning by large numbers of the community as well as the impact of economic and political factors on language policy. Also mentioned is the enactment of the Royal Charter by Charles III in 1768, noting that it initiates the consolidation of the Spanish language.

The article discusses topics related to language management and standardization processes. Explored is the impact of democratic legitimacy on language management, revision of an oral or written standard for a language and the significance of a democratic political system on language planning and management. Tackled is the idea of legitimacy on political discourse as well as its dependency on particular set of facts. Investigated are challenges of democratic legitimacy for language standardization processes.

The article focuses on topics surrounding the revision of the standard for Nynorsk, a Norwegian language. Explored are developments of language policy and planning in Norway, approaches to language standardisation, the use of deliberative decision-making for user-acceptance and legitimacy and a historical account of the written language situation. Suggested is the significance of the actual representation of different dialect forms in Norwegian dialect diversity. Also discussed is the policy of unification for language reform.

The article discusses the increasing language policy and planning activities for European autochthonous minority languages in the 20th century. An overview on the estimated living languages as well as aspects of individual and societal multilingualism in the European political and academic agenda, is provided. It highlights the international and supranational entities such as the Council of Europe and the European Union. Also mentioned is the macrosociolinguistic characteristics of minority language communities in Europe despite a long-standing European tradition.

Copyright of Sociolinguistica is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Author-supplied Abstracts.)

Copyright of Sociolinguistica is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Author-supplied Abstracts.)

The article presents a study which describes language and religious educational policies among Jerusalem missionary schools in Ottoman and Mandatory Palestine. The author evaluates these policies, offers a brief overview of the international stakes concerning the Palestine territory from 1870 to 1948, and provides information on French colonial linguistic policy studies from that era. Also examined are the French language as a vector for the Catholic religion, the role of French Catholic establishments in the dissemination of the French language with the French government's support, and the recruiting of Jewish and Muslim students at the beginning of the 20th century.

Foreign languages in Hungary The teaching and learning of foreign languages in today's Hungary is an issue rich in controversies. The increase in the number of attempted foreign language exams at the State Foreign Language Examination Board started already in the late 1980s: between 1985 and 1995 the number of applicants in the six most popular languages (English, German, French, Russian, Italian and Spanish) more than quadrupled from 19,691 to 90,712 (Vágó 1997), while, let us be reminded, for approximately the same period Terestyéni's survey (1995) registered a mere 2% increase in the number of self reported FL speakers. In preparation for the Foreign language education in Hungary: Concerns and controversies 65 SOCIOLINGUISTICA 24/2010 Matura exam reform in foreign languages in 2004/2005, a large scale, multi-part baseline investigation commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Culture was conducted in the late 1990s (Alderson 2000; Einhorn 1998; Fekete/ Major/ Nikolov 1999; Nikolov 1999a, b). Concerns and controversies Nikolov (2007) in an overview of the FL situation in Hungary asserts that recent developments in the foreign language education policies of the country correspond to trends in Europe, and that since 2002 tangible improvements can be felt especially in public education. [Extracted from the article]

Rahmenpläne aller 16 Bundesländer für alle Schulformen und-stufen ergab, dass nach der Veröffentlichung der Bildungsstandards für die Erste Fremdsprache Englisch/Französisch durch die KMK (2003; 2004) auch im curricularen Bereich ein Veränderungsprozess in Gang gekommen ist. Die bildungspolitische Diskussion Hier muss man zwischen den Stellungnahmen politischer Institutionen wie etwa der Parteien oder der Legislative und Exekutive der 16 Bundesländer einerseits und der "Lobby" der Fachverbände unterscheiden. Dass die zentrale Frage der Förderung der Herkunftssprachen von Migranten als Teil einer europäischen Mehrsprachigkeit, aber auch die Problematik der Förderung des Zweitsprachenerwerbs dabei vor allem von Parteien thematisiert werden, die sich diesem Aspekt der Politik verpflichtet fühlen, überrascht nicht. In den Curricula anderer Bundesländer finden sich Hinweise auf eine eher "multilingual" (in der Terminologie des GeR "vielsprachige") angelegte Lernsituation, die auch einen Beitrag zur Entwicklung "plurilingualer" Kompetenzen impliziert: Sprachenlernen in der Schule muss der Sprachenvielfalt in der Gesellschaft Rechnung tragen. [Extracted from the article]

The article attempts to analyze how well schools in the sixteen different states in Germany are fulfilling the goals of the language policy of the European Union that each student should be proficient in three languages. The author points out that the German law called the Hamburger Abkommen of 1964 required that all secondary pupils must learn English, and that later standards in some German states also explicitly require the learning of French. Also discussed is the great variety of foreign languages offered in German schools, although the largest percentage of pupils graduating from schools of all levels have proficiency in the English language, which is seen as a gateway to learning other languages.

The article presents an analysis of foreign language learning in Italian schools within the context of the stated European Union policy that students should be competent in two foreign languages in addition to the mother tongue. The author states that in Italian schools the English language is an integral part of the curriculum but that other languages are overlooked, a situation which must be changed. The author argues that action is needed at the level of the European Union for reform to take place in Italy. Referred to are works by linguistics professors Gerhard Stickel and Ulrich Ammon.

The article discusses foreign language education in Spain. The author examines political aspects of language education policies related to the number of languages, teaching methods, and the age at which language instruction is started, the teaching of languages in territories including Basque, Catalonia, and Galicia, and education in a second foreign language under guidelines from the European Union (EU). The author presents the autonomous regions Andalusia and Catalonia as examples, looking at the development of curricula, bilingual education, and native language education.

The article discusses foreign language education in Hungary, examining policies on language education, Hungarian laws which effect minority education and the effect of the European Union's program which encourages students in all member-states to learn three languages. The author discusses the ethnic composition of Hungary, the Hungarian language, also known as Magyar, and the prevalence of monolingualism and multilingualism in the country. The author examines data from the 1990s which indicates a foreign language deficit in the country and looks at controversies related to the number of teaching hours, the Matura exam, and continuity in language instruction in secondary schools.

The article discusses foreign language education in Finland and examines the implications of the state's two national languages, Finnish and Swedish, on the mother tongue plus two (MT+2) foreign languages policy of the European Union (EU). The author examines concerns that the growth of English language education in Finland, in addition to the study of Swedish or Finnish, has caused fewer students to study European languages such as French, Russian, and German and looks at differences between national language provisions and policies by the EU and the Nordic Council. Other topics include time spent on language learning, the teaching of immigrant students' native languages, and the levels of proficiency gained in secondary education.

The article discusses the choice of corporate language and language management strategies in Danish multinational companies in an age of globalization. Corporate communication policies relating to non-Danish language prowess are reviewed, as are the importance of English in corporate communications such as email and follow-ups to meetings and presentations, and printed corporate communications for partners, shareholders, and employees. Also looked at are company strategies involving translators, localization, and internal corporate language training.

The article presents information about language attitudes and behavior regarding regional languages in France. Languages under discussion include Occitan and Catalan. Topics addressed include the relations between language use and self-perception, as well as group identity within speech communities. A history of Occitan revivalist movements is given, and research results are presented from a study of language attitudes in Languedoc-Roussillon, France. Survey questions and responses are provided, which discuss the voluntary learning of regional languages, immersion language teaching, and French government policy for regional language.

This article discusses the role of English in the European Parliament. The author describes how the more democratic role that Europe has embraced has advanced the role of languages at the national level, but has some trouble balancing all twenty-three official languages at the "supranational" level. The members of parliament must face this difficulty, and the author presents their experiences. The experiences that native English and French speakers have formed into two categories of those that are pedantically monolingual, and those who try to engage with members of other languages. Members from other European Union countries and their competencies in English and other foreign languages are presented.

This article discusses the problems facing the multilingual European Union (EU) during parliamentary procedures. The author writes that since there are twenty-seven member countries with twenty-three languages representing them, there have been many debates concerning which language would represent them all. Though there have been efforts to maintain the diversity of languages, English has still dominated the proceedings. The author discusses the impact of EU expansion on language, the current pattern of languages in the EU and the fluctuation of power between the language groups.