Image and Prestige Planning

The aim of this paper is to clarify some notions about image and prestige planning. Starting from the Welsh example of language policy aiming to revitalise a language in danger of further decreasing in number of speakers and in centrality to Welsh life, definitions of four related terms are explored: image, status, prestige and identity. Paired relationships are suggested: image is a non-factual version of the semi-factual identity of a society, while prestige is the result of an attitudinal stance towards the semi-factual status of a language within a language ecology. Planning to modify status or identity is often regarded as 'real' planning, similar to planning for social or economic change, while modifications of prestige or image require emotional manipulation, like commercial marketing. More detailed analysis of a range of planning examples enables distinctions to be made between image planning as a stage in identity formation and consolidation, and prestige planning as attitudinal change. The differences may also lie in a possible interpretation of image planning as long-term, idealistic and rooted in beliefs of the equality of languages, as opposed to short-term, policy-oriented prestige planning reminiscent of military conflict and a strong awareness of dominance. (Contains 2 figures and 1 table.)