Language policy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The language policy describes all measures and rules with which the use of certain languages ​​(language status planning) or a certain use of language is prescribed through language regulation. Language status planning takes place primarily at the political level in states and organizations, language regulation in practice only within states. Measures and rules that influence the status and social function of several languages, especially in multilingual countries and international organizations, are referred to as language policy.

Language policy and language law are inevitable in modern states, as important functions of the state system (such as administration , justice and education ) rely on language . In multilingual countries and in view of the growing proportion of the population in many countries who speak other languages, it also poses problems. The reasons for this are the close connection of every person and cultural area to their language; outside interference in this relationship can be negative for the individual , but also for the entire group of speakers of a subordinate language.

Definition of terms

Language policy describes political activities that deal with language or languages ​​and their political and social dimensions, as well as, in the narrower sense, the targeted intervention in the development of language or languages ​​in society. Language policy is also used as a generic term for the terms language policy, language planning or language management. There is no clear definition of language policy in the scientific discussion. Language planning and language policy are often used interchangeably. Language policy can deal with one or more languages, as well as with language in general, and include an open or covert, conscious or unconscious influence on linguistic behavior by various actors, such as states or institutions. In order to analyze language policy, the goals and results of language policy must be considered as well as the means used, the decision-making processes, the political conditions, the behavior to be influenced, and the actors and language users

Language policy can affect all aspects of a language. This begins with recognizing an independent language as such. In the form of status planning, it determines which linguistic varieties should have which function. Examples of this are the determination of an official state or official language , the choice of mother tongue and foreign language taught in schools, and the rights of minority languages. Corpus planning is the development of standards in grammar , spelling and vocabulary . For example, in the form of a spelling reform , language policy can also change these rules for writing . These measures have an impact on the prestige that a language has in society, as well as on language acquisition and use.

Meaning of language policy

Languages ​​play an important role in the formation of national identity as well as in the formation of the identity of individuals. In the emergence of the European nation- states, language was an important point of reference, as it defined belonging to the nation. This was instrumentalized in history, among other things, by National Socialism. In reality, there were and are linguistic minorities in the majority of European countries . The identity of nation and state has therefore always been a fiction. The result were language conflicts, some of which continue to this day.

Language policy and language law continue to be of unconditional importance today. The state system with administration , justice and education is based on language. There is a close relationship between language, identity and culture. Language can be seen as a key and establishes the relationship to the community. The mother tongue, as well as languages ​​with which someone identifies, trigger positive associations such as familiarity and security. Being part of a language community enables orientation and allocation. This can happen at the level of national culture, in ethnic communities, in regional or local communities through dialects and vernaculars, and in social groups through sociolects and jargons .

It follows that interventions in language behavior, for example in the form of language bans, can have a direct impact on the psyche of individuals and ethnic groups. A lack of acceptance of one's own language in a person's living environment can, for example, lead to feelings of inferiority. Conversely, it is also true that the appreciation of languages ​​and language skills has to do with the appreciation of those people who speak these languages

Specific use of language

Language policy can affect all aspects of a language ( vocabulary , spelling and grammar ). For example, it lays down the rules for writing through a spelling reform . Requirements for understandable and friendly communication, such as those specified in part by administration or employers, can also be viewed as language policy, although such requirements result more from public relations work . The Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, for example, published its own guide entitled Citizen Language in Administration .

In many countries the use of language and language are regulated by law, for example in France : where the Académie française was founded to monitor the use, vocabulary and grammar of French. "France derives its position in Europe and the world from the peculiarities of its culture, which is particularly defined by language (language protection and care legislation)." [Source?] In some of the successor states of the Soviet Union , the identity of the national language played a key role for gaining independence. There, e.g. B. in Latvia , the use of Russian in communication with public institutions is prohibited by law. In Belgium , the use of languages ​​by public services is strictly regulated by language laws.

Language bans

Since mother tongue is one of the most important elements of identity creation , individually and culturally, language politics can have a direct influence on the psyche of the individual ( inferiority complex ) (if one's own language is not accepted).

If entire cultures are favored or disadvantaged in their language, real conflicts or wars threaten , for example after the Second World War in parts of Poland where the use of the German language was forbidden, as well as in the attempts at autonomy in non-Spanish-speaking areas in Spain in the 1970s . While the Soviet Union imposed Russian as the dominant language on the fringe peoples, many successor states such as Estonia or Latvia are reversing this development by stigmatizing the use of Russian.

Language Policy Actors

Language policy is not only carried out by traditional political actors, but also by different types of institutions and by individuals. Language policy actors can essentially be divided into four groups.

The “Government” group includes all those government agencies, ministries and authorities that are officially entrusted with conducting language policy on a national, regional or local level. This also includes international organizations such as the EU or the UN, which operate on a supranational level. “Educational institutions” are understood to mean organizations in the educational sector, such as kindergartens, schools, universities or authorities that draw up curricula. They have a great influence on language use and language acquisition, both explicitly through foreign and native language teaching and implicitly through the attribution of prestige to individual language forms. The category “quasi-government organizations” includes institutions such as hospitals, cultural institutions or institutions of the judiciary that indirectly pursue language policy through their use of language. Finally, every other (private) organization or institution also operates at least indirect language policy, for example through requirements for language skills or the requirement to comply with certain language standards.

Apart from these four categories, groups of friends or families as well as individuals can also be designated as actors in language policy. Examples are the outlawing of vulgar expressions in the family or the decision to learn foreign languages

Open and covert language policy

An open language policy is understood to be a conscious and visible action with which the use of a language is interfered with and which pursues an openly articulated objective. Covert language policy, on the other hand, describes linguistic or other action that influences linguistic behavior in a subtle way and that serves a hidden or unconscious purpose.

Conscious and unconscious language politics

Covert language politics can take place consciously as well as unconsciously. It is unconscious when the actors are not pursuing a conscious goal. This happens, for example, through the general use of certain languages ​​or varieties , if this was not preceded by a conscious decision about the acceptance of these languages ​​or varieties. In contrast to this, covert language politics can also be carried out consciously, for example to force existing power relations.

Language Policy of the European Union

The European Union takes formal account of the importance of language for politics and the public , in that all official languages ​​of the member states are also official languages ​​of the EU. A distinction must be made here between the EU's internal and external language policy. In this context, internal language policy means the language regulation for the EU institutions and authorities. Most of the EU institutions use French or German as so-called working languages ​​alongside the dominant English. Despite the criticism of this situation, which cites cost arguments as well as ideological reasons, proposals to introduce a planned language as the official language for the EU were never seriously pursued.

With its language policy, the European Union aims to strengthen cooperation in Europe while at the same time preserving diversity. It therefore takes measures to promote and maintain multilingualism and cultural richness as well as to improve the language skills of the population. This is underpinned by a comprehensive multilingualism policy, which provides for the equality of all EU official languages . In the field of education, it is the declared aim of the EU that EU citizens should master two other foreign languages ​​in addition to their mother tongue. In addition, the EU supports efforts with regard to the protection of regional and minority languages. Since 2001 the European Day of Languages ​​has been celebrated on September 26th.

However, for reasons of cost and efficiency, EU publications are not always translated into all official languages. While legal regulations, politically important documents and general information are published in all official languages, non-legally binding documents are mostly only available in German, English and French. Urgent or short-lived information is translated as required. Specialized information is only available in a limited number of languages ​​depending on the target group.

Legal basis

Respect for linguistic diversity is mentioned in the preamble and in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union . The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU , dating from 2000, prohibits discrimination on the basis of language (Article 21) and obliges the Union to respect linguistic diversity (Article 22). The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union includes the right of EU citizens to write to any institution or body of the Union in one of the languages ​​of the Member States and to receive an answer in the same language (Article 24 (4) TFEU) . Luxembourgish is an exception , as the country's government voluntarily waived this right. The languages ​​of minorities, on the other hand, have no official status in EU law unless they are the official language of one of the EU states, as do the languages ​​of migrant groups . As a result, the relevant languages ​​cannot be used in communication with EU institutions. However, the Charter of Regional and Minority Languages is intended to provide support for minority languages ​​(although this may differ from state to state).

Services

Achievements that the European Union has provided in the field of language policy or the implementation of which it is striving to include include the protection of minority languages, the ability to compare language skills, the establishment of a European Center for Foreign Languages, the Mercator Research Center for Multilingualism and the Teaching of Languages, as well a European Master’s degree in Translation and the provision of the MT @ EC machine translation service . The EU has also launched action programs such as Erasmus + , Creative Europe and the European Day of Languages . It bestows awards such as the European Language Seal or the Juvenes Translatores .

European Commissioner for Multilingualism

From 2007 to February 2010 the Commission of the European Union had its own Commissioner for Multilingualism , while this area was or is with the Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth before and after this period. The Romanian Leonard Orban was the Commissioner for Multilingualism . Central aspects of his tenure were the promotion of foreign language learning from the earliest age, the concept of lifelong learning and the promotion of multilingualism for small and medium-sized businesses.

See also

literature

  • Florian Coulmas : Language and State: Studies on Language Planning and Language Policy. de Gruyter, Berlin 1985.
  • Thomas Gebel: The historical left and language policy. In: Osnabrück Contributions to Language Theory. Volume 11, October 2000, pp. 193-250.
  • Jakob Haselhuber : Multilingualism in the European Union: An Analysis of EU Language Policy, with a Special Focus on Germany. Lang, Frankfurt / M. 2012, ISBN 978-3-631-63876-7 .
  • Harald Haarmann : Language Policy. In: Gert Ueding (Hrsg.): Historical dictionary of rhetoric . Volume 10, WBG 1992 ff. Darmstadt 2011, column 1246-1265.
  • Jan Kruse: The Barcelona Principle: The trilingualism of all Europeans as a language policy goal of the EU. Lang, Frankfurt / M. 2012, ISBN 978-3-631-62349-7 .
  • Siegfried Piotrowski, Helmar G. Frank : Europe's speechlessness: From the blind spot of "European Studies" and its eurological remedy. KoPaed, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-935686-25-0 .
  • Patrick Schreiner: State and Language in Europe: Nation-state monolingualism and the multilingual policy of the European Union. Lang, Frankfurt / M. 2006, ISBN 3-631-54693-9 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Language policy  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Florian Coulmas: Language and State. Studies on language planning and language policy . Berlin 1985, p. 260 .
  2. ^ A b Heiko F. Marten: Language Policy. An introduction . Tübingen 2016, p. 15-37 .
  3. ↑ Florian Coulmas: Language and State. Studies on language planning and language policy. Berlin 1985, pp. 41-52.
  4. ↑ Edith Broszinsky-Schwabe: Intercultural Communication. Misunderstandings - understanding. Wiesbaden 2011. p. 60.
  5. ↑ Vienna Chamber of Labor: 14 theses on language and language policy . Vienna 2018.
  6. ^ Académie francaise. Retrieved August 8, 2018 (French).
  7. ↑ Gunnar Wälzholz: Nationalism in the Soviet Union, the conditions and meaning of national elites . Berlin 1997, pp. 15-18.
  8. ^ Belgium - formation of the federal state. Retrieved August 8, 2018 .
  9. ^ Franz-Josef Sehr : Professor from Poland in Beselich annually for decades . In: Yearbook for the Limburg-Weilburg district 2020 . The district committee of the district of Limburg-Weilburg, Limburg 2019, ISBN 3-927006-57-2 , p. 223-228 .
  10. ^ A b Heiko F. Marten: Language Policy. An introduction. Tübingen 2016, pp. 35–37.
  11. ^ Heiko F. Marten: Language Policy. An introduction . Tübingen 2016, pp. 22–23.
  12. ^ Heiko F. Marten: Language Policy. An introduction . Tübingen 2016, pp. 23–24.
  13. ↑ EU Multilingualism. Accessed August 8, 2018 .
  14. ^ OSCE Language Policy. Retrieved August 8, 2018 .
  15. ↑ a b c Pierre Hériard: language policy. European Parliament, December 2019, accessed 8 August 2018 .
  16. ^ Anonymous: Language Policy - European Union - European Commission. June 16, 2016, accessed August 8, 2018 .