Language Policy and Language Planning: From Nationalism to Globalism

by Sue Wright

Language policy and planning is rarely just about language; it always has political, social and ethical dimensions. This is a comprehensive advanced textbook, covering not only language learning imposed by economic or political agendas, but also language choices entered into freely for reasons of social mobility, economic advantage or group identity. The first part of the book reviews the development and role of standard languages in the construction of national communities and identities. The second part examines the linguistic accommodation of groups in contact, major lingua francas and the case of "International English". The third section explores reactions to nationalism and globalization, with some attention to language rights.

Genres: Linguistics

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 18, 2003

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introductory read if this topic is something that interests you. However, I would have liked to see more attention given to ecological language planning perspectives. As it is, there is only one chapter for endangered languages and I feel it fails to capture the essence or importance of ecolinguistics. It's a dense read, with a lot of history discussed, but serves its purpose overall.