Winifred V. Davies

Language planning and microlinguistics: Introduction

The term ‘language planning’ seems to have been first used by Einar Haugen when writing about the linguistic situation in modern Norway. He defined it as: ‘the activity of preparing a normative orthography, grammar, and dictionary for the guidance of writers and speakers in a non-homogeneous speech community’ (1959, p. 8). Language planning was apparently restricted to a monolingual society and referred to ‘corpus planning’ only, that is, to decisions about the forms and structures of a language, specifically those involved in standardization (the distinction between status and corpus planning was introduced by Kloss, 1969). Over the years the term has broadened its scope and is nowadays probably associated more often with multilingual societies than with monolingual ones. According to Cooper (1989, p. 45), it describes ‘deliberate efforts to influence the behavior of others with respect to the acquisition, structure, or functional allocation of their codes’, whilst Spolsky (2009, p. 4) says it refers to ‘conscious and explicit efforts by language managers to control the choices [between languages, or between varieties of one language: WVD/EZ]’.1 A related concept, which sometimes, but not always, appears to be used synonymously with language planning, is language policy. Shohamy (2006, p. 49) makes a clear distinction between language planning as an activity that involves ‘sweeping intervention and control of language behavior’ and language policy, which ‘attempts to be less interventionist and to refer mostly to principles with regard to language use’.

Lessons We Have Learnt from Language Planning and Microlinguistics and Directions for Future Research

Language policy and planning (LPP) research has long been interested in matters of language policy and planning on the macro level, that is, the level of the state and thus from a top-down perspective. Within this strand of research, investigators have considered the relationship between language policy measures and the ethnic and linguistic makeup of societies, the development of standard languages and their implementation, language revival movements and postcolonial language policies. But, as Spolsky (2004, p. 56) points out, ‘[l]anguage policy studies that focus only on the individual nation state and its centralized language planning are likely to miss many significant features’. This criticism — together with others — has given rise to approaches that focus more on the micro level, investigating actual language use and speakers’ attitudes and attempting to bridge the gap between the macro and micro levels by examining the interaction between the two and trying to ascertain to what extent and in what way the macro level influences the micro level and how micro-level processes contribute to the creation and maintenance of macro-level objectives and processes. This volume follows these new lines of research, which are sparked off by the need for more empirical analyses, bringing the speakers to centre-stage.

Language planning and microlinguistics : from policy to interaction and vice versa

1. Language Planning and Microlinguistics: Introduction Winifred V. Davies and Evelyn Ziegler PART I: EDUCATION 2. Bilingual Kindergarten Programmes: The Interaction of Language Management and Language Attitudes Astrid Rothe and Katarina Wagner 3. Language Planning and Standardization in a Minority Language Context: A Case Study of Rumantsch Grischun in Switzerland Raphael Berthele 4. German at Secondary Schools in Luxembourg: The Implementation of Macro-level Language Policies on the Micro Level of the Luxembourgish German-language Classroom Melanie Wagner 5. The German Standard Variety at Czech Universities in the Light of Decision-making Processes of Language Management Vit Dovalil PART II: PRACTICE 6. Top-down or Bottom-up? Understanding Diffusion of Supralocal Norms in France Damien Hall and David Hornsby 7. From Status to Corpus: Codification and Implementation of Spelling Norms in Luxembourgish Peter Gilles 8. The Danish Plain Language Ideology - From a Macro- and Micro-level Perspective Anne Kjaergaard PART III: IDEOLOGY AND ATTITUDES 9. Metalinguistic Awareness of Standard vs. Standard Usage: The Case of Determiners in Spoken German Arnulf Deppermann, Ralf Knobl and Alexander Koplenig 10. Language Management in the Japanese Workplace Lisa Fairbrother 11. The Role of Meso- and Micro-level Language Policy in the Revitalization of Occitan in France Laura Carmel Diver 12. Lessons We Have Learnt from Language Planning and Microlinguistics and Directions for Future Research Winifred V. Davies and Evelyn Ziegler ?

Language Planning and Microlinguistics

1. Language Planning and Microlinguistics: Introduction Winifred V. Davies and Evelyn Ziegler PART I: EDUCATION 2. Bilingual Kindergarten Programmes: The Interaction of Language Management and Language Attitudes Astrid Rothe and Katarina Wagner 3. Language Planning and Standardization in a Minority Language Context: A Case Study of Rumantsch Grischun in Switzerland Raphael Berthele 4. German at Secondary Schools in Luxembourg: The Implementation of Macro-level Language Policies on the Micro Level of the Luxembourgish German-language Classroom Melanie Wagner 5. The German Standard Variety at Czech Universities in the Light of Decision-making Processes of Language Management Vit Dovalil PART II: PRACTICE 6. Top-down or Bottom-up? Understanding Diffusion of Supralocal Norms in France Damien Hall and David Hornsby 7. From Status to Corpus: Codification and Implementation of Spelling Norms in Luxembourgish Peter Gilles 8. The Danish Plain Language Ideology - From a Macro- and Micro-level Perspective Anne Kjaergaard PART III: IDEOLOGY AND ATTITUDES 9. Metalinguistic Awareness of Standard vs. Standard Usage: The Case of Determiners in Spoken German Arnulf Deppermann, Ralf Knobl and Alexander Koplenig 10. Language Management in the Japanese Workplace Lisa Fairbrother 11. The Role of Meso- and Micro-level Language Policy in the Revitalization of Occitan in France Laura Carmel Diver 12. Lessons We Have Learnt from Language Planning and Microlinguistics and Directions for Future Research Winifred V. Davies and Evelyn Ziegler ?