Cht. 13 language as a social entity Flashcards
what is language maintenance?
how a language survives
how is a language maintained?
it happens on a personal level in response to social, political, and economic forces
what is language policing and planning?
how a government and other institutions affect the role and status of a language
what does ethnolinguistic vitality depend on?
institutional support: is the group’s language used in education, politics etc.
power and prestige: how prestigious is the group in their own eyes and that of society’s
demography: how big is the group and other language groups around it
community choices: accumulation or assimilation
when do language shifts happen?
when people use the language in fewer domains
what is language planning?
the choice (not) to intervene when a language changes
what 4 reasons are there for language planning?
linguistic assimilation: everyone should learn the dominant language
linguistic pluralism: societies and governments should recognize more than one language
vernacularization: less-powerful language should be promoted to an official status
internalization: non-indigenous language should be encouraged
which kinds of language planning are there?
status planning: declaring an official language which affects the political/economic power of the ethnic group
corpus planning: concerned with the internal structure of the language
what work is involved with language planning?
selection: deciding which language (variety) is the norm
codification: if the language is used written a norm needs to be made
elaboration: making sure that the language can be used in a modern society
implementation: once you’ve come up with it you need to use it
what is coining?
the creation of new words through compounding, can happen with elaboration
