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(SMRC) WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS MODULE

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College of Teacher Education
Every society has a number of choices to make in terms of which language to be used and when. When it
comes to multilingual societies, decisions also need to be made concerning how many languages the society
Dr. Victor V. Lepiten Victor Elliot S. Lepiten, III
will support, how many languages members of the society are expected to learn and so on.
FOUNDER PRESIDENT In this module, we will take a look at the layers of language use in bilingual and multilingual
societies. We will also take into consideration the language policy choices that governments must make.
Finally, we will explore how individuals in a multilingual society use language.
LANGUAGE PROGRAMS AND POLICIES IN Happy Learning at home!

MULTILINGUAL SOCIETY After completion of the course, students are expected to be able to:

SEMI-FINAL—FINAL MODULE 1. demonstrate a working awareness of the methodological processes around bilingualism and
multilingualism
2. engage with bilingualism and multilingualism within various educational contexts
3. demonstrate an understanding of the policies on bilingualism and multilingualism and their relationships
to the language classroom
4. demonstrate an understanding of the social, cultural and educational issues specific to bilingual and
multilingual children and adults and their relationship to the larger society
5. review the literature and research on bilingualism and multilingualism and apply this to their academic
and professional context
6. demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between language acquisition and bilingualism and
multilingualism
7. engage in critical thinking and demonstrate skills in practicing reflective teaching

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS:

 All activities enclosed should be carefully read and performed accordingly.

NAME:__________________________________
GERALYN P. ALBURO
CONTACT INFO.:__________________________ INSTRUCTOR
09975395664
ADDRESS:_______________________________ geralynalburogwapa@gmail.com
Geralyn Pepito Alburo/
YR. & COURSE:___________________________ Geralyn Pelayo Alburo
 In cases of printed and written activities, all tasks should be printed in a short bond paper following the
given format:
 Name
 Year Level, Subject, Time/Day
 Address
 Contact Info
 Printed activities should be in font size 11 and Font style “Candara.”
 Use cursive writing for every written task.
 Leave a great storage on your phones for video projects from time to time since your instructor cannot
see your live performances. In every video project, do not forget to introduce yourself. No Name your
file to your Last name and first name initial+ Name of the activity (Ex: ALBURO, G.-- CREDO by E.
Christian Buckner)
 Deadline is deadline. Late submissions will no longer be catered.
 Failure to follow the instructions would mean deductions on your submitted tasks.
 No part nor page of this module should be lost. Compilation will be checked at the end of the semester.
Stay safe at home God bless!

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CHAPTER 3 :
Many language intellectuals contend that language policy, what governments do officially-through
legislation, court decisions, executive action, or other means to determine how languages are used in public
contexts; to cultivate language skills needed to meet national priorities; to establish the rights of individuals
or groups to learn, use, and maintain languages, to restrict the number of characters in general sue, etc. is an
LANGUAGE POLICY AND DEVELOPMENT issue of critical importance in the world today. In this regard, Spolsky (2004: ix) believes that “…no
consensus has emerged about the scope and nature of the field of language policy, its theories or its
terminology.” However, it is clear that language has always been one of the main symbols of cultural
identity within a community.
DID YOU KNOW THAT… Throughout modern history, different countries have developed and implemented various language
policies designed to promote one or more official language(s) or defend the rights of minority languages and
…language policies may fail?
varieties. Today, we observe that language policies still remain on top of the agenda for many policy
makers, scholars and politicians. For Spolsky, four principal factors have been identified so far as
Language policies may fail if they are too ambitious, or try to be too egalitarian: fundamental factors in determining the language policy of a nation. These are the sociolinguistic situation,
 ‘Ambitious’: trying to work with too many languages, or convert L-varieties to H-varieties by the national ideology, the existence of English as a world language and the notions of language rights.
legislative fiat Consequently, Spolsky (2005) explained that many of the countries in the world have to develop a language
 Mostly they fail because they fail to implement the policy, or because of hidden agendas. policy for people speak various languages and dialects at different continents, countries, regions/states and
provinces. In most of the world today, there’s the pressure of learning English and some more other foreign
Are there any effective language policies? language (s). In the following section, we will discuss the basic concepts of language policy and the
A Policy which has: comprehensive summary of peculiar language policies from around the world.
 Explicit and realistic goals
 Adequate Budget
 Timetable and schedules YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO
 Periodic evaluation and Monitoring EXPRESS IT!
 Rewards for achieving goals
 Penalties for failure Write your comment to each of the four principal factors in determining the language policy of a nation.
Why do you think each is considered as a fundamental factor?
Language Planning shall be:
 Revitalizations
 Codification
 Standardization
 Modernization
 Corpus Planning (Injecting words) 3.1. Language policy and development
 Terminalization
The levels of policy makers and of users (those affected by policies) indicate the potential
 Status Decisions
complexity of language policy and its implementation in development. People wish to improve themselves
 Scope /Role Identification and Limitations
(it seems a natural human inclination for people to wish to have better lives, however defined) but their
development will be made more or less difficult depending on whether local contexts enable or prevent their
wish to develop. One challenge is to implement policy to create a match between people’s aspirations and

3.0. INTRODUCTION
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the context in which they live and work; even if that means that the policy may have to change them in some
way (Chris and Kennedy, 2010:2-3).
Development implies greater far-reaching participant benefits including an equitable sharing of
resources and a distribution of socio-political and economic power and influence. And language policy is
regarded very much as a part of socio-economic and political context. Scholars who think that language
policy is a form of social development planning, argue rather than immediately defining language problems,
that need solving through language policy. We should look at local social needs first and only then see
where language policy might or might not assist in achieving social objectives (Tupas, 2009, Djite, 2008).
According to these scholars, language policy is part of social development. In line with this, Chris, Kennedy
(2010: 6) informed that it is useful to have access to a model of development against which we could
measure the appropriacies of language policy interventions. He proposed three stages or classifications of
society: (A) Traditional (B) contemporary and (C) Emergent. And he further stated three stages of social
development overtime, corresponding very roughly to the first half of the 20th c (A), the latter half of the
20thc (B) and the beginning of the 21stc. (C). (See the details of each stages in the following table).
For the above researchers, from the historical viewpoint, the social development is expressed from
left to right of the table (i.e. from stage A to B to C) is one from simplicity to complexity; from mono –to
multi-dimensions; from structure to fluidity; from macro to micro.
3.2. Present and future of Language Policy and development
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Language policy as a discipline is not different from other disciplines such as social planning,
economics and linguistics itself; all of which have changed through the late 20th and early 21st centuries as
the cultures from which they are derived have changed (reflected in a move from column A to columns B
and C in Table 1).
The earlier language plan case studies and investigations built up a descriptive database from
which we were able to produce models of language planning based on the questions of “what actors attempt
to influence what behaviors of which people for what ends under what conditions by what means through
which decision-making processes with what effect?‟(Cooper, 1989:98). Now, although descriptive studies
continue to be made, there is a much broader concern for a deeper more critical interpretation of the
processes of language policy and for looking at it from several viewpoints.).
3.3. Macro and micro issues in language policy and development
A meso level lies between the macro (supranational or national) and the micro (individual, group or
institution). One example of the macro-micro distinction is that which looks at levels of educational policy
and implementation from government to classroom and how agents at the different levels implement the
policy which is handed down to them. This approach describes micro implementation of a macro policy and
is concerned with linkages between the levels and issues such as decentralization and centralization
(Kennedy, 2001).
A second view takes a more overtly political stance and is influenced by Foucault’s notion of
governmentality (Foucault, 1991). This approach examines the actions and strategies of agents of planning
and development – whether politicians, advisers or educators – and in particular the discourses they adopt to
implement micro aspects of macro-policy. The third element of micro- policy is the concern with
individuals, groups or institutions who create their own language policy without being directly linked to a
macro-policy handed down to them for implementation.
3 … THE LANGUAGE POLICIES ANALYSIS
3.1.1. Pluralistic and Assimilative Language Policy
Canagarajah (2005) explained that certain discourses of globalization make us assume a pluralistic
model of a world where all communities enjoy relative autonomy, with empowered local identities, values,
and knowledge. The idea is that it is possible to develop a pluralistic mode of thinking where we celebrate
different cultures and identities, and yet engage in projects common to our shared humanity. Hence, in
appropriating the global discourse of a pluralistic language policy, it is essential for learners to be able to
assert their selves in cross-cultural global interactions so that multiple language user identities could be
constructed. In addition, any research finding, for Canagarajah (2005), points out to the need for language
practitioners in multilingual countries, to reexamine their practices, particularly in the light of the recent
boom in information technology, the globalization of the world economy, changes in economic and
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employment trends, and new requirements of literacy. The need to master a global language is all too
obvious and in the process of appropriating the global discourse, they need language learning curricula that
are not only based strictly on tasks which offer practice on narrowly defined and controlled syntactic or
functional elements. They need curricula that could enable learners to develop their global discourse
competence by manifesting their pluralistic cultural and linguistic identities. However, Canagarajah (2005)
expressed his fear that the way knowledge is spread disproves the notion of pluralistic language policy by
displaying a onesided imposition of homogeneous discourses and intellectual traditions by a few dominant
communities form the developed world or the wise few elites. Pennycook (2002:108) also unveiled her
suspension that “…more liberal and pluralistic approaches to language policy necessarily have less
governmental implications.”
On the other hand, an assimilation language policy, which could be either coercive or harmless and
could naturally, breeds resistance and determination to defend the target culture and language under attack,
is a policy that denies the native (first), indigenous language and culture in an attempt for similarity, unity,
and monolingualism. For example China, US America, Japan, and many of the „big‟ European and Middle-
East countries have used an extreme-menace assimilation language policy towards minorities and
immigrants.
3.1.2. International Vs Vernacular Policies
Internationalism is the ideology which favors adopting of a non-indigenous language of wider
communication either as an official language or as language of instruction. This is exoglossic language
policy which is similar with the language planning policies of several postcolonial countries. For example,
in Gabon, French is the sole official language, in Cameroon, both French and English are official languages,
in Haiti both the Creole and French are official languages.
Vernacularization is the situation in which indigenous or national languages are restored or
modernized and officially recognized instead of or alongside an international language of wider
communication. This ideology governs the language policies of countries which have endoglossic policy.
For example, In Madagascar, both French and Malagasy enjoy official status. In Israel, Hebrew was revived
and installed as a national language.
3.1.3. Overt Versus Covert Language Policy
A language policy can be characterized as a covert policy when it has never been clearly
articulated in an official declaration or decree, nor is it presented in any specific, official, governmental
document, and vice-versa for overt language policy. Many countries language policy is not written; it is only
understood, inferred and observed from reality. It is referred to in various documents such as the
Constitution, in Education reports, in the national development plans, as well as in several curricular
materials and in the media. These sources only refer to it, not defining it or making it the subject of
discussion; they refer to it when addressing other issues related to language and education (Baldauf &
Kaplan 2004). What is more clear, Schiffman(1996), covert policies make no mention of any language in
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any legal document, administrative code, etc. where guarantees of linguistic rights must be inferred from
other policies, constitutional provisions or just the fact that the legal code is composed in a certain language
and not another, etc. We may also use the terms implicit, unstated, common law, de facto, traditional,
customary, unofficial, unwritten, grass-roots, ice-berg like, etc. On the other hand, Schiffman said that overt
language policies state explicitly the rights of any or all linguistic groups to the use of their language in
whatever domains they specify; such policies strongly guarantee the freest tolerance policy, since they
overtly state what is tolerated. We may also use the terms explicit, specific, written, official, top-down, de
jure, constitutional and statutory (1996). For this author, covert policy may be something unintended-the
seeds of the destruction or failure of the policy are in the policy, but the policy-makers don’t know it.
3.1.4. Promotive Versus Tolerance Language Policy
Schiffman (1996) identified that promotive policies encourage the use of particular language(s) by
constitutional, administrative and legal (statutory) guarantees; devote and/or guarantee resources (money,
personnel, space) for a language; specify and reserve domains of use (school, courts, administration) for a
language; may be non-explicit, promoting one (or more) languages without explicitly mentioning them.
Overt promotion policies name the language or languages in legal code, constitution, etc. and what the rights
and territories of the language or languages (or of the speakers) shall be, etc. Tolerance policy, on the other
hand, allow the use of language usually without explicitly devoting resources, time, space etc. to them; no
domains are reserved; can also be covert (not mentioning anything) or overt (openly stating and naming
which language will be tolerated, perhaps with a time-limit).
3.1.5. Endoglossic Versus Exoglossic Language Policy
Spolsky (2004) identified that an endoglossic language policy is a policy denoting or relating to
an indigenous language that is used as the first or official language in a country or community. On contrary,
an exoglossic language policy is a policy which favors a non-indigenous language that is to be used as an
official or second language in a particular country or community. For example, let us see the African
Language policy experience according to Lodhi (1993:84)
1. Countries which have Endoglossic language policy: Ethiopia (Amharic, though Affan Oromo
is spoken by many people, Ethiopians Amharic is the widely spread lingua franca of the
country), Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda (Swahili), Somalia (Somali).
2. Countries which have Exoglossic language policy: Angola, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique
(Portuguise), Liberia (English),
3. Endoglossic countries with more than one indigenous language promoted: Ghana, Guinea,
Nigeria and Zaire.
4. Exoglossic countries with endoglossic tendency: Botswana, Burundi, Central African
Republic, Comoros, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, Swaziland and Uganda.
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 5. Exoglossic countries where indigenous languages are used in some fields of activity e.g. lower
primary education, literacy programs, press and radio, lower courts, police and rural health
care: Gambia, Mozambique, Senegal, Siera Leone, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
3.1.6. Egalitarian Versus Non-Egalitarian (Restricted) Language Policy
Castiglione & Longman (2007) contended, in an “egalitarian plateau” of a language policy, the
policy makers and implementers all accept the minimal idea, explicitly or implicitly, that all persons should
be treated with equal concern and respect; all people are united and the same socially and in recognition for
making a country a fully democratic and egalitarian community. Allan Patten (2007) asserted, the major
belief here is that “harmonization‟ can enhance equality of opportunity and reduce social exclusion;
facilitate discussion between all citizens and make democracy more responsive to deliberation; encourage a
shared political identity that fosters virtues and dispositions hospitable to the creation of an egalitarian
society; and make for a more efficient public sector, one which frees up time and resources for allocation to
other priorities (Castiglione & Longman, 2007). In reality, however, significant linguistic convergence will
not be achieved under a policy of equal language recognition. This assumption ignores the fact that people
frequently learn more than one language (Patten, 2007). Patten argued that the basic commitment to a
rational egalitarian language policy could be “equal recognition: equal amounts of public institutional space
and capacity…devoted to the different languages used…; when this ideal is realized, speakers of different…
languages can reasonably feel that their public institutions are treating them with equal concern and respect”
(2007:34).
However, as “To err is human, to forgive is Divine”, it is very impractical to feasibly plan and
implement the egalitarian language policy in the universe, especially in multilingual countries which has
more than five, ten, twenty, fifty, hundred, etc. True Democracy and “perfect” unity cannot come true in
such countries where multilingualism cannot be nominated easily. As a result; it is a necessary requirement
to use the opposite, the non-egalitarian language policy with its drawbacks.
3.1.7. Assimilative Vs Non-Interventional Language Policies
A policy of assimilations‟ ultimate goal is to cultivate national unity inside a state. The idea based
that a single language in a country will favor that end. The measures taken by states enforcing such policies
may include banning the social use of a given language, the exclusion and social devaluation of a language
group and in extreme cases repression by force and even genocide. Policies of nonintervention, on the other
hand, allow the normal rapport between the main linguistic group and the minorities evolve on its own. They
take no form of intervention for language policy.
3.1.8. Mixed Language Policies
Mixed policies are essentially bilingual policies; which accommodate both indigenous and outside
languages. There are numerous examples of mixed states but very few in what is commonly called the west.
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Quechua was declared an official language in Peru, co-equal with Spanish in 1975 (Hornberger 1988), yet
tremendous problems of policy implementation remain. The only example of mixed western state where the
LWC has historically pre dominated is Australia, whose recent National Language Policy promotes English
along with a number of other languages, including aboriginal languages (Lo Bianco, 1987).
YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE
FAITHFUL!
Among the eight (8) language policies mentioned above, choose (ONLY) one which for you is the
most convincing and most effective for a country/ nation. Be precise in choosing(ex.
“Internalization,” not “Internalization versus Vernacularization”). Video record yourself while
justifying your option. Video should not exceed 3 minutes and should not be lesser than 1 minute.
ONLY files sent via gmail will be accepted.(see attached gmail account on the cover page)
3.2. LANGUAGE POLICY ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES’
EXPERIENCE
3.2.1. The Western World Language Policies
3.2.1.1. United States of America
The United States of America has “English Only” or “Official English” school language policies.
Although they are promoted as an effective way to teach English and thereby unify the country in one
language, in implementation, “English Only” policies deny language minority students access to basic
educational rights and opportunities. As a result, as Schmidt (2000) contends, the policy instigated a
movement that focuses on “educational policy for language minority children, linguistic access to political
and civil rights…and a constitutional amendment that would give English the status of the sole official
language of the United States”. What is important in the US language policy, as England (2009) criticized,
the lack of ideological consistency evidenced by the shifting policies towards bilingual education has
significantly impaired the ability of language minorities in to obtain proficiency in English. As a result, a
more cohesive policy should be put in place to provide guidance to the states in promoting effective means
to educate minorities.
3.2.1.2. Europe
To begin with the Charter of the Fundamental Rights of European Union (EU), it is stipulated that:
Any discrimination based on sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features,
language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national
minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation shall be prohibited. …
Any discrimination on grounds of nationality shall be prohibited (Phillipson, 2003: 4).
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 Here we can understand that, this article commits the EU members to respect linguistic diversity
and seeks to prevent discrimination on grounds of language, nationality, or membership of a national
minority. Nevertheless, as Phillipson (2003) understood, the big forces of globalization and
„Americanization‟ may be moving the European language policy in the direction of monolingualism, „…
English may be seen as a kind of linguistic cuckoo‟.
In Europe (in European Union States and candidate nation-states), except Belgium (Dutch, French
& German), Ireland (Irish & English), Cyprus (Greek & Turkish), Luxemburg (Luxemburgish, French,
German) and Malta (Maltese & English), there is close connection between nation-state references and
official state language references. Besides, German, Turkish, French, English, Italian, Spanish and Polish,
respectively, belong to the six most widely spoken official state languages in the present EU and the
candidate nation-states.
3.2.1.3. The Jamaican, The Rastafari
Pollard (2003:60) said that “People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their
circumstances or in order not to be submerged by a reality they cannot articulate.” Hence, certain groups of
the Jamaicans decided that the language available to them, Jamaican Creole, an English-related Creole,
could not adequately describe their circumstance. Due to this, as Pollard describes, they created a code (the
language of the Rastafari) sharpening the linguistic tools available to them in the direction toward which
they wanted them to point. Today the language of Rastafari has spread not only beyond that group who
created to the wider Jamaican society, but also beyond the boundaries of Jamaica to the international
community. Pollard added that;
The language of Rastafari is the expression of the philosophy of a movement, a way of life which
emerged in Jamaica in response to a social reality which placed the poor Black man at the bottom
of society. The intention was to give that man pride in himself and his race. The Supreme Being
was not to be the white Christian’s Christ, but Haile Selassi, Emperor of Ethiopia, sprung from the
house which began, it is believed, when the Queen of Sheba returned pregnant from King
Solomon’s court. The group took its name from Selassi’s earlier title “Ras Tafari.” The movement
began around the year 1930, but the language emerged some two decades later (2003:60).
Generally, as many scholars mentioned in Pollard (2003) argued, it is clear that the sound, the
word, the music (Reggae), the style, the religion, the power and the message brings a keen need to „create‟
and spread the Rastafari language and use it for the whole system of communication.
3.2.2. The South-East & Far-East Asian Language Policies
3.2.2.1. Republic of Singapore
Singapore’s language policy is highly affected by a tension between the ideologies associated with
English and those attached to Singapore’s mother tongues. That is, it is crucial that Singaporeans must
safeguard their heritages, keeping themselves open to the places where their ancestors came from by
learning their designated mother tongues; as the same time, they are to master the English language for
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political and economic reasons, but ideologically, they must remain Asian by rejecting the cultural
components of English, replacing them with Asian values. Hence, this East–West dichotomization of the
Singaporean people envisages them as bilingual and bi-literate in English and their mother tongues
(Mandarin, Malay or Tamil), but mono-cultural. This function-focused policy, when viewed through
idealistic and ideological lenses, provides a site for developing conflicting tensions among Singaporeans
(Chua, 2007; Rappa & Wee, 2006). Malaysian’s have the same story.
3.2.2.3. People’s Republic of China
Language policy in the People’s Republic of China has been shaped by a variety of conflicting
interests, including the keen commitment to communist ideology, the goal of creating a strong nation and
state, the desire for rapid economic development and the need for social stability (Dreyer, 2003).
In China minority languages with writing systems are categorized as having official, experimental,
and non-official statuses that determine whether they can be used in government and education or
not and how extensively they can be used. Those with official status secure the most recognition
(Zhou, 2003: 99–152, mentioned in Zhou, 2007).
This is a favoritism language policy-giving some minorities preferential treatment, linguistic
favoritism-for minorities where higher status and recognition is given to Han (Sino-Korean language)
writing system and Putonghua (the largest family among the Chinese Minorities) as lingua franca (Dreyer,
2003), Mandarin remains the official language of China. What is more, Zhou & Sun (2004) explained that
Chinese language policy, first began with traditionally dominant Mandarine, then moved to allow the
Russian language as a 1st foreign language, latter shifted to English, fourth started Re-Education in Chinese
(Mandarine), ultimately with a complete swaying back, highly invested on English to serve the need of “four
areas of modernization (agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology). Finally,
coupled with globalization and the forces of market economy, China’s modernization drive appears to favor
only two dominant languages, Chinese as the national commonly-used language and English as the world
language (Ibid).
3.2.3. The Normative Language Policy of Australia
As Clyne (2011) expresses, in Australia-a multilingual country dominated by a monolingual
mindset (Xenophobia), languages are taught as if monolingualism were the norm, an obsession with
monolingual English literacy. That is, teachers tend to overlook the fact that bilingual or multilingual
learners of any target language are not the same as monolingual learners. Confronted with the daily
contingencies and challenges of administration, assessment and curriculum, educators lost sight of „…a
range of complex inter-relating issues around the promotion of multilingualism in educational settings‟
(Creese & Martin, 2003: 161 cited in Clyne, 2011). Attitudes and policies as well as imbalance in power
relations influence the undervaluing of resources in the multilingual community and classroom. The
monolingual mindset wishes to protect bilingual children from more languages, assuming that this will cause
a deficit in English, instead of encouraging them to develop a general interest in languages. As horse-mouth
evidence, Clyne (2011: 175) revealed that:
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 The 2006 Australian Census records about 400 languages spoken in the homes of Australians. In
all, 151 are indigenous languages; there are also sign languages and English-based creoles. Over
230 of the languages are immigrant languages, most of them the products of …migration from all
over the world. Australia can truly be described as a multilingual society. But alas, it is also
afflicted with a monolingual mindset. Most decisions are based on the belief that monolingualism
is the norm and multilingualism is exceptional or a problem.
In general, the preservative multilingual Australians have a monolingual-normative mindset of
only English as a language policy; xenophobia: racial intolerance, dislike of foreigners.
3.2.4. African Language Policies
3.2.4.1. Kenya
To begin with Kenya, Muthwii (2007) expressed that during independence Kenyans were given
reasons not to favor indigenous languages as languages of instruction or as languages for communication in
any public discourse. This is a prescription that contributed to many ills in Kenya, in particular, the high
levels of illiteracy that have persisted because a big portion of the Kenyan population does not manage to
attain meaningful literacy levels through the school system. Consequently, many are not able to participate
meaningfully in the important discourses and thoughts which are by and large expressed in a foreign tongue.
Muthwii said that the stated reason for designating English as the official language and the Language of
Instruction (LOI) was to unite all the different ethnic groups into one nation. What is more, the Kenyan
government generally provides more resources for the teaching of English in schools in spite of all the
rhetoric about providing quality education that is relevant to the community and to local development. This
is largely because the government gets support funding from donor communities, some of whom are
reluctant to support the teaching of the first language. However, from the issues raised in many literatures
that indicate that children learn better in their first language and that multilingualism adds value to our
development efforts, it is only fair to consider how to give the first language a chance to participate in
development too.
3.2.4.2. The Republic of South Africa
Phaswana (2003) asserted that the South African language policy and use emerged from KhoiKhoi
and San to Dutch and Afrikaans. But after nearly half a century of apartheid rule in which only English and
Afrikaans were official languages, which “were used as gate-keepers for political power and dominance, as
instruments for preserving certain privileges for whites, and ultimately as tools for unfair and unequal
distribution of the country’s economic resources…McLean (1992:152)”, the Republic of South Africa
adopted a new democratic Constitution that provides for eleven official languages. The 1996 Constitution, a
multilingualism constitution favoring the elevation of South Africa’s nine major African languages to the
position of English and Afrikaans, stipulates that the official languages of the Republic of South Africa are
Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, and
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isiZulu. The real situation, however, is observed by Maartens (1998: 16) as presented in Phaswana
(2003:122) in the following text:
It is becoming increasingly apparent that a considerable mismatch appears to exist between
emerging language policy on the one hand, and actual language practice in the spheres of
government and education on the other. Whereas language policy expressly professes to promote
multilingualism in South Africa, language practitioners in languages other than English are
complaining more and more that their languages are being marginalized to an even greater extent
than in the past.
From this text we can conclude that most policies-African- are permitting but denying the practices
of bi- or multilingualism by favoring English or French as a sign of the dominant, ‘standard’, ‘educated’,
‘elite’ group. What is important, as For South Africa, the Constitution, though not practical in reality, has
been heralded as intellectually progressive and politically enlightened because of the significance it attaches
to human rights and its acknowledgment of multilingualism in the African context. In giving official status
to nine African languages, South Africa has charted a course in opposition to that of other African countries,
for example Malawi and Namibia, whose constitutions stipulate English as the official language.
3.2.4.3. The Democratic Republic Ethiopia
To begin with, Teshome Wagaw (1999: 75) argued that:
the language policy provides for Ethiopia’s more than 90 language groups to develop and use
their respective languages in the courts, in governmental and other political entities, in cultural
and business communications, and in education. The policies do not, however, specify which, how
many, or in what order the languages should enjoy priority in governmental support for further
development, nor do they hint at any limits as to the number and extent of the languages.
According to Teshome, though Ethiopia has a language policy- a shilly-shally policy, the scope
granted to each language for the enjoyment of rights is not clearly demarcated and put into practice.
Likewise, Getachew & Derib (2006) explained that though there had been a change from having no written
policy to a policy that encourages the development and use of all the languages in Ethiopia, the
implementation showed a little change in time from the reigns of Tewodros II through the end of the Derg
regime. The language policies of Tewodros-II, Minilek-II, Hailesellasie-I and the Derg regime had been
similar on the grounds that „they all implemented a one-language use policy, obviously Amharic‟. The
language use policy of the current government (EPRDF), however, is quite different in its approach and
implementation. That is the implementation of a multilingual language use policy has served the country in
its ‘blessings and consequences’.
What is more, a new phenomenon in Ethiopian history, as asserted by Getachew & Derib (2006), is
a movement towards the implementation of a multilingual language policy in Ethiopia since 1994 with the
rule of the Ethiopian People‟s Revolutionary Democratic Front. Today, about 5 languages in addition to
Amharic (Afar, Aderi(Harari), Afan Oromo, Tigrigna and Somali) are used as official languages at regional
level. There are also languages such as Sidama, Kambata, Kafa, Hadiya, Gamo, Gofa, Wolayta, Dawro,
Silti, Gedeo, Awigni, „etc? that are used as official languages at Zone and Woreda levels. Primary education
7
is also available in more than 20 languages; books, newspapers and radio broadcasts are available in a lot of
languages as well. In general, there is a possibility (attempt) for the society to appreciate and use the
language it chooses for any purpose as granted by the national and regional constitutions. The FDRE‟s 1994
constitution Article 5 also guarantees the multilingual language policy situation of the country. It says:
1. All Ethiopian languages shall enjoy equal state of recognition.
2. Amharic shall be the working language of the Federal Government.
3. Members of the Federation may determine their respective languages.
3.2.5. Experiences of Language Policy in Religious Institutions
The experiences of many countries in the world for the millennia tell us that religious institutions
and their evangelical expansions are associated to the maintenance or refusal (resistance) of languages. For
example, English, French, Italian, German and some other European languages have been either resisted
stiffly or quickly assimilated during their expansion with Catholicism, Protestantism or any some other cult;
Islam and Arabic language are inseparable; Hindu to Hinduism (Omoniyi & Fishman, 2006); and so on.
Further, it is historically true that „Ge‟ez is the liturgical and devotional language of the Ethiopian Orthodox
Church and the language of literature and learning for those who pursue vocations in the church‟ (Teshome
Wagaw, 1999: 76). This is obviously a covert language policy. In addition, we can easily understand that
Arabic language is a religious language of the Islam and (its) education in the Arab (Muslim) world. In
addition, the covertly assimilative policy of Only English in the German-American Church is the indication
of an „enormous assimilative power of American civilization‟ Schiffman, 1996).
3….Language Policy and Planning
Some, like Schiffman (2005) and Ricento (2006) argue policy should be the output of planning, or
necessarily includes it. Others, like Spolsky (2003) argue policy subsumes planning. In whatever direction
they connected, all recognize they are linked and intertwined. Whenever the issue of language policy rose,
the issue of planning comes together. Both are working to show theoretical foundations and practical
concern in relation with managing linguistic ecosystems. Language planning can be seen as the
implementation of language policy in some cases, to the extent practicable, across all the possible domains
of language use referred in the policy (Wolff, 2000 and Baldauf, 1993). In other cases, language planning
taken as it provides standards of rationality and effectiveness while language policy tests the ideas against
actual practice in order to promote the development of better language planning models Hornberger (2006).
As Fashold (1984) describes language planning is determination of language(s) to be used for
specific purposes which is also the concerns of language policy. There are two common types of language
planning to deal with this. The first one, status planning, it is geared at establishing and developing the
functional usage of a particular language or language with a state. Its main concern is changing the functions
of a language(s) only. Status planning deals with the choice of languages to be used as official languages (s)
and of educational and other cultural purposes (media, religion). The status of these languages may be found
codified in the constitution of the country. For any language variety, to be considered in language planning
for the acquisition of particular functional roles or status in the society, it must fulfill certain requirements in
terms of standardization (Wolff, 2000).
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The second, corpus planning, is geared at establishing and developing vocabulary, morphology
and spelling, or adoption of new scrip. It shows the planning of changes in the structure of the language or
language variety. Generally the main activities in corpus planning are activities of language standardization.
When one deals with language standardization, it targeted to turning linguistic varieties into standard
languages in two senses. First in a sense of approved and accepted norm above all vernacular, colloquial and
dialectal varieties for general and normative usage in certain domains such as literature, science, education,
the media, the churches and all public sectors. In the second sense, it is a regular and codified normative
system of reference supported by a standard orthography, standard reference grammars and standard
dictionaries (ibid).
However, language planning policy can never be corpus oriented or status oriented exclusively,
because corpus and status planning cannot be separated from each other.
3….Why language policy is needed
As May Stephen (2006) describes during the 1960s and 1970s the language policy aims was to
solve immediate language problems of newly emergent postcolonial states in Africa, Asia and the Middle
East. At this time thus, language status concerns or focused in particular on establishing stable diaglossic
language context in which majority language were promoted as public language of wider communication.
Minority languages were seen as being limited to private, family language domains. As Herriman and
Burnaby (1996:8) states the aims of language policy are different depend on the context. However the
following are the major aims in many parts of the world.
1. To prescribe language related problems- Problems of miscommunication, as trivial or series
as they might be, are not the focus of a need to language policy except in the broadest sense. It is,
instead, where rights, freedoms and power are associated with language that policies become
important. The most obvious case is where languages are prescribed, and the deliberate (whether
implicit or muted) support of indigenous languages in some countries.
2. To promote linguistic human right- In the short term we can think of persons without access
to satisfactory legal and medical treatment. In the long term, the obvious cases concern access to
education, literacy, and careers. Access to social goods depends to some extent on the person’s
pleading his/her rights in that one is expected to know ones right. This presents a conundrum when
access to knowledge about those rights is couched only in the official/standard language.
3. To explicitly declare the status of a language or languages- The policy (status planning) issue
concerns the consequences of developing an explicit policy to replace what is implicit in practice.
A central policy act is to declare one or more languages as official language(s).
The question ‘why have language policies?’ must be answered by pointing out that even if there is
not something officially called a policy; a policy exists any way in as much as the linguistic status quo
becomes policy implicitly.
As reminder with the aims, many scholars suggested, language policy is one of the activities that
deserve proper handling especially in multilingual countries like Africa, because it may arises conflict.
3….Nexus between language policy and development
8
 The role of language in development of a nation cannot be over-stressed. As wider and more
1. Why are attitudes and identities different?
satisfactory conception of national development advocate development should be seen as total human
2. What are the attitudes of people to the language who oppressed/ colonized?
development. The perspective emphasizes a full realization of human potential and a maximum utilization of
3. How are identities and attitudes related to physical, psychological, linguistics, geographical,
the nation’s resources for the benefit of all to take development as development. Thus, language as resource
statuses/conditions?
should be standardized to be utilized properly. Every developmental discourse has taken note of language’s
pragmatic and expressive values. Based on its pragmatic value, language is the vehicle for the transmission
of scientific knowledge and education. And it is also the vehicle and manifestation of culture (i.e. the
expressive value) (Oyetad, 2001: 20 Davie, 2006).
For realization of such a total human development with regard to language related issues, language
policies have vital role. Especially the need for having endoglossic, overt and pluralistic language policy DID YOU KNOW THAT…
became imperative. Not having such a policy has meant that many indigenous languages are under-
developed and under-utilized whilst their speakers are marginalized or excluded from participating properly
….likes, dislikes, favors, preferences, tolerances, rationalization, intolerances, hate/detest
in development activities. As it has been observed in many African countries’ citizens denied from many of shows language attitude?
their rights because of language hurdles (Batibo, 2007).  Attitudes may be internal/implicit/covert or external/ explicit/ overt.

Batibo (2007: 24) interestingly enlightens this issue as follow: Ways of Attitudization:
One need to acknowledge that all the world’s developed countries have reached their present positions  Elegant: educated, literate, etc.
on the basis of their own national languages; they have adopted and integrated technology within their  Expressive (A language of speech, talk, art, education, science)
own culture and social values, thus making it possible for the developments to reach all citizens. It is a  Vulgar (ordinary, illiterate, lower class people)
fact that no development involves the participation of all citizens in nation-building. It is noteworthy
that the fast-developing countries of Asia, such as China, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand, base  Guttural (harsh, soundly, language of the war/army; e.g. German)
their development strategies on their indigenous languages as this is the only way to involve the whole  Romantic (e.g. French, Amharic)
population in the development effort and to meaningfully bring technological advancement within the  Aesthetically: pleasing or displeasing (Amharic)
country’s cultural framework.
 Musical (Amharic) o Religious (Arabic-islam, Ge’ez-Orthodox, etc.)
Generally, development ideas to take root in indigenous people and benefit from it the relevant  Commercial (e.g. English, German) o Chatter
process and activities must involve the masses, not merely the elite. In addition, the goal of involving the  Gossip o Elite/Knight
masses in development and governance activities cannot be achieved through a national communication  Non-elite/non-knight
network (including education communication) based exclusively on nonindigenous languages. Suitable
 Technology (English, Chinese, Japanese)
policy of language use would ensure that all or most languages in a country are described, codified and even
used in local literacy activities.  Agriculture
 Literature (Latin, Greek)


4:
Security

CHAPTER 5.1. INTRODUCTION

A: What attitudes do you have toward language?
LANGUAGE ATTITUDE AND IDENTITY B: Huh? Whadya mean, attitudes? Language is. It exists. What is there to have an attitude
about?
YOUR IDEA MATTERS! A: Well, how do you feel about people who say ‘ain’t’ and ‘don’t hardly?’
9
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 B: They are the salt of earth! They don’t talk fancy; they just say what they mean.
-Gere & Smith; Attitudes, Language and Change
This opening excerpt by Gere and Smith tries to signify the acceptance of varieties to languages,
styles, dialects, registers, etc. as they call “… they are the salt of earth!”. Besides, for such category of
people attitude is nothing a counter, which may be blatant to some other factions of the society. In the
following section, we will present a brief summary on the key ideas and experiences of language attitude
and identity. Language attitude has been defined by behavioral scientists, psycholinguists and
sociolinguists from different theoretical standpoints. We can find evidence of positive and negative attitudes
in relation to a wide range of linguistic issues, such as whole languages, varieties of a language, words and
discourse practices, pronunciation and accent, or anything perceived as different, new or changing down the
kinds of features that you like and/or dislike in other people’s (or your own) speech. These might include
someone’s accent, the words or expressions they use, the quality of their voice and so on (Linda, T., 2004:
194). Attitudes to languages and language varieties can be related to social and cultural identity, to power
and control, to notions of prestige and solidarity, and that our attitudes are often influenced by
conventionally held stereotypes of language forms and their speakers. Our attitudes to language are far from
trivial and we have seen how they may be influential in our assessments of the characteristics of individuals
and social groups. These assessments can then be carried over into the decisions that are made in important
areas of our lives such as law and order, employment, education and equality of opportunity. Awareness of
how attitudes might be formed or manipulated may not make us immune to them, but it may help us to
evaluate their influence on our own practices (ibid: 205).
According to Lambert (1972), cited in Dittmar (1976:181), attitude, comprises three components:
cognitive (knowledge, belief), affective (feeling, emotion), and conative (behavior, action) components.
Two theoretical approaches are distinguished in the course of studying of language attitudes. The first one is
the behaviorist view which explains that attitudes must be studied by observing the responses to certain
languages, i.e. to their use in actual interactions.
The other one is mentalist view which considers attitudes as an internal, mental state, which may
give rise to certain forms of behavior. Thus, it can be described as an intervening variable between a
stimulus affecting a person and that person's response. Accordingly, attitudes cannot be observed directly,
but must be inferred from the subject’s introspection (Dittmar, 1976:181 and Fasold, 1984: 147).
Everything that differentiates a group from another group constitutes the group's identity (Appel,
R. and Muysken, P., 1987:24). Identity is a characteristic in an individual or group which distinguishes one
individual or group from another. There are various types of identities: physical identity, linguistic identity,
cultural identity, geographical identity, ethnic identity social identity, and identity is marked through
different means like materials: cloth, rings, bracelets etc. and symbols such as flags, cross etc., those things
which help us to include or exclude individuals as members. Apart from all language is the most important
marker of identity because language and identity have strong relationship (John, E., 2009:1-13).
5.2. Language use and Attitudes
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First, Giles et al (1983), Baker (1992), Ryan et al (1982) Fishman (1991) cited in O’Rourke (2011)
comprehensively defined attitude as the cognitive beliefs, affective feelings and behavioral promotive,
encouraging or discouraging actions developed about the world, an object or an action. In a relationship,
tone is the attitude that a person lays over the situation, interact-ants, story, message, etc.; and the tone of
voice we hear from a person could be serious or comedic, distant or intimate, direct or roundabout,
restrained or emotional, ominous or lighthearted, straightforward or ironic, etc. these are the types of
attitudes we develop towards a language for numerous factors of determinations per see.
Language attitudes are the feelings people have about their own language variety or the languages
or language varieties of others. People usually have an attitude, either positive or negative, about languages.
They may feel one language is expressive and prestigious and the other as immature and has low-status.
However, from a linguistic point of view, all languages or language varieties are equal in serving the
speakers of the language (Burns, Matthews and Nolan-Conroy, 2001 and Crystal, 1992).
People generally do not hold opinions about languages in a vacuum. They develop attitudes
towards language which reflect their views about the speakers of the language and the contents and
functions they associate the speakers with (Le page and Tabouret- Keller, 1985).
5.3. Factors Affecting Language Attitude
The attitudes people develop towards a language(s) are usually results of social judgments that
manifested by the social status of the speakers. Thus attitude to language may reflect attitude to the users
and the uses of that language (Le page and Tabouret- Keller, 1985 and Meyerhoff, 2006). Attitudes are also
strongly influenced by social and political factors (Romaine, 1989 and Crystal, 1992). The acceptance of the
speakers of a language, their political status also the politics of the language are important factors in
influencing attitude. Language provides many windows on speakers‟ attitudes to themselves and others
(Meyerhoff, 2006:55).
In addition, language attitude can be associated with two human desires. These motivational
factors determine to develop positive or negative attitude towards certain language. These are:
A. Instrumental motivation- it is for personal gain one needs to learn a language or varieties of
language. Thus, a person or a group of people develop mostly positive attitude towards the
language(s) that provide with this opportunity. For example, many Africans highly motivated to
learn European languages to gain better job opportunities. The positive attitude and learning
majority language in Africa is generally motivated by instrumental desire (Davie, 2006). In
most African countries there is significant number of majority language (excolonial
languages) speakers, therefore no significant integrative motivation (Burns, Matthews and
Nolan-Conroy, 2001).
B. Integrative motivation- when subjects need to know languages or varieties to be accepted by
others. To gain these benefits speakers of minority languages learn a majority language faster
especially when they are motivated by the desire to integrate. And sometime they tend to learn and
maintain their minority language to ensure emotional security. For Example, African languages are
mainly associated with back wardedness, poverty, inferiority and etc. So the speakers usually don‟t
10
 prefer to be integrated with these languages. On the other hand, they would like to be taken as
speakers of the European languages which are associated with modernity, superiority and richness
(Davie, 2006).
5.4. Language Attitude and Its Effect
Since language attitudes are complex psychological entities, they can influence language use and
the choices of a person in different domains (Le page and Tabouret- Keller, 1985).
In a society, social or ethnic groups have certain attitudes towards each other, relating to their
differing positions. These attitudes affect attitudes towards cultural institutions or patterns characterizing
these groups such as language, and carry over to and are reflected in attitudes towards individual members
of the group. Mutual intelligibility of language varieties is also affected by attitudes, so people find it easier
to understand languages and dialects spoken by people they like or admire (Holmes, 1992:16). For example,
the Chinese language varieties speakers assume the varieties are mutually intelligible, but practically the
varieties spoken in the north and south are hardly intelligible. Consequently, it is common to find people
writing up in the streets of china cities to understand each other (Le page and Tabouret- Keller, 1985). On
the other hand, people speaking the same language and variety might reject intelligibility based on their
unfavorable attitude towards the speakers.
Language attitude also affect language choice of an individual and a society which in turn causes
language maintenance and shift. The one who have positive attitude tend to maintain the language,
conversely shift occurs when negative attitude developed about own language.
Language preference in education is another area affected by attitude to a language. People tend to
prefer languages of the powerful. For example: many parents in Africa perceive English or French (or
European languages) are the get way to success socially, politically and economically. The use of African
languages education viewed as a drop in standard and a depreciation in value. Therefore their negative
attitude towards African languages leads them to prefer European languages in education (Mutasa, 2006).
It is also common that people are highly motivated and consequently often more successful in
acquiring a second language when they feel positive towards those who use it.
Generally, the language attitude affects many aspects of language use and it may lead to serious
problems like language death and conflict among speakers.
5.5. Measurements of Language Attitude
One of the important aspects of language attitude study is its measurement. There are two different
theoretical stand points to measure attitude. These are mentalist and behaviorist positions Dittmar (1976).
For mentalists’, attitudes are a mental and neural state of readiness. They cannot be observed directly, but
must be inferred from the subject’s introspection. Thus, attitude as a hypothetical construct it can be
revealed by verbal responses to a given set of stimuli.
In this aspect attitude considered as a multi-layered componential structure that consists of three
components: the cognitive (knowledge), affective (evaluation) and conative (action) components. However,
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attitude primarily composed of beliefs from which cognitive, affective and behavioral attitude types can be
formed.
On the other hand, the behaviorist notion regards attitude as a dependent variable that can be determined
statically by observing actual behavior in social situations. Thus, attitude is unicomponential and its
component is only the affective one.
5.6. The Language Attitude Experience of Morocco
“For ancient Moroccans Brunot wrote that: "North Africa, which has the psychological
peculiarity of being rebellious against any differentiation, has not been able to separate language
and religion. All social or individual progress is inevitably achieved in the direction of a more
complete islamization which goes together with a more thorough knowledge of the Arabic
language" (1950:10, in Bentahila, 1983).
For Brunot, language attitude and the accepted superiority over another language is much closely
tied to religion. Hence, religion and the service giving language (be it ‘standard’ or non-standard) greatly
affect the resultant attitude attached to that foreign or indigenous language as long as its grammar never
demolish. In a latter study, Bentahil (1983) discovered that professionalism, the appreciation of fine arts, the
increase in the number of speakers, the adopted modern style of life, the availability of jobs, and so on in a
certain language (foreign or native) could drastically shift the attitude of indigenous people or migrants. For
example, in the recent Morocco, French language has dominated everyday life style from the back-off-house
routine to the big diplomacy and technology. As a result, the tension between the „old Arabic‟ and „the
modern French‟ has clearly existed in Morocco. What is more, Moroccans were easily attracted by the
„high‟ culture of the French which ultimately dragged them to learn and speak French. That the belief to the
„highness and lowness‟ of a culture creates another dilemma in the attitude to a certain language.
5.7. Language Attitude Experience of Ireland
O’Rourke (2011) identified that the attitudes if Irish people towards the Irish language is blatantly
weakened for various historical: political (a laissez-faire government), socio-economical, modernization, etc.
reasons. As a result, they dive into a serious dilemma of identity choice between the “Original Irish” and the
dominant English.
5.8. The Belief towards Monolingualism and Multilingualism
According to different scholars, many people do not like to learn more than one language, they
want to monolingual for countless reasons. On the other hand, there are intellectual people who like to
learn/acquire 1+ N language; they want to be bilingual or multilingual. There have existed people who can
speak more than ten languages at difference competence levels. Besides, the social acceptance of a person
who speaks different languages at different situations: with peers/ colleagues, in a work-place, at home, etc
could also create attitude to be multilingual or monolingual; that is the world view perceived by a certain
language determines the x-lingualism attitude we will develop (Bentahil, 1983; Gallagher, 1968, Bentahila,
1981 & Hasselemo, 1970 mentioned in Bentahil, 1983). These researchers identified that your political
11
orientation, the marriage relationship, media coverage, and some related factors also contribute to the
expected attitude (negative or positive) to be developed. Hasselmo (1970) cited in Bentahila (1983) explored
that the choice of language is dependent on whom the speaker is addressing, what channel he is using, in
what setting he finds himself, what he is communicating about, what are the functions of his
communication, and what are the linguistic resources at his disposal. Hence, various sociolinguistic
variables in a certain country, state are the manacles of language attitude and choice.
5.9. Language Identity
Kuipers (1998) explained that identity is the stable and fixed aspects of selfhood; these are things
that you check off on census forms such as race/ethnicity, nationality, social class, gender, age, etc. So
identity is an accomplishment, not a thing which is fragmentary and in flux; people change identities to suit
the needs of the moment. Though identities are stable features of persons that exist prior to any particular
situation, they are dynamic and situated accomplishments, enacted through talk, and changing from one
occasion to the next. Besides, for Kuipers the approach suggested by Gumperz (1982) and interactional
sociolinguistics in general invert the terms of the language identity equation and interprets linguistic use
(including choice and switching languages) as a series of communicative strategies that speakers develop to
demonstrate their links with various social groups.
Language is not neutral. The moment we speak we give away a whole range of personal and social
information which in turn invites conscious and unconscious judgements from people around us. In essence,
the way we speak is like a fingerprint that marks our identity as we go through life. We evaluate language in
different ways. For instance, English as a high status, prestige, pleasant language, and say Tigrigna as low
status, low status and unpleasant. Perhaps such attitudes might be associated with the identity of individuals
who speak the languages.
5.10. Language and social identity
There is causal relationship between language and social identity. Language influences social
identity and social identity influences language. Various social characteristics like age, sex, educational and
geographical background influence language. For example, in the context of Ethiopia, one who comes from
western part of Oromiya or northern part of Tigray may manifest one variation, another one who comes
from eastern Oromiya or from southern Tigray also possibly, manifest another variation. Moreover, people
often tend to identify people as elite or not based on the language use. In this regard in some contexts of
Ethiopia intellectual’s speech is distinct from nonintellectuals in that the intellectuals mix Amharic and
English in the course of interaction.
In the same way social structure might influence language use. For example, differences in age,
sex, ethnicity, socio-economic, and political power may influence language use in society. In addition to
this, language expresses cultural differences of a particular society. For example, it is possible to note the
case in Ethiopia. Chaha is the language which is used by the society which are known for enset cultivation.
Duly, it is possible to encounter more vocabularies which are related with enset employed by Chaha
speakers in the day to day interaction. Whereas English is a language which is at the disposal of various
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technologies; hence the frequent use of some vocabularies related with technology would be common within
English language speaking communities.
Many scholars have explained the interrelationship between language and social identity
depending on their background. In bilingual/multilingual communities, language is often considered as one
of the fundamental social resources. It is thought as such for language, besides communicative function, has
symbolic association. It usually associates with ethno-cultural identity, power and influence, and prestige.
And like any other social objects, it is subject to various opinions, evaluations, or emotional reactions and
since in bilingual or multilingual settings different languages assume different roles, members of such
societies inevitably develop some kind of attitudes (positive, negative, or ambivalent) towards the languages
at their disposal or towards their own language and towards others. The attitudes are thus derived from the
social contexts and functions with which the languages are associated (Holmes, J. 1992:345-346, Appel, R.
and Muysken, P., 1987:16).
5.11. How are Language and Identity Related?
Pujola (2008) brought very important points about the relationship between language and identity. First,
language would be the expression of a collective identity which in some way already comes predefined in
individuals as a result of their socialization (generally associated with the territory) and which connects them
(or not) with certain “origins”. Second, language is a living thing that precedes and is defined irrespective of
its speakers, thus constituting an internally coherent system that must be protected from external influences;
and therefore, third, the “natural” expression of identity is to speak “one’s own” language; speaking another
or speaking it with “interference” from others is a sign of abnormality that requires explanations and
excuses.
4.11. Kinds of Identities (Schmidt, 2000)
4.11.1. Master Identities.
First, master identities are relatively stable and unchanging: gender, ethnicity, age, national and regional
origins; the meanings of master identities change across time and space.
4.11.2. Interactional Identities
Second, interactional identities refer to roles that people take on in a communicative context with specific
other people. Naming-how do you name yourself to your parents, friends, professors, best friend, and
partner? How do these people name you? Has your name changed over time? Many languages have different
second-person pronouns; some other languages have honorifics.
4.11.3. Personal Identities
Third, personal identities are expected to be relatively stable and unique; they are reference ways in which
people talk and behave toward others: hot-headed, honest, forthright, reasonable, overbearing, a gossip, a
brown-nose.
12
4.11.4. Relational Identities
Fourth, relational identities refer to the kind of relationship that a person enacts with a particular
conversational partner in a specific situation that are negotiated from moment to moment and are highly
variable.
Identity, whether on an individual, social, or institutional level, is something that we are constantly
building and negotiating throughout our lives through our interaction with others. The emphasis is on
identities not essentially given but actively produced – whether through deliberate, strategic manipulation, or
through-out of awareness practices. This both captures the agency of speakers and views language as social
action. The focus on an individual’s freedom to manipulate a flexible system of identities fails to adequately
take into account that some identities-notably race and caste are imposed and coercively applied. There are
political economic constraints on processes of identity-making.
4.12. Language Politics and Linguistic Identity
An American senator Bilbray once said bitterly that "Look at the strife in Canada caused by people
who are divided based on the languages they use because they do not have the common bond that we have
practiced for so long in America ...." There is the psychological role that language plays: it ties into the self-
esteem and pride of groups and individuals. This is especially true for smaller nationalities. Experts on the
politics of multilingualism note that the status of the indigenous language is seen by emerging nations as a
symbol of a new-found group dignity. The fate of a language has consequences for entire cultures, which
may become endangered if that language is not used. In order for a language to survive, it must be used in
many domains, including schools, the media and public interaction. Yet, while it is important to avoid
raising cultural anxiety, it is also important to realize that the status of cultures reflects overall political
power. Ethnic groups, and especially larger nationalities or sub-nations, want to exercise some degree of
self-rule and avoid subordination. Native speakers of a dominant language gain certain social and career
benefits; minorities, too, want equal opportunities.
Although language often is seen as having primarily a cultural significance, it also has a more
practical value in a modern state. Language policy affects social and political access to careers and public
goods. Which language is used when a citizen encounters public servants, and which language is used in tax
forms or other papers produced by the state bureaucracy? Which language is used if one needs to call an
ambulance or a fire fighter or seek assistance from police or social services? In modern states the sphere of
interaction between citizens and the state is getting broader rather than narrower, and thus the scope of
language use is expanding as well. The language that is used on electoral ballots, in parliamentary debates,
or when the state publishes laws and regulations is also important, as it impacts on a citizen's ability to
participate in his or her community. In other words, if a citizen has to use a non-native language in
interactions with the state, this will influence the extent of his or her attachment to or alienation from the
state.
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Other language issues, regulated by the state and tied to identity, include the naming of streets or
public buildings, and the use of personal names. The latter seems like an innocuous issue, but it can be a
very sensitive topic. For example, the forced "Bulgarization" of Turkic and Muslim names by the
communist government of Bulgaria in the 1970s incited ethnic conflict that culminated in the exodus of a
large part of the Turkic minority. A less dramatic case involved the bureaucratic "Russianization" of
personal names in the Soviet Union by requiring non-Russian minorities to adhere to the Russian tradition of
using a patronymic (a name derived from one's father). Italy's outlawing of the German spelling of personal
names in South Tyrol encouraged terrorism. Interestingly, the same policy applied in the Alsace region of
France was relatively uncontroversial. This illustrates that the same policy can trigger different reactions in
different contexts and that it is essential to examine the local context when analysing the importance of a
particular issue in a specific state. In sum, there are a number of political, economic, and psychological
factors that must be taken into account in forming language policy. In addition, it should be noted that
official policy can do little to influence what happens when languages are used informally, in personal
interactions.
4.13. Language Education and Identity
Mougeon,R., Nadasdi, T. & Rehner, K. ( 2010:1) identified a big concern that “…considerably less
research has been devoted to French immersion students‟ sociolinguistic competence- the receptive and
productive knowledge of sociolinguistic variants and of the linguistic, social and stylistic factors that govern
their usage”. They agreed that immersion language education would result in social unintelligibility in a
native culture.
4.14. The Dynamics of Identity
At any given time a person‟s identity is a heterogonous set made up of all the names or identities,
given to and taken up by him/her. But in a lifelong process, identity is endlessly created a new, according to
various social constraints (historical, institutional, economic etc.), social interaction, encounters, and wishes
that may happen to be very subjective and unique. We called identification processes those psychological
processes in which identity are established.
There is a language-embedded identity that rest on strictly symbolic mean and identifies of scopic
materials, sensory elements among which visual features seem to occupy a pre-eminent place. Every person
exploits different layers of identities by making more or less intricate and encased networks, some parts of
which are prone to frequent change and replacement and others being more or less permanent throughout the
life span and across social ad cultures space. We identify ourselves with in different groups -institutional,
professional- we belong to, within the surroundings of our home, out office etc. Therefore, our overt and
covert identities blend of symbolic and nonverbal means.
4.15. How many Languages can a Person Learn (Speak)?
When we say ‘learning a language’, we are referring to being able to have a fluent conversation
with minimal mistakes; in other words, being able to live and work comfortably in that language. For these
questions, there are living examples of people whose achievements surprised the world. First, Alexander
13
FINAL ACTIVITIES
Arguelles, an American polyglot claims to have knowledge of 33 languages. He speaks fluently about 18 of
those. He’s made dictionaries in German, Spanish, and French, and written books on learning Korean.
Second, Ziad Fazah, a Lebanese man living in Brazil, claims to speak 56 languages. Third, Giuseppe Caspar
Mezzofanti, an Italian cardinal from the 19th century, was said to be fluent in at least 29 languages, could
speak 38, but knew more than 70 languages. Fourth, John Bowring was a British literary translator,
economist, politician and diplomat whose service included being the fourth governor of Hong Kong. He
claimed that he knew 200 languages and that he could speak 100 of them. In our day, the Brazilian linguist
Dr. Carlos do Amaral Freire claims to know over 100 languages. People may find these numbers hard to
believe but each one of these hyperpolyglots has publications or video recordings that suggest that their
claims are true.

A. In a minimum of three(3) paragraphs, explain the importance of having

language policy/ies. Does/do it/they really contribute to a country’s
development? Cite examples. Follow the three-part structure in writing:
Introduction, Body, and Conclusion.
B. Philippines is undeniably known for a number of dialects as it is subdivided into
regions rich of their own cultures. Suppose you are on a trip abroad and you
happen to meet a foreign friend who seems so interested about the richness of
the language in our country, how would you explain it to him? To ensure a
clearer explanation, create a 3-5 minute video presentation depicting the
country’s dialects and cultures. You can download photos or short video clips
from the internet for your video to look lively and realistic but see to it that the
voice over comes from you. The art lies in your hand.

Congratulations for enduring the 14

challenges
Southern of thisCollege,
Masbate Roosevelt semester,
Inc. Schoolyoung
ID# 403785. Printed and reproduced for school use only. Unauthorized reproduction will be penalized.
dreamer! You are a CONQUEROR
because GOD designed you to be!