Language policy and planning is a branch of applied linguistics, related to other

humanistic and linguistic disciplines such as sociolinguistics, sociology of language,

pedagogy and political science
The most basic aspect of language usage planning is the choice of the official language
or languages of a given country; also of primary importance is the educational policy,
i.e. the choice of a monolingual or multilingual education model and the language or
languages to be used at particular levels at school. Another aspect of language usage
planning is the decision to support or suppress particular languages outside school, e.g.
through legal regulations, (the lack of) financial support for minority organisations and
media policy. Apart from macro-policies on the level of the highest state institutions,
language planning the main agents (actors) of language planning are governments
acting through their institutions and supra-national bodies such as the institutions of the
European Union. Other players in this process are non-governmental educational
institution
It also involves so-called micro-policies that are managed at a local level, such as the
choice of foreign newspapers available in a local library, or foreign languages to be
taught at a local school from among the alternatives made legally available by the
higher-level authorities
“Language policy” refers to the goals and intentions of a political group (such as the
government of a country or a political party), frequently put in the form of a written
statement. Speaking of the programme of a particular party, we would use the notion
“language policy”
While all political agents may have their language policies, we would hardly speak of
“language planning” when referring to a player who is not in a position to implement
what is intended. “Language planning” is mostly used when talking of agents in power,
such as governments, implementing the plans in some degree
According to Skutnabb-Kangas & Phillipson (2007), there are probably between 6,500
and 10,000 spoken languages in the world
Nine countries in the world have more than 200 languages each
Nahir (2003) defines eleven language planning goals:
1. Language Revival – the attempt to turn a language with few or no surviving native
speakers back into a “normal” means of communication.
2. Language Spread – the attempt to increase the number of speakers of a language.
3. Language Maintenance – preservation of the use of a group’s native language as a
first or second language where pressures threaten or cause a decline in the status of
the language.
4. Interlingual Communication – facilitation of linguistic communication between
members of distinct speech communities (internal to a given country, or cross-border).
5. Language Standardisation – the attempt to transform a regional language or dialect
into one that is accepted as the major language, or standard language, of a region.
6. Language Purification – prescription of usage in order to preserve the “linguistic
purity” of language and block foreign influences.
7. Language Reform – deliberate change in specific aspects of language, such as
spelling or grammar, in order to facilitate use.
8. Lexical Modernisation – word creation or adaptation.
9. Terminology Unification – development of unified terminologies, primarily in technical
domains.
10. Stylistic Simplification – simplification of language usage in lexicon, grammar, and
style.
11. Auxiliary-Code Standardisation – standardisation of marginal, auxiliary aspects of
language such as signs for the deaf, place names, or rules of transliteration and
transcription
Language status
d. Promoted language – lacks official status on a national or regional level but is
promoted and sometimes used by public authorities for specific functions e. Tolerated
language – neither promoted nor proscribed; acknowledged but ignored (e.g. Native
American languages in the United States) f. Proscribed language – discouraged by
official sanction or restriction (e.g. Kurdish in Turkey, up to 1991 completely banned,
until 2000 in writing)
Standardization
of languages is necessary because it makes communication easier and more efficient,
and provides a sense of unity to a nation; in particular, though, it is hardly avoidable in
education. It makes possible the nationwide use of the same handbooks and materials.
For example, in Italy, which was unified in 1870s, there were not only several languages
spoken but also about 1,500 local varieties; this created a problem for the educational
system.
The concept of diglossia was introduced into linguistics by Ferguson (1959) who defined
this type of language contact through four distinct situations
Ferguson referred to a situation in which two etymologically-related varieties or
languages were used by a single language community, and distinguished the high (H)
and low (L) variety
In 1996, UNESCO proclaimed the Universal Declaration on Linguistic Rights, which
requests that national and supernational authorities accept their responsibility for the
preservation and development of the world’s languages and for the introduction of
binding legislation within this field
Linguicide or linguistic genocide, a term coined by the Finnish sociolinguist Tove
Skutnabb-Kangas, refers to an intentional extinction of a language or, in an inflated
sense, to language extinction through mechanisms related to linguistic domination
through political, economic and cultural domination.
Linguicism in multilingual societies is characterised by the glorification of
monolingualism and the dominating language, the stigmatisation of other languages,
and the rationalisation of this attitude.

Fishman's eight stages of language shift Based on his studies of minority languages,
Fishman (1991) postulated that language loss proceeds through eight stages, with
stage eight being the closest to complete extinction. The scheme, the Graded
Intergenerational Disruption Scale, is summarised below:
Stage 1: Some language use in higher level educational, occupational, governmental
and media efforts – but without the additional safety provided by political independence.
Stage2: Language is used by local government and in the mass media in the minority
community. 44
Stage 3: Language is used in places of business and by employees in less specialised
work areas.
Stage 4: Language is required in elementary schools.
Stage 5: Language is still very much alive and used in home and community, but there
is no reinforcement besides the community itself.
Stage 6: Some intergenerational use of language. Stage 7: Only adults beyond child-
bearing age speak the language.
Stage 8: Only a few elderly people speak the language.
Fishman (1991) argues that a culture without its associated language is impoverished
and has already lost its core. He points out the social costs of forced cultural/linguistic
assimilation involving language loss, using the example of American Indians, where
these social costs based on cultural disintegration include alcoholism, drug abuse,
decay of family values, dysfunctional families and child abuse (the list could be
extended by adding criminal activity as well). He also emphasises the need to recognise
“cultural democracy” as a part of general democracy.
Endangered languages and language death
An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use and becoming
a dead language without any native users, and an extinct language with no users at all.
For example, Latin is a dead language, but it is not extinct.