Language Planning

Paper Summary:

This essay provides an outline of what language planning involves - a deliberate attempt to modify and change the linguistic behavior of a society. It looks at the reasons behind it and the organizations and groups involved in it. It then proceeds to illustrate the discussion using cases from Finland and Norway.

From the Paper:

"The reasons behind language planning are complex and plentiful, ranging from large-scale modifications to more modest issues. It can be used to provide solutions to complex social problems, to develop national and official languages, and to standardise particular dialects. Language planners can make linguistic modifications so that subgroups of a particular population speaking different varieties of that language are united as a nation. As technology advances, language can be modified in order to address these developments. The reformation of spelling systems, lexical modernisation, and stylistic simplification are examples of language planning. More modest decisions such as which languages are to be used on signposts or which are to be used for educational purposes also involve deliberate modification. However, linguists and others involved in language planning are not always faced with the task of changing a language. There are circumstances in which the revival or preservation of a language involves deliberate attempts to prevent changes from occurring."

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