This article analyses how the drafting and implementation of the Resolution for a National Language Policy Programme 2014-2018, a Slovene language strategy, were influenced by political instability and inter-institutional struggles. By conducting a historical ethnography to trace how different authors contributed to the policy text, and examining…

This study examines language planning as displayed in street names, advertising posters, billboards, and supermarket product displays in three Moroccan cities: Casablanca, Fes, and Rabat. The study reveals somewhat confusing language planning stemming from on-going political, economic, and social transformation in Morocco. More than 50 years after…

This monograph provides an overview of the language situation in Hong Kong from a historical perspective. Hong Kong has evolved in the past 167 years from a small fishing port to an international financial centre which forms part of a financial network hailed by "Time Magazine" as Ny.Lon.Kong (i.e. New York-London-Hong Kong). Hong Kong…

Names function as a people's cultural heritage that links the present to the past. Hence I propose that a comprehensive study of LP for naming needs to take into account socio-political context critically. My discussion of the case of Taiwan covers two social domains affected by LP for naming. In the public domain, I examine the change in the…

As Chinese characters ("hanzi") have three aspects--as a technical writing system, an aesthetic visual art (Chinese calligraphy), and a highly-charged cultural symbolic system--changing them is a complex process. In the 1950s when language planning campaigns were launched to modernise Chinese through "hanzi" standardisation,…

This monograph examines the language planning situation in Sri Lanka with particular emphasis on the planning of Sinhala as an official language of the country. It explores the historical, social, ideological and political processes, changes in language policy decisions, as well as the complexities of the language policy and planning situation in…

While advocacy of minority language rights (MLR) has become well established in sociolinguistics, language policy and planning and the wider human rights literature, it has also come under increased criticism in recent times for a number of key limitations. In this paper, I address directly three current key criticisms of the MLR movement. The…

After a century of effort, directed at modernising Chinese script, it is still the case that Chinese characters (henceforth "hanzi") remain a deficient communication system both for human use and for mechanical application. In some respects, the reform of Chinese "hanzi" has been a very political process, driven ultimately by…

This monograph focuses on the development of colonial and post-colonial language policies and practices in Zimbabwe, attributing changes to evolving philosophies and politics in colonial and post-colonial Zimbabwe. In colonial Zimbabwe, we argue that the language policies had as one of their key objectives the development of a bilingual white…

This monograph presents up-to-date information concerning language planning and policy in Ecuador, highlighting the country's cultural and linguistic diversity, historical context, current sociolinguistic situation and possible directions for the future. Taking into account Ecuador's particular sociopolitical conditions, it aims to provide a…