Places the activities of the National Setswana Language Council, a language-planning body in Botswana, into the current language-planning theory in order to understand language-planning problems in the Council. A brief theoretical framework is presented; a description of the origins, objectives, and language-planning problems of the Council are…

Examines the following issues as they relate to a model of language planning: (1) types of decisions (policy or implemental, higher- or lower-level, rational or arbitrary); (2) the planning mechanism; (3) the role of fact finding (prepolicy, preimplementation, and intraimplementation); (4) levels of planning; and (5) the nature of status versus…

Two models of language contact, one concerning linguistic development and the other a general model of language contact, are suggested as a result of a recent study of written languages in India. (Author/MSE)

Examines the move toward federal constitutional rights for minority language populations and the trade-off considerations of implementing such a move. It is argued that minority language populations benefit from maintenance of decentralized language policies and that state bureaucratic agencies are more protective of language minority rights than…

Examines the different forms of language conflicts, which have been characterized on the basis of four features: language as symbol, as instrumentality, as resource, and as power. It is suggested that there is a need for the development of an explanatory model of language conflicts for viable language policies. (29 references) (Author/CK)

The political reforms taking place in South Africa are reflected in new thoughts on possible future language policies for the country. The background to the present debate is traced, and some of the most important suggestions for a language policy for a postapartheid South Africa are discussed. (78 references) (VWL)