The present paper looks in detail at the process of codification, i.e. how a single variety is altered in such a way as to become the publicly accepted, stigma-free variety of a country or major region. There is both implicit and explicit codification. For Haugen it would seem that he was referring to the latter process in which there is formal…

Haugen's model (in "Sociolinguistics," Penguin, Harmondsworth, pp 97-111, 1972 [1966]) of standardisation has been widely adopted in general histories of particular languages, not least because of its clarity and simplicity. In this article, I focus on its treatment of codification, with a view to suggesting refinements to this part of…

What almost all accounts of standardisation histories have in common is a focus on printed, formal or literary texts from writing elites. While Haugen identified the written form of a language as "a significant and probably crucial requirement for a standard language" (Haugen in Am Anthropol 68:922-935, 1966a; Haugen, in: Bright (ed)…

The selection of standards and norms constitutes the first and most important step for language standardisation. In this paper, we examine the standard establishment for Huayu (or Singapore Mandarin), a new Chinese variety that has emerged in Singapore as a result of centralised planning and inter-linguistic contact. Huayu is the officially…

The topic of this dissertation concerns the ways that (IN)ANIMACY distinctions interact with various sub-systems of the human language faculty, in particular, morpho-syntax. In Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), morpho-syntax and ANIMACY can be pit against each other directly on the same set of target words, allowing a close inspection of the…

It came as a surprise to me, after an extensive Google search and reading of numerous policies, that English, and more specifically Standard Australian English, is not the official language of Australia (ACARA, 2016c; Lo Bianco, 1987). There are examples cited by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (1999) that state, 'English is regarded as…

This research endeavour is a major contribution to the current debate on the integration of non-native varieties into the school curriculum in non-native settings. Taking the specific case of Cameroon, this work rests on the solid assumption that the promotion of CamE to the detriment of Standard British English accent is definitely a fallacy. The…

Viewing education as a complex site for endorsing and contesting knowledges and practices we explore its critical roles in feminist language planning. Many types of language planning have relied heavily on education for the implementation and spread of the particular reform agenda largely reliant on discourses of compulsory obligation (e.g.…

This paper is a study in language acculturation with special reference to the Indianization of the English language. It briefly traces the history of the diffusion of bilingualism in English on the culturally and linguistically pluralistic Indian subcontinent. The functional roles of English are discussed and the formal influences of Indian…

A brief history of modern Rumanian is chronicled, focusing on the influence of a variety of languages on Rumanian's development. Four regional variations are identified: Dacio-Rumanian, Macedo-Rumanian, Megleno-Rumanian, and Istro-Rumanian, all evolving from the Latin spoken in the corresponding areas beginning in imperial Roman times. The…

This paper discusses the problem of language standardization in education. The areas to which standardization may refer - phonology, spelling, punctuation, grammar and lexicon - are discussed, and problems associated with efforts to standardize them in schools are pointed out. The position taken is that a decision to promote language standards…

The basic problem of communicating in Arabic today is the existence of two language varieties, one spoken and one written. These may even be considered two distinct languages. They have existed side by side for as long as one knows. Classical written Arabic became fossilized and developed as a closed system independent of common usage and…

This book provides comprehensive information on all aspects of sociolinguistics. It includes 285 articles, of which 80 are short biographical entries. Fifty of the biographies and 42 other articles are entirely new, while the remaining entries are revised and updated from the "Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics." The book provides…

In the last 15 years or so, Malaysian English has begun to come into its own as a dialect peculiar to its own region and yet intelligible on the whole to English speakers everywhere. There is evidence that English is undergoing a transitional stage in Malaysia; use of English is progressively reduced as use of Bahasa Malaysia is increased. The…

Papers from a 1993 conference on linguistics, all in French, include essays on the following: Yoruba morphophonology; literary Arabic morphophonology; grammatical cohesion in Burushaski; phonological and lexical variation in French Canadian dialects, including Acadian; insults in Madrid Spanish; discourse analysis; maintenance of meaning in…