Presents a classification of 11 language planning functions or goals that academies, committees, and commissions have been engaged in since language planning began several centuries ago or could adopt in the future. Language planning is defined as deliberate, institutionally organized attempts at affecting linguistic or sociolinguistic status or…

Catalan, although a minority language within Spain, enjoys great prestige within Catalonia. This article attempts to explain how conflicts in Europe, national and Catalan election politics, educational policies, and the "cold war" waged against the Catalan government together affected a change in public opinion toward a reluctance to…

Examines the sociology of the Esperanto community in the context of a review of 10 surveys. Active speakers reveal that Esperanto functions primarily as a means of informal oral communication and of semiformal written communication. Most speakers do not expect a wider use of this planned language in the short term. (11 references) (Author/CK)

Explores the relationship between Spanish language use and ethnic identity through analysis of discourse among a Chicano family whose members had differing proficiencies in Spanish and/or English. Such factors as interaction in Anglo-dominated settings, conversational techniques, linguistic competence, and language attitudes appeared to influence…

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)

Presents current concerns in the field of critical sociolinguistics in such a way that sociologists and linguists otherwise uninterested in Esperanto will see some arguments for approaching Esperanto culture as a source of new insight into fundamental aspects of society and language. (DJD)

Discusses the development of manual sign codes for use in the education of children with deafness as an example of language planning activity. Argues that the development of manual sign codes can be seen as a misguided effort that ignores the linguistic bases of natural sign languages and the language rights of the deaf community. (contains 84…

Three sociolinguistic perspectives are considered in a study focusing on the rationale of Israeli linguistic policy toward Arabic. These include (1) school language programs as a matter of linguistic policies of political centers; (2) the relationship of linguistic resources to group boundaries (principally ethnicity); and (3) language resources…

Discusses the background and implications of the 1990 Luso-Brazilian Orthographic Accord signed by the seven nations that have Portuguese as their official language. Concludes that while most of the debate over the accord revolves around issues of linguistic efficiency, the accord and its proponents are primarily concerned with political and…

Discusses the independent Namibian government's goal of making English (currently the mother tongue of less than 5 percent of the population) the official language to unite various race and speech communities into one national entity, and proposes a systems approach to enable language planners to see the relationships between plans and other…

Statistical data from the U.S. Census Bureau Survey of Income and Education reveals societal patterns of language shift. The data can confirm the adequacy of theories of the causality of language shift. Examination of the data indicates geographic regions where language shift has occurred and is likely to occur. (PMJ)

Overviews 20 years of language planning in Quebec and examines the effect of the province's institutional instability on the economy, language planning, and relations between ethnolinguistic groups. Elucidates the causes of Quebec's efforts to preserve its language and culture and concludes that the province needs its Anglophone population for the…

Notes that a group of mestizo intellectuals in Peru claims that "Qhpaj'simi" is the Quechua used by the ancient Inca nobility and is the purest form of Quechua. Explains that a social hierarchy has arisen with the use of this "imperial language" demarcating its users from the common people and that these purist attitudes play a…

Argues that problems with English as second language programs in Arab world stem from failures in policy planning, rather than from failures of implementation of these plans. Some crucial considerations previously ignored are sociolinguistic setting of the foreign (English) language and fit between department goals, programs, and curricula on the…

A sociolinguistic research project conducted in two adjacent Belgian villages with a Low Frankish-speaking population is reported. Questionnaire surveys measured the impact of the fixation of the linguistic frontier between the two villages on the local population's French/Dutch language behavior and attitudes. (Contains seven references.)…