Much has been written about the necessity of having a standard variety for a particular language. There has also been a great deal of literature on the emergence of a particular variety to be the standard language for a multidialectal language community. This report attempts to look at the various types of choice of a standard language or the…

This article outlines the history of the debate concerning usage of the terms "castellano" and "espanol" referring to the Spanish language. Development of the language and the question of standardization are touched on. (Text is in Spanish.) (CHK)

The new framework no longer holds valid the idea that innovations do not occur in phonology except as a by-product of standardization. New analyses are presented for language standardization. That languages are equally systematic but not equal in function is one point made. (SCC)

This paper highlights a new approach to the topic of language consciousness. Although a good deal has already been learned about the topic in connection with such questions as: "When and among whom does language consciousness arise?"; "When is it stronger and when is it weaker?"; and "What does it lead its adherents to do…

This paper compares the simplified characters of China, Japan and Singapore, based on China's list of 2295 simplified characters. Charts summarize the comparisons by numbers of characters in each country, and a comparative table lists and illustrates simplified characters in these countries. Taiwanese forms are summarized separately. (CHK)

This article discusses language planning in the People's Republic of China, and opens by commenting on the difficulty in observing the language planning process in China, particularly in the area of decision-making. A brief history of language planning is provided. Following the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949, a shift took place…

Outlines the history of the use of English in the Philippines. Discusses the Filipinos' reception of English and impact of English on current language policy in the Philippines. (JMF)

The purpose of the symposium was to exchange experiences in the standardization of national languages in different socio-cultural contexts. Examples of the strategies and results of such experiences in Africa, Latin America, and Europe were presented for discussion. Papers presented at the symposium include the following: "Language…

A contrastive analysis of the National Language, or Standard Mandarin, and some of the major dialects of China is presented. It serves to reveal the points in the standardization process where confusion is most likely to occur. The phonological component seems to be the most problematic. Available from Humanities Press, Inc., Atlantic Highlands,…

This article presents the results of a questionnaire sent to Spanish teachers regarding possible orthographic reforms in Spanish. Changes considered included elimination of certain letters and representation of each phoneme by only one letter. Responses to each question are classified and explained. (Text is in Spanish.) (CHK)

This article touches upon the cultural and linguistic factors important to the development of a Saamish standard language. The Swedish Saamis, and the status standard Saamish has among them, are dealt with in particular. (CFM)

Discusses the problems of language policy and planning in terms of past history. Two principles most basic to language policy orientation are: (1) principle of personality (the state accommodates itself to the individual's language preference), and (2) principle of territoriality (the individual accommodates to the language of the state). (JMF)

Using as a framework Ferguson's diglossia model with its division into a high and a low variety of the language used, the linguistic situation in the Sudan in described as a continuum. At one end is found the very formal classical Arabic, used for special occasions. At the other end is a casual form which dominates meetings and social gatherings…

Japan is taking her place as a bastion of apparent linguistic stability. The basic concept used in this paper is "language correction." The assumption is that generative rules of language produce inadequate communicative acts that may be corrected through corrective rules. Japan in the last century has passed through a number of…

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…