French colonies were created for the benefit not of the indigenous conquered peoples but of the home country. Their borders were set for political convenience and produced a jumble of ethnicities, languages, and cultures. Exploitation came first, and there was generally no attempt to find a workable educational solution to the local diversity.…

The diversity of language in Australia in pre-invasion times is well attested, with at least 300 distinct languages being spoken along with many dialects. At that time, many Indigenous people were multilingual, often speaking at least four languages. Today many of these languages have been lost, with fewer than 15 being learned by children as a…

This paper explores the recent policy decision about the teaching of Ottoman Turkish at high schools in Turkey and unpacks its historical, political, and social undercurrents. It theoretically rests upon Spolsky's [2004. "Language policy". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. "Language management." Cambridge: Cambridge…

In this article, I analyze the reasons that have excluded Pijin, the lingua franca of Solomon Islands, South West Pacific, from being used as a medium of instruction, and why this may now become possible. Following a short sociolinguistic sketch, I present the colonial and post-colonial linguistic ideologies that shaped sociolinguistic…

Examines the language planning situation in South Africa, where language has been instrumental in the country's transition from colonialism to apartheid to democracy. Addresses, diachronically and synchronically, the issues of language spread and use, language policy and planning, and language maintenance and shift. (Author/VWL)