Language planning involves systematic efforts to modify language use in a community, while language policy refers to the body of ideas, laws and regulations around planned linguistic changes. There are two levels of language planning - macro (involving governments and complex changes) and micro (focusing on specific issues). Key actors in language planning include government agencies, education agencies, quasi-governmental organizations, and other influential groups. Activities generally involve status planning (modifying a language's use) and corpus planning (modifying the language itself), with the overall goal of language selection, codification, elaboration and implementation. Codification specifically refers to standardizing a language's orthography, grammar and lexicon.

1. Language Planning and Policy
Shangrela V. Genon-Sieras
mdmsgsieras@gmail.com
Associate Professor
Mindanao State University, Marawi City

2. Guide Questions:
1. What is the difference between language policy
and language planning?
2. What are the levels of language planning?
3. Who are the actors in language planning?
4. What are the activities involved in language
planning?
5. What are the scope and sequence of language
planning based on Haugen’s model?
6. What are the three areas of concern in codifying a
language?

3. Language Planning and Policy
Language Planning is an
activity that intends to
promote systematic
linguistic change in some
community of speakers.
(Kaplan & Baldauf, 1997).
Language Policy is a body of
ideas, laws and regulations,
intended to achieve a
planned change (or to stop
change from happening) in
the language use in one or
more communities” (Kaplan
& Baldauf, 1997).

4. Language Planning
“ an organized pursuit of
solutions to language
problems typically at the
national level (Fisherman,
1973).
Language Planning is the
“study of solutions to
language problems by
authorized government
organizations” (Rubin,
1976).
Language Planning, also known as
language engineering, emerged as an
approach to articulating programs for
solving “language problems”, in newly
independent “developing countries”
(Kaplan & Baldauf, 1997).

5. “… represents a
coherent effort by
individuals, groups, or
organizations to
influence language
use or development”
(Kaplan & Baldauf,
1997).
“… is an official,
government-level activity
concerning the selection
and promotion of unified
administrative language
or languages” (Robinson,
1988).
Language Planning

6. In the simplest sense,
“language planning is an attempt by someone to
modify the linguistic behavior of some community for
some reason” (Kaplan & Baldauf, 1997)
The reasons are complex, ranging from:
the trivial notion
that one doesn’t
like the way a
group talks;
the sophisticated idea
that a community can
be assisted in preserving
its language.

7. Levels of Language Planning
(1) Macro level - usually involves the government and
the language modifications are complex.
Examples:
• To modernize a
language so
that it can deal
with the vast
technological
changes that
are occurring;
• To standardize a
language to achieve
unification so that it
can be understood
by various sub-groups
who may speak
different varieties of
that language;
• To provide a
way of writing
a language
which has not
previously
been written

8. Levels of Language Planning
(2) Micro level - This focuses on quite specific and
limited language issues.
Examples:
• To decide
whether the
library should
stock foreign
language
newspapers;
• To decide what
language will be
taught at a local
school
• To decide what
language will
the signs in a
local shop be
to attract
customers

9. Other quasi-
governmental or
non-governmental
organizations
Education agencies
Governmental
agencies
Other groups or
influential individuals
Actors in
Language
Planning

10. Actors in Language Planning
Government Agencies
They have the power
to legislate and the
ability to foster
incentive and
disincentive structures
to enforce planning
decisions.
Example:
The case of Sub-Saharan Africa
Agencies involved:
• Commerce ministry
• Military ministry
• Foreign Affairs Ministry
• Communications Ministry
• Labor Ministry
• Tertiary Educational Academy

11. Actors in Language Planning
Education Agencies
involved in any sort of
official language policy
activity.
The entire burden of planning language
change is often allocated to the
education ministry despite that the ministry
does not have the scope, the resources of
the authority to influence language use to
any extent beyond the education sector

12. Language Policy and Planning Decisions under the
Education Agencies
 Determine which language(s) will
be taught within the curriculum.
 Define the teacher supply.
 Determine what segment of the
student population will be
exposed to language(s)
education and how that segment
will be identified
 Determine how to support all of this
activity fiscally and physically,
 Determine what methodology(ies)
will be employed in the system,
what materials will be used to
support those methodologies
 Develop an assessment system that
can measure teacher performance
and system performance

13. Actors in Language Planning
Quasi/Non-
governmental
Organizations
These are some non-
governmental sectors
which are heavily
involved in language
policy development
Examples:
• British Council English -Speaking Union
• Alliance Francaise
• Goethe Institute
• Japan Foundation
• Korea Foundation
They are engaged in the dissemination of
English, French, German, Japanese and
Korean languages.

14. National language Academies and
Language Planning Boards
Their function is to preserve the purity of what was
intended to become the national language
Example:
Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino
(KWF), previously known as IPL
and INL
KWF is the official regulating
body of the Filipino language
and the official government
institution tasked with
developing, preserving and
promoting the various local
languages in the Philippines.

15. Actors in Language Planning
Other
Organizations/Individuals
Organizations and
agencies in which
language planning is an
accidental outcome of
the primary function of
the body
Example:
United States Postal Service (USPS) as a
participant in the International Postal
Union
-To simplify the mail delivery, the USPS
and the IPU agreed that envelopes
must be addressed in Roman Script.

16. 2 distinct kind of activities in Language Planning
Remember that it is impossible to separate the two because:
 Change in language character = Change in environment
 Change in the use environment = change in character of the
language
Those that are concerned
specifically with attempts to
modify language itself
otherwise known as CORPUS
PLANNING
Those that are concerned
with attempts to modify the
environment in which a
language is used a.k.a.
STATUS PLANNING.

17. Haugen’s Model of Language Planning Process
Form (policy planning) Function (language
cultivation)
Society
(status planning)
1. Selection
(decision procedures)
a. problem identification
b. allocation of norms
3. Implementation
a. correction procedures
b. evaluation
Language
(corpus planning)
2. Codification
(standardization procedures)
a. graphization
b. grammatication
c. lexication
4. Elaboration
(functional development)
a. terminological
modernization
b. stylistic development
c. internationalization

18. Status Planning
Language Selection
Language
Implementation
• Involves the choice of
language(s) through its
political leaders
• Selected language(s)
establishes the linguistic norm
and gains a status in the
society
• Focuses on the development
of language policy
• Focuses on the adoption and
spread of the language form
that has been selected and
codified
• Is done through the
educational system and
other laws and regulations
Social
Concerns and
social
implementation
of LP
• Specific measures are taken
to implement the social
aspects of a language plan,
a.k.a. “Correction”
• Monitor and
evaluate the success
of the strategies and
progress of the
implementation
strategy

19. Corpus Planning
Orthographic
Innovation
Style
Changes in language
structure
Vocabulary ExpansionPronunciation
Preparation of
language material
Primarily
linguistic aspect
of the LP
Codification
(Standardization)
Elaboration
(Functional Dev’t of L)

20. Codification
Is the standardization procedures needed to develop and
formalize a linguistic and literate set of norms
• performed by individuals with linguistic training who decide
explicitly the linguistic form the language is to take
Codification results to prescriptive
orthography, grammar, and dictionary

21. 3 Areas of Codification (Haugen, 1983)
(1) Graphization
looks into the writing
systems which
provide the basis on
which literacy
materials can be
established and have
the potential to
reduce the linguistic
variation in a
language community
(3)Lexication
refers to the
selection and
development of an
appropriate lexicon,
the assignment of
styles and usage for
the words of the
language.
(2)Grammatication
Is the extraction and
formulation of rules
that describe how a
language is
structured.

22. Elaboration
Focuses on the functional development of that language
• once a language has been codified, there is a need to
continue the implementation of the norm to meet the
functions of a modern world
Elaboration will lead to modernization,
stylistic development and
internationalization of the language.

23. Language Purification
Language
Planning
Goals
(Nahir, 1984)
Language Revival
Language Reform
Language
Standardization
Language Spread Lexical modernization
Terminological
unification
Stylistic simplification
Interlingual
communication
Language maintenance

24. Implications
It is important to manage the language ecology of a
particular language to support it within the vast
structure in which language formation policy
formation occurs everyday.
Languages which serve important societal functions
for their speakers survive, regardless of the ministrations
of government.

25. Language policy formation is everybody’s
business, and without the help of the
communities involved, as well as the larger
community, a stable language ecology
will not develop and no amount of
planning is likely to bring sustained
language change.
Implications

26. References
Kaplan, R. B., & Baldauf, R. B. (1997). Language planning from practice to
theory. Clevedon [England: Multilingual Matters.
Liddicoat, A.J. (2007). Language Planning and Policy: Issues in Language
Planning and Literacy. Toronto: Multilingual Matters LTD
Rico, L. and K. Weed (1995). The Cross-Cultural, Language, and Academic
Development Handbook. Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon
Sinagatullin, I.M. (2003). Constructing Multicultural Education in a Diverse
Society. Maryland: Scarecrow Press, Inc.

27. Shukran!