Language Policy in Britain and France (Open Linguistics Series)

241 Pages·1998·13.87 MB·English

by  Dennis Ernest Ager

Language Policy in Britain and France
Open Linguisitics Series
The Open Linguisitics Series, to which this book makes a significant contribution, is 'open' in two
senses. First, it provides an open forum for works associated with any school of linguistics or with
none. Linguistics has now emerged from a period in which many (but never all) of the most lively
minds in the subject seemed to assume that transformational-generative grammar - or at least
something fairly closely derived from it - would provide the main theoretical framework for
linguistics for the foreseeable future. In Kuhn's terms, linguistics had appeared to some to have
reached the 'paradigm' stage. Reality today is very different. More and more scholars are working to
improve and expand theories that were formerly scorned for not accepting as central the particular set
of concerns highlighted in the Chomskyan approach - such as Halliday's systemic theory (as
mentioned in this book), Lamb's stratificational model and Pike's tagmemics - while others are
developing new theories. The series is open to all approaches, then - including work in the
generativist-formalist tradition.
The second sense in which the series is 'open' is that it encourages works that open out 'core'
linguistics in various ways: to encompass discourse and the description of natural texts; to explore the
relationship between linguistics and its neighbouring disciplines such as psychology, sociology,
philosophy, artificial intelligence, and cultural and literary studies; and to apply it in fields such as
education and language pathology.
Open Linguistics Series Editor
Robin F. Fawcett, University of Wales College of Cardiff
Language Policy in Britain and France
The Processes of Policy
DENNIS AGER
CASSELL
London and New York
Cassell
Wellington House, 125 Strand, London WC2R OBB
127 West 24th Street, New York, NY 10011
First published 1996
© Dennis Ager 1996
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Dennis Ager is hereby identified as the author of this work as provided under Section 77 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 0-304-33759-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ager, D. E.
Language policy in Britain and France: the processes of policy / D. E. Ager.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 0-304-33759-5
1. Language policy—Great Britain. 2. Language policy—France.
3. Language planning. 4. Political planning. 5. Sociolinguistics.
I. Title
P119.3.A35 1996
306.4'4941-dc20
Typeset by Textype, Cambridge
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddies Ltd, Guildford and King's Lynn
Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgements x
British and French organisations and abbreviations xi
1 Theoretical considerations: sociolinguistics,
policy studies and language planning 1
2 The development of the standard language 29
3 Language policies: the status of languages in
Britain and France 40
4 Constituent, corpus and acquisition policies 54
Constituent or administrative policies 54
Corpus policies 64
Acquisition policies 67
An overview of French and British language policies 74
5 The policy process: inputs 76
Literacy 77
Language policy for immigrants 84
6 The policy process: networks 102
Policy networks 102
The civil service 104
7 Networks: other participants 118
Governmental advisory groups 118
Interest and pressure groups 126
VI LANGUAGE POLICY IN BRITAIN AND FRANCE
8 The policy process: negotiation 136
Defining objectives and criteria 136
Stages in negotiation 144
9 The policy process: implementation 155
10 The policy process: implementation and impact 177
Administrative orders 177
The impact of policies 182
11 Comparisons and conclusions 190
Policy processes in France and Britain 190
Language policies in France and Britain 203
References 213
Index of names 223
General index 224
Preface
The aim of this book is to investigate how language policies are made in
Britain and France, and to compare and contrast the policy-making processes,
and to a certain extent the policies, in each country. In order to examine these
questions we draw upon the experience of language planning in its attempts
to influence language behaviour, and on two main fields of study: policy
studies - how governments respond to and manage the political environment;
and sociolinguistics - the relationship between language and society.
Individuals as well as organised groups have often tried to influence the
language behaviour of members of speech communities. Language planners
may try hard to specify which language, or variety of language, should be
regarded as most prestigious in society, for example by being used in official
public documents; which language, or variety of language, should be used in
schools, employment or the market-place; whether language change,
particularly the development of new vocabulary, can be affected in some way.
Using data traditionally derived from the practice of authors, journalists and
professional writers, and now, more and more, the recorded spoken language
of ordinary people, as well as their own judgements, planners publish
dictionaries and grammars to define and circumscribe the language, suggest
reforms - for example of spelling or technical terminology - or propose ways
of ensuring that 'correct' usage is adhered to. Many language planners aim to
help the economic development of a community by planning access to
languages of international communication; others are more concerned with
the political well-being of multilingual societies. Language planning affects
the status of a language or variety of language; the acquisition of language;
and the corpus, or structure and forms of language.
The study of governmental policy-making in the field of language can be
carried out from a variety of points of view, and following many different
methods. We have chosen to restrict ourselves to a study mainly concerned
with the process of policy-making in each country. Other approaches to
policy studies examine the policy environment, institutions conducting
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policy, the specifics of decision-making, or the interplay of social forces and
groups within society. Although such approaches are important, we have
deliberately chosen to adopt a type of policy analysis which in our view best
enables us to understand major differences between France and Britain in this
field, and to concentrate on some aspects of the planning process conducted
by governments.
Language can be regarded as a right, as when people say for example
'minorities have rights to use their language', as a resource ('a multilingual
society is better placed to communicate internationally, and the diversity of
languages within its borders makes it better able to understand the diversity
of mankind'), or as a problem ('the youth of today is unable to express itself
clearly, to spell correctly or to write a decent letter'). In all these cases, the
relationship between language use, social communities and social attitudes,
as studied in sociolinguistics and the sociology of language, is fundamental to
an understanding of how language expresses the nature of society, and how
social cohesion - or the lack of it - is managed through language. Past and
present language policies in both Britain and France reflect these social
attitudes - society is constructed through language, while language is itself
altered and reinvented by society.
The policies examined throughout this book cover a range of authoritative
government decisions affecting language. Some of these reflect official views
on language as a resource: both British and French governments show -
sometimes excessive - pride in the capacities and characteristics of their
language. Some have responded to questions of language rights, particularly
in policy towards regional and minority languages. Most policy decisions on
the standard language have been made as 'solutions' to language problems as
they occur.
The case studies include the following:
Initiating policy (Chapter 5)
Literacy in France and Britain
Immigrant languages in France and Britain
The role of government organisations (Chapters 6 and 7)
Spelling reform in France
Spreading English or French abroad
The role of interest and pressure groups (Chapter 7)
Avenir de la Langue Fran^aise
The Plain English Campaign
Policy negotiation (Chapter 8)
Foreign language teaching in France
The National Curriculum for English and modern foreign languages in
Britain
Legislation (Chapter 9)
The Toubon law in France
The Welsh Language Act in Britain
PREFACE IX
The impact of policies (Chapter 10)
Sexist language in France
Industrial Language Training
Why have we chosen France and Britain? France and Britain have quite
different approaches to policy-making in language. In France, questions of
language are important topics of debate, and the government feels it right to
intervene in language behaviour to the extent of promoting legislation on the
vocabulary and expressions which should be used. In Britain, at least until
recently, language was generally assumed to be something in which
governments had no role; or at least no overt, declared, political purpose in
their actions. These differences provoke a number of questions. How has this
contrast arisen? How did present language policies develop? What influences
the development of a language policy? Why have the British become aware
of language as an object of policy? How is language policy made in each of
the countries? How do both governments see the role of language and
languages at the moment? How do the French evaluate the success of their
language policies? Have there been changes in the way the British, or the
French, see their language policy?
The similarities between both societies are matched in importance by their
differences: they share a common history, their cultural origins are similar,
their languages represent centuries of interaction, yet their political, social
and intellectual structures, approaches and reflexes reflect often
fundamentally opposed views on how society functions and on how language
operates. Their two approaches to the management of society, which one
could loosely characterise as liberal democracy versus constitutional
democracy, are widespread throughout the world. The contrasts and
similarities between their language policies both derive from, and shed light
on, such analyses.
This study first examines the contributions which the activities, theories
and approaches of language planning, policy studies and sociolinguistics
make to answering these questions. We next review, rapidly, the history and
nature of contemporary language policies in each country. The main part of
the book examines how the policy process itself operated in relation to a
number of recent language issues, starting with the initiation of the question,
looking at the networks and communities involved in language policy,
examining the process of negotiation and concluding with the
implementation of the measures decided on. Finally, we conclude with an
assessment of the policies, and of policy-making, in the two countries.