In pursuit of societal harmony: Reviewing the experiences and approaches in officially monolingualand officially multilingual countries

Theodorus du Plessis, Ludmilla A'Beckett

Description

In pursuit of societal harmony: Reviewing the experiences and approaches in officially monolingual and officially multilingual countries contains a selection of papers on language legislation that were presented at the International Conference on Language Policy in Multicultural and Multilingual Settings, Mandalay, Myanmar, 8-11 February 2016. The editors, both members of the International Academy of Language Law / Académie internationale de droit linguistique, brought together presentations that deal with language legislation and practices in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. The contributions show that the post-communist trend in language policy has been vastly represented by attempts to eliminate the language, and even the cultural legacy, of the formerly hegemonic nation/s in countries emerging after the collapse of the system. In doing so officials in these countries tend to link the harmonisation of a diverse society with the idea of homogenising its population, and prioritising the cultural legacy of the titular nation. In contrast, some post-colonial countries are more tolerant of the language of their colonisers but consequently do not sufficiently promote the institutionalisation of their indigenous languages. Furthermore, the absence of visible efforts to follow any legal pattern in this regard often result in a communication gap between government and the various communities.

Sujets

• Littérature Sud-Africaine
• Littérature sud-africaine
• Afrique du Sud
• Burkina Faso
• Ukraine
• Ontario
• Macau
• Langage
• Malaisie
• Croatia
• Language
• Lithuania
• Language policy
• Policy
• Proceedings
• Malaysia
• Linguistic rights
• South Africa
• Sudáfrica
• Lituania
• Ucrania
• Malasia

Informations

• Publié par: UJ Press
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781928424130
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

In pursuit of
societal harmony
Reviewing the experiences and
approaches in ofcially monolingual
and ofcially multilingual countries
EDITORS

Ludmilla A’Beckett
Theodorus du Plessis Conference
ProceedingsIn pursuit of
societal harmony
A selection of papers on language legislation presented at the
International Conference on Language Policy in Multicultural and
Multilingual Settings, Mandalay, Myanmar, February 8-11, 2016
Ludmilla A’Beckett
Theodorus du Plessis
EDITORSIn pursuit of societal harmony
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Views refected in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher.
First edition 2017
ISBN: 978-1-928424-12-3 (Print)
ISBN: 978-1-928424-13-0 (e-book)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18820/9781928424130
Set in Cambria 10/15 pt
Cover design, typesetting and production by Sun Media Bloemfontein
This printed copy can be ordered directly from: [e-mail]
The e-book is available at the following link: https://doi.org/10.18820/9781928424130Table of ConTenT s
Foreword .................................................................................................................................................. i
The Editors
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ iii
Notes on contributors .......................................................................................................................... ix
PaRT one | Post-colonial and comparative perspectives ............................................. 1
Shall we compare ‘apples’ and ‘oranges’? Measuring the scope of
the language legislation in Ukraine and South Africa ............................................................. 3
Ludmilla A’Beckett & Theodorus du Plessis
Language policies and access to information and services:
Comparative study of Ontario (Canada) and Burkina Faso (West Africa) .......................... 31
Amelie Hien & Abou Napon
Policies and realities about language in Macau ......................................................................... 49
Ana Paula Dias
Language policy and language use in multilingual Malaysia ............................................... 83
Maya Khemlani David, Caesar Dealwis & Kuang Ching Hei
PaRT TW o | Post-s oviet and Post-Communist studies ................................................... 105
Linguistic landscape in Azerbaijan: Policy, attitudes and choices ....................................... 107
Jala Garibova
Nation building and bilingualism in Latvia: A historical perspective ................................. 147
Nonna Danchenko
The nation-building linguist: On the status and ideologies of language
planning institutions in post-1990s Croatia and Lithuania .................................................... 169
Vuk VukotićfoRe WoRd
This collection contains a selection of papers that were presented at the International
Conference on Language Policy in Multicultural and Multilingual Settings, Mandalay,
Myanmar, February 8-11, 2016. The majority of the papers were delivered in a special
conference panel, “In Pursuit of Societal Harmony: Reviewing Experiences and Approaches
in Officially Monolingual and Officially Multilingual Countries”, hence the chosen title for
this published record of the proceedings.
Our thanks go to the Scientific Committee of this conference for reviewing the abstracts
of the papers included in this collection and to the reviewers of the final papers for
undertaking a blind peer review and for providing the editors with useful feedback.
We would like to express our gratitude to the convenors of the conference Language
policy in multicultural and multilingual settings Professor Lo Bianco and Doctor Yvette
Slaughter from the Organising Committee for their assistance in organising this panel.
We would also again like to thank our reviewers for their time and valuable suggestions.
We acknowledge the scholarly input of the following people:
Associate Professor Johnson David Cassels (University of Iowa, USA); Professor Wannie
Carstens (North-West University, RSA); Professor Robert Greenberg (University of
Auckland, New Zealand); Professor Dimitry Kochenov (University of Groningen, the
Netherlands); Professor Joseph Turi (International Association of Language Law,
Canada); Professor Richard Powell (Northwestern University, USA), Associate Professor
Finex Ndlovu (University of New England, Australia), Associate Professor Qu Changliang
(Dalian University of Foreign Languages, People’s Republic of China), Associate Professor
Paolo Colluzzi (University of Malaya, Malaysia), Doctor Elzbieta Kuzborska (Association
of Polish Academics, Lithuania), Doctor Ewa Chilinsky (European Centre for Minority
Issues, Denmark), Doctor Ekaterina Protassova (University of Helsinki, Finland),
Associate Professor. Svitlana Revutskaia (The Academy of National Guards, Ukraine),
and Professor Ghil’ad Zuckermann (University of Adelaide, Australia).
iIn pursuit of societal harmony
We also appreciate the logistical efforts undertaken by Mrs Jani de Lange of the Unit for
Language Facilitation and Empowerment at the University of the Free State in finalising
the manuscript and our gratitude goes to SUN MeDIA Bloemfontein for producing such
a fine product.
The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not purport
to reflect the opinions or views of the University of the Free State.
The editors
Melbourne and bloemfontein
october 2017
iiInTR oduCTIon
Language policy is traditionally viewed as a powerful tool for achieving social cohesion
(Blackledge, 2000; Pavlenko, 2008, Lo Bianco, 2010). However, on the one hand, different
countries view their linguistic goals differently and, hence, they adopt dissimilar
measures to promote their vision of social justice. On the other hand, the elements
of the language policy include various steps and aspects, which could be prioritised
or neglected.
The purpose of these proceedings is to overview the diversity of approaches in language
policy, undertaken by different, officially monolingual and multilingual countries,
across the globe. These proceedings are concerned with legacies of two historical
developments: colonialism and communist aspirations (Maurais, 1991; Pavlenko, 2008;
Skutnabb-Cangas, 2012). It presents a level playing field for comparing post-colonialism
and post-communism, which are perceived by different scholars either as identical or
dissimilar phenomena.
In these proceedings, we focus on the case studies which highlight the similarities
and differences in implementing various aspects of language policy, as well as on the
discrepancies between the envisaged goals and language habits among populations
resistant to change.
The sociolinguistic activities we consider, herein, include:
1. principles, provisions and scope of language legislation (Turi, 1994; Du Plessis, 2011);
2. bridging gaps between legal provisions and rooted language practices (Maurais,
1997; Lo Bianco, 2010);
3. safeguarding national cultural heritage and its ethnic composition (Greenberg,
2004; Pavlenko, 2008; Williams, 2008);
iiiIn pursuit of societal harmony
4. civil obligations of language maintenance imposed by the state on its citizens
(Blackledge, 2000);
5. prestige and the treatment of official languages in different environments (Turi,
1994; Du Plessis, 2011);
6. protection and drift of linguistic borders (Pavlenko, 2008; Greenberg, 2004);
7. imposition of language norms on native speakers (Greenberg, 2004).
Unfortunately, their negative by-products can overshadow the good intentions
underlining some policies. Both monolingual and multilingual policies have their
downsides. Therefore, the proceedings takes into account both the unforeseen impacts
of zealous imposition and the slack implementation of language laws. Attention to
negative impacts of provisions, made in good faith, empowers scholars and law-makers
with recognition of risk factors.
The proceedings are comprised of six presentations, dealing with language legislation
and practices in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Ludmilla A’Beckett and
Theodorus Du Plessis of the University of the Free State in the South African Republic,
develop a framework for assessing principles of language laws in their paper, Shall
we compare ‘apples’ and ‘oranges’? Measuring the scope of the language legislation in
Ukraine and South Africa. Their paper is concerned with recognising representations
of major functional domains of official language(s) and cataloguing major tools for
the implementation of the law. This paper provides salient examples of the opposite
perspectives in language policy and dissimilar foundations for nation building: Ukraine
attempts to monolingualise the public domains of the country, while South Africa seeks
to multilingualise its society. This paper also initiates discussion of functions, treatment,
equity and prestige associated with the notion of the official / state / national language(s).
Amelie Hien of Laurentienne University, Ontario, Canada and Abou Napon, University
of Ouagadougou, Burkina