Language Problems and Language Planning - Volume 42, Issue 2, 2018

This article examines the language legislation of the United States territory of Guam as stated in the Organic Act of Guam (1950) and its legal statutes. The article seeks to offer suggestions about how the quality of this language legislation might be improved. As in a few states in the United States (i.e., Hawaii, Louisiana, and New Mexico), Guam established linguistic laws with provisions that protect the language rights of Chamorro speakers, the native population of Guam, especially in the areas of education and language standardization. In spite of the impressive array of language laws enacted by Guam’s legislature to teach Chamorro language and culture in the schools for more than half a century, the use of English is increasing, while that of Chamorro continues to shrink in Guam, which may be due to a lack of buy-in by the indigenous Chamorro population with respect to the importance of expanding the use of this language for the purpose of maintaining a modern-day Chamorro identity.

The term soft power, developed by Joseph Nye, is a widely popular concept used to describe efforts to attract rather than coerce as means of persuasion. Language, which is widely viewed as a traditional (not to say extremely important) component of nationhood and a symbol of identity and group consciousness, can be used as an expression of soft power resources within this context. It is apparent that in today’s globalized world, the role of international languages as global means of communication has increased considerably. At the same time, English has become the de facto lingua franca in international trade, academia, technology and many other fields. Against this background, this article examines the impact of language as a soft power resource in the case of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which is a multi-ethnic state located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Due to its geographic location, the constant migrations of people who have passed through its territory throughout the centuries, and it has long been a zone of active interaction of languages, cultures and civilizations.

This article examines language attitudes among Algerian first and second year engineering students at an Algerian university. A sample of 101 participants responded to a 51-item questionnaire. The results of the questionnaire showed a strong preference of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), English, and French by native speakers of Algerian Arabic (Derja). Native speakers of Tamazight (a Berber language) preferred MSA, English, French, and Tamazight. Participants were divided on many questions regarding MSA and Tamazight. It was also found that respondents favored English as a useful vehicle of economic opportunity and knowledge transfer. An overwhelming majority of respondents viewed multilingualism in Algeria positively. Interestingly, both Derja and Tamazight native speakers unanimously rejected promoting Derja to an official political status, and they indicated support for the teaching of English and French in school. Possible motives behind the attitudes are discussed and implications are suggested.

Arabic is considered one of the defining cases of diglossia ( Ferguson, 1959 ; Sayahi, 2014 ). Despite previous scholars’ critiques that the construct of diglossia perpetuates linguistic and societal inequalities, few studies have examined how this seminal construct has been enacted in language policy ( Woolard & Schieffelin, 1994 ; Pennycook, 1994 ; Harris, 1981 ). This paper addresses this gap by examining language policy in context through an intertextual analysis of language policy documents including the 1992 European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and several reports on their fulfillment of the charter’s requirements. Using Irvine and Gal’s (2000) framework of three semiotic processes of ideology, the texts demonstrate the use of the notion of diglossia as a tool of iconization, fractal recursivity, and erasure used to naturalize current linguistic inequalities. Consequently, diglossic descriptions are taken up in policy documents in service of a particular language ideology that justifies suppression of minority languages such as is the case of Arabic in Ceuta.

A major challenge for authorities in the modern world is the linguistic integration of minorities. In this context, language policies play a key role as authorities are increasingly faced with the challenge of adjusting their language policies in order to secure the linguistic rights and thus the integration of their multilingual populations. In multilingual democracies, these language policies must include choices about the use or non-use of translation. These choices, when they are systematic, become policies of their own in terms of translation. Thus, translation policies arise in part as a consequence of language policies, and there can be no language policy without an attendant translation policy. This article sheds light on the role of translation policies as part of language policy. Specifically, it shows that translation policies can be a tool for integration and recognition or exclusion and neglect of speakers of minority languages and therefore deserve special attention. This is done by comparing the translation policies adopted in Flanders and Wales, both as applied to autochthonous linguistic minorities and allochthonous linguistic minorities. Lessons can be learned from the similarities and differences of translation policies in these two regions.

A lingua franca can be a mediation choice for people who do not share a common language. Esperanto, a planned language, functions in this way as the working language in an educational non-governmental organization. The main characteristics of this use are described on the basis of interviews, field notes and spontaneous conversations analyzed using the methods of Conversation Analysis. It is shown that Esperanto functions as the dominant means of communication in the NGO, but also that the use of other languages is not excluded. A typical feature of Esperanto communication is the use of repairs: Esperanto speakers assist one another when faced with lexical gaps and they correct each other’s mistakes. Humor is ubiquitous and is mainly language-based, taking forms including wordplay and culture-specific allusions. These two features are closely related to speakers’ attitudes such as group identity and metalinguistic awareness. It is suggested that Esperanto is a valid option as a lingua franca outside of the private sphere, where it has predominantly been used until now.