Includes S.A. Wurm - Papua - New Guinea nationhood; the problem of a national language, separately catalogued.

This pioneer study goes well beyond the subject of linguistics to encompass economic, sociological, political, and educational approaches to language change. In the context of the development of national resources, the book focuses on language planning--the deliberate change and promotion of language structure and language use. It outlines a theoretical approach to the study of language planning and includes selected case studies which demonstrate the possibilities of broadening and improving national planning by taking linguistic and human resources into explicit account to enhance forecasting. The contributors to this volume include highly renowned experts in their respective academic fields as well as actual language planners. They were brought together on the instigation of a study group on language-planning processes sponsored by the East-West Center, University of Hawaii, with Ford Foundation support. Can Language Be Planned? is one result of their joint studies. An on-going cross-national research project on language-planning processes at Stanford University is another.

In recent years there has been increased interest in examining the treatment of language problems across different levels of society, ranging from individual interactional issues to language policy and planning at the national or supra-national level. Among the various approaches to tackle this issue, Language Management Theory (LMT) provides a framework to address behaviour towards language problems on differet levels explicitly and comprehensively. Using LMT as a unifying theoretical concept, the chapters in this volume examine the links between micro and macro dimensions in their analyses of a variety of language problems in Asian and European contexts. This body of work illustrates that the LMT framework is able to show the characteristics of different dimensions clearly, especially when combined with a conceptualization of the micro and macro as a continuum of intertwining elements. This volume will appeal both to those interested in language policy and planning as well as those interested in interaction between speakers from different language backgrounds.

Against the backdrop of overwhelming discourse scholarship emanating from the Western cosmopolitan centres, this volume offers a development-centred approach to unfamiliar, marginalized or otherwise disadvantaged discourses of the Third World or the Global South. Written by leading researchers based in Asia, Africa and Latin America, respectively, this book reconstructs Eastern paradigms of communication studies on the one hand and explores the discursive problems, complexities, aspirations, and dynamics of the non-Western, subaltern, and developing societies on the other. As methodological principles, the authors i) adopt the cultural-political stance of supporting cultural diversity and harmony at both academic and everyday levels, ii) draw upon Asian, African and Latino scholarship in critical dialogue with the existing mainstream traditions, and iii) make sense of the discourses of Asia, Africa and Latin America from their own local as well as global, historical and intercultural, perspectives. This book will particularly appeal to scholars and students in the fields of discourse studies, communication and cultural studies, and development studies.

Joshua Fishman is perhaps best known and loved for his pioneering and enduring work in language loyalty and reversing language shift. This volume brings together a selection of his writings on these topics and some of his personal perspectives on the field of sociolinguistics.

This volume seeks to enable language and education practitioners and researchers to get a sense of the range of issues being pursued in language and education research and the array of methods employed to do so. It focuses on language and education in relation to society, variation, culture, and interaction. Its unity of purpose and outlook with regard to the central role of language as both vehicle and mediator of educational processes and to the need for continued and deepening research into the limits and possibilities that implies is most impressive.

This book examines the role that language-in-education policy, historically, has played in shaping possibilities for development, within countries in the Sub-Saharan and South Asian regions. This discussion takes account also of the complex ways in which language, education and development, are linked to the changing global labour market. Key questions are raised regarding the impact of international policy imperatives on development possibilities.