Abstract
Who does language planning? As Fasold notes (Fasold 1987: 251), it can be anyone from governments to individuals. Eastman points out (Eastman 1983: 61) that, whereas language planners are usually assumed to be linguists, in fact language planning is centred fairly and squarely in the social sciences as a whole. Political scientists, economists, anthropologists, linguists, educators, all have a role to play. Most language planning is carried out at the macro-level of nations, or national groups, occurs in a multilingual setting and is concerned primarily with questions of language shift or language maintenance. As the terms suggest, language shift occurs when a population switches from Language A to Language B. Language maintenance refers to continuing language loyalty on the part of a speech community. In the Soviet context language shift is exemplified by the tendency of some minorities within the RSFSR to adopt Russian as their first language (L1). Language maintenance, on the other hand, is reflected in the very high retention rates for many national languages within the Soviet Union. Both trends can co-exist. There are two types of language planning: instrumental and sociolinguistic (Fasold, op.cit., 250-1; Appel and Muysken 1987: 49). The instrumental approach to LP regards language as a tool which can be perfected to fulfil certain functions, carry out certain tasks. Languages are seen in terms of relative efficiency, economy, beauty, and so on (Tauli 1968; Ray 1963; 1968). The sociolinguistic approach is radically different. This approach starts from the premiss that all natural languages are equal. Apparent, indeed obvious differences in their functional adequacy are a reflection of socioeconomic and sociopolitical factors, and are not ascribable to the languages themselves. All languages have the same potential for development. Sociolinguistic language planning (LP) is sensitive to the social factors underlying language choice.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Appel R. and Muysken P. (1987), Language Contact and Bilingualism, Edward Arnold.
Arutiunian, Iu. V. and Bromlei, Iu. V. (eds) (1986), Sotsial‘no-kul’turnyi oblik sovetskikh natsii, ‘Nauka’, Moskva.
Baetens-Beardsmore, H. (1980), ‘Bilingualism in Belgium’, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1, 2 145–54.
Bell, R. (1976), Sociolinguistics, Batsford.
Beloded, I. (1972), Leninskaia teoriia natsional’no-iazykovogo stroitel’stva v sovetskom obshchestve, Moscow.
Bilinksy, Y. (1968), ‘The Soviet education laws of 1958–59 and Soviet nationality policy’, Soviet Studies, 1962 (October). 138–57.
Bright, W. (ed.) (1966), Sociolinguistics. Proceedings of the UCLA Sociolinguistics Conference, 1964, Janua Linguarum, Series Major, 20, Mouton, The Hague.
Cobarrubias, J. and Fishman, J. (eds) (1983), Progress in Language Planning, Mouton de Gruyter.
Comrie, B. (1981), The Languages of the Soviet Union, Cambridge University Press.
Desheriev, Iu.D. (1976), Zakonomernosti razvitii literaturnykh iazykov narodov SSSR v sovetskuiu enokhu. Moscow.
Eastman, Carol M. (1983), Language Planning: an introduction, Chandler and Sharp, Novato, California.
Fasold, R. (1984), The Sociolinguistics of Society, Vol. 1, London, Basil Blackwell.
Ferguson, C. (1962), ‘The language factor in national development’, Anthropological Linguistics, 4 (1), 23–7.
Fishman, J. (1983), ‘Progress in Language Planning: A Few Concluding Sentiments’ in Cobarrubias, J. and Fishman, J. (eds), Progress in Language Planning, 381.
Haugen, E. (1966), ‘Linguistics and Language Planning’, in Bright, W. (ed.), Sociolinguistics, 50–71.
Isaev, M. (1970), Sto tridtsat’ ravnopravnykh, ‘Nauka’, Moskva.
Isaev, M. (1979), Iazvkovoe stroitels’tvo v SSSR, Moskva.
Ivanov, V. V. and Mikhailovskaia, N. G. (1982), ‘Russkii iazyk kak sredstvo mezhnatsional’nogo obshcheniia: aktual’nye problemy i aspekty’, Voprosy iazykoznaniia, 6, 3–13.
Jernudd, B. and Das Gupta, J. (1971), ‘Towards a Theory of Language Planning’ in Rubin, J. and Jernudd, B. Can Language Be Planned?, 195–215.
Kirkwood, M. (forthcoming), ‘Russian Language Teaching Policy in Soviet Central Asia 1958–86’, Paper presented at the II Seminar on Central Asian Studies. University of London (SOAS). April 1987.
Kozlov. V. (1988) The Peoples of the Soviet Union. Hutchinson.
Kreindler, I. (1982), The Changing Status of Russian in the Soviet Union, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 33, The Hague.
Lenin, V. (1961), ‘Kriticheskie zametki po natsional’nomu voprosu’, Polnoe sobraine sochinenii, tom 24, Moskva, 113–50.
Lenin, V. (1961), ‘Nuzhen li obiazatel’nyi gosudarstvennyi iazyk?’, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, torn 24, Moskva, 293–5.
Lenin, V. (1961), ‘Zakonoproekt o natsional’nom ravnopravii’, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii. torn 25, Moskva, 16–18.
Lenin, V. (1961), ‘K voprosu o natsional’noi politike’, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii. torn 25. 64–7.
Lenin, V. (1961), ‘Proekt zakona o ravnopravii natsii i o zashchite pray natsional’nykh men’shinstv’, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, torn 25, Moskva, 135–7.
Lenin, V. (1961), ‘O prave natsii na samoopredelenii’, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, torn 25, Moskva, 255–320.
Lewis, E. Glynn (1972), Multilingualism in the Soviet Union, The Hague.
Lewis, E. Glynn (1983), ‘Implementation of Language Planning in the Soviet Union’, in Cobarrubias, J. and Fishman, J. (eds), Progress in Language Planning, Mouton, 309–25.
Ray, Punya Sloka (1963), Language standardisation, Mouton, The Hague.
Rice, F. (ed.) (1962) Study of the Role of Second Languages in Asia, Africa and Latin America, Centre for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC.
Rubin, J. (1971), ‘Evaluation in Language Planning’, in Rubin, J. and Jernudd, B., Can Language Be Planned?, 217–52.
Rubin, J. and Jernudd, B. (1971), Can Language Be Planned?, University Press of Hawaii.
Tauli, V. (1968), Introduction to a theory of Language Planning, Uppsala.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1990 School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kirkwood, M. (1990). Language Planning: Some Methodological Preliminaries. In: Kirkwood, M. (eds) Language Planning in the Soviet Union. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20301-7_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20301-7_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-20303-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-20301-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)