28 Revision: Sections 1 and 2

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28 Revision Sections 1 and 2

• Mohammed Sameer

2
Vernacular Lingua Franca

• V used to speak to other people in ones own
  community.
• LF used to speak to people from other
  communities who speak a different vernacular.
• A few Pacific vernaculars have also been used (or
  are being used) as lingua francas.
• A vernacular can also function as a lingua franca.

3
Metropolitan Languages

• Metropolitan languages are the languages of the
  former or present colonial powers. For example,
  French English in the Pacific.
• Major lingua francas as well, especially English.

4
Intrusive Languages

• These are new languages brought into a country as
  a result of
• Colonialism (in Fiji, English)
• Migration (in Fiji, Chinese, Fiji Hindi)

5
National Language

• A language which is given official priority by
  the government of the country concerned.
• Official priority official recognition of one
  indigenous language as being more important than
  all other indigenous languages.

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Official Language

• Any foreign language which is recognised as
  official by the language policy of the country
  concerned.
• Recognised as official used in at least some
  aspects of government, or is important in the
  education system, or both.

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Provincial Language

• Any indigenous language, other than the national
  language, which is recognised by official or
  educational policy.
• Typically this is used in only part of the
  country it may be the language of government and
  education in one of more provinces/states, but
  not in the whole country.
• In the Pacific, only FSM has this.

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Minority Language

• Any other indigenous language which does not have
  official recognition at the national or
  provincial level.

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Constitution

• Status may or may not be in the constitution.
• Constitutionally recognised national (or
  official) language.
• De facto national (or official) language
  government gives priority to one but no legal
  basis.

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• Role of national language?
• To unify the polyethnic state.
• Tagalog threatened the others of linguistic
  imperialism.
• The P government changed it to Pilipino in 1959.
• Pilipino is considered under-developed to tackle
  science-related issues. So should it be used as
  the language of instruction in schools?

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So, in Polynesia and Micronesia

• The vernacular is generally used for
  interpersonal relationships, and for the more
  traditional areas of activity.
• The metropolitan language is more important in
  government, business, and the later stages of
  education.

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Policy

• A course of action which has been laid down by
  some authority, and which is pursued for
  particular ends.
• Language policy statements about the use, form
  or role of various languages in the territory
  under the jurisdiction of the government
  concerned.

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Unofficial Policy?

• Policies are often created based on practice.
• Not all practices are officially stated, but they
  are generally accepted by people.
• For example, where does it say that when you are
  talking to a group of professionals in a
  professional setting, you must use formal
  language?
• Reaching out to people rural audiences?

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Formulating Language Policy

• Assess the current language situation.
• Formulate goals.
• Develop plans to put the goals into practice.

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1 Assessing the Current Situation

• Language Use Survey
• Basic facts
• What languages are used, and by how many people?
• In what domains do people use these languages?
• What are current literacy rates in these
  languages?
• Multilingualism
• To what extent do people use two or more
  languages?
• In what domains, and in what parts of the
  country, does this happen?
• What language or languages are involved as second
  languages or lingua francas?

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• Language Attitude Survey
• Attitudes to peoples own language.
• What are peoples attitudes to the languages
  which they use?
• Do they hold them in high regard or not?
• Why?
• Attitudes to other peoples languages.
• What are peoples attitudes to other languages
  spoken in the country (including foreign
  languages)?
• Are there any strong positive or negative
  feelings?
• Why?
• So, why do you think language use and language
  attitude surveys are important in helping to
  formulate language policy?

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2 Formulating Goals

• In South East Asia
• To promote national identity through a national
  language.
• To promote contact with the outside world through
  the use of a language of wider communication
  (usually English or some other European
  language).
• To design an education system that would best
  achieve these goals, as well as other goals that
  a particular country might have.

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• In Australia
• To develop competence in English.
• To provide for the maintenance and development of
  languages other than English.
• To provide services in languages other than
  English.
• To provide opportunities for Australians to learn
  second languages.
• Why do you think the language policy goals are
  different in these two areas?

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3 Developing Broad Plans

• Each country is unique culturally,
  linguistically, sociologically, politically,
  economically, and historically.
• What works in one country may not necessarily
  work in another.
• There are two different kinds of plans

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• PLAN 1 Decisions regarding language use.
• The government or some other authority lays down
  the law as to what language or languages should
  be used in domains like the following
• government at various levels
• the law and the court system and
• the formal education system.
• COMPULSION

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• PLAN 2 Promotion of one or more languages.
• This means what the government, or some other
  authority, actively encourages the use of a
  particular language in domains like
• the media
• business and the commercial sector and
• non-formal education.
• ENCOURAGEMENT

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The Pacific

• Education
• official policies probably put in place by
  decrees.
• This involves compulsion, but most people agree
  with it.
• Apart from Education
• Probably no formal policies exist.
• If there are policies, then probably no thorough
  assessment of the current situation was performed.

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Language Planning

• A complex process.
• Involves deliberate language change in the
  systems of language code.
• Changes made by organisations specially
  established for this.
• They develop language problem-solving strategies
  that are future oriented.

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Policy vs Planning

• Language Policy establishment of the goals and
  the broad, general plans.
• Language Planning details of activities carried
  out so as to achieve the goals of the policy.
• Policy is about formulating general goals and
  plans planning is about putting those goals and
  plans into practice.

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Important factors involved in language planning.

• A planning body.
• Identification of language problems.
• Context (every nation is different)
• Status planning (national or official language?).
• Corpus planning (standardisation).

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Section 2 Language and Formal Education
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Language Medium and Subject

• How is languages used in the formal education
  system?
• Medium of instruction (or medium) language used
  by teachers to talk to students.
• Subject of study (or subject) something which is
  taught and learned.

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• A multilingual education policy uses more than
  one language as medium of instruction.
• These languages official languages or official
  language plus vernaculars.
• Fiji vernacular for the first three years in
  primary school, English thereafter.

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Tonga

• Multilingual education policy.
• Tongan and English are used as medium of
  instruction.
• Most primary schools (esp. Government ones) teach
  in Tongan. English is used in high schools.
• Transitional Multilingual Policy one language
  used in the beginning (vern. / national) and a
  second used later (official).
• Bilingual Education Policy two languages used
  together, side by side, to teach the same
  students in the same classroom. Some Australian
  Aboriginal schools have this.

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Choice of Medium

• What factors need to be taken into account in
  choosing the medium of instruction for an
  education system?
• Efficiency practical, economic and political
  factors.
• Adequacy linguistic factors.
• Acceptability social, psychological and cultural
  factors.

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Choice of Subjects Policy-makers need to address
the following

• What language(s) should be taught as subjects?
• Should one or more of these languages be
  compulsory?
• At what level of the education system should each
  of these language be introduced?
• What level of proficiency should be expected of
  students studying each language?
• GOALS
• Why should a certain language be studied?
• To what use do we want students to put their
  knowledge of that language?

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Teaching Vernacular Goals

• To promote national or regional identity.
• To preserve culture.
• To develop culture.
• To maintain and increase the status of a
  particular language.

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Why teach a Metropolitan Language?

• It is the language in which higher levels of
  education are conducted.
• It is the language in which some areas of
  government and business are run.
• It is a language which provides access to
  information in the outside world, and contacts
  with people in other countries, or other parts of
  the same country.

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Why teach a foreign language?

• It may be the dominant language in the region.
  For example, New Caledonia need English to
  communicate with its neighbours.
• Language important for trade (eg Japanese,
  Chinese)
• Important world languages (eg. Spanish)
• Should Pacific languages be taught in other
  Pacific countries? Why?

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In the Pacific

• The formal education sector is, at one and the
  same time,
• the formulator of the language policy
• the implementer of the plans which derive from
  that policy and
• an intervening variable which influences and
  determines the direction and therefore success
  of the policy and the plans which derive from
  it.

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Language-without-Planning Situations

• In some countries, the role of the education
  sector in language policy and planning matters is
  a de facto one.
• No organisation is specifically charged with the
  this task, and since the school system deals with
  language in any formal way, it ends up doing
  language planning (but is uncoordinated and
  without any philosophy or rationale).

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The dangers of leaving it all to the education
sector.

• Language has a crucial role in many other public
  domains (apart from education)
• the media
• the arts (films, books, etc)
• the law (laws, court system, etc)
• science and technology (local research,
  development, international contacts) and
• religious organisations (sacred books, hymn
  books, etc).

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• The language use patterns and the training needs
  of people in these sectors will all be different.
• Say, if Tongan became language of law in Tonga,
  then a policy will need to be established to
  develop legal terminology.
• Specific implementation strategies will also be
  needed. Should the education sector be
  responsible for this?
• So what do you think are the dangers of letting
  the education sector develop policies?

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The Roles of the Formal Education Sector

• preparation of curricula
• training of teachers
• assessment of students and
• evaluation of progress or success.

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Factors that contribute to the use of vernaculars
in formal situations

• Presence of a standardised variety
• Widespread use in the community
• Has status/prestige and links with traditional
  culture and national identity
• A ready supply of native speakers who can teach
  it and
• Availability of books/materials

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Should the medium of instruction, particularly in
early education, be the vernacular or English in
the Pacific?

• People get emotional, and often refuse to accept
  the validity of other points of view.
• What do you think are the advantages and the
  disadvantages of using the vernacular as the
  medium of instruction in Pacific schools?

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Possible Advantages

• The classroom is a less threatening environment
  language known to students, children understand
  whats going on.
• Literacy is achieved more quickly because the
  children can speak the language.
• Learning will be faster and easier (because of
  the above two factors).
• The school has a closer link with the community
  (maintains the culture of the community).

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Possible Disadvantages/Problems

• The cost of producing materials time, money and
  effort.
• There may be insufficient trained teachers (
  insufficient students speaking a particular
  language).
• Trained teachers may want to work elsewhere in
  the country and not in their areas.
• The languages involved may not have enough
  vocabulary resources to cater for some concepts.
• Parents may feel their children are getting a
  second-class education a non-prestigious
  vernacular may be used.

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• What do you think are the advantages and the
  disadvantages of using the metropolitan language
  as the medium of instruction in Pacific schools?

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Possible Advantages

• Ready supply of materials, trained teachers.
• Language used in higher education/ government
  jobs.
• Uniform educational system across the nation.
• Easy and cheap to run, plus easy to draw
  resources from outside the country.

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Possible Disadvantages/Problems

• Students have to learn both the language and the
  skills of reading/writing so literacy is
  difficult to achieve.
• Links between the school and community, and
  childrens formal education and traditional
  culture more difficult to maintain.
• Education not of much value to those who will not
  go beyond primary level.
• Materials may not be culturally or contextually
  appropriate for the children.

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The Value of English

• Language in which most information is made
  available.
• Language which is used by many Pacific islanders
  to talk to each other.
• Language of advancement higher education, better
  paid jobs.
• Link with the outside world language of modern,
  western ideas and developments.

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The Value of Vernaculars

• Binds the Pacific people to their culture and
  traditions.
• They express traditional culture.
• They express social identity (whether regional or
  national).
• What is the goal for education system? Who, and
  what, is education for?

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A Standard Variety of a Language

• The form of a language that is accepted as being
  correct and appropriate for use in the public
  domain education, broadcasting, publishing,
  public speeches and so on.
• Form of the language the writing and spelling
  system (the orthography), the pronunciation, the
  vocabulary and the grammar of that language.

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Why Standardise a Language?

• Practical for use if print and voice media,
  education.
• Unification unifies people who speak different
  dialects/varieties.
• Prestige people respect a standard language more
  than a nonstandardised one.

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Disadvantages of Standardising

• Regional antagonism it may divide people. NSD
  speakers may feel they are being looked down
  upon.
• Loss of Identity NSD speakers may see it as a
  threat to their unique social and cultural
  identity.
• Problems with Early Education children may need
  to learn the Standard variety.
• Despite these problems, the practical advantages
  outweigh the disadvantages.

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Steps in the Standardisation Process
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In language planning

• Elaboration or modernisation usually refers to
  the development of vocabulary or terminology that
  can be used in the classroom and in newspapers
  and books.
• Areas popular music, sports and government,
  agriculture, business, industry, engineering and
  medicine, etc.
• You may feel negatively about certain
  developments, but language still needs to cater
  for them. For example, nuclear testing.

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Sources of Terms

• The three major ways of developing the vocabulary
  of a language are
• Extending the meanings of existing words in the
  language
• Using compounds based on existing words in the
  language and
• Copying words from some other language.

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1. Extension of Meanings

• - an existing word in the language is used to
  refer to a new concept, usually because of some
  similarity in appearance or function.
• This results in the meaning of the word being
  extended to include the new concept.
• Computer ? originally meant a person who works
  out mathematical sums. Now, it means the
  machine as well.

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2. Compounding

• A new term can also be created by combining
  existing words or parts of words to describe the
  new concept in some way.
• Examples from English
• babysit baby sit
• spaceship space ship

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3. Copying

• - refers to taking a word from one language and
  introducing it into another, often adapting the
  pronunciation and spelling to fit the system of
  the copying language.
• Sometimes called BORROWING.

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The work of language planners

• Where several words exist referring to one
  concept, one is standardised.
• Decide on new terms where there arent existing
  words.
• Which option to use extension of meaning,
  compounding or copying?
• Useful to make a distinction between words which
  are going to be used in common, everyday language
  AND words which are only going to be used in
  specialised field.

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Set 1 Everyday Terminology

• Should be made as easily understandable as
  possible, especially for those who are not
  well-educated.
• In such cases, it is probably better to either
  use extension of meaning or compounding.
• Here is an example from PNG. New terms were
  developed to cater for those who didnt
  understand much English

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Tok Pisin changes
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Set 2 Specialist Terminology

• Used by highly educated people or by experts in
  field.
• Scientific/Technological terms are used
  internationally.
• These words are borrowed, but with slight
  adjustments made to the way they are spelt and
  pronounced. But are easily recognisable.

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Planners may choose to use a spelling that is
closer to the international form, even if it
diverges slightly from the actual pronunciation
in the language. Here are some examples from
Bahasa Malaysia, showing first how the word would
be spelled according to its pronunciation, and
then the spelling that has actually been chosen.
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Implementation

• Any vocabulary plan suggested needs to be
  IMPLEMENTED this is done by publicising
• Dictionaries for school students
• Spelling lists primary school students / adults
  aiming to learn to read and write in the language
  for the first time.
• Specialist list of terminologies