National Languages and Language Planning

National Languages and Language Planning

In sociolinguistics the distinction between a national language and an official language is generally made along the affective referential dimension, or more precisely the ideological instrumental dimension. A national language is the language of a political, cultural and social unit. It is generally developed and used as a symbol of national unity. Its functions are to identify the nation and unite the people of the nation. An official language, by contrast, it simply a language which may be used for government business. Its function is primarily utilitarian rather than symbolic. It is possible for one language to serve both functions.

Language planning is defined most simply as deliberate language change. Language planners generally focus on specific language problems. Their role is to develop a policy of language use which will solve the problems appropriately in particular speech communities.

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Pidgin and Creoles

Name 

Pidgins and Creoles

I.       Pidgins

·         Pidgins Development

A pidgins is a language which has no native speakers. Pidgins develop as a means of communication between people who do not have a common language. Pidgins seems particularly likely to arise when two groups with different language are communicating in a situation where there is also a third dominant language. On sea costs in multilingual contexts, pidgins developed as trade, who used a colonial language. Initially, pidgins develop with a narrow range of functions. Those who used them have other language too, so the pidgin is an addition to their linguistic repertoire used for specific purposes.

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II.    Creoles

A Creole is a pidgin which has acquired native speakers. They are learned by children as their first language and used in a wide range of domains. As a result of their status as some group’s first language, creoles also differ from pidgins in their range of functions, in their structure and in some cases in the attitudes expressed towards them. A creole is a pidgin which has expanded in structure and vocabulary to express the range of meanings and serve the range of functions required of a first language.

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Language Maintenance and Shift

Language Maintenance and Shift

Language maintenance generally refers to the effort to maintain or to defend a language from the extinction.

Language shift generally refers to the process by which one language displaces another in the linguistic repertoire.

Language shift happen commonly in three major areas:

1.      Migrant minorities

2.      Non-Migrant communities

3.      Migrant majorities

 

Language Death and Loss

Language death has occurred when a language is no longer spoken naturally anywhere in the world. The process of language death for the language comes about through the kind of gradual loss of fluency and competence by its speaker.

 

Factors Contributing to Language Shift

v  Economic, Social and Political Factors

v  Demographic Factors

 

Language Revival

Generally, language revival is the result of the efforts of maintaining the language, which has been death or loss.