Language Policy A Slim Guide

This book offers an accessible introduction to the main issues in language policy today, and to the origins and conceptual foundations of the relationship between language and the state. Florian Coulmas draws on specific examples from around the world to explore how countries make decisions about which language - and which variety or form of that language - should be used for key functions such as primary education, government administration, and the law. The book provides historical background to shed light on present-day policy disputes concerning language, and looks at how the resulting decisions are implemented in schools and other institutions. A common thread that runs through the chapters is the question of whether the involvement of the government in language regulation is a necessity, a blessing, or a curse. Written in a concise and engaging style, Language Policy: A Slim Guide is suitable for readers from all backgrounds who are interested in the interaction between language and politics.

1 - Why language policy?
2 - Basic concepts and theories
3 - Language conflicts
4 - Normalization and standardization
5 - Language ideologies
6 - Agents of language policy
7 - International language regimes
8 - Language policy and the wealth of nations
9 - The new multitude-migration, language, and citizenship
10 - Linguistic rights: Language endangerment as a political issue
11 - Anti-discrimination policies

Florian Coulmas is Senior Professor of Japanese Society and Sociolinguistics at the IN-EAST Institute of East Asian Studies, University of Duisburg-Essen. He has prevoiusly held positions at Georgetown University, the National Institute of Japanese Language and Linguistics, and Chuo University. He is the author of the OUP volumes Guardians of Language: Twenty Voices Through History (2016), An Introduction to Multilingualism (2017), Identity: A Very Short Introduction (2019), and Language, Writing, and Mobility: A Sociological Perspective (2022).