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8. Language Planning

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The Edinburgh Companion to the Gaelic Language
This chapter is in the book The Edinburgh Companion to the Gaelic Language
CHAPTER 8Language PlanningRobert DunbarINTRODUCTION1In their text on language planning, Kaplan and Baldauf note that ‘[i]n its simplest sense, language planning is an attempt by someone to modify the linguistic behaviour of some community for some reason’ (Kaplan and Baldauf 1997: 3). A slightly different and more technical definition is offered by Cooper, in another important contribution to the litera-ture: ‘[l]anguage planning refers to deliberate efforts to influence the behaviour of others with respect to the acquisition, structure, or func-tional allocation of their language codes’ (Cooper 1989: 45). However, both definitions convey the sense that language planning involves efforts by some actor or actors to influence the linguistic behaviour of some group of people.Understood in this way, language planning has undoubtedly been engaged in by political communities since the earliest of recorded times (Kaplan and Baldauf 1997: ix–x), and it has played a crucial role in the formation of the modern nation state: since the late eighteenth century, governments have frequently sought to develop a standard language and to disseminate it throughout the population as a whole as a means of fostering a common citizenship and identity (May 2001: 52–90; Wright 2004: 42–68). Such language planning has usually had serious negative consequences for other languages used by the population of the particular state.Until quite recently, for example, British language policy provided for the use of English as the sole means by which public affairs was conducted, and promoted the acquisition and ever greater use of English as the common language of the British people. By ensuring that successive generations of Gaelic speakers were fully fluent in English, by restricting the domains2 in which Gaelic could be used, and by ensuring that only English would be used in the most prestigious
© 2022, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh

CHAPTER 8Language PlanningRobert DunbarINTRODUCTION1In their text on language planning, Kaplan and Baldauf note that ‘[i]n its simplest sense, language planning is an attempt by someone to modify the linguistic behaviour of some community for some reason’ (Kaplan and Baldauf 1997: 3). A slightly different and more technical definition is offered by Cooper, in another important contribution to the litera-ture: ‘[l]anguage planning refers to deliberate efforts to influence the behaviour of others with respect to the acquisition, structure, or func-tional allocation of their language codes’ (Cooper 1989: 45). However, both definitions convey the sense that language planning involves efforts by some actor or actors to influence the linguistic behaviour of some group of people.Understood in this way, language planning has undoubtedly been engaged in by political communities since the earliest of recorded times (Kaplan and Baldauf 1997: ix–x), and it has played a crucial role in the formation of the modern nation state: since the late eighteenth century, governments have frequently sought to develop a standard language and to disseminate it throughout the population as a whole as a means of fostering a common citizenship and identity (May 2001: 52–90; Wright 2004: 42–68). Such language planning has usually had serious negative consequences for other languages used by the population of the particular state.Until quite recently, for example, British language policy provided for the use of English as the sole means by which public affairs was conducted, and promoted the acquisition and ever greater use of English as the common language of the British people. By ensuring that successive generations of Gaelic speakers were fully fluent in English, by restricting the domains2 in which Gaelic could be used, and by ensuring that only English would be used in the most prestigious
© 2022, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. Notes on Contributors ix
  4. Acknowledgements xii
  5. Abbreviations xiii
  6. Preface xv
  7. 1. A History of Gaelic to 1800 1
  8. 2. Language in Society: 1800 to the Modern Day 22
  9. 3. Gaelic Place-names 46
  10. 4. Language in Gaelic Literature 63
  11. 5. A’ Ghàidhlig an Canada: Scottish Gaelic in Canada 90
  12. 6. Hebridean and Mainland Dialects 108
  13. 7. The Gaelic Language-Group: Demography, Language-Usage, -Transmission, and -Shift 128
  14. 8. Language Planning 146
  15. 9. Sociolinguistic Ethnography of Gaelic Communities 172
  16. 10. Gaelic Vocabulary 218
  17. 11. Gaelic Orthography: The Drunk Man’s Broad Road 229
  18. 12. Phonology in Modern Gaelic 262
  19. 13. Gaelic Morphology 283
  20. 14. David Adger 304
  21. Index 352
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748637102-012

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. Notes on Contributors ix
  4. Acknowledgements xii
  5. Abbreviations xiii
  6. Preface xv
  7. 1. A History of Gaelic to 1800 1
  8. 2. Language in Society: 1800 to the Modern Day 22
  9. 3. Gaelic Place-names 46
  10. 4. Language in Gaelic Literature 63
  11. 5. A’ Ghàidhlig an Canada: Scottish Gaelic in Canada 90
  12. 6. Hebridean and Mainland Dialects 108
  13. 7. The Gaelic Language-Group: Demography, Language-Usage, -Transmission, and -Shift 128
  14. 8. Language Planning 146
  15. 9. Sociolinguistic Ethnography of Gaelic Communities 172
  16. 10. Gaelic Vocabulary 218
  17. 11. Gaelic Orthography: The Drunk Man’s Broad Road 229
  18. 12. Phonology in Modern Gaelic 262
  19. 13. Gaelic Morphology 283
  20. 14. David Adger 304
  21. Index 352
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