Language Management

Hardback

Main Details

Title Language Management
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Bernard Spolsky
Physical Properties
Format:Hardback
Pages:322
Dimensions(mm): Height 229,Width 19
Category/GenreSociolinguistics
ISBN/Barcode 9780521516099
ClassificationsDewey:306.449
Audience
Professional & Vocational

Publishing Details

Publisher Cambridge University Press
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publication Date 2 April 2009
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

Language policy is all about choices. If you are bilingual or plurilingual, you have to choose which language to use. Even if you speak only one language, you have choices of dialects and styles. Some of these choices are the result of management, reflecting conscious and explicit efforts by language managers to control the choices. This book presents a specific theory of language management. Bernard Spolsky reviews research on the family, religion, the workplace, the media, schools, legal and health institutions, the military and government. Also discussed are language activists, international organisations, and human rights relative to language, and the book concludes with a review of language managers and management agencies. A model is developed that recognises the complexity of language management, makes sense of the various forces involved, and clarifies why it is such a difficult enterprise.

Author Biography

Bernard Spolsky is Professor Emeritus in the Department of English at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. His recent publications include Language Policy (Cambridge, 2004) and Handbook of Educational Linguistics (with Hult, eds., 2008).

Reviews

'Recommended.' The Times Higher Education Supplement