Language Policy in Britain and France

Description

This text examines the making of language policy. It attempts to define what language policy is, to what it applies, and how various disciplines such as sociolinguistics and the analysis of the political process help in studying language policy and policy-making. An examination of language policy in both Britain and France upto 1995 pinpoints the main charactersitics and study of both the cultural and political environment in which policy-makers work is seen as crucial to understanding. The policy-making process itself is studied in a number of stages: what causes policy-makers to show interest in language questions?; how are language problems identified as such? Case studies illuminate the discussion and provoke comparisons: support for English or French abroad; spelling reform in France; the Toubon law of 1994 and the Welsh Language Act of 1993; language policy for immigrants; sexism in language and government responses to literacy. Finally, the author assesses and compares the policies, and the effectiveness of policy-making, in the two countries.