The Four Common and
Co-existing Forces of
Language Policies at the
National Level
Presented by Group 2
Spolsky (2009) proposes that language policies
at the national level are driven by four common
and co-existing forces:
01. 02. 03. 04.
An Increasing interest
National (or ethnic) A nation’s sociolinguistic
The role of English as in linguistic rights
ideology or claims of situation
a global language within the human and
identity
civil rights framework
National (or ethnic) ideology or
claims of identity
National ideology and identity refers to the infrastructure
of beliefs and principles relevant to a collective psyche
that may manifest in language policy.
Infrastructure=System
Spolsky reflects on northern African nations where
post-colonial Arabisation instituted Arabic as an
official language on the primacy of the Qur’an in
national and cultural identity.
As we all know, language is not only the tool of
human communication of information but also
the carrier of cultural transmission.
The ethnic language is a medium for maintaining
ethnic identity, heritage culture, and an exchange
of information. It can keep the behavior,
emotion, and cognition of the ethnic members in
line, and through the ethnic language, minorities
can enhance their ethnic identity
(Yang, 2013).
In the context of globalization, China, as a multi-ethnic
country, has developed a series of new problems caused by
social change and economic development. In particular,
many ethnic minorities in China began to face the two
serious problems of ethnic identity and language
endangerment because of cultural reorganization.
The role of English as a
global language
English, being the first world language, is said
to be the first global lingua franca and the most
widely used language in the world in
international trade, diplomacy, mass
entertainment, international telecommunications,
and scientific publications publishing
newspapers and other books.
The role of English refers to what Spolsky (2004)
calls the ‘tidal wave of English that is moving into
almost every sociolinguistic repertoire’ throughout
the global language ecology. As the language of
global communication, English has come to index a
cosmopolitan social and economic mobility.
Roles of English
• Lingua franca for communication
• Science and Technology
• Education
• Business
• Employment
• Press and Media
• Entertainment
• Travel and Tourism
• Internet
A Nation’s
sociolinguistic situation
What is Sociolinguistics?
Sociolinguistics is the study of language in
relation to social factors, including differences of
regional, class, and occupational dialect, gender
differences, and bilingualism.
A Nation’s Sociolinguistic
Situation The sociolinguistic situation refers to ‘the number
and kinds of languages, the
number and kinds of speakers of each, the
communicative value of each language both inside and
outside the community being studied’ (Spolsky 2004:
219).
This is not just concerned with the factual
sociolinguistic setting, but also with subjective
perceptions about the importance of specific languages.
An increasing interest in
linguistic rights within the
human and civil rights
framework
The final factor, Spolsky (2004) claims, is the
increasing global interest in
‘linguistic pluralism and an acceptance of the
need to recognize the rights of individuals and
groups to continue to use their own languages’.
Language is positioned as an element of human
rights, urging nations to offer language rights to
their minorities in some way, such as provisions
for
minority language- medium schooling (Spolsky
2004).
In particular, the 1966 International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights and the 1992 Declaration
on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or
Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities
(hereinafter: United Nations Minorities
Declaration) recognize and protect the rights of
persons belonging to minorities. In practice,
however, these rights are far from being realized.
Scope of Minority Rights
Protection
Promotion and protection of
Survival and Existence
the identity of minorities
Effective and meaningful Equality and non-
participation discrimination
International Organizations that have the
supranational power over matters related to
minority rights protection
some of the main sources of minority rights:
United Nations General Assembly
United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization(UNESCO)
Office of the United Nations
Commissioner for Human RightsHigh
Inter Agency Support Group(IASG)
Etc..
Conclusion:
Language policies are born amidst the complex
interplay of social, cultural, religious and political
forces. With this in mind, Bernard Spolsky
theorises that the language policy of any
independent nation is driven, at its core, by four
co-occurring conditions—national ideology,
English in the globalisation process, a nation’s
attendant sociolinguistic situation, and the
internationally growing interest in the linguistic
rights of minorities.(Spolsky in Language policy,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004).
References
Spolsky, B. (2012). The Four Common and Co-
Existing Forces of Language Policies at The
National
Level.https://www.scribd.com/document/6238032
36/The-Four-Common-and-Co-existing-Forces-
of-Language-Policies-at-the-National-Level
