LANGUAGE PLANNING AS A BRANCH OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS

Abstract

This transcript of a talk on language planning as a branch of sociolinguistics reviews various ways linguists define language and seek lo account for its appropriate use. For a language planner, at issue is language use in context. Planners need lo pay attention to the changes that naturally occur in language and allow for them, or steer them in certain directions. Language planning involves the interaction of a number of processes such as revival, modernization, purification, standardization, the production of special lexicons, or Ihn development or reform of orthographies. It is essential that planning makes use of common sense and is attuned to what people will and will not do when they use language.