Ideology and Image Britain and Language

by Ager, Dennis E.

• ISBN13: 9781853596599
• ISBN10: 1853596590
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-05-21
• Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Summary

This text describes and evaluates recent language planning and policy in the British Isles. Issues including minority language rights, language resources for the state and the citizen, and problems such as the standard English battle and policy for Welsh and Gaelic are analysed against the background of detailed study of contemporary British society and politics.

Author Biography

Dennis Ager is Emeritus Professor of Modern Languages at Aston University, UK

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Acknowledgements	p. viii
Tables	p. ix
Figures	p. x
Introduction	p. 1
Society and Language	p. 2
Language Planning and Language Policy	p. 5
Motivation	p. 8
This book	p. 12
Language Communities	p. 15
The standard English community	p. 19
Communities using rural and social dialects of English	p. 25
The territorial communities	p. 32
The non-territorial communities	p. 34
Communities, individuals and linguistic repertoires	p. 40
Language Attitudes	p. 43
Attitudes towards English	p. 44
Attitudes towards the territorial languages	p. 55
Attitudes towards non-territorial languages	p. 61
Planning and policy: from 880 to the 1950s	p. 63
What actors attempted to influence language for what ends?	p. 63
Social, political and economic aims	p. 72
Planners: the state, social categories and individuals	p. 74
Non-political language planning	p. 77
Individuals and Purism	p. 78
Societies and associations	p. 84
The publishing industry	p. 87
The Media	p. 87
Dictionaries, grammars and style manuals	p. 90
Language rights	p. 91
Human Rights Act, 1998	p. 92
Sexism in language	p. 95
Other discrimination in language	p. 97
The maintenance of non-indigenous languages	p. 100
Motivation in rights	p. 104
Language as a resource for citizens	p. 107
Adult literacy	p. 107
Clarity in the civil service: the Plain English Campaign	p. 113
Political discourse	p. 117
The Better English Campaign	p. 119
Language as a resource for the state	p. 123
English Language Teaching and the British Council	p. 123
Foreign languages in education	p. 132
Motivation in resource-oriented language policy	p. 140
Language as a political problem	p. 143
Standard English and the national curriculum	p. 143
Multiculturalism	p. 150
The territorial languages and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages	p. 158
Wales	p. 160
Scotland	p. 165
Northern Ireland	p. 167
Motivation in problem-solving policy	p. 170
British language policy and planning in perspective	p. 173
International comparisons	p. 173
Motivation in British LPP	p. 182
Language and power	p. 184
Appendix	p. 189
References	p. 198
Index	p. 205
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