3 - Situating Language Policies

Summary

This chapter draws a context-driven distinction between two key archetypes of how language policy is done. The first archetype is institutional language policies, which I describe as characterised by the existence of a universal mandate (non-optional membership) and a pre-existing structure of authority (i.e. a hierarchy which is explicitly legislated). The most clear-cut example of this is the modern nation-state, whose power derives from the universal acceptance of the legitimacy of its power to impose measures across a particular geographic area, and from the existence of a set of codified principles by which such power is exercised. The second archetype is community language policies, which occur in social structures where individuals participate in a semi-stable way and which often have a distinct, explicit identity, but in which policies operate in a less predetermined manner. Rather than being legislated, authority to establish and enforce policy is assumed by individuals and is thus open to more negotiation, as is the mandate for any policy to be made in general.