Language Policy in Britain and France Open Linguisitics Series The Open Linguisitics Series, to which this book makes a significant contribution, is 'open' in two senses. First, it provides an open forum for works associated with any school of linguistics or with none. Linguistics has now emerged from a period in which many (but never all) of the most lively minds in the subject seemed to assume that transformational-generative grammar - or at least something fairly closely derived from it - would provide the main theoretical framework for linguistics for the foreseeable future. In Kuhn's terms, linguistics had appeared to some to have reached the 'paradigm' stage. Reality today is very different. More and more scholars are working to improve and expand theories that were formerly scorned for not accepting as central the particular set of concerns highlighted in the Chomskyan approach - such as Halliday's systemic theory (as mentioned in this book), Lamb's stratificational model and Pike's tagmemics - while others are developing new theories. The series is open to all approaches, then - including work in the generativist-formalist tradition. The second sense in which the series is 'open' is that it encourages works that open out 'core' linguistics in various ways: to encompass discourse and the description of natural texts; to explore the relationship between linguistics and its neighbouring disciplines such as psychology, sociology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, and cultural and literary studies; and to apply it in fields such as education and language pathology. Open Linguistics Series Editor Robin F. Fawcett, University of Wales College of Cardiff Language Policy in Britain and France The Processes of Policy DENNIS AGER CASSELL London and New York Cassell Wellington House, 125 Strand, London WC2R OBB 127 West 24th Street, New York, NY 10011 First published 1996 © Dennis Ager 1996 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Dennis Ager is hereby identified as the author of this work as provided under Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0-304-33759-5 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ager, D. E. Language policy in Britain and France: the processes of policy / D. E. Ager. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 0-304-33759-5 1. Language policy—Great Britain. 2. Language policy—France. 3. Language planning. 4. Political planning. 5. Sociolinguistics. I. Title P119.3.A35 1996 306.4'4941-dc20 Typeset by Textype, Cambridge Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddies Ltd, Guildford and King's Lynn Contents Preface vii Acknowledgements x British and French organisations and abbreviations xi 1 Theoretical considerations: sociolinguistics, policy studies and language planning 1 2 The development of the standard language 29 3 Language policies: the status of languages in Britain and France 40 4 Constituent, corpus and acquisition policies 54 Constituent or administrative policies 54 Corpus policies 64 Acquisition policies 67 An overview of French and British language policies 74 5 The policy process: inputs 76 Literacy 77 Language policy for immigrants 84 6 The policy process: networks 102 Policy networks 102 The civil service 104 7 Networks: other participants 118 Governmental advisory groups 118 Interest and pressure groups 126 VI LANGUAGE POLICY IN BRITAIN AND FRANCE 8 The policy process: negotiation 136 Defining objectives and criteria 136 Stages in negotiation 144 9 The policy process: implementation 155 10 The policy process: implementation and impact 177 Administrative orders 177 The impact of policies 182 11 Comparisons and conclusions 190 Policy processes in France and Britain 190 Language policies in France and Britain 203 References 213 Index of names 223 General index 224 Preface The aim of this book is to investigate how language policies are made in Britain and France, and to compare and contrast the policy-making processes, and to a certain extent the policies, in each country. In order to examine these questions we draw upon the experience of language planning in its attempts to influence language behaviour, and on two main fields of study: policy studies - how governments respond to and manage the political environment; and sociolinguistics - the relationship between language and society. Individuals as well as organised groups have often tried to influence the language behaviour of members of speech communities. Language planners may try hard to specify which language, or variety of language, should be regarded as most prestigious in society, for example by being used in official public documents; which language, or variety of language, should be used in schools, employment or the market-place; whether language change, particularly the development of new vocabulary, can be affected in some way. Using data traditionally derived from the practice of authors, journalists and professional writers, and now, more and more, the recorded spoken language of ordinary people, as well as their own judgements, planners publish dictionaries and grammars to define and circumscribe the language, suggest reforms - for example of spelling or technical terminology - or propose ways of ensuring that 'correct' usage is adhered to. Many language planners aim to help the economic development of a community by planning access to languages of international communication; others are more concerned with the political well-being of multilingual societies. Language planning affects the status of a language or variety of language; the acquisition of language; and the corpus, or structure and forms of language. The study of governmental policy-making in the field of language can be carried out from a variety of points of view, and following many different methods. We have chosen to restrict ourselves to a study mainly concerned with the process of policy-making in each country. Other approaches to policy studies examine the policy environment, institutions conducting Vlll laguepol policy, the specifics of decision-making, or the interplay of social forces and groups within society. Although such approaches are important, we have deliberately chosen to adopt a type of policy analysis which in our view best enables us to understand major differences between France and Britain in this field, and to concentrate on some aspects of the planning process conducted by governments. Language can be regarded as a right, as when people say for example 'minorities have rights to use their language', as a resource ('a multilingual society is better placed to communicate internationally, and the diversity of languages within its borders makes it better able to understand the diversity of mankind'), or as a problem ('the youth of today is unable to express itself clearly, to spell correctly or to write a decent letter'). In all these cases, the relationship between language use, social communities and social attitudes, as studied in sociolinguistics and the sociology of language, is fundamental to an understanding of how language expresses the nature of society, and how social cohesion - or the lack of it - is managed through language. Past and present language policies in both Britain and France reflect these social attitudes - society is constructed through language, while language is itself altered and reinvented by society. The policies examined throughout this book cover a range of authoritative government decisions affecting language. Some of these reflect official views on language as a resource: both British and French governments show - sometimes excessive - pride in the capacities and characteristics of their language. Some have responded to questions of language rights, particularly in policy towards regional and minority languages. Most policy decisions on the standard language have been made as 'solutions' to language problems as they occur. The case studies include the following: Initiating policy (Chapter 5) Literacy in France and Britain Immigrant languages in France and Britain The role of government organisations (Chapters 6 and 7) Spelling reform in France Spreading English or French abroad The role of interest and pressure groups (Chapter 7) Avenir de la Langue Fran^aise The Plain English Campaign Policy negotiation (Chapter 8) Foreign language teaching in France The National Curriculum for English and modern foreign languages in Britain Legislation (Chapter 9) The Toubon law in France The Welsh Language Act in Britain PREFACE IX The impact of policies (Chapter 10) Sexist language in France Industrial Language Training Why have we chosen France and Britain? France and Britain have quite different approaches to policy-making in language. In France, questions of language are important topics of debate, and the government feels it right to intervene in language behaviour to the extent of promoting legislation on the vocabulary and expressions which should be used. In Britain, at least until recently, language was generally assumed to be something in which governments had no role; or at least no overt, declared, political purpose in their actions. These differences provoke a number of questions. How has this contrast arisen? How did present language policies develop? What influences the development of a language policy? Why have the British become aware of language as an object of policy? How is language policy made in each of the countries? How do both governments see the role of language and languages at the moment? How do the French evaluate the success of their language policies? Have there been changes in the way the British, or the French, see their language policy? The similarities between both societies are matched in importance by their differences: they share a common history, their cultural origins are similar, their languages represent centuries of interaction, yet their political, social and intellectual structures, approaches and reflexes reflect often fundamentally opposed views on how society functions and on how language operates. Their two approaches to the management of society, which one could loosely characterise as liberal democracy versus constitutional democracy, are widespread throughout the world. The contrasts and similarities between their language policies both derive from, and shed light on, such analyses. This study first examines the contributions which the activities, theories and approaches of language planning, policy studies and sociolinguistics make to answering these questions. We next review, rapidly, the history and nature of contemporary language policies in each country. The main part of the book examines how the policy process itself operated in relation to a number of recent language issues, starting with the initiation of the question, looking at the networks and communities involved in language policy, examining the process of negotiation and concluding with the implementation of the measures decided on. Finally, we conclude with an assessment of the policies, and of policy-making, in the two countries.