Development and the national language question: a case study

• Djité, Paulin G. ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Western Sydney

     University of Western Sydney

     Australia

     
• Localización: International journal of the sociology of language, ISSN 0165-2516, Nº. 212, 2011 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Untrodden Paths in Linguistic Identity Research), págs. 43-54
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Having gone through a colonial history and colonial language policies similar to those of many African countries, Cambodia, the Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam have all chosen a different path when it comes to language policy, opting against retaining a European language (i.e., English or French) and choosing instead Khmer, Lao, Myanma and Vietnamese respectively, as their national and official languages.

    Taking a closer look at the linguistic situations in these countries, this paper asks whether a national language policy makes a difference when it comes to a multilingual context. In other words, is there a perceptible difference in the language policies of these countries and those of most African countries that can be attributed to the choice of the national and/or official language? More importantly, can a national/official language policy resolve the fundamental issues of development in multilingual contexts?