2 - Scoping Language Policies

Summary

This chapter engages with the question of what language policy does by considering what the scope of language policy as a field of inquiry is beyond the traditional focus on the management of ‘named languages’. I look at how language policies in educational context involve privileging particular ‘ways of being’ and managing hierarchies of knowledge and expertise, moving far beyond the mere regulation of ‘language’ use. In other cases, such as in the regulation of interaction on the flight decks of commercial airliners, language policies are part of a broader process of managing relationships, where they help establish an overall set of values. Language policies are also involved in managing visibility by controlling what voices are heard in public discourse, not only with regard to what ‘languages’ may be used, but also more broadly with regard to what topics may be discussed, what behaviours are to be engaged in and which are to be avoided. Finally, language policies manage access by helping create boundaries in discourse, associated with beliefs about what it means to be a member of a community.