Language Policy and Planning in Mainland Southeast Asia
Language Policy and Planning in Mainland Southeast Asia
- David BradleyDavid BradleyDepartment of Linguistics, La Trobe University
Summary
In five mainland Southeast Asian nations—Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam—there are national languages and language policies. There is a distinction between language policy (decisions about language by governments and official bodies) and language planning (the implementation of this policy), which emerged from their history and development.
Each modern nation has a dominant standard-majority language with a long literary tradition and various regional sub-varieties. Each nation also has various ethnic-minority groups, including some who live in several of these nations and also in China. Official recognition of and policy for minority languages differs, but in general there is little provision for them in education or elsewhere. Two of these minority languages, Mon and Cham, were the languages of former kingdoms in the area.
Four countries give explicit constitutional recognition to the national language; in Thailand this is simply assumed. In each country, there have been centralized efforts to standardize and develop the national language and to expand its use. In three, Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia, these efforts are now under the guidance of a separate official-language-policy body; Laos had such a body up to 1975. In Vietnam, language policy is among the responsibilities of the Ministry of Education. In each country, the ministry of education and other parts of government play a key role in language planning.
Subjects
- Southeast Asia
