States of Language Policy
Theorizing Continuity and Change

Explains how and why language policies change in a wide variety of contexts using tools from historical institutionalism.

Ericka Albaugh (Edited by), Linda Cardinal (Edited by), Rémi Léger (Edited by)

9781009264723, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 November 2024

326 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.3 cm, 0.59 kg

Why do some countries have one official language while others have two or more? Why do Indigenous languages have official status in some countries but not others? How do we theorize about continuity and change when we explain state language policy choices? Combining both the theory and practice of language regimes, this book explains how the relationship between language, politics, and policy can be studied. It brings together a globally representative team of scholars to look at the patterns of continuity and change, the concept of state traditions, and notions of historical legacies, critical juncture, path dependency, layering, conversion, and drift. It contains in-depth case studies from a multitude of countries including Algeria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Norway, Peru, Ukraine, and Wales, and across both colonial and postcolonial contexts. Wide-ranging yet accessible, it is essential reading for practitioners and scholars engaged in the theory and practice of language policies.

Introduction
1. Introduction: theorizing continuity and change in states' language policy Ericka Albaugh, Linda Cardinal and Rémi Léger
Part I. Routes of Change: 2. Universalism as a state tradition in Norway and its impact on language policy choices Eli Bjørhusdal
3. Policy change in a language regime: institutionalism, incrementalism and agency Martin Normand
4. The decline and rebirth of Manx Gaelic: state traditions and language change in a small island context Gary Wilson
5. Cultural heterogeneity and language regime transformation: the Ukrainian case Bartosz Hordecki
6. Language regime change in Peru: authoritarian state traditions and unexpected effects of democratic reforms Stéphanie Rousseau and Eduardo Dargent
Part II. Dependent Relationships: 7. African state traditions and language regimes Ericka Albaugh
8. Algeria's language regime: a case of postcolonial linguistic Jacobinism Linda Cardinal and Djamel Chikh
9. Language politics in India: tradition, regime and diversity Selma K. Sonntag
10. Lost in traditions? continuity and change in Hong Kong's language regime Jean-François Dupré
Part III. Levels of Governance: 11. Indigenous reconciliation and the limits of Canada's language regime Miranda Huron
12. State tradition and language revitalization in wales Huw Lewis and Elin Royles
13. Language regime change and Europeanization: the council of Europe, Slovakia and the treatment of Romani Milena Pandy
14. Language regimes, global English and national public education Peter Ives
Conclusion
15. Language and politics: state traditions and language policy André Lecours.

Subject Areas: Sociolinguistics [CFB]