The significance of activist language policies in public debate – a concern for language planning agencies

Bibliographic Data

ID8250029
AuthorsMats Landqvist (0000-0003-1538-7095, Södertörn University, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume5
Issue1
Pages28-47
Publication date2021-04-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Language and Discrimination (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2397-2645 • E-ISSN: 2397-2637
PublisherEquinox Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1558/jld.18282
OpenAlexW3158980467
LanguageEN
References cited25

This article discusses the relationship between official language planning and policies concerning language usage that are increasingly emerging in anti-discriminatory contexts. It is suggested that the social function of lexical meaning needs to be given more attention, i.e. the meaning that arises from a person's choice of words, especially in public discourse and debate. For this reason, it is further suggested that public debates be analysed with metapragmatic concepts providing useful links between lexical indexes to (ideological) loyalties and social identity or attribution of social identity. The notion of a diverse meaning allocation is contextualised in the principles governing official language planning agencies in Sweden. It is concluded that the prevalence of, for example, plain language principles in official language planning may be balanced with a more complex policy, taking a larger span of potential lexical significance into consideration

Attribution · Ideology · Language planning · Language policy · Linguistics · Political science · Politics · Public policy · Public relations · Sociology · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Gender Studies in Language · Law · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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