This course will explore the theory and practice of language policy and planning, from the perspective of recent attempts to revitalise minority languages in contemporary European contexts. The course will cover areas such as: the legal status of languages and language rights; the relationship between linguistic culture, language attitudes and ideologies and language policy; linguistic ecology; language in education; multilingualism as a problem or resource; language minoritisation and endangerment; status planning (including acquisition planning and usage planning); and corpus planning (including standardisation and modernisation).The course will focus on a range of minority language contexts e.g. Scottish Gaelic, Scots (Scotland), Irish (Ireland), Galician, Catalan, Basque (Spain), Breton (France) and Sorbian (Germany).

10 x 1-hour lectures and 10 x 1-hour seminars over both semesters as scheduled in MyCampus.

This is one of the honours options in SMLC and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

GAELIC4040

None

Essay (2000 words) - 50%

Group Project: Poster (group mark 15%); Presentation (each student will talk for 5 minutes) (individual mark 15%).

Reflective report (1000 words) - 20%

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

The course will provide the opportunity to:

■ examine language policy and planning in minority language contexts;

■ introduce the complex factors that go into language planning decisions at local, national and international levels;

■ introduce theoretical and methodological frameworks relating to language policy and planning;

■ examine sociological, psychological, economic and political causes of language decline;

■ examine minority language planning in the context of international best practice;

■ critically assess the arguments for and against reversing the process of language decline in the context of the changing sociolinguistic situations of different European minority languages.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ evaluate the complex factors that go into language planning decisions at local, national and international levels;

■ analyse and synthesise theoretical and methodological frameworks relating to language policy and planning;

■ engage in research on language planning and policy, including data collection, analysis and presentation;

■ assess the current state of minority language planning in the context of international best practice;

■ evaluate the sociological, psychological, economic and political causes of language decline, and critically assess the arguments for and against reversing the process, in the context of the changing sociolinguistic situations of different European minority languages.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.