Language Planning and Social Change

Abstract

Language Planning and Social Change by Robert L. Cooper. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989, 187 pp. Reviewed by Leah Wingard University of California, Los Angeles In Language Planning and Social Change, Robert Cooper engages the reader and adds to the field is as he describes the field of language planning literature by synthesizing a thorough and and building a theory of language planning. His work readable account of language planning complete with a variety of concrete, inter- esting examples that span both geography and history. In less than 200 pages. Cooper's book is a methodical step-by-step approach for the beginner to under- chapter by describing the histories of four separate standing the diverse and complex issues in language planning. Cooper starts in the first In colorful and textured detail Cooper recounts Academie fran^ais, the revitalization of Hebrew in Palestine, the American feminist campaign for non-sexist language use, and the Ethiopian mass literacy campaign. These short but interesting histories provide the reader instances of language planning. the formation of the with a sense of the diversity of instances of language planning and chapters, these examples of language planning allow how the goals of each of these campaigns constitute instances of social change. In the subsequent Cooper to consider the com- ponents of a good definition for language planning. These four examples addition- ally provide a shared basis of knowledge for discussion of language planning In throughout the book. Chapter Two, Cooper considers previous work on language planning, as One as he builds a current definition for lan- He examines 12 previous definitions by well-known scholars and shows how many definitions miss crucial components. Cooper constructs his own definition as a synthesis of previous definitions based on the question: Who plans what for whom and howl In considering the question of what. Cooper reviews well as the examples from Chapter guage planning. three central types of planning which include corpus planning, status planning acquisition planning. His own definition concludes the chapter: and Language plan- ning refers to deliberate efforts to influence the behavior of others with respect to the acquisition, structure, or functional allocation of their language codes. (p. 45) The strength of his definition is that it does not limit planning to authoritative is further- agencies or restrict the target or form of planning. Language planning more considered language. to be a type is of influence as opposed to outright change since concerned with maintenance and preservation of much of language planning Issues in Applied Linguistics ISSN 1050-4273 Vol. 9 No. 1998, Regents of the University of California