In Japan, public attitudes towards loanwords are not necessarily positive. However, the country does not have a language regulating governmental body that makes a great effort to translate the...Show moreIn Japan, public attitudes towards loanwords are not necessarily positive. However, the country does not have a language regulating governmental body that makes a great effort to translate the continuously growing amount of western terminology into Japanese. This seeming inconsistency can be attributed to a combination of circumstances. Firstly, those undesirable outlooks towards loanwords have not necessarily formed a trigger for language policy in Japan. Secondly, language policy in Japan has had a clear emphasis on practical matters (e.g. communication) in recent decades and is seldom ideology-based. Thirdly, the current situation in Japan becomes clearer from the perspective of its history, geography, law and the linguistics of its language.Show less
This dissertation discusses French language policy from an ‘ecology of language’ perspective. By adopting a broad definition of language policy and applying Spolsky’s (2004, 2005) forces of...Show moreThis dissertation discusses French language policy from an ‘ecology of language’ perspective. By adopting a broad definition of language policy and applying Spolsky’s (2004, 2005) forces of language policy, consisting of (1) sociolinguistic situation, (2) national identity, (3) globalisation and the spread of English, and (4) interest in linguistic pluralism, to the case of France, it is argued that instead of approaching this case of language policy as a highly successful example of French standardisation, it is more attentive to the linguistic diversity of France to regard it as a case of languages loss, or even a case of systematic ‘linguicide’.Show less
