DOCUMENT RESUME ED 104 170 FL 006 842 AUTHOR Ohannessian, Sirirpi, Ed.; And Others TITLE Language Surveys in Developing Nations. Papersand Reports on Sociolinguistic Surveys. PUB DATE 75 NOTE 227p. AVAILABLE FROMCenter for Applied Linguistics,1611 North Kent Street, Arlington, Virginia 22209($8.50) EDRS PRICE Mr-$0.76 RC Not Available from EDRS..PLUS POSTAGE DESCRIPTORS *Developing Nations; Evaluation Methods; Language Patterns; Language Planning: *LanguageResearch; Language Role; *Language Usage;Nultilingualism; Official Languages; Public Policy;Sociocultural Patterns; *Sociolinguistics; *Surveys ABSTRACT This volume is a selection of papers preparedfor a conference on sociolinguistically orientedlanguage surveys organized by the Center for Applied Linguisticsand held in New York in September 1971. The purpose of theconference vas to review the role and function of such language surveysin the light of surveys conducted in recent years. The selectionis intended to give a general picture of such surveys to thelayman and to reflect the aims of the conference. The papers dealwith scope, problems, uses, organization, and techniques of surveys,and descriptions of particular surveys, and are mostly related tothe Eastern Africa Survey. The authors of theseselections are: Charles A. Ferguson, Ashok R. Kelkar, J. Donald Bowen, Edgar C.Polorm, Sitarpi Ohannessiam, Gilbert Ansre, Probodh B.Pandit, William D. Reyburn, Bonifacio P. Sibayan, Clifford H. Prator,Mervyn C. Alleyne, M. L. Bender, R. L. Cooper aLd Joshua A.Fishman. (Author/AN) Ohannessian, Ferquson, Polonic a a Center for Applied Linqirktie,, mit Language Surveys in Developing Nations papersand reportson sociolinguisticsurveys 2a Edited by Sirarpi Ohannessian, Charles A. Ferguson and Edgar C. Polomd Language Surveysin Developing Nations CY tie papers and reports on 49 LL sociolinguisticsurveys U S OE P MAL NT OF NEAL spt PERMISSION TO REPRODUCETMIT. E:W( ATM% II IIWILLFAME COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL SY MICRO NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FICHE ONLY .4A. BEC,N GRANTE10 By EDUCATION e Virke k Pr- t\cVirtti I Iati .4. kitf r.ln:v.J f 'f h h , to E ND ONGANIZAIIGNS OPE RAI NC. 1,NFFk Aorm MFN?S Aotm ¶MF NA -. .1 N.' -1 tioNAt INSTITUTE: Oft taKATION r urertrfri RfPROVIJC /ION OutSIDE t h ' twr ERIC Soorm REputias SIGN Or THE COPYRIGHTOWNER Center for Applied Linguistics: 1975 Copyright j 1975 by the Center for Applied Linguistics 1611 North Kent Street Arlington. Virginia 22209 ISBN: 87281-0.17-2 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number:75-7584 Printed in the iinited States of America Foreword The present volume is the outcome of a small conference on sociolinguistically oriented language surveys which the Center for Applied Linguistics organized under a special award from the Ford Flundation. It was held on September 6 and 7. 1971, at Harrison House, Glen Cove, New Yore. The papers in this volume represent a se- lection of those preparedlor the conference and a few others. The purpose of the conference was to review the role and function of language surveys with a sociolinguistic orientation in the light of experience gained from the Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa (field work on which had just been concluded) and of other surveys conducted in recent years. Since it seemed that more such 'surveys might be conducted in the future, the time was judged appropriate to examine the types and categories into which they fell; the problems in their organization: the methods and techniques used and the disciplines involved in carrying them out. Of special interest to the conference were the ways in which information resulting from such surveys might be utilized, and the impact they might have both on those conducting them and on the areas in which they were conducted. The conference participants in the main were practitioners addressing each other. so that some aspects of sociolinguistic surveys were taken for granted, and others were treated in rather technical fashion. The present selection of papers, in- cluding those not prepared for the conference, is intended to give a general picture of such surveys to the interested layman in addition to reflecting the aims of the conference. For this reason an effort has been made to keep the volume as non-tech- nical as possible. Of the additional papers. the first two by Ferguson and Kelkar have been in- cluded to give a general view of the field. The paper by Reyburn is intended not only to provide information on techniques. but also to give some idea of the type of socio- linguistic information needed for the purposes of a religious group. That by Bender, Cooper and Ferguson has been included as an illustration of the various aspects of a situation that sociolinguistically oriented surveys can study, some of the methods they use. and the contributions the such studies can make to sociolinguistic theory. The Ohannessian and Ansre paper is an attempt at summarizing the practical uses to which the findings of such surveys can be put. Its emphasis is on the educational uses of such surveys. It is hoped that a more general and exhaustive paper will be prepared in time to reflect more adequately uses in such fields as economics and legal and political systems. The volume has general papers dealing with the scope, problems, UM* organiza- tion, and techniques of surveys: descriptions of particular surveys carried out at different times in different parts of the world; and a few miscellaneous papers covering various kinds of surveys. The preponderance of papers related to the iii iv Foreword Eastern Africa Survey is a direct result or the timing of the conference and the experience of the participants. The editors wish to express their thanks to all the authors who have contributed to this volume. They also wish to express their specialappreciation and thanks to Mrs. Marcia Taylor of the Publications Department of the Center for Applied Lin- guistics for her careful and painstaking help in the copy-editing ofthe volume and in its final preparation for publication. Sirarpi Ohannessian, Center for Applied Linguistics Charles A. Ferguson, Stanford University Edgar C. Nom& University of Texas at Austin 6 Table of Contents Foreword iii I. On Sociolinguistically Oriented Language Surveys 1 Clarks A. Ferguson II. The Scope of a Linguistic Survey Ashok R. kelkar III. Organizing International Research in Sociolinguistically Oriented Language Surveys 13 J. I)oisald Bowes IV. Problems and Techniques of a Sociolinguistically Oriented 31 Language Survey! The Case of the Tanzania Survey Edgar C. Palma( V. Some Reflections on the Uses of Sociolinguistically Oriented 51 Language Surveys Sirarpl Obanaesslars sad Gilbert Ansre VI. The Linguistic Survey of IndiaPerspectives on Language 71 Use Prabodb B. Pandit VII. Assessing Multilingualism: An Abridgement of 'Problems 87 and Procedures in Ethnolinguistic Surveys" Williams D. Reyburn VIII.Survey of Language Use and Attitudes Towards Language in 115 the Philippines 11011111e10 P. Slavin IX. The Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern 145 Africa in Retrospect Clifford H. Prator X. Madina: Three Polyglots and Some Implications for Ghana 159 Gilbert Armee XI. Sociolinguistic Research in Latin America 179 Menya C. Alter' vi Laeof Contents XII. Lang Uage in Ethiopia: Implications of a Survey fo'r 191 Sociolinguistic Theory and Method %I. L Render, R. L Cooper sno C. A. Ferguson XIII.Some Implications of *The International Research Project 209 on Language Manning Processes (1R PL PP)" for Sociolinguistic Surveys Joshua A. Fishman XIV. Selected Reading List 221 About the Authors 225 On Sociolinguistically OrientedLanguage Surveys* by Charles A, Ferguson Many countries in Asia, Africa. and LatinAmerica, as a matter of national de- velopment or even of national existence.must answer a set of language questions, The policy decisions which Theseanswers constitute then require implementation, often on a large scale andover long periods of time. Some of these questions are of languagechoke: What language(%) shall be the official language(s of the government, used inlaws, administration, and the armed forces? What language(%) shall be usedas medium of instruction at the various levels of the educational system ?. What language(*) willbe accepted for use on the radio, in publishing, in telegrams, and as school subjects? Ottw questions involve language "engineering."Once a language has been chosen for certain purposes ina country it may be necessary to take steps to assure its adequacy for these purposes. The questionsto be answered generally refer to standardization and modernization: What variety of thelanguage should be selected or created as the standard form for written and spoken purposes? Whatmeans shall be used to provide modern terminology andthe needed literary and scientific forms of discourse? Finding suitable answers to language questionslike these in most of the de- veloping countries is of crucial importance in theireconomic, political, and social development. Development of the educationalsystem and development of com- munication networks in a countryare increasingly recognized as critical elements in national development as a whole, and both ofthese are dependent on language policies. Decisions must be taken on language questionsin terms of at least three important goals: national unity and national identity,access to modern science and technology, and international communication. Language policies arc rarely set quickly and decisively.Like many national policies, they often develop gradually, vacillate, andare modified again even after they are thought to be final. Occasionally, however,a single decision, e.g. the choice of Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesia,may have enormous consequences for the country. Whether the language policies of a countrygrow gradually or by jumps, it seems likely that the decisions involved will be better, i.e. will achieve the desiredre- sults more efficiently, the better the information ison which the decisions are based. It must be recognized. of course, that language policiesagainlike many other national policies -are not determined simplyon the lines of rational analysis. In 'Reprinted by permission from The Linguistic Reporter.