Standardization of National Languages

This site brings the content of the International Symposium of Language Standardization, from 1991, which had as its main purpose the exchange of experience in relation to the standardization of national languages in different socio-cultural contexts. This process is exemplified by experiences in Africa, Latin America and Europe. This site allows us to get in contact with a very complex and deep analysis of the theme, with many interesting facts that are very useful to those who are studying or researching language standardization.

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/12/d3/98.pdf

Elements of standardization

In this article, the author explains standardization as a complex process, which involves prestige of a certain variety. However, the main point is the elements that for him are important in order to create an standard language. Consequently, this elements are part of the process of standardization.


http://www.lituanus.org/2002/02_1_02.htm

Politics and standardization

This is an article about Guatemala that explains the relationship between politics and language. Among other linguistics issues, the standardization is told as a mechanism of nation unification and, consequently, as a mechanism for improving and reinforcing their culture.


http://www.cs.org/publications/csq/csq-article.cfm?id=1149

Standardization in China

Here there is an example of standardization in China. If you pay attention to the topic of Mandarin´s history, you can realize the basic elements of standardization, as media influence and teaching.It is a short explanation about standardization, but it is useful in order to clear some points of this whole process.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin
- go to the topic: Mandarin (linguistics)

Standard language

Wikipedia explains what a standard language is and some features used to identify one. It also gives some examples that are very useful to understand better this concept. There is a list of standard language and regulators in which you can see some language's standard and non- standard varieties, their regulators and it is also possible to select items from the list to check another articles related to them. At the end, there are links to other subjects concerning language, such as national and official languages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_language

History of English

The site has as it main objective the description of five events that shaped the history of English: the Anglo-Saxon settlement, the Scandinavian settlements, 1066 and after 1066 and all that, colonization and globalization, and standardization. In relation to this last item, this website describes historical process of standardization of English in a simplified form. The main point is: the influence of the printed media in standardization.

http://www.askoxford.com/worldofwords/history/?view=uk

Introduction to the European Roma and tavellers forum

This site points the standardization and the variety of Romani. This article shows the difficulty to learn (speak and understand) Romani due to the lack of a standard in oral speech. On the other hand it explains the process of standardization of Romani writing and its benefits for the speech community.

www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/ERTF_foreword_EN.doc

Standardization of language

This is an interesting site because it shows another aspect of standardization which is not related to the socio-economical perspective. In this hort text, the author defends standardization as a form to create a preventive structure in order to keep cultural assimilation far from the “natural” language. It can be considered a purist point of view, and sometimes it sounds like prejudice.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/y/h/yha103/ESLEssay3.htm

The power point presentation that we can find in this site explains language standardization issues using graphics, pictures and real facts and data. It deals with some questions such as artificial language, neutrality, international standard language and prestige. This site is very interesting because it not only explains facts related to language standardization, but also compares and contrasts possibilities, ideas and some pros and cons in relation to the creation of a international standard language.

http://www.vanoostendorp.nl/pdf/070917maastricht.pdf

This is the concluding section of Ana Deumert and Wim Vandenbussche’s paper about the study of language standardization. This website discusses the subject deeply and broadly, approaching many topics and being appropriated for researches, teachers and students of language. The authors related language standardization with language contact and they also mention the process of “destandardization”. They discuss the standardization as a historical and social process. Some subtitles of the text are: Standardization as a tool for language maintenance?; Alphabetization, mass literacy and the diffusion of the standard language.

http://ftp.vub.ac.be/~wvdbussc/deumertvandenbussche2.pdf

Language Standardization: A Necessary Evil

Here we can find a good analysis of language standardization. It has many points of views from different authors and it explains why language standardization is necessary. As it can be realized through the title of the text, it also highlights the negative aspects of standardizing a language. The author particularly examines the example of the standard Italian language. Everything is done is a simple way, making the text easy to be understood.

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rcote/NES596B/Language%20Standardization.pdf

Development of a standard language in the Nerthelands

This site describes the development process of Dutch as the standard language in the Netherlands. It also explains three important aspects of the standardization of a language. It is a good example of how and when a variety is standardized.

http://www.ned.univie.ac.at/publicaties/taalgeschiedenis/en/standardsprache.htm