Philippine E-Journals

Home Language Shift and Its Implications for Language Planning in Singapore: From the Perspective of Prestige Planning

Yongbing Liu Shouhui Zhao

Discipline: Languages

 

Abstract:

Early research perceived language planning (LP) as a one-way process, underpinned by the positivistic view that the major problems facing language maintenance and spread could be solved through the application of the scientific method and careful planning by language planners (Baldauf, 2004). This perception continued until the 1990s, when some researchers (e.g., Haarmann, 1990) started a series of studies examining receptive processes in achieving LP goals, with the focus on a more fundamental but hidden agenda – human behavior and the psychological aspect in receiving the planned language product, which gives rise to a theory of prestige and image (Ager, 2005a & 2005b) planning in the LP research literature.