960 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [77,1975]

processes but rather a t an arbitrary system realized in the years t o come, suffice it to
that accounts for a limited range of story say that courses in language planning are
types written by the author. offered in several universities across the
This attempt t o write a grammar of country, that language planning will be a
stories not only neglects empirical validation major component of the Linguistic Institute
of the units presented, but is based o n so of 1977, and that the Culture Learning
many idiosyncratic redefinitions of English Institute is sponsoring a number of activities
words and judgments about what is and t o promote information exchange among
what is not a story that it is difficult t o language planning practitioners and planners.
accept as even a viable first approximation. Since the way in which the term “lan-
The approach is to work with single guage planning” is being used today is not
sentence stories or synopses of stories such well-known, it may be useful t o briefly
as “John was rich, then he travelled a lot, describe the term and some of its theoretical
then, as a result, he was poor.” A “minimal implications. An article by Karam in the
story” is defined “ . . . as consisting of three Advances volume lists a number of related
events, t h e third of which is the inverse of terms and concepts without giving theoreti-
the first.” The three events are conjoined in cal justification for choosing one or another.
such a way that ( a ) the first event precedes The term is used by Fishman, the above-
the second in time and the second precedes mentioned scholars, and others to mean
the third, and ( b ) the second event causes “conscious decision-making about language
the third. By this definition, the resolution problems a t the national level.” Critical to
of a murder story in which the key event is this definition is the term “language prob-
the discovery and/or punishment of the lems’’ and the specification of the proper
villain would have to be defined as the m o t i v a t i o n for national decision-making
inverse of t h e motivating event, the murder. about them. Most current approaches t o lan-
Such a redefinition of inverse would be so guage problems remain in the realm of lin-
broad as t o be meaningless. guistically delineated problems, i.e., the
Other redefinitions of terms hard to choice and spread of a language for certain
accept are those for event and episode. In sectors of the polity or the modernization,
the author’s idiolect the sentence, “A boy is elaboration or standarization of some aspect
nice,” stands for an event. The sentence, of that language (for example, the choice of
“John saw Mary and fell,” is considered t o script, the creation of a spelling system, the
contain t w o episodes. Story cohesiveness is expansion of terminology, etc. ). Although it
defined by the number of conjunctive fea- is difficult to enter into a discussion of even
tures it contains; the more conjunctions, the linguistically delineated problems without
more cohesive it is. recognizing the sociolinguistic, political, and
economic factors which affect the choice
and modification of the language selected
Advances in Language Planning. JOSHUA A. for planning, some scholars have chosen t o
FISHMAN, ed. The Hague & Paris: Mouton, deal with the linguistic problem and pro-
1974. 590 pp., figures, notes, tables, chapter duct. In Advances, Tauli, focuses mainly o n
references, indexes. DG23.- (paper). the determination of the linguistic form.
Since a large number of the articles included
Reviewed b y JOAN RUBIN in this volume were written for the Currenf
East- West Culture Learning Institute Trends in Linguistics series, they seem t o
have taken a somewhat superficial approach
In the preface, Fishman says that he t o t h e relation between linguistic and cul-
views this volume as the third step in a series tural motivations and rationalizations.
to help prepare a new type of expert, A second approach t o the definition of
namely one specialized in language problems language problems is the one suggested by
a t the national level. The first step was a Neustupny in Language Problems of Devel-
conference o n language problems of develop- oping Nations (1968) edited by Fishman,
ing nations (Fishman, Ferguson, and Das Ferguson, and Das Gupta. He suggests that
Gupta 1968). The second was a year’s the planner start with social problems and
research o n language planning theory by motivations which relate to communication
Fishman, Das Gupta, Jernudd, and Rubin a t habits (either code or speech) in order to
the East-West Center. T h e fourth step will be decide whether changes in such habits will
the report of the International Research enhance other social planning goals. F o r
Project o n Language Planning Processes (Das example, one can ask if a linguistic feature
Gupta e t al. n.d.). Fishman has been the or usage is favorable t o the creation of equal
major catalyst in all of these. Although the opportunities for all members of t h e society
full effect of these efforts will only be or if a feature contributes t o the unity of the
 LINGUISTICS 961

society in question. This approach to the motivation planning behind processes. In

definition of language problems appears to sum, there is a wealth of detail about aspects
be one which will be more productive. That of the planning process but a limited ad-
is, if language is seen as integrally related to vance of planning theory o r detailed insights
the entire socio-cultural system and its into t h e social motivations behind language
change processes, t h e planning that takes choice and change.
place will be more successful in achieving the
desired end. The article by Fellman discusses References Cited
the role of a language strategist in changing Das Gupta, Jyotirindra, Bjorn Jernudd,
the language habits of pre-Israeli residents in Charles A. Ferguson, Joshua A. Fishman,
Palestine. Joan Rubin, e t al.
The definition of language planning a t the n.d. Language Planning Processes. Manu-
national level does not imply that planning is script.
a unique kind of human problem; rather, as Fishman, J. A., C. A. Ferguson, and J. Das
Neustupnjr suggests in his Advances article, Gupta, Eds.
language planning is only one category of 1 9 6 8 Language Problems of Developing
treatment of language proglems. He suggests Nations. New York: Wiley.
that all human efforts a t solving communica- Rubin, Joan, and B. Jernudd, Eds.
tion problems should be considered together 1 9 7 1 Can Language Be Planned? Hono-
so t h a t we can understand the full range of lulu: East-West Center and University
concerns regarding language. Press of Hawaii.
Language planning offers a great op-
portunity t o study the functions of language
and to gain understanding of the social basis
for language change. It does so because Language and Cultural Diversity in American
many of t h e rationalizations, motivations, Education. ROGER D. ABRAHAMS and
values and attitudes behind language choice RUDOLPH C. TROIKE, eds. Englewood
are made available in the process of atternpt- Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1972. xii + 339 pp.,
ing t o set goals, select strategies, and figures, maps, tables, chapter references,
implement programs. There is a growing index. $7.95 (cloth), $4.95 (paper).
feeling in language planning theory which
recognizes that planning works best when it Reviewed b y ROGER W. SHUY
fits in with the needs of a consumer or client Georgetown University
and when it promotes socially valued goals.
It is true that planning can be used t o According t o t h e editors of this book, its
promote the will of a n alienated elite but it major function is t o attempt “ t o clear the air
can also be used to permit greater participa- of stereotypic misconceptions so that we can
tion in the larger community, to promote begin t o put together an effective approach
informed consent, and t o permit greater t o educating students who happen to be
interaction among communities. T h e article different from the middle Americans for
by Alloni-Fainberg is an important contribu- whom the education system was designed.”
tion t o getting survey information a b o u t the I t is t o teach teachers how to recognize the
effectiveness of implementation processes. I t linguistic and cultural differences of their
could as well be used t o gather informatiq? students and t o make use of them t o
for policy-setting and planning. Earlier ap- understand the nature and uses of diversity
proaches saw language mainly as a means to in the classroom. Although such a n under-
transmit information, looking f o r universal taking is extremely ambitious, this review
principles to evaluate linguistic change; they will not argue with this declared function
were stuck with acceptance of linguistic but will be addressed only t o the degree to
purity, assuming that language boundaries which the book succeeds toward what it
were fixed rather than available f o r manipu- attempts t o do. I t can be argued that n o
lation. More recent approaches, enriched by single book of readings can provide for
the advances of sociolinguistics, see language teachers that which their basic training has
change as related t o the functions o f lan- otherwise overlooked. But this is n o reason
guage as a means of social identification, to criticize those who a t t e m p t t o d o so.
self-presentation, and social control. The book is divided into six sections: the
Given the potential contribution that problem, cultures in education, language,
language planning studies can make, it is sociolinguistics, Black English, and applica-
unfortunate that only a few of t h e articles in tions.
this volume advance our understanding of The introductory section outlines
the nature of language treatment, language dramatically the difficulties American educa-
problems, and the rationalization and tion faces with regard t o government spend-