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za

14 Henning Bergenholtz and Rufus H. Gouws

Sleutelwoorde: INTERTALIG, INTRATALIG, KOMMUNIKASIEBELEID, LEKSIKOGRA-

FIE, LINGUISTIESE HEGEMONIE, PRESKRIPTIEF, PURISME, TAALBELEID, TAALBEPLAN-
NING, TAALBEVORDERING

1. How to do things with words

The title of this article is meant as a reference to the title of Austin's well-known
book How to Do Things with Words. The title of this book on pragmalinguistics is
not only famous; it is also misleading because one necessarily fulfils a speech
act when one uses words. Somehow, the title of this article is also partly mis-
leading. In practical lexicography, one can explain the different political moti-
vations behind every single decision, but this does not mean that as a lexico-
grapher one can act without political choices, intended or not. The basic thesis
is therefore

— Every single lexicographical decision has a language policy relevance

and therefore, in the end, a political dimension.

This thesis is not new because the influence of politics on lexicography has
often been discussed. However, it usually applies to politically charged words
like democracy, terrorist, revolution, black, Negro, racism etc. It is new to regard
every lexicographical decision as the result of a political decision, more pre-
cisely a language policy decision. Although this is new in lexicography it is not
new in the field of language policy (cf. Spolsky 2004: 35). We do not see the
lexicographer as "a harmless drudge" who busies himself with tracing the ori-
gin and detailing the significance of words, as Dr Johnson and many lexicogra-
phers of the last 250 years have underrated themselves. Most lexicographers
may be aware of their great influence on language behaviour but fail to realise
their influence on cultural and political behaviour. It is also historically unfair
to take the present understanding of policy as the only benchmark, although
new interpretations in the light of our recent knowledge are required. There is
a development that policy is frequently not only used as a term restricted to
official or governmental considerations and decisions. The second half of the
20th century saw the formation of a number of new compounds with the lexical
item policy as stem, e.g. educational policy, children's policy, women's policy, envi-
ronmental policy and immigration policy. These new forms are related to key
areas in the political decision-making processes of international, national and
local authorities. From the late 1980s, the scope of such compounding was
broadened to include aspects such as planning and decision-making in compa-
nies, organisations, schools and other non-political groups. Examples include
senior policy, smoking policy, alcohol policy and stress policy. Along with this
development, the scope of older, purely political terms has also been broad-
ened to include planning and decision-making in companies, etc. This devel-
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How to Do Language Policy with Dictionaries 15

opment is social as well as linguistic, and it does not just apply to Denmark,
Germany, the U.S.A. and South Africa, but as far as we can see to most of the
world. The group of new compounds also comprises the terms language policy
and communication policy.
One does not find the term communication policy in any contribution to
lexicography. Language policy (or the near synonym term language planning) is
not a term in the lemma list of most lexicographical dictionaries (e.g. the Nordic
Dictionary of Lexicography 1997). The term is not very often mentioned or even
regarded as a lexicographical relevant term in the metalexicographical litera-
ture (e.g. not at all in Zgusta 1971, Hausmann 1977, Landau 1981, Gouws 1989,
Bergenholtz and Tarp 1995, Svensén 1993, Wiegand 1998, Gouws and Prinsloo
2005), and is only mentioned twice in the comprehensive three-volume Interna-
tional Encyclopaedia of Lexicography (1989–1991), and in both cases not as a real
subject of discussion. Of course we have papers and monographs on politically
problematic words and quotations in dictionaries and even dictionaries with
such words, e.g. Strauß, Haß and Harras (1989) and Zeitgeschichtliches Wörter-
buch (2003). We are dealing with the most obvious example indicating that lan-
guage is narrowly connected with power, including political power. One can
practise politics by means of words. With words one can describe facts in such
a way that the factual contents become blurred. Words can also be used or
misused in such a way in a given historical context that they fall into disrepute
for a long time or even permanently. The non-use of specific words that would
actually have been more apt could be part of a conscious political strategy. This
is an old strategy, which will continue to be used. Typical examples are: Who is
a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter? Is one an anti-Semite when as a non-Jew
one criticises some decisions of the Israeli government? Should one refrain
from using the word nigger in favour of coloured? Is it only politically correct
language use to refer to a woman as sex worker and not as prostitute? This strat-
egy is especially employed in political classifications, directed at race, sexuality,
sex, ecology and the mental state of a person.
In all these cases, we are dealing with loaded political words that could
also fall within the scope of a language policy. They regard controversial politi-
cal or socio-political expressions, discussed in many metalexicographical con-
tributions. This is typically done by examining a selection of dictionaries to
determine how good or bad, politically correct or incorrect they are or whether
certain words have at all been included in their lemma list. In current public
discussion such words are the most obvious examples for language policy deci-
sions in lexicography. However, this is only a small part of the problem; only
one out of three in the proposed classification of intralingual language policy.
In general we want to achieve two aims in this contribution. Firstly, we
want to introduce some terminological proposals from Bergenholtz (2006) to
lexicography and, secondly, we want to show where and to what extent lan-
guage policy plays a role in lexicography.
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16 Henning Bergenholtz and Rufus H. Gouws

2. What is language policy?

In at least one sense the above-expounded view in lexicographical textbooks is

incomplete: In contributions to all kinds of language regulations language policy
is not the only term used. In English-speaking countries especially, the term
language planning, introduced by Haugen (1959), is more often employed. In
addition, other terms are sometimes used synonymously, or for special kinds of
'language regulations', e.g. in English language engineering, glottopolitics, lan-
guage development, language regulation and language management; in German
Sprachlenkung, Sprachpflege, Sprachreinigung; and in Afrikaans taalbeplanning,
taalbeleid and taalpolitiek. We will not try to give a terminological overview (for
this see Bergenholtz 2006). It is confusing enough when one only considers the
use of the three main terms language policy, language planning and communication
policy.

2.1 Explanations in dictionaries

Most general language dictionaries do not include the above-mentioned terms

in their lemma list. Communication policy is not found at all, and language policy
(or the respective equivalents) and language planning only in a few German,
Dutch, Danish and Afrikaans dictionaries. It is interesting to note the absence
of these terms in the majority of English dictionaries.
Regarding German it is actually only two dictionaries that include the
term Sprachpolitik, i.e. the three editions of Duden-GWB and the Brockhaus-Wah-
rig 1980–1984. It is surprising that more comprehensive dictionaries like Wahrig
2000, Duden-Universalwörterbuch 2003 or Bünting and Karatas 1996 do not in-
clude this word as a lemma. Taking the proper and precise lemma selection of
these dictionaries into account, one can conclude that Sprachpolitik does not
belong to the 100 000 most important German words. In Duden-GWB1 and
almost identically in Brockhaus-Wahrig 1984 the following item is found:

(1) Sprachpolitik staatliche Maßnahmen in Hinblick auf eine Sprache (Duden-GWB1

1981)
[Language policy governmental regulations regarding a language]

Firstly, it refers to governmental regulations and therefore national and not

international or non-governmental language regulations. Secondly it refers to
one, and not more than one language or else the lexicographers would have
written "regarding one or more languages". The next two editions give com-
pletely different information. The preparation of a new edition of a dictionary
often, but not always, leads to changes that are improvements. With identical
items, the changes in the case of Duden-GWB2 and Duden-GWB3, are not im-
provements. Syntactically the explanation has been constructed in such a way
that one can only try to guess the contents:
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How to Do Language Policy with Dictionaries 17

(2) Sprachpolitik die in einem Land gesprochene[n] Sprache[n], die in einem Land
sich stellende Sprachenfrage o.ä. betreffende Politik (Duden-GWB3 1999)
[Language policy the language(s) spoken in a country, the prevailing language or
similar issues in a country regarding politics.]

When one assumes that both parts of the explanation need to be amplified, as
elsewhere in this dictionary, one realizes that "the language(s) spoken in a
country regarding politics" refer(s) to a national political matter with regard to
either one or more languages. This corresponds to the item in Duden-GWB1
with this change, however, that it now regards not only one, but more than one
language. It probably still deals with a national and not an international matter
and not with private but with public decisions, else it would have read: "in a
country, in an international or national organisation as well as in private or
public companies or institutions". It is not clear exactly what the language pol-
icy wants to influence regarding one or more than one language. It could refer
to linguistic purism or linguistic norms, or it could refer to the prohibition of
other languages or prescriptions for the official use or promotion of one or
more languages. To be able to understand the second part of the explanation
"the prevailing language or similar issues in a country regarding politics" one
should know what language issues are. This term is explained as follows in
Duden-GWB2 and Duden-GWB3:

(3) Sprachenfrage aus dem Zusammenleben mehrerer ethnischer Gruppen mit ver-
schiedenen Sprachen innerhalb eines Staates herrührende Problematik (Duden-
GWB3 1999)
[Language issues problems arising from the living together of various ethnic
groups with different languages within one country]

The not so industrious user who does not look for Sprachenfrage (language
issues) will be unable to guess that Sprachpolitik (language policy) specifically
deals with the relation between languages spoken by different ethnic groups in
one country. It can be seen that the explanation given in Duden-GWB1 is also
complemented in the sense that language policy does not only refer to more
than one language, but also to more than one language of members of different
ethnic groups. This does not really improve our understanding of the term.
One can assume that language policy is not a central theme in Germany and
that the unclear explanation reflects the little public interest and consequently
the unclear debate.
In the domain of language policy one in reality finds, with the exception of
France, no comprehensive debate in the bigger European countries like Ger-
many, England, Spain and Italy. The situation is different in smaller countries
like Switzerland, Austria and especially in the Scandinavian countries. One can
only suspect the reasons. We believe there are at least two reasons: The one
reason is that the big countries, and that also means the big languages, in the
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18 Henning Bergenholtz and Rufus H. Gouws

European Union are increasingly gaining influence to the detriment of smaller

countries and smaller languages. Consequently these countries see the neces-
sity for language political initiatives to maintain the current status of the lin-
guistic diversity, as prescribed by the EU (Article 22 of the Charter of Constitu-
tional Rights of the European Union), and not to let it be undermined any fur-
ther. On the one hand Germany supports the small and medium countries but
would like to see German, as the biggest language in the EU, also reaching the
status which English and French have in practice. To follow both directions at
the same time is not likely to succeed. The other reason is connected with cul-
tural tradition regarding official language regulations. A few countries like
Spain and France have in principle a long tradition of a positive attitude
towards prescriptive regulations. In practice, however, the interest lies much
more in general regulations and not as much in details and the implementation
of sanctions for not complying with regulations. However, since 1990, the
development in France follows a more descriptive direction by allowing new
orthographical and inflexional morphological variants. The Nordic countries,
especially Iceland, the Faeroe Islands and Norway, have another tradition.
Contrary to southern Europe, governmental language interventions for changes
in existing language usage are implemented here by official decisions and sup-
ported by public control.
In Holland and South Africa, as in English-speaking countries, the term
language planning and its equivalents are frequently used. In Afrikaans, the
term taalbeleid is also quite often employed.

(4) taalbeplanning Beplanning in staatkundige verband van geleenthede om 'n taal

binne groepsverband of in die land as geheel te gebruik (Verklarende Afrikaanse
Woordeboek 1993)
[language planning Planning in political context for opportunities to use a lan-
guage in communal context or in the country as a whole]

We are dealing here with an intralingual relation and with planned opportuni-
ties within a language. It should be noted that it is considered a public matter.
The term language planning is used in accordance with its original use (Haugen
1959), but not exactly as in current scientific contributions to language planning
and language politics. Language policy is appropriately described as an inter-
lingual matter:

(5) taalpolitiek Politieke beleid t.o.v. die tale wat in 'n meertalige staat gebruik word
(Verklarende Afrikaanse Woordeboek 1993)
[language politics Governmental policy with regard to languages used in a multi-
lingual state]

Whether this explanation has been taken from the Dutch Van Dale dictionary
can only be presumed:
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How to Do Language Policy with Dictionaries 19

(6) taalpolitiek politiek die gevoerd wordt ter bescherming of onderdrukking van een
taal, vooral in een staat met meer dan één taal (Van Dale Groot Woordenboek der
Nederlandse Taal 1999)
[language politics Policy followed for the protection or oppression of a language,
especially in a state with more than one language]

These two entries can hardly be regarded as correct. Had this been the case,
monolingual countries would typically not have had a language policy or the
need for such a policy. Regarding all the differences in the definitions in scien-
tific contributions and technical dictionaries, this division and classification of
interlingual language politics and intralingual language planning is quite spe-
cial. This distinction is elsewhere found only in Hartmann and James (1998),
one of the four existing lexicographical dictionaries. The division into inter-
and intralingual regulations is important and correct but the terminological
classification is not in accordance with the theoretical and practical standard. It
would be more accurate to have a division of language policy or language plan-
ning in inter- or intralingual language regulations as in the Danish Internet
Dictionary where language policy and language planning are regarded as syno-
nyms, but with language policy being the preferred term:

(7) sprogpolitik
1. valg af et eller flere sprog og hermed også fravalg af et eller flere andre sprog
2. valg og hermed også fravalg af bestemte stilmidler, regler, ord eller ordformer
i et sprog (Den Danske Netordbog 2004)
[language policy
1. selection of one or of more languages, that also means the voting out of one or
more languages
2. selection and so also the voting out of certain styles, grammatical rules, words
or inflections or spellings within a language]

However, this explanation is not in full accordance with the standard, where
language planning is often regarded as the superordinate and language policy as
the subordinate term. This often prevails as a result of the opinion that lan-
guage planning describes and develops generic theories and methods whereas
language policy is the implementation of language planning, as seen in the fol-
lowing articles from a didactic dictionary:

(8) language planning planning, usually by a government or government agency,

concerning choice of national or official language(s), ways of spreading the use of
a language, spelling reform, the addition of new words to language and other
language problems. Through language planning, an official language policy is
established and/or implemented. (Richards, Platt and Platt 1992: 203)

(9) language policy see language planning. (Richards, Platt and Platt 1992: 203)
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20 Henning Bergenholtz and Rufus H. Gouws

But in the end theoretical contributions and specialized dictionaries also give a
confusing picture. This field has a need for applying its own aims and methods
to its own terminology, e.g. a linguistic dictionary distinguishing between lan-
guage planning as an intralingual regulation by someone and language policy
as an inter- and intralingual language regulation with official government par-
ticipation:

(10) language planning

(also language engineering) Making deliberate decisions about the form of a lan-
guage, such as choosing among competing forms and inventing new vocabulary.
This is most often carried out on some kind of official basis. (Trask 1997: 127)

(11) language policy

An official government policy regulating the form, teaching or use of one or
more languages within the area controlled by that government. (Trask 1997:
127)

2.2 Cultural and scientific habits

Terms like language planning, language policy and language politics have often
been used in a haphazard way and very seldom has a distinction been made
between e.g. language policy and communication policy. The latter term should be
more often introduced to cover an extensive domain in the language-planning
field. Linguists should develop the habit of using these terms in a well-defined
way.

Different terminology in different languages

One of the real problems in the discussion of language policy is the lack of a
standardised terminology. This does not only apply to the intralingual level but
especially to the interlingual level. As a result, confusion easily prevails, caus-
ing participants in the scientific discussion often to be unsure whether their use
of a given term will be interpreted unambiguously. Confused users will not
really find clarity in dictionaries. The English terms language policy and language
politics may in some environments perhaps be regarded as synonyms (cf. their
presentation as translation equivalents of the Dutch word taalpolitiek in the Van
Dale Groot Woordenboek Nederlands-Engels). However, this does not imply that
for instance their Afrikaans equivalents taalpolitiek and taalbeleid are used as
synonyms. Linguists working in the field of language policy should make a
serious attempt to ensure the standardisation of terminology, which should be
reflected in dictionaries. Terms from the semantic field of language policy and
language planning are often used in communication situations between sub-
ject-field experts and laypersons (cf. Bergenholtz and Tarp 1995). These terms
should therefore be reflected not only in dictionaries dealing with languages
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How to Do Language Policy with Dictionaries 21

for special purposes but also in dictionaries dealing with language for general
purposes.

Who plans what for whom and how and why?

In a language-sensitive environment there may well be a variety of language

policies, ranging from the official language policy for a given country or speech
community to language policies for specific institutions like schools, universi-
ties, companies, church congregations, etc. The official policy may be a political
decision taken by a national government, whereas other policies may be for-
mulated by the respective institutions. A publishing house may have its own
policy regarding the language usage in its publications. Dictionaries often
reflect an existing language policy, e.g. the orthography laid down by an offi-
cial body, but dictionaries can also impose a biased approach on the language
use of a publishing house or a lexicographer.
Language policy is directed at different communication types (e.g. lingual
or non-lingual), communication channels (TV, radio, newspapers, e-mails) and
communication venues (meetings, assemblies) (cf. Bergenholtz 2006).
A language policy, usually introduced by means of prescriptive rules or a
language plan, should always be directed at a specific target group which may
range from all the citizens of a country to a small group of people being mem-
bers of a specific institution. The language policy will concern the outgoing
communication of the target group or the institute-internal communication
occurring between members of the group. A typical example could be the lan-
guage policy of the University of Stellenbosch. This policy has led to a lan-
guage plan, which gives directives to staff and students regarding the use of
Afrikaans and English, especially in the lecture-hall environment. The formu-
lation of a language plan has to be seen as one of the results of a language pol-
icy.

2.3 Different types of communication and language policies

The preceding discussion and the following definitions are meant for the
metalevel, i.e. the scientific discussion of the fields of communication policy
and language policy (or language planning). Under the recommended terms
we have listed expressions, which seem to be synonymous with our preferred
term. The distinction between the theory and the real and concrete communi-
cation policies is reflected in some of these proposals as theory of language plan-
ning versus language planning (Tauli 1974: 56) or language planning versus lan-
guage policy, in the sense of Fettes (1997: 14). The most convincing terminologi-
cal use seems to be the distinction between language policy and language plan
(Language Policy and Plan for South Africa 2000). In international terminology,
however, one does not find such a clear distinction. Language policy is used for
the theory and methodology and the results are also called language policy. We
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22 Henning Bergenholtz and Rufus H. Gouws

want to propose that the terminological use of language plan should be adopted
for the results, and language policy or language planning for the theory. The sum
of all kinds of communication and language policies should be called communi-
cation and language plan.
Terminological entries can serve different functions. We have to distin-
guish between different types of users, different assumptions and different user
situations. For a successful reception of texts on language policy, we need to
take into account as many frequently used terms as possible, in the following
indicated as synonyms by means of an equal-sign. For experts in the field of
language policy, the theoretically-systematically formed terms are recom-
mended. For laypeople and for semi-experts, i.e. for experts in fields other than
language policy (lexicographers, politicians, sociologists, etc.), we recommend
other terms: those formed not quite so systematically but rather tending to be
transparent and comprehensible without fully having to understand the theo-
retical background. Therefore the term specific intralingual language policy is rec-
ommended for theoretical contributions to language policy, while the synonym
term linguistic units selecting language policy is recommended for laypeople and
experts in other fields than language policy. In some cases only one term is rec-
ommended for both user groups, e.g. communication policy:

general communication policy (this term is generally recommended)

= general language policy
= general language planning
A general communication policy involves the deliberate control of an organisa-
tion's internal and external communication in order to optimise the function-
ality of the organisation, including its product development and sales. Usually,
a communication policy takes into account the values and visions of the
organisation concerned. A general communication policy is language-inde-
pendent and is usually issued by, and applies to, companies, organisations or
sub-national authorities.
Language-independent general communication policies may also be issued
by large, international organisations, such as the UN, the EU and NATO. In
some cases, however, such a policy may also apply to an entire state, as can be
seen in the case of certain African countries, such as Senegal and Tanzania
(Bathily 2005; Tanzania 1997). International organisations and large companies
often include a general description of their basic values in their language poli-
cies. Normally, however, the term communication policy does not include con-
sideration of the value system entrenched in the company's or organisation's
language policy.
The result of a general communication policy should be called general com-
munication plan.

specific communication policy (this term is generally recommended)

= specific language policy
= specific language planning
A specific communication policy involves general or thematic requirements or
prohibitions concerning particular forms or channels of communication or a
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How to Do Language Policy with Dictionaries 23

prohibition against acquiring particular information or documents. Such pro-

hibitions include requirements concerning general or limited access to, or use
of, specific types of information.
Parts of a specific communication policy may not only apply to employees of
the organisation or authority involved, but also, or solely, to enquiries made
by customers or citizens. Thus, communication policy differs from language
policy, which is always directed at the internal or external communication of
employees, members or students. Whereas a general communication policy
rarely applies to states, several examples of specific communication policies on
a state level can be found, particularly in dictatorships. Such communication
policies may include the prohibition of flyers, phone calls to foreign countries
or use of the Internet. Examples of such communication policies can also be
found in some existing language policies.
The result of a specific communication policy should be called specific com-
munication plan.

interlingual communication policy

→ interlingual language policy

intralingual communication policy

→ intralingual language policy

Along with this definition of communication policy, we arrive at a definition of

the term language policy (and language planning) that should be free from the
flaws and inadequacies inherent in the afore-mentioned definition. Simultane-
ously a number of synonyms will be listed in accordance with the terminology
used in various theories and practices. It should be noted, however, that many
language policies contain elements, which we have classified as being part of a
communication policy. In such language policies, these elements form an in-
trinsic part of the language policy, taking one of the following two forms:

basic values of a language policy and language planning

→ general communication policy

selection of communication types, communication channels and the use of non-

verbal communication
→ specific communication policy

Despite this being the case, the terms language policy (or language planning) and
communication policy may concern the promotion of different verbal and non-
verbal languages. Whereas communication policy may also include guidelines on
the selection and use of non-verbal languages, the term language policy (or lan-
guage planning) refers solely to the selection and use of verbal communication
forms in different contexts and may therefore be defined as follows:

language policy (this term is generally recommended)

= language planning
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24 Henning Bergenholtz and Rufus H. Gouws

Language policy, which refers to the deliberate control of issues pertaining to

language, concerns relationships between languages, consisting of interlingual
relations, on the one hand, and issues specific to one language, consisting of
intralingual concerns, on the other. Though a language policy may form part
of a communication policy, the existence of a communication policy is not a
prerequisite for the existence of a language policy.
The result of a language policy should be called a language plan.

interlingual language policy (this term is recommended for theoretical contribu-

tions to language policy)
= language selection and promotion (this term is recommended for contribu-
tions for laymen and for experts in other fields than language policy)
= status planning
= interlingual communication policy
An interlingual language policy is the clear and deliberate choice, recommen-
dation or promotion of one or more language(s).
The result of an interlingual language policy should be called an interlingual
language plan.

general interlingual language policy (this term is recommended for theoretical

contributions to language policy)
= language selection (this term is recommended for contributions for laymen
and for experts in other fields than language policy)
= general interlingual language planning
= status planning
= general language policy
A general interlingual language policy involves language selection, entailing
the selection of certain languages at the expense of others. This type of selec-
tion concerns not only a choice of which languages are to be used in communi-
cation, but also which languages are chosen as subjects in schools and univer-
sities.
The result of a general interlingual language policy should be called a gen-
eral interlingual language plan. A language plan such as this could result in
the production of bilingual or polylingual dictionaries in the selected or sup-
ported languages.

specific interlingual language policy (this term is recommended for theoretical

contributions to language policy)
= language promotion (this term is recommended for contributions for lay-
men and for experts in other fields than language policy)
= specific interlingual language planning
= status planning
A specific interlingual language policy serves as a protectionist language pol-
icy that prescribes the promotion of one or more language(s), either by means
of language-directed legislation or by means of financial and political support
for selected organisations that promote a particular language or culture. Lan-
guage-directed legislation concerning both lingual and non-lingual languages,
primarily apply within the country that promulgates the legislation in ques-
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How to Do Language Policy with Dictionaries 25

tion. Organisations promoting a particular language or culture are supported

in order to promote or increase the knowledge and use of the language in
question, primarily in foreign countries.
The result of a specific interlingual language policy should be called a spe-
cific interlingual language plan. The result of such a language plan can be the
production of bilingual or polylingual dictionaries in the selected or supported
languages.

special form of specific interlingual language policy (this term is recommended

for theoretical contributions to language policy)
= linguistic hegemony (this term is recommended for contributions for lay-
men and for experts in other fields than language policy)
= special form of interlingual language planning
A special form of specific interlingual language policy is a hegemonic lan-
guage policy, involving an opposition to one or more language(s) in favour of
one or more other language(s).
The result of a specific form of interlingual language policy should be called a
special form of interlingual language plan.

intralingual language policy (this term is recommended for theoretical contribu-

tions to language policy)
= style and linguistic units selecting language policy (this term is recom-
mended for contributions for laymen and for experts in other fields than lan-
guage policy)
= intralingual language planning
An intralingual language policy is the choice or recommendation of, the warn-
ing against, or the banning of certain linguistic constructions, collocations,
phrases or words in a particular language.
The result of an intralingual language policy should be called an intralingual
language plan.

general intralingual language policy (this term is recommended for theoretical

contributions to language policy)
= style selecting language policy (this term is recommended for contributions
for laymen and for experts in other fields than language policy)
= general intralingual language planning
= communication-optimising language policy
= language guide
= manual of style
= style book
= language hygiene
A general intralingual language policy involves stylistic selection, meaning a
clear and deliberate choice or recommendation of specific stylistic aspects or
rules pertaining to a particular language.
The result of a general intralingual language policy should be called a gen-
eral intralingual language plan. A general intralingual language plan may
result in the production of style guides or handbooks for language use.
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26 Henning Bergenholtz and Rufus H. Gouws

specific intralingual language policy (this term is recommended for theoretical

contributions to language policy)
= linguistic units selecting language policy (this term is recommended for
contributions for laymen and for experts in other fields than language policy)
= specific intralingual language planning
= prescriptive linguistics
= language hygiene
= corpus planning
A specific intralingual language policy involves the selection of linguistic
units, meaning a clear and deliberate choice or recommendation regarding
specific grammatical constructions, words or word forms in a particular lan-
guage.
The result of a specific intralingual language policy should be called a spe-
cific intralingual language plan. Such a language policy may result in the
production of dictionaries or grammars.

special form of specific intralingual language policy (this term is recommended

for theoretical contributions to language policy)
= puristic language policy (this term is recommended for contributions for
laymen and for experts in other fields than language policy)
= special form of intralingual language planning
= purism
= ideological language policy
= language hygiene
A special form of specific intralingual language policy is a puristic language
policy based on a particular historical, moral or political perception of proper
language, which results in the prohibition of, or opposition to, certain gram-
matical constructions, words or word forms in a particular language.
The result of a special form of specific intralingual language policy should be
called a special form of intralingual language plan. Such a language policy
may result in the production of handbooks or specialised dictionaries.

3. Communication policy and lexicography

In the following sections we will give some comments on the relations between
the different kinds of communication and language policy and lexicography.
For every term from the above list one could write a separate contribution. We
will therefore only give some general comments with examples from some con-
crete language policies. According to the preceding argumentation, we will use
the terms for semi-experts and laypeople, i.e. in relation to the field of language
policy for lexicographers.

3.1 General communication policy

What we call "general communication policy", i.e. the incorporation of values

for decisions for a nation, an organisation, a company, a family or an individ-
ual, is the main topic in those policies usually called "communication policy",
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How to Do Language Policy with Dictionaries 27

but values (or visions and missions) are also part of the theoretical discussion
of language policy and are part of many language policy plans:
This language policy is intended as an enabling framework for promoting South
Africa's linguistic diversity and encouraging respect for language rights within
the policy framework of building and consolidating a united democratic South
African nation. (Language Policy and Plan for South Africa, 1.1)

This is a very general vision using a language policy for the consolidation of
democracy or, more realistically, a step to a more democratic South Africa. In
the end the choice of — only — 11 languages is not a fully democratic selection
because of the omission of languages like Khoi, San, and commonly used lan-
guages like Hindi, Arabic, Tamil, etc. More concrete is the clear wish to pro-
mote and create conditions for the development and use of all official lan-
guages (The Language Plan Task Group (LANGTAG) 1996 Chapter 1, section
5, cf. Kamwangamalu 2004: 262). In the current discussion in contributions to
interlingual language policy one finds a focus on or a restriction to government
decisions, e.g. Webb (2002: 40). This is too narrow and also a contradiction in
the practice of language policies where values are a prerequisite for every
communication and language policy plan on all levels.
Democracy as the main value is not only a question of support for lan-
guage diversity, but also for an easy and easily understandable language use,
as it is claimed in the latest Swedish governmental proposal for a language
policy:
En levande demokrati, där medborgarna deltar i det offentliga samtalet och kan
göra sina röster hörda, förutsätter klara och begripliga myndighetstexter. Detta
ökar också rättssäkerheten och bidrar till ökad effektivitet i förvaltningen.
(Swedish Governmental Proposal 2005: 1)
[A living democracy with an active participation in the public discussion of all
citizens needs clear and easily understandable official texts. Such a communica-
tion will more efficiently increase the legal security and support in the admini-
stration.]

It may be difficult to define the exact borderline between values as a part of a

general communication policy and the linguistic units selecting language pol-
icy as part of the intralingual policy. We consider the view "influence two dia-
lects minimizing the differences between them" as being a value or a political
wish for equalizing differences in a language community. This has been the
case in the official language policy in Norway regarding Nynorsk and Bokmaal
for the last 50 years until 2005 when the Norwegian language council took the
decision to promote the differences between the two official dialects (Norwe-
gian Language Council 2005). If this decision is not reversed within the next
100 or 200 years, we can expect to have two languages in Norway and not two
dialects as at present. This example is extraordinary because in almost all intra-
lingual policies the selected value(s) is (are) the same as that in Norway before,
and the opposite of that after 2005.
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28 Henning Bergenholtz and Rufus H. Gouws

One kind of value selection known from linguistic discussions will — if it

is chosen — be a value leading to no language policy: Leave the language
alone! This post-behaviouristic, almost religious credo claims that every lan-
guage change is "natural" and non-natural changes are manipulative:
For change that comes spontaneously from below, or within, our policy should
be, Let your language alone, and leave its speakers alone! But other forms of lan-
guage manipulation have other origins, other motives, other effects, and are far
more dangerous. (Lakoff 1990: 298)

To this anticommunicative and language-political statement Cameron (1995:

20) begins to give the right answer, formulated as a question: Why is sponta-
neity the only value? How about truth, beauty, logic, utility? We are not sure
that Cameron's possible values are the most important ones for policies. The
choice of and arguments for every value as pre-condition for language policies
has to be discussed separately. For every kind of communication and language
policy one has quite different values: for communication policies see Kotler and
Keller (2006: 534-562), for interlingual language policies see Webb (2002: 39f),
and for intralingual language policies see Bergenholtz et al. (2003). Both inter-
lingual and intralingual policy values (democracy, the creation of conditions
for the development of language(s), more effective communication, etc.) invites
among other decisions a discussion of the needed dictionaries for a specific
nation according to its specific social conditions.

3.2 Specific communication policy

Traditionally we only discuss the need for printed language dictionaries. We

have to add to it the need for sign-language dictionaries and access to such dic-
tionaries, as well as language dictionaries on the Internet. The choice between
paper and electronic dictionaries concerns not only governmental, but also per-
sonal and organisational decisions to determine whether the access to Internet
lexicographical tools gets priority, partial priority or no priority. An estimate of
the number of Internet dictionaries shows more than 100 000 (cf. <www. your-
dictionary.com>). Many of these dictionaries are developed by individuals or
produced by companies or universities. Only a minority has government sup-
port. On the given homepage we find very big differences between the large
languages, which means between the 100 largest languages in the world. The
largest languages (Chinese, English, Russian, German, and Spanish) have many
dictionaries. In some cases one cannot explain the differences between lan-
guages in terms of the respective number of native speakers or their being well
documented and standardised or even their status as official languages. Some-
times differences exist between languages spoken in the Third World, but this
is not the full explanation, e.g. Somali has four dictionaries compared to the six
of Dutch in the yourdictionary list. It is also not only a question of languages
with many or few native speakers. Faeroese, with 45 000 native speakers, has
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How to Do Language Policy with Dictionaries 29

three dictionaries, almost the same as Afrikaans with four Internet dictionaries
and more than six million native speakers. Also with regard to three well-
documented languages, all in the top-200 list of the largest languages in the
world, the medium of the Internet dictionary is used in varying degrees:

— Catalan has 6,7 million native speakers and five million second-language
speakers (1996). With Spanish the national language in Spain, Catalan is
only one of the official languages in parts of Spain. The collection of
Catalan Internet dictionaries on <www.yourdictionary.com> neverthe-
less comprises 29 titles, among which 22 are specialized language dic-
tionaries.

— Danish, the only official language in Denmark, has six million native
speakers (2006). For Danish we find 17 dictionaries in the above-men-
tioned dictionary bank.

— Afrikaans has six million native speakers and 10,3 million second-lan-
guage speakers (1996). It is one of the 11 official languages in South
Africa. For Afrikaans we find only four titles, three English–Afrikaans
dictionaries and one specialized language dictionary, but surprisingly no
monolingual dictionary.

The difference between Danish and Catalan (the latter not being an official
national language) on the one side and Afrikaans as an official language on the
other is significant. One explanation could be that the fight for Catalan in
Catalonia (a province in Spain) is so intensive, that the local government, local
universities, local organisations and single individuals spend time and money
on developing dictionaries as part of the fight for their language. Such consid-
erations could and should be made for many more languages. Internet diction-
aries will become still more important in future.

4. Language policy and lexicography

The main distinction made in this article is between inter- and intralingual lan-
guage policy. It does not mean that one has to discuss bilingual lexicography
only as part of interlingual language policy. Bilingual dictionaries are also a
topic for intralingual decisions concerning the choice of linguistic units for the
language in bi- or polylingual dictionaries (cf. par. 4.5–4.6).

4.1 Language selection

It would be unrealistic to plan the development of different dictionaries for

every lexicographical function for every language. Even attempting to compile
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30 Henning Bergenholtz and Rufus H. Gouws

only a polyfunctional dictionary (cf. Bergenholtz 1997 and Gouws and Prinsloo
2005: 54f) for every language would be difficult or even impossible to achieve.
It is not only a question of money (cf. the example from Greenland in the next
section). If we assume that we have about 6 800 languages in the world, we can
make the following calculation: For every language one needs at least one gen-
eral language dictionary, at least one general encyclopaedia, at least 150 differ-
ent specialized dictionaries, e.g. a spelling, synonymy, collocation, idiom,
proverb dictionary, etc. etc., an accounting, gene technology, computer diction-
ary, etc. etc. Furthermore we need at least two bilingual dictionaries for every
language pair (L1 → L2 and L2 → L1 (6 800 x 2 = 13 600) and the same for the
single specialized fields (accounting, computer science, etc.). A quite con-
servative assumption gives us at least 100 different fields or 100 x 6 800 x 2 =
1 360 000). For each of the estimated 6 800 languages in the world one needs at
least
1 monolingual general language dictionary,
1 monolingual general encyclopaedia,
150 monolingual specialized dictionaries,
13 600 bilingual general language dictionaries, and
1 360 000 bilingual specialized dictionaries.

For the 11 official languages in South Africa the number of "needed" dictionar-
ies almost equals the total population of the country. We could proceed with
the same speculative calculation for all the languages in the world and will
come to the same result: Dictionaries are important tools helping people with
some kind of communication and knowledge problems, but we will never
reach the ideal number of needed dictionaries. Some potential dictionaries will
have so few users that it would not be worth the effort trying to produce them.
We therefore have to decide which dictionary types for which languages and
language pairs should be supported, if the market mechanism, i.e. the number
of sold paper dictionaries or subscribers for Internet dictionaries, cannot pay
for the necessary theoretical and practical lexicographical work.
We also have to decide which dialect is to be chosen as the standard for a
certain language in a certain dictionary. This topic cannot be treated here, but it
must be stated that the concrete decision is to be made as part of the specific
intralingual policy (see par. 4.5).
Another language selection decision to be made is the choice of the expla-
nation language, especially in bilingual dictionaries, and the choice of language
for the outer texts (preface, user guide, dictionary grammar, etc.). This decision
should be motivated by selected dictionary functions for the specific dictionary
(cf. Bergenholtz and Tarp 2003). But the lexicographer (or the government or
the organisation paying for the lexicographical work) could also have language
policy considerations of overriding importance. During the planning of the
Malagasy–Aleman Dictionary (1991) it was proposed from governmental side
that the outer texts should be written in Malagasy, German and also French.
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How to Do Language Policy with Dictionaries 31

The reason for this proposal was that the language of instruction in many high
schools is French — also for teaching German. As a matter of fact, most teach-
ers and pupils are not used to Malagasy grammar and other Malagasy linguis-
tic terms. They of course understand and use their mother language, but not as
language of instruction. Although Henning Bergenholtz, as director of the lexi-
cography project, had to agree to the correctness of this description of the lan-
guage situation and the arguments for French as one of three dictionary expla-
nation languages, he did not follow the proposition because he and other
members of the research group pleaded for another language policy with a
broader use of Malagasy as language of instruction. Such decisions for the se-
lection of the dictionary explanation language or language pair are not unique
to Madagascar but are necessary in many countries where bilingual diction-
aries are to be compiled in polylingual communities.

4.2 Language promotion

In the 500-year-old history of printed dictionaries and also in the very short
history of Internet dictionaries, many dictionaries could not have been pro-
duced if there had not been governmental or private promotion of the diction-
ary or lexicography centre. Money and trained lexicographers are needed.
These needs are often referred to in theoretical discussions, e.g. by Lopes (2004:
185) and Kamvangamalu (2004: 62), but they are also part of national language
policies, e.g. in the Danish Cultural Ministry's Sprog på spil 2003, the Swedish
Governmental proposal (2005: 7ff) or the Pan South African Language Board
(About South Africa 2005). The real need for money and the financial planning of
lexicographical projects are not often the subject of scientific publications. It is a
desideratum when one considers that big national monolingual dictionaries
using large amounts of money for many years in long-term projects, as for the
Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal in South Africa (since 1926 and not finished
yet), the Norsk Ordbok in Norway (since 1930 and not finished yet, cf. Bergen-
holtz 1996) or the Svensk Akademiens Ordbock (cf. Bergenholtz and Malmgren
2000). The latter dictionary project started in 1892 and 115 years later the edito-
rial team is now working on the letter T, having had a budget with a current
value of approximately 1 000 000 000 SEK or 100 000 000 Euro. One of the few
publications on the topic of planning the costs for small and larger dictionary
projects is the publication Lexicography as a Financial Asset (1996) in which many
of the contributions surprisingly speaks more about the education of and need
for lexicographers and not much about the financing and the calculation of
expenses, e.g. Alexander 1996, Mini 1996, Prinsloo 1996a, 1996b and Gouws
1996. However, in some ways it might be the right point to start. As a matter of
fact: Money is not enough. The education of lexicographers is a primary pre-
requisite for dictionary-making. To prove this we may use the example of the
development of a Greenlandic monolingual dictionary. In 1978 Greenland's
Provincial Council proposed the compilation of such a dictionary, for which
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32 Henning Bergenholtz and Rufus H. Gouws

the government granted about 7 000 000 DEK (in today's value approximately
2 000 000 Euro). The project "Ordbogersuaq" started with meetings and discus-
sions, spending about half a million crowns on refreshments (cf. Langgård
1997). After some years the rest of the money was returned to the government
because the dictionary planners, being unacquainted with lexicography, did
not succeed in drawing up any real schemes for or making any real progress
with the dictionary.

4.3 Linguistic hegemony

Linguistic hegemony, as a special form of interlingual language policy, can

influence lexicography in a bi- or multilingual community where all languages
do not have the same official status or recognition as preferred language. Dic-
tionaries can be influenced by having to reflect this situation or they can reflect
a view independent of the hegemonic approach.
In Gabon, a multilingual country with 62 indigenous languages, French is
the only official language. Since 1994, a much more lenient approach exists
towards the indigenous languages seeing that the revised constitution states
that the national languages should be promoted and protected. Until then
French had not only been the sole official language but it had also been im-
posed as the only allowed language of communication, e.g. in the educational
system. This ruling refers to the language of instruction as well as to the gen-
eral communication system in schools. Strict rules were enforced to forbid
learners using any language but French on the school grounds and where
learners trespassed they were punished (cf. Mavoungou 2002). This language
policy has been detrimental to the development of lexicography in Gabon.
There was no realisation of the need for the compilation of French dictionaries
because users could rely on French dictionaries compiled in France. Even
though a new variety of French, i.e. Gabonese French, emerged in Gabon, the
hegemony of the language of colonisation eschewed the need for a lexico-
graphical acknowledgement of this new variety. The French dictionaries being
used in schools, in public life and in households presented a variety of French
not fully reflecting the day-to-day language use of the Gabonese speech com-
munities. The position of the indigenous languages was much worse. Due to
the lack of any official recognition, and the dominance and hegemony of
French there was no support for lexicographical projects in any of the indige-
nous languages. Language policy impeded lexicographical activities in the
indigenous languages and led to a situation where the official language was
lexicographically represented in a super-standard not fully reflecting the real
language usage.
In spite of the language policy some bilingual dictionaries with French
and an indigenous language were compiled. If the remarks of Gallardo (1980:
61) that "in non-standardized language situations, dictionaries do not exist or,
at best, are bilingual dictionaries, that is, compiled in function of a different
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How to Do Language Policy with Dictionaries 33

language" are considered, this compilation of bilingual dictionaries combining

French with an indigenous language may seem the proper way to follow.
However, the genuine purpose of these dictionaries was not to promote the
relevant indigenous language or to give its speech community a source of ref-
erence. Nyangone Assam and Mavoungou (2000: 269) clearly state that most of
the Gabonese bilingual dictionaries dealing with French and an indigenous
language, are biased towards French. They emphasise the major role of mis-
sionaries and colonial administrators in the compilation of Gabonese diction-
aries. Their overview of Gabonese lexicography leads them to remark: "As far
as dictionary purposes are concerned, most earlier dictionaries were compiled
to help European traders and explorers to communicate in Gabonese lan-
guages. They were also useful aids for Christian evangelisation and French
colonial administration." (2000: 269).
The situation in Gabon was not unfamiliar, for similar situations prevailed
in many other African countries. Kidda Awak (1990: 10) states that many dic-
tionaries in Africa were not compiled for use by Africans but to assist the
European explorers as expeditionary guides or to help missionaries in learning
the African languages for evangelisation purposes.
Gouws (2005) makes a distinction between externally-motivated and inter-
nally-motivated lexicographical endeavours in Africa. Externally-motivated
dictionaries are usually bilingual products, co-ordinating a local African lan-
guage with a European language, typically the first language of the missionar-
ies or the colonisation officials. The compilers of these products are not speak-
ers of the local language but rather of the language of colonisation. Internally-
motivated lexicographical endeavours are the dictionaries compiled from
within the given speech community. Externally-motivated lexicographical en-
deavours often are the results of a prevailing language policy that protects the
hegemony of the language of colonisation.
Lexicography in Africa gives evidence of varying forms of the influence of
linguistic hegemony or attempted linguistic hegemony. In this regard exter-
nally-motivated dictionaries played a significant role. For many years during
the nineteenth century English was the only official language of the Cape
Province in South Africa. Since the late seventeenth century, Afrikaans had
already been a divergent dialect of Dutch (cf. Gouws and Ponelis 1992). The
early development of Afrikaans occurred in a pre-lexicographical environment
and colonial Dutch received scant lexicographical attention (cf. Gouws and
Ponelis 1992: 81). The emerging Afrikaans showed increasing differences from
the then standard Dutch as used in the Netherlands. Although Dutch was no
longer an official language in South Africa, there was a definite Dutch interest
in the linguistic situation in South Africa, an interest that illustrates a form of
distant linguistic hegemony. In 1831 the Dutch scholar A.N.E. Changuion came
to South Africa as professor in classic and modern languages, especially Dutch
literature (cf. Van der Merwe 1971). In 1844 he published his well-known book
De Nederduitsche taal in Zuid-Afrika hersteld, zijnde eene handleiding tot de kennis
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34 Henning Bergenholtz and Rufus H. Gouws

dier taal, naar de plaatselijke behoefte van het land gewijzigd. His intention with this
book was to give Dutch such a firm base in the Cape that Afrikaans could make
no progress. This book contained a back-matter text "Proeve van Kaapsch taal-
eigen", one of the first dictionaries treating Afrikaans. In the preface Changuion
said that the practical aim of this dictionary was to rid Dutch, spoken in South
Africa, from the "corrupt" words and expressions that he encountered in South
Africa, signalling the beginning of the new language, Afrikaans. This external
motivation was a typical Euro-centred approach to African lexicography and
an attempt to maintain linguistic hegemony, although from a distance.
Some externally-motivated dictionaries had also been compiled to benefit
the local language of African speech communities and to go against attempted
hegemony. In 1884 the Dutch academic Mansvelt published an Afrikaans dic-
tionary Proeve van een Kaapsch-Hollandsch Idioticon met Toelichtingen en Opmer-
kingen betreffende Land, Volk en Taal. He compiled this dictionary to prove that
Afrikaans differs sufficiently from the then standard Dutch to be regarded as
an emerging language and not merely a dialect of Dutch that has to conform to
the rules of standard Dutch. As in the case of Changuion's word list, Mansvelt's
dictionary was published at a time when English was the only official language
in the Cape Province. The monolingual language policy and the consequent
linguistic hegemony did not deter the continuing presence of an ever-changing
emerging language or the attempts to impose an older form of linguistic
hegemony amongst a certain group of speakers at the Cape.
The history of Afrikaans lexicography indicates that lexicographical at-
tempts against linguistic hegemony were complemented by attempts to sub-
stitute linguistic hegemony with linguistic harmony. Notwithstanding an offi-
cial language policy that only made provision for one official language, lexi-
cographers attempted to ensure harmony between speakers of different lan-
guages. In 1902/1904 the Patriot Woordeboek/Patriot Dictionary was published.
This dictionary, appearing shortly after the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902), played
a major role to introduce Afrikaans as an independent language coexisting
alongside English. From the perspective of the development of Afrikaans lexi-
cography, the Patriot Woordeboek/Patriot Dictionary played an extremely impor-
tant role, which will not be discussed in this article. Of significance here is its
attempt to ensure linguistic harmony in spite of the official language policy of
linguistic hegemony. In the preface the editor of the Patriot Woordeboek/Patriot
Dictionary concludes, after stating various aims and objectives: "This is our
principal aim: to promote co-operation between the leading races, English and
Dutch, in South Africa, for which purpose it is indispensable that they should
mutually know each other's language …" This dictionary does not adhere to an
approach to expand English to the detriment of Afrikaans but it endeavours to
create a form of harmony between speakers of English and Afrikaans.
In the first decades following its formal recognition as second official lan-
guage besides English, much was done to promote Afrikaans. The beginning of
the work on the Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (the WAT) in 1926 intro-
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How to Do Language Policy with Dictionaries 35

duced a lexicographical era characterised by state support for this Afrikaans

project. This support was increased substantially and the dictionary became
one of the symbols of the success of Afrikaans. At a much later stage a much
more limited financial allocation was made to the Dictionary of South African
English. This support for the two official languages stood in sharp contrast to
the lack of support for lexicographical projects in the other South African lan-
guages. Since the political transformation of 1994, there has been an official
change in the favouring of only two languages to the detriment of the rest. The
establishment of eleven national lexicography units, one for each of the official
South African languages, has created the opportunity, at least in theory, for all
the official languages to be promoted and to embark on lexicographical pro-
jects. In practice, however, the application of the official policy of eleven na-
tional languages leaves much to desire and it still has to be seen how this lan-
guage policy will influence South African lexicography. The strong position of
English as language of documentation has already resulted in the choice by a
number of national lexicography units to compile bilingual dictionaries with
English as partner language. If not managed in a proper way, this may lead to a
new linguistic and lexicographical hegemony.

4.4 Style selecting language policy

This kind of language policy is part of some national language policies (cf. the
discussion above and the citation from the Swedish Governmental proposal
2005). We are not aware of any such concrete national language policy plans in
practice but in private companies and organisations below governmental level
it is the most frequently used type of language policy plan. Their concern is
better communicative habits to ensure a homogeneous language use (because a
non-homogeneous language use sends a signal of non-professionalism) and a
clear and easily understood communication. We only know of small corporate
dictionaries (word lists) as part of corporate language policies, demanding e.g.
the use of short words instead of long word formations or the abolishment of
foreign words. Such demands are collected in small word lists, e.g. that of the
Danish Pump Company (cf. Grundfos 2002 and Bergenholtz et al. 2003). For
future corporate, but also national dictionaries we will suggest the develop-
ment of an integrated outer text with style selecting proposals to which refer-
ences from all relevant entries should be made.

4.5 Linguistic units selecting language policy

Dictionaries are too often regarded by their users as authoritative sources of

knowledge that should never be questioned. However, as Samuel Johnson
indicated, the authority of a dictionary is only that of its compiler. Yet, diction-
aries are seen as sources in which the "proper" language usage is described and
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36 Henning Bergenholtz and Rufus H. Gouws

if a given form has been included in a dictionary the average dictionary user
regards it as an indication that it had been accepted as part of the standard lan-
guage. Once again it is important to be reminded of the remark by the editor of
Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Philip Gove,
that the task of the dictionary is to record language, not to set its style. This
would imply that a dictionary reflecting the real language should not be im-
peded by puristic considerations resulting from a biased or prescriptive ap-
proach on the side of the lexicographer.
An intralingual language policy may be an attempt to ensure the use of
the standardised spelling system, and dictionaries may be required to utilise
this standardised orthography. In this regard dictionaries often adhere to the
orthography rules laid down by a formal language or spelling commission (cf.
par. 4.5). For Afrikaans the Taalkommissie van die Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie
vir Wetenskap en Kuns is the body responsible for the official ruling of Afri-
kaans orthography. Its decisions are published in the successive editions of the
Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreëls and dictionaries are expected to abide by the
spelling forms and rules presented in this book. A language policy may deter-
mine that orthography needs to be prescribed by a given body, and for diction-
aries to fulfil their obligation as authoritative instruments it is wise to adhere to
the laid-down criteria. Where evidence from actual language use goes against
the suggestions and rules of the ruling body, dictionaries, depending on their
type and function, could and should indicate the occurrence of the other forms
as variants of the officially preferred form.
Only if one has the broad understanding of language policy we have cho-
sen, decisions about orthography and inflection will be a part of a language
policy. But this understanding accords exactly to the practice of a language
policy for languages with a language commission taking official decisions of
this kind, as can be illustrated from a few Danish examples. By law the deci-
sions of the Danish Language Council are to be followed by all governmental
employees and pupils or students in institutions of which more than 50% of
their expenses are paid by the government. All decisions made by this council
are published in an official dictionary. Until November 2001 — when a new
edition of this dictionary appeared — there have been two officially valid vari-
ants for English line: Danish linie (with -ie) or linje (with -je). But since Novem-
ber 2001 only one variant (linje) has been permitted. Another example is the
translation for the English combined power and heating plant station: Danish kraft-
varmeværk, whose spelling without hyphens was the only valid form until
November 2001. This is now forbidden and only kraft-varme-værk (with two
hyphens) permitted. In the Danish language law from September 1997 (Law on
Orthography 1997 and Law on Language Council 1997) and in the circular to
this law (Circular on Danish Language Council 1997) we find two principles
the Danish Language Council should use in its decisions on Danish orthogra-
phy regulations. The first principle is a rule on consistency, called "the principle
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How to Do Language Policy with Dictionaries 37

of tradition". It is a practical language-stabilizing rule, without which the

changes would be so tremendous that it would be difficult to read texts written
30 or 50 years ago. The second principle is a rule of descriptivity called "the
principle of language use". According to this rule the language council has to
prescribe spelling according to the language use in texts written by good writ-
ers.* With such a law and with about 2 000–3 000 spelling and inflexional
changes within a few years, e.g. 1986, 1995, 2001 and 2006, there is a big need
for updated dictionaries. Longer periods without changes and a proscriptive
method — instead of the prescriptive one used — could be a good solution. In
Denmark — and equally in other Scandinavian countries — we have an exam-
ple of a language policy where a certain dictionary is explicitly mentioned as
part of the law in its very first paragraph:

§ 1. Dansk retskrivning fastlægges af Dansk Sprognævn og offentliggøres i

Dansk Sprognævns retskrivningsordbog. (Law on Orthography 1997)
[Danish orthography is decided by the Danish Language Council and is pub-
lished in the spelling dictionary Retskrivningsordbogen]

The argument for the choice of one variant and the prohibition of another in
cases like linie (forbidden since 2001) and linje (the only form allowed since
2001) is perhaps that the latter corresponds to the pronunciation, the former
does not. Such an argument accords with the intention in the process of uni-
formity in many languages without a long tradition of being used as written
language (cf. Chebanne et al. 2003: 3). Such cannot be the case in the Danish
decision because this intention is not part of the language law (cf. the above
reference to the principle of tradition as a main rule for official regulations:
language use in texts written by good writers). Other changes can be explained
as attempts to make the language more easily readable (prescribing the use of
hyphens in long word formations like kraft-varme-værk. Such proposed changes
have indeed a better chance of acceptance, if they accord with other ortho-
graphical conventions in a certain language. But the condition for a successful
proposal is not only the acceptance of but also the easy access to information
about the (new) norm. Dictionaries are the normal tools for quick access to such
information. In that regard internet dictionaries are much more effective be-
cause the changes can immediately be communicated.

4.6 Puristic language policy

Language policy, as a form of intralingual language policy, is based on a par-

ticular historical, moral or political conception of proper language. Such a pol-
icy resorts primarily but not exclusively on an intralingual level and it should
never be interpreted as being predominantly interlingual in nature.
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38 Henning Bergenholtz and Rufus H. Gouws

A puristic language policy often is an attempt to keep a language "pure"

from either the influence of another language but, especially, from the influ-
ence of non-standard varieties, ideologically marked forms or derogatory words
and expressions. This is the type of language policy that can lead to dicionaries
eschewing the actual language use of their speech communities. A publisher
may adhere to such a language policy and use its dictionaries to promote this
approach. The individual lexicographer may adopt such a puristic approach in
his/her dictionary, knowing quite well that the intended target user of the dic-
tionary may very well interpret this approach as an official ruling on language.
During the first decades following the recognition of Afrikaans as an offi-
cial language in South Africa there was a strong puristic approach to protect
and free Afrikaans from Anglicisms. At that stage Afrikaans was attempting to
maintain itself as official language alongside the world language English. Afri-
kaans linguists preferred forms originating from Dutch to loan-words from
English. In the education system a strict puristic approach was implemented
and learners often had to learn lists of Anglicisms along with their "pure" Afri-
kaans equivalents, in order to know which words and expressions to avoid.
The puristic urge in Afrikaans lexicography led to the inclusion of words
that did not occur in typical day-to-day communication whilst forms with a
high usage frequency, but stigmatised as Anglicisms, were omitted from dic-
tionaries. In the fourteenth edition (1997) of Groot Woordeboek/Major Dictionary
forms like bruismelk/roomysmelk/skuimmelk instead of melkskommel (for the Eng-
lish milkshake) and posbesteller/briewebesteller instead of posman/posbode (for the
English postman) appeared. In the eighth edition (1984) of Tweetalige Woorde-
boek/Bilingual Dictionary a well-known Afrikaans word like geboortemerk (birth-
mark) is omitted in favour of the Dutch form moedervlek whilst bookmark gets the
equivalents boeklêer and leeswyser but not the high-frequency word boekmerk (cf.
Gouws 1993, 1995). This kind of puristic approach has impeded the lexico-
graphical representation of actual Afrikaans usage.
True to its typological nature the comprehensive Woordeboek van die Afri-
kaanse Taal (WAT) has endeavoured to include a variety of Afrikaans forms
without the same puristic approach. However, it is only in recent volumes of
the WAT that informal English loan-words in Afrikaans are systematically
lemmatised. In this regard many members of the Afrikaans speech community
are still conservative, favouring the puristic approach in dictionaries. In the
fourth edition (2000) of HAT, the Verklarende Handwoordeboek van die Afrikaanse
Taal, a number of informal loan-words from English like cool, sorry, oukei, orraait
were included and labelled to indicate their status. The inclusion of these
words was the aspect of this dictionary which received the most criticism, sev-
eral users insisting that the dictionary should adhere to an approach of in-
cluding only pure Afrikaans words.
The inclusion of this type of loan-word was increased in the fifth edition
(2005) of HAT due to a language policy on the side of the editors that aims to
give a balanced account of the lexicon of Afrikaans, also allowing items coming
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How to Do Language Policy with Dictionaries 39

even from non-standardised varieties. In contrast to this approach the imple-

mentation of a puristic language policy would have resulted in a much less
representative account of the Afrikaans lexicon.
Dictionaries can play an important role to maintain the established "pure"
forms but still acknowledge the occurrence of loan-words and -expressions,
although these loan-forms may contradict the wishes of certain sections of the
speech community. Whether they are pure or impure, the lexicographer needs
to include these words, for which the knowledgeable user will be looking in the
dictionary. In some of the African languages traditional words and loan-words
coexist. Nong et al. (2002: 3) indicate that for Sepedi the former Language
Board "adopted a sensible approach in being prescriptive in the coinage and
approval/disapproval of terminology on the one hand, while still placing a
high premium on actual usage as criterion for acceptability on the other hand",
allowing for more than one option. For the months of the year the Language
Board prescribed the use of "Sothoised" terms like Aprele (April) instead of
Moranang (Nong et al. 2002: 4). Investigating the preference of users when it
comes to traditional words versus loan-words, Nong et al. found that Sepedi
speakers prefer traditional words like seyalemoya (radio) and setimela (train) to
loan-words like radio and terene. The research indicated that 29,4% of the re-
spondents prefer the loan-word only, while 70,6% prefer the indigenous word
only. However, the research also indicated that younger speakers have a
stronger preference for loan-words than older speakers. Whereas the Language
Board acknowledged certain loan-forms the existing Sepedi dictionaries dis-
play an even more lenient and less puristic approach towards loan-words.
From the nine dictionaries investigated by Nong et al. it becomes clear that
loan-words and their indigenous counterparts receive an equal treatment, with
50,6 % of the loan-words and 49,4% of the indigenous counterparts included in
the dictionaries.
Where the speech community clearly has a bias towards a more puristic
approach, dictionaries are progressive and guide users by presenting them
with different options. As indicated in the survey, the dictionary-internal lan-
guage policy may go against the preferences of the majority of the speech
community. Dictionaries reflect the usage patterns of the younger generation
and still make provision for the preferences of the older generation.
The role of dictionaries in the purist drive is not only to approve or con-
demn loan-words as counterparts to indigenous forms. Dictionaries should
also reflect on derogatory forms, for instance. In this regard the function of the
dictionary and the target users will determine the possible inclusion of these
forms and their treatment. It would be unacceptable for a comprehensive dic-
tionary to omit sensitive words like Boer, rock-spider, kaffer and queer. Such an
omission would imply a puristic approach to the detriment of the dictionary
being representative of the lexicon of the language. The derogatory nature of
these words should be indicated by means of labels, comments or even in the
 http://lexikos.journals.ac.za

40 Henning Bergenholtz and Rufus H. Gouws

lexicographical definitions. Even in a school dictionary these words should be

included but with an explicit warning against their use.
When it comes to a puristic language policy one cannot formulate a single
approach for all dictionaries. As with the contents and structures of dictionaries
the users and the lexicographical functions of each dictionary should determine
the nature and extent of its puristic approach.

5. Outlook for future dictionaries

This article has indicated that further discussions of language policy issues
should be preceded by a clear definition and understanding of terms from this
field. As has been shown, these terms had not been efficiently treated in exist-
ing dictionaries and this applies both to dictionaries dealing with language for
general purposes and those dealing with languages for special purposes. The
current treatment is not really helpful but tends to be rather confusing.
In this article, we defined the terms in such a way that they can be em-
ployed in an LSP (language for special purposes) dictionary that focuses on
language planning. The discussion included suggestions for terminological use
by politicians, journalists and other language users participating in the discus-
sion.
The main thesis of the article is that lexicographers of concrete dictionaries
constantly make decisions relevant to language policy. This does not only re-
gard the domain that clearly belongs to party or national politics but also the
domain of general decisions regarding language and languages. This implies a
wide scope of the lexical item policy as can be seen in its occurrence in a combi-
nation like smoking policy.
Language policy has three basic dimensions: the choice of communication
channels, the choice between languages and the choice between an interlingual
and an intralingual approach. These dimensions also apply to lexicography
and we want to emphasise that interlingual and intralingual decisions should
be directed at each other and that both these dimensions are indispensable. Up
to now intralingual decisions have been the obvious ones for lexicographers.
This article acknowledges this, but also stresses the additional necessity and
relevance of decisions on the level of communication policy and interlingual
language policy.

Endnote

* In practice the Danish Language Council does not follow these clear rules (Bergenholtz
2003a, 2003b); the concrete decisions are therefore criticized in public discussion. But the
debate is not as serious as a similar discussion in Germany (after their language decisions in
1996). A reason for this could be, that new general changes in Germany only take place once
in a hundred years, whereas in Denmark changes occurred more than ten times in the same
period.
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How to Do Language Policy with Dictionaries 41

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