SIXTH MEETINGNational Language and Official Language

NATIONAL LANGUAGE

It is the language of a political, cultural and social

unit.

It is used in everyday’s life.

It is used and developed as a symbol of national

identity.

It identifies the nation and unite the people.

The language of solidarity, love, humor and poetry.

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

A language which may be used for

government business or office function only

Used in formal context, administration, a

great deal of education, legal, business

Its function is primarily utilitarian rather than

symbolic

E.G : In Paraguay, the national language is ‘Guarani’

and the official language is ‘Spanish’ (both are

declared as National language in 1967)

In Indonesia ‘Bahasa Indonesia’ is the national

language as well as the official language.

THE PROCESS OF CHOOSING A NATIONAL LANGUAGE

Choosing the most prestigious language (the dialect used in

the golden triangle – London, Oxford, Cambridge)

Choosing the language of the political/social elite.( Tagalog

in Philipine reflected political and economic power)

Choosing the variety which is widely used/most acceptable

(Malay which is acceptable in many areas in Indonesia)

STEPS TO HAVE A NATIONAL OFFICIAL LANGUAGE Selection: choosing the variety or code to be developed.

Codification: standardising its structural or linguistic features

(= corpus planning)

Elaboration: extending its function for use in new domains.

Securing its acceptance: the status of the new variety is

important, so the domains of its use must be developed.

THE FUNCTION OF NATIONAL LANGUAGE Unifying: it must unify the nation and offer advantages to

speakers over their dialects and vernaculars.

Separatist: it must set the nation off from surrounding

nations and should be an appropriate symbol of seperate

national identity.

Prestige: it should be recognised as a proper or ‘real’

language with higher status than local dialects and

vernacular languages.

Frame of refernce function: becomes the standard variety

as a yardstick for correctness.