Junior Research Symposia
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/10648
Browse
5 results
Search Results
Item The Uplifting of Native Language of Kenya under the Influence of Colonial Language Planning(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Sooriyaarachchil, S.A.S.T.; Senadheera, R.H.Language is one of the prominent resources that should be planned for the sociopolitical wellbeing of a multi-lingual and multi-ethnic country. This research focuses on the language planning of Kenya, a country in Africa. Kenya is a multilingual country which is influenced by the colonialism for a long period of time. The language policy which is followed by Kenya shows and introduction between the native language; Swahili and English. English is the language which is used by the British during pre-coloniallanguage planning of Kenya. The data for the research were gathered through the web site articles about Kenyan language planning and through some research papers of university academic of Kenya. This paper presents the official language planning of Kenya during the pre and post-colonial periods. At present Kenya has two official languages as Swahili and English. As a multilingual and multi ethnic country Kenya has more than sixty two tribal languages like Kikuyu, Luhuyu, and Kalanji. During the pre-colonial time English dominated the language planning of Kenya. [t was used as the medium of education and parliamentary affairs. After the independence native politicians took necessary steps to uplift Swahi[i throughout the country. The first native president of Kenya had introduced Swahili uplifting programs even ordered people to speak Swahili instead of English. Finally Swahili becomes and one of the official languages of Kenya through the constitution of [974. At present Swahili be expanded and intensified throughout the educational system up to university level. Nevertheless the influence of English is remain until today in the status planning of Kenya. Because the making of Swahi[i and English compulsory examination subjects and the use of English in the media with and exception of Swahili. In conclusion, the complexity of Kenya's situation cannot be ignored and it is necessary to continue the uplifting ofSwahili in the status planning of Kenya.Item Colonial Period Language Planning in Sri Lanka(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Perera, A.In linguistically heterogeneous societies, language planning constitutes core institutional practice for maintaining social cohesion as well as unique cultural identities. This study intends to examine the Colonial Period Language Planning in Sri Lanka. The data were collected through official documents, books, journals and thesis such as Colbrooke Cameron Papers, Language Planning by Robert. B. Kaplan etc. The first Europeans to visit Sri Lanka in modem times were the Portuguese who arrived in 1505 and the Dutch who captured Ceylon in 1656. Then the British presence in Sri Lanka began in 1796. The arrival of Europeans was a novel influence on our languages. During those periods Portuguese, Dutch and English were introduced as their official languages and Greek, Latin and Hebrew were included as the languages under the education planning. The colonisation brought European style of education to Sri Lanka, especially to prepare students for positions in the colonial administrations. All official domains were conducted in their official languages. Accordingly, those language policies were introduced to our educational system and to Sinhalese and Tamil languages. As a result, only few people could obtain a proper education and most of the people remained uneducated. Therefore, those language policies caused several social issues. Moreover, Mr. J. R. Jayawardhana introduced a new language planning proposal to change the colonial language planning in 1944. However, that proposal could not be implemented properly. This was a reason for the ethnic problem in Sri Lanka that took place after the independence.Item Language Planning in Senegal: A Study Based on the Position of 'Wolof' as a National Language(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Kekulawalal, S.; Samankumari, P.G.Language planning refers to deliberate and systematic attempts taken to solve the language problems of the speech community. Government authority gives a prior contribution when planning a language through legislation, court decisions, executive action or other means to determine the use of language in public contexts. Senegal is a multi-ethnic country where there are around twenty communities speaking twenty five languages and gives a prior contribution from the Senegal government to a better language planning. In Senegal, 'Wolof is the main national language used by Senegalese and plays a major role in the language planning. However, still, it could not have reach to the state of official language. This paper examines the language planning in Senegal while mainly focusing to the national language problem of'Wolof. The language planning in Senegal is that, French is the official language. The language of 'formal' schooling, the media, commerce and the government, although only 10% of the Senegalese population speaks French, and it is spoken primarily in the larger cities (e.g. Dakar). One of the most striking problem in Senegal is that it does not have a proper national language policy, have 28 different languages co-exist, 6 of which are named as national languages spoken by 86% of the citizen. When considering current language situation in Senegal, the attitudes of the Senegalese people towards the Wolof language, the Wolof culture and the duality between the Wolof language and the other local languages is high. Therefore attention towards the local languages (mainly Wolot) can be seen everywhere in the country. Data for this research are collected by using Google website articles and written books. What learned from the study is that, with a great sociolinguistics and demographic domination there is a huge attention towards Wolof language as a national language.Item Language Planning Situations in Sri Lanka and Singapore: A Comparative Study(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Kamali, R.D.Language planning can be defined as a deliberate attempt to change the linguistics behaviour of a speech community for a particular reason. It is often associated with the government planning. It can be initiated to push a certain language towards a stipulated goal. The recognition of two or more official languages can largely be attributed to a scenario stemming out of a socio-political dilemma. Therefore, decisions on language policy and planning are made around the globe every day to create the much needed harmony within their countries. Especially, in multilingual countries, it is becoming more and more essential to have a well-planned language policy. To date, around 200 countries in the world recognise two or more official languages. This study focuses on the language policy in Sri Lanka and Singapore with particulars emphasis on the historical, political and social changes in language policy decisions and the present situation of their language policies as multi-lingual countries in the Asian region. After a general account of the language profile of Sri Lanka and Singapore, this research examines the status planning in both countries since they became independent countries. Finally, it discusses some important recent developments in language planning in both countries and how they constructed the ethnic harmony through language planning and is their language planning, a success or a failure. As the methodology both primary and secondary data were collected by referring official documents, constitution of both countries and other subject related sources. This study demonstrates the linguistic, political and ethnic characters of language planning in two multi-lingual countries.Item The Lack of Corpus Planning in the Language Policy of Multilingual South Africa(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Jayawardhana, J.M.W.H.; Dhaneshika, K.M.Language planning is deliberate effort to influence the function, structure, or acquisition of languages or language variety within a speech community. The purpose of the paper to examine the language planning situation in South Africa, where language has been used in both status and corpus planning as an instrument in the periods of colonialism to apartheid to democracy. Data for the research are collected by using articles in Google web sites, academic researches regarding the language policy of South Africa. This research mainly focuses the following points such as; background and languages of South Africa, how is the language planning implemented in the case of South Africa and how does the country face to challenge of selecting an official language with the effects at multilingualism. South Africa offers particularly interesting context to explore language shift in the post- apartheid era, II languages have been granted official status in South Africa. The problem discusses here is the need of well organised status planning which ensured with properly developed corpus planning. In conclusion, the discourse used in the policy reflects conflicting ideologies emanating from the history of this country and illuminates the politics that led to the formation of a democratic state in South Africa. Consideration of multilingualism in language discussion that led to the formation of current language policy. Corpus planning will address a need for local and global as a solution to challenge of global technology and modernisation. Creating language teaching resources is one ofthe major step in corpus planning, language planning development and policy implementation. Therefore through this paper it highlights that even though the status planning of South Africa shows successful features it has a shortage of well- planned corpus planning.