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Examining the Political Origins of Language Policies

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Language, Policy and Territory

Abstract

Huw Lewis and Elin Royles analyse the origins of specific language policies and trace their development over time. They argue that existing literature on language policy fails to identify how and why particular choices emerge and how these are related to political factors. As a conceptual framework, Lewis and Royles examine historical institutionalism and its focus on how political institutions influence policy decisions and interact with other institutions. They consider the usefulness of the concepts of ‘path dependence’ and ‘critical juncture’ for understanding language policy formation. They then apply a neo-institutionalist approach to analyse two key policy measures for the Welsh language. They conclude that the neo-institutionalist approach facilitates a greater understanding of how policy is formed but is only one such theory that can be used to this end.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Wales

    Huw Lewis & Elin Royles

Authors
  1. Huw Lewis
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  2. Elin Royles
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Correspondence to Huw Lewis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Celtic and Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Wilson McLeod

  2. Celtic and Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Rob Dunbar

  3. IAITH: Y Ganolfan Cynllunio Iaith / Welsh Centre for Language Planning, Newcastle Emlyn, UK

    Kathryn Jones

  4. School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, National University of Ireland, Galway, Galway, Ireland

    John Walsh

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Lewis, H., Royles, E. (2022). Examining the Political Origins of Language Policies. In: McLeod, W., Dunbar, R., Jones, K., Walsh, J. (eds) Language, Policy and Territory. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94346-2_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94346-2_2

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-94345-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-94346-2

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