Projects / Programmes
Language Policy of the Republic of Slovenia and the Needs of Users
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.05.00 |
Humanities |
Linguistics |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H360 |
Humanities |
Applied linguistics, foreign languages teaching, sociolinguistics |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.02 |
Humanities |
Languages and Literature |
Language policy, language planning, language use, language attitudes
Researchers (37)
Organisations (11)
Abstract
The research project directly addresses the needs of those who prepare strategic documents, especially the Resolution on the National Programme for Language Policy and the action plans that derive from it, in order to get a comprehensive and empirically based study of the basic sociolinguistic issues. It will provide a comprehensive overview of the sociolinguistic situation in the Republic of Slovenia and the description of the linguistic needs of users in the Republic of Slovenia as well as the needs of the Slovenian language users outside of Slovenia in order to lay the basis for the new National Programme for Language Policy.
The project will describe and explore sociolinguistic problems that have been identified so far and identify new clusters of problems in the fields of legal regulation, legislation and the needs of selected groups of language users in the Republic of Slovenia and language users of Slovenian outside the Republic of Slovenia focusing on language description, language technologies, languages, language varieties and linguistic choices. The selected groups of language users in the Republic of Slovenia are the groups that represent the key domains of public life and activity in the Republic of Slovenia, i.e. language users in the field of the media, culture, science, preschool, primary, secondary and higher education, economy, public administration and the judicial system. Special attention will be paid to users of languages other than Slovenian, i.e. minority and foreign languages and languages of immigrants, and to users with special needs. Slovenian language users outside the Republic of Slovenia live on the periphery of the Slovenian ethnic territory, in the states of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and elsewhere in Europe and in the world.
We will carry out a comprehensive empirical research that will investigate the documented problems directly among users. After a thorough analysis of the obtained data the guidelines for the new National Programme for Language Policy will be outlined.
The entire research will provide a description and an analysis of language users’ attitudes, communication practices, language infrastructure and linguistic education and relate all these aspects to language technology issues. The research will include both sociolinguistic and legal aspects, since from the perspective of language policy as a public policy, which is created in accordance with the public interest, its goals are necessarily achieved also through legal principles and rules. The research will perform a systemic analysis of the relevant legal acts which regulate the use of the Slovenian language and other languages as well as linguistic rights, possibilities and practices of users with special needs in the Republic of Slovenia as well as users of Slovenian outside the Republic of Slovenia.
The research will be a fundamental work which the (sociolinguistic) science will be able to refer to for many years to come. The results of the empirical research will also have great value in their own right, since they will enable further analyses, interpretations and solution-finding. The project is of special importance also to the legal science, since through the analysis of legal principles and rules as well as of the case law in the field of language two key general guidelines for regulation and enforcement of rules can be seen. The project will make it much easier for the public administration to make plans and to perform further work on the basis of actual needs of citizens. Since language policy is deeply intertwined with the economy, we can expect, if the research findings are incorporated into language-policy decisions, development to take place in those economic sectors which create computer tools that produce or need products, such as speech synthesizers, electronic translators, speech recognition software, automatic spellcheckers and grammar checkers, proofreading applications, diction
Significance for science
In Slovenia, such an extensive sociolinguistic study has never been carried out before. The participating researchers designed it ambitiously, but, based on previous experience, it is planned realistically and is feasible. We are aware that Slovenian sociolinguistic s is in urgent need of a more extensive and a well-thought-out objective study that will:
- confirm or refute conclusions and assumptions that have been made until now and can be found in scientific literature;
- collect and, if necessary, empirically verify the research that has been done so far;
- find problems that have not yet been identified before and call attention to them.
We expect that this research will be a fundamental work which the sociolinguistic science will be able to refer to for many years to come. This is supported by the fact that we succeeded in forming such a project group as to include the majority of leading Slovenian experts in specific fields.
The project is of special importance also to the legal science, since through the analysis of legal principles and rules as well as of the case law in the field of language two key general guidelines for regulation and enforcement of rules can be seen. Law should not be technocratic and self-sufficient, but an instrument with which the social values in a specific field are materialised, nor should it prevent changes. It should serve as a tool to protect the public interest in a specific time and place, i.e. as the basis or even as a proactive impulse for social development.
Since the research results will also be presented abroad, we can expect that the project will provide Slovenian sociolinguistics with a better position within the international scientific community and that researchers within different working groups of the European Union will take better account of characteristics of Slovenian linguistic environment.
Significance for the country
The research is of crucial importance for cultural development, since it will enable adequate development of linguistic situation in Slovenia. It will make it much easier for the public administration to plan future language policies on the basis of actual needs of citizens. This is particularly important, because such studies have so far been relatively few and differed considerably from the perspectives of methodology, the field of study and quality.
Since language policy is getting more and more involved in the economy, the research will exert influence on the language-policy decisions that will make it easier for the companies to access linguistic tools and devices. From this perspective, we can expect development especially in those economic sectors which create computer tools that produce or need products, such as speech synthesizers, electronic translators, speech recognition software, proofreading applications, dictionary and encyclopaedic manuals, products for e-learning etc.
Most important scientific results
Final report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2016,
final report
