SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Minority language planning and efforts to revitalise endangered languages have been criticised for following a model of language planning common to majority languages, i.e. promoting a prescriptive standard which reproduces hierarchies and hegemonies (Schieffelin et al. 1998; Heller 2004) and diminishes linguistic diversity (Sayers, 2009). An alternative is the concept of ‘polynomic’ languages (Marcellesi 1986), a pluralistic model of language without a single prestige variety or functional distinctions. This model is used in the teaching of Corsican (Jaffe 1999a; 2005; 2008; Blackwood 2008). Research into the indigenous language variety of Guernsey reveals ‘folk linguistic’ acceptance of a regional variation as a source of richness, which suggests that a polynomic approach might be applicable. At the same time, notions of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ are ingrained from Western-style education. Linguistic purism is also on the increase in reaction to perceptions of language change. This paper compares language planning in Guernsey and Corsica in the light of these challenges, and discusses whether a polynomic model of language planning is feasible in such a context.