ABSTRACT
In language use, it is possible to differentiate between linguistic and metalinguistic activities-on the one hand, people produce utterances, while not devoting any attention to the language or the utterances, and on the other hand, people may orient their attention toward the language or the utterances, evaluate them, think about altering them and occasionally take action on those thoughts. Language planning can be primarily considered the second type of activity. The point of language planning is to bring about changes in language or in linguistic activities. These changes include, for example, the establishment of new terms, the standardization of thus far non-standard grammatical forms, the nomination of a certain variety of language as the official language, or the determination of which languages will be taught in schools. According to Kaplan and Baldauf (1997, p. 3) “language planning is a body of ideas, laws and regulations (language policy), change rules, beliefs, and practices intended to achieve a planned change (or to stop change from happening) in the language use in one or more communities.”
