ABSTRACT
Linguistic policies are instances of language planning, that is, governmentauthorised efforts to change a language or one of its varieties, or to change the way a language functions in society. Language policies may seek to standardise a language or increase its status. These two approaches can coexist, as has been the case in France, so that efforts to develop an orthography, new sources of vocabulary, new uses, dictionaries and a literature fulfil the aim of increasing the status of the language and of extending its use to all areas of society (Wardhaugh 1986:335-6).
