Language planning and language ecology. Towards a theorical integration.

Abstract

The ecological vision enables us to bring together elements which appear to be separate, while at the same time maintaining a degree of autonomy for each distinct part. So we can now leave behind us the image of linguistic codes as separate from the other components of reality, though this idea of separation has presided over most of the field of linguistics for many years. This perspective provides a much clearer understanding of language change and shift. Without any hesitation on theoretical grounds we can relate modifications of form to the decisions of speakers or to changes in their demolinguistic, sociological or economic contexts. The 'life and death' of languages – to be metaphorical again - are much better understood from an ecological perspective. The use or neglect of language varieties is the consequence of developments in other relevant sociopolitical aspects that comprise the sociocultural ecosystem as a whole: any change in ideologies, values, economic or political organization, waves of migration, technological innovations, which disrupt stability of the ecosystem are likely to lead to respective changes in the forms and codes of linguistic communication between humans. Languages, then, like biological species, never live in a vacuum; they are fully integrated and adapted to their sociocultural ecosystem and to the other elements inside it.