Language policy is all about choices. If you are bilingual or plurilingual, you have to choose which language to use. Even if you speak only one language, you have choices of dialects and styles. Some of these choices are the result of management, reflecting conscious and explicit efforts by language managers to control the choices. This is the first book to present a specific theory of language management. Bernard Spolsky reviews current research on the family, religion, the workplace, the media, schools, legal and health institutions, the military and government. Also discussed are language activists, international organisations, and human rights relative to language, and the book concludes with a review of language managers and management agencies. A model is developed that recognises the complexity of language management, makes sense of the various forces involved, and clarifies why it is such a difficult enterprise.

Sociolinguistics is the study of the different ways in which different groups of people use language. This book provides a brief but comprehensive introduction to the field, making links with related disciplines such as history, politics, and gender studies.