230165 Language Planning and Policy in the US (S) (WiSe 2024/2025)

We will look at language planning in the US. Here we are interested in both what the federal situation is like but also what the individual states can decide and what they have decided past and present. This includes past laws on teaching German in the US as well as language imposition and Native American languages (users and user communities), but especially laws and decisions affecting non-English speakers with a definite focus on Spanish speakers. For the purpose of comparison we will also see what kind language planning and policies other countries (especially in Europe) have put in place and how that has affected speakers and speaker communities. We will look at the advantages and disadvantages of having an official (and/or national) language or not as well as the consequences that language policies can have on (other, smaller) languages.