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Codification (linguistics)
 
 
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Codification is the process of standardizing and developing a norm for a language.

Codifying a language can vary from case to case and depends on the stage of standardization that already exists. It typically means to develop a writing system
Writing system

A writing system is a type of symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language....
, set up official rules for grammar
Grammar

Grammar is the field of linguistics that covers the conventions governing the use of any given natural language. It includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics....
, orthography
Orthography

The orthography of a language specifies the correct way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Orthography is derived from Greek language ????? orth?s and ???fe?? gr?phein ....
, pronunciation
Pronunciation

"Pronunciation" refers to the way a word or a language is usually spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If someone said to have "correct pronunciation," then it refers to both within a particular dialect....
, syntax
Syntax

In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing Sentence s in natural languages. In addition to referring to the discipline, the term syntax is also used to refer directly to the rules and principles that govern the sentence structure of any individual language, as in "the Irish syntax"....
 and vocabulary
Vocabulary

A person's vocabulary is the set of words they are familiar with in a language. A vocabulary usually grows and evolves with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and learning....
 as well as publishing grammar books, dictionaries and similar guidelines. If there are several variants for a certain aspect, e.g.






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Codification is the process of standardizing and developing a norm for a language.

Codifying a language can vary from case to case and depends on the stage of standardization that already exists. It typically means to develop a writing system
Writing system

A writing system is a type of symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language....
, set up official rules for grammar
Grammar

Grammar is the field of linguistics that covers the conventions governing the use of any given natural language. It includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics....
, orthography
Orthography

The orthography of a language specifies the correct way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Orthography is derived from Greek language ????? orth?s and ???fe?? gr?phein ....
, pronunciation
Pronunciation

"Pronunciation" refers to the way a word or a language is usually spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If someone said to have "correct pronunciation," then it refers to both within a particular dialect....
, syntax
Syntax

In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing Sentence s in natural languages. In addition to referring to the discipline, the term syntax is also used to refer directly to the rules and principles that govern the sentence structure of any individual language, as in "the Irish syntax"....
 and vocabulary
Vocabulary

A person's vocabulary is the set of words they are familiar with in a language. A vocabulary usually grows and evolves with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and learning....
 as well as publishing grammar books, dictionaries and similar guidelines. If there are several variants for a certain aspect, e.g. different ways of spelling a word, decisions on which variant is going to be the standard one have to be made.

In some countries such codification is done by a body constituted by the state, such as the French Academy. Codification often happens due to new inventions, changes in values or other cultural influences. After the process of decolonialization, many African states had to decide whether they wanted to keep the colonial language or chose one (or more) of their indigenous language varieties as official languages, which made language planning necessary.

In a well-known model of language planning by Einar Haugen
Einar Haugen

Einar Ingvald Haugen was an USA linguistics and Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison and Harvard University.Haugen was born in Sioux City, Iowa to Norwegians from the town of Oppdal in Norway....
, codification is only the second step, step one is the selection process, step three is the elaboration of vocabulary (especially technical terms) and step four the implementation of the changes in society. In the process of language planning, there are two major levels: corpus planning and status planning (Heinz Kloss
Heinz Kloss

Heinz Kloss was a Germany linguistics and internationally recognised authority on linguistic minorities .He coined the terms "ausbausprache", "abstandsprache" and "dachsprache" to try and describe the differences in between what is commonly called a language and what is commonly called a dialect....
). Codification is part of the corpus planning of a language, because the "body" of the language itself is being planned as opposed to status planning, where the prestige and usage of a language is enhanced:

Corpus planning:
  • Codification of a language (step 2)
  • Elaboration of vocabulary (step 3)
Status planning:
  • Selection of a language (step 1)
  • Securing its acceptance (step 4)
(cf. Holmes 2001, 102) Whether the codification was successful depends heavily on its acceptance by the population as well as its form of implementation by the government, e.g. promoting its prestige and spread, teaching the norm in school and language courses, and so on. Literature:
  • Arntz, Reiner (1998): Das vielsprachige Europa: eine Herausforderung für Sprachpolitik und Sprachplanung. Hildesheim: Hildesheimer Universitätsbibliothek.
  • Coulmas, F. (1985): Sprache und Staat. Studien zur Sprachplanung und Sprachpolitik. New York: de Gruyter.
  • Haugen, E. (1966): Language conflict and language planning. The case of Modern Norwegian. Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Press.
  • Holmes, J. (2001): An introduction to Sociolinguistics (2nd ed.). London et al.: Longman, 95-120.
  • Mesthrie, R. Et al. (2000): Introducing Sociolinguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 384-418.


See also: official language
Official language

An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other territory. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration....
, Code
Code

In communications, a code is a Operator for converting a piece of information into another form or representation , not necessarily of the same type....
, Character encoding
Character encoding

A character encoding system consists of a code that pairs a sequence of character from a given character set with something else, such as a sequence of natural numbers, octet or electrical pulses, in order to facilitate the transmission of data through telecommunication networks and/or Computer data storage of Character in compute...
, language planning
Language planning

Language planning refers to deliberate efforts to influence the behaviour of others with respect to the acquisition, structure, or functional allocation of language....
, standardization
Standardization

Standardization is the process of developing and agreeing upon Standard . A standard is a document that establishes uniform engineering or technical specifications, criteria, methods, processes, or practices....