Language and Sustainable Development (Language Policy)

This book addresses the importance of language in matters of sustainability and incorporating such concerns in implementing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainable language policy must aim to include all groups, including language minorities and marginalized populations, such as refugees and aid recipients, in conditions that allow for their inclusion in making and implementing policy. The book brings together nine studies covering such topics as language and digital resources, sustainable and inclusive multilingual education, national language policy, and language in peacekeeping operations. A final chapter addresses the crucial intersection between sociolinguistics and economics, and the implications of this for development and the SDGs.

Lisa J. McEntee-Atalianis is Reader in Applied Linguistics at Birkbeck, University of London. Her research focuses on two (overlapping) issues: ‘identity’ and language policy and planning, particularly in supranational/international organisations. Her breadth of interest is evidenced in her book Identity in Applied Linguistics Research (2019), and publications in numerous edited books and international journals. She is reviews editor for the journal Language Problems and Language Planning and serves on the editorial board of Sociolinguistica.

Humphrey Tonkin is President and University Professor of the Humanities, Emeritus, University of Hartford, USA. A specialist in international exchanges, language policy, and literature, he has published widely in all three fields. He edits the series Studies in World Language Problems and the journal Esperantologio, and is editor emeritus of the journal Language Problems and Language Planning. He is former board chair of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars and of the Center for Applied Linguistics.