National language planning and language shifts in Malaysian minority communities: speaking in many tongues

摘要

Malaysia and language policy make an intriguing pair, as do real live language use and preference in whatever the policy milieu. This volume is a revealing and subtle window on just where actual language use is going among the non-Malay population at the end of Malaysia's first half-century of independence. As well, it is a useful reminder that not all Malaysia's language policy is about English and Bahasa Malaysia. Given much of the country's immigrant past, it is no surprise that there is such a depth of interest in wider language shifts across generations, and in what is occurring now in the broader context of language policy.