American and British Studies Annual (Dec 2019)
Language Planning and Policy Issues in Speeches and Addresses of the United States’ Presidents from 1789 to 1901
Abstract
This study analyzes language policy and planning (LPP) in the US through presidential communications and speeches during the period from 1789 to 1901, i.e. the period from the George Washington administration ending with the William McKinley administration. The study examines documents of 25 presidents in the target period. It addresses the question of how LPP were understood in presidential documents during the early years of the US foundation. To examine the LPP issues which appeared on the presidential agenda, the searchable “Public Papers” archive of “The American Presidency Project” (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/), maintained by John Woolley and Gerhard Peters, was used. For clarifying LPP statements the study uses Wiley (1999) and Ruiz (1984) classifications. The study finds that in the examined period, conflicts of values between “national unity” and “equality” were not yet appearing in presidential communication. Discourse in the period is more closely associated with internationalism and pluralism, i.e. nativism, Americanism, “English-only” and human rights movements were still beyond the LPP field. Language policy and planning in the oratory of the first century of the US presidency were oriented towards international relations, treaty negotiations and linguistic accommodation.
