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Questions of language in the commonwealth censuses
Author(s) -
Christopher A. J.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
population, space and place
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.398
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1544-8452
pISSN - 1544-8444
DOI - 10.1002/psp.625
Subject(s) - commonwealth , census , curiosity , first language , promotion (chess) , identity (music) , literacy , subject (documents) , sociology , population , genealogy , linguistics , political science , social science , geography , economic growth , psychology , history , law , politics , demography , library science , social psychology , economics , computer science , philosophy , physics , acoustics
Censuses, which governments conduct to provide information on society for the provision of better order and welfare, have frequently included questions on language. Two aspects have been the subject of enquiry. First, language as an aspect of personal identity, notably mother tongue and that spoken, was recorded. Second, as a measure of the progress in education, levels of literacy were probed. Thus, specific skills in particular languages were asked, often to monitor language loss or the promotion of official tongues. However, within the countries of the Commonwealth there has been a remarkable lack of linguistic curiosity. This feature has been apparent since the beginning of modern census taking in the 19th century and has been perpetuated into the post‐colonial era. As a result, language questions that were posed have been diverse, with little systematic approach to the information sought. Indeed, half the countries in the latest round of Commonwealth censuses asked none, while the remainder usually only included one or two issues. As a result, comparatively little is known, from the published census data, of either the linguistic allegiances and abilities of a large proportion of the inhabitants of the Commonwealth or their evolution through time. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.