Role of Language and Place in Language Policy

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>In no proper sense can languages be said to belong to places. They belong unquestionably to individuals, and in a more complex way to a whole people. The complexity lies in the fact that “a people” is largely defined by its language, and vice versa, in a way that is at best dialectical, and at worst circular. Even the names used to designate peoples, places, and languages are usually variants of the same word—Finns in Finland speak Finnish—except in the case of post‐imperial situations such as have left English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese as the languages of many nations, and the religious spread that has put Arabic in the same condition.</jats:p>