National Language Policies

Abstract National language policy refers to official efforts to determine the status, use, domains, and territories of language(s) in a nation‐state and the rights of the speakers of the languages in question. This article first traces the history of national language policy activities, then explicates the content, types, and implementation of national language policy as well as the overarching language ideologies that underlie the policy‐making with specific examples and case studies. The article concludes with a discussion of the complexity of factors affecting the national language policy processes.