APA Dictionary of Psychology

a deliberate attempt by a government to change the way a language is used by a community. A policy of raising the status of a language (status planning) is often adopted in postcolonial situations, when the new government may take steps to promote the use of indigenous languages, rather than the colonial language, in government and education. This may be accompanied by corpus planning, which refers to attempts to “improve” a language, usually by standardizing its structures, expanding or “purifying” its vocabulary, and reforming (or, in some cases, creating) its writing system.