The Comparative Linguistic Policy Research project is an attempt to measure linguistic policy by a set of objec­tive stan­dards. Policies are analyzed and scored as to the place of minority languages within a polit­ical juris­dic­tion. CLIPR project data consist of annual consti­tu­tional language policy measure­ments, on a 25-point scale (minus 12 to plus 12, including 0), of the extent to which each consti­tu­tion promotes or restricts the use of minority languages.  Three language policy scales (each minus 4 to plus 4) measure language policy as it pertains to admin­is­tra­tive and judi­cial agen­cies, educa­tional systems and general matters (including media), respec­tively.  The three scores are added to produce the overall measure­ment. Three corre­sponding group language status scales measure the status of a partic­ular minority group’s language under the perti­nent country’s language policy.  Minority groups corre­spond to those defined in the Minorities at Risk study (see blogroll).

The scales were orig­i­nally devel­oped to study the effect of language policy on protest and rebel­lion activ­i­ties by minority language groups, but they were designed so that they can be used to study language policy as either an inde­pen­dent or depen­dent vari­able in future studies by other researchers. The measure­ments involved can be applied to language policy at any level from consti­tu­tional provi­sions to local ordinances.

Sources for the infor­ma­tion used to develop the language policy and group language status scales are found in our Bibliography section.