Language Policies and Politics in South Asia

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>This chapter explores socioeconomic, political, religious ethno-cultural, and national positions toward language management, which underlie diachronic changes in South Asian nations’ language policies and linguistic ideologies. In South Asia, feelings toward linguistic diversity, as realized through national language policies and in actual national language management practices, are highly diverse. The negotiation of and diachronic changes in language policies, together with functional and ideological goals—visible through language attitudes, overt and covert language policies, and diachronic changes in language competencies—offer a lens through which to understand language management and value.</jats:p>