Although during the classical period of language policy studies in the middle of the twentieth century, the main emphasis was on national state policies, by the end of the century it was widely realized that the influence of other domains including the family must be taken into account. The crucial influence of natural intergenerational language transmission suggested that the language spoken in the family played the major role in maintenance, though some also recognized the possibility of education (especially at first religious) in preserving standard written languages like Hebrew, Latin, and Mandarin. The more recent understanding that individual named languages (the focus of state policies) form part of complex linguistic repertoires suggests that policies are formed and determined at many levels and domains, ranging from the individual through the family and school and workplace to the nation and beyond.