bilingualism everybody knows what bilingual means; yet…as soon as we start trying to define the...
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Bilingualism
• Everybody knows what bilingual means; yet…as soon as we start trying to define the concept precisely, things get very complicated. This is not just hair splitting: if bilingualism is complex, it is because it is directly related to complex issues (Riley, 1986: 31).
Four Questions
• What is a bilingual society?
• Where are they found?
• What are the functions of and attitudes toward languages in bilingual societies?
• What are some bilingual strategies?
What is bilingualism?
No one speaks the whole of a language
• ‘Stubs to can wall penetration welds’ are?
• ‘Injury and tort’
• A ‘treble top’
The fact that we cannot compare the same individual’s abilities in two different
languages is central to our discussion of bilingualism
• Recognizing languages as different tools
• There are many definitions • None is satisfactory
One• The mastery of two or more languages—
bilingualism or multilingualism—is a special skill. Bilingualism and multilingualism are relative terms since individuals vary greatly in types and degrees of language proficiency (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1965).
Two
• Bilingualism is native-like control of two languages…Of course, one cannot define a degree of perfection at which a good foreign speaker becomes a bilingual: the distinction is relative (L. Bloomfield, 1933).
Three
• Bilingualism is understood…to begin at the point where the speaker of one language can produce complete, meaningful utterances in the other language (E. Haugen, 1953)
Two Issues
• Bilingual individuals are part of a society--contact between speakers
• The relative nature of bilingualism--degrees of bilingualism
Relative competence versus relative use.
• He speaks Swedish and Italian equally well.
Versus
• He speaks Swedish and Italian everyday.
Where can we find bilingual societies?
• Where there is contact between linguistic groups: ---political, economic (Examples: Mexico, USA)
• Historical and political changes:---changing borders, (example: Alsace, France)
• Widespread bilingualism: Swahili, Tanzania
Monolingual and bilingual countries
• Half the population• Contradicts unilingualism absolute link to
national and individual identity• Official bilingualism does not indicate high
percentage of bilinguals and vise versa.• Examples: France and Tanzania versus
Canada and Belgian
What are the functions of and attitudes toward languages in
bilingual societies?
• Diaglossia: (Ferguson , 1959) Refers to circumstances where each language is systematically employed in certain domains and events.
--- high form and low form ----urban (Madina, Ghana) or rural (New
Guinea) ---trades and occupations
Example of Diaglossia: Paraguay
• Two languages spoken: Spanish and Guarani
• Choice of language determined by context
Joan Rubin’s four contextual factors:
1. Location of interaction
2. Degree of formality
3. Degree of intimacy
4. Seriousness of discourse
Decline of Indigenous languages in bilingual communities
Chorti Maya (Mexico)
• Proximity to dominant language
• Political and economic factors
• Upward social mobility
Language and historical events:
• Which historical events have contributed to the disappearance of north American Indigenous languages?
• Language transformation, changes in attitudes and practices, adjusting to other languages, overtime language shifts
Power struggles and language death
• Equally in multicultural as well as in small-scale societies (Australia versus Yimas village)
• Example one: Hungarian language in Austria
---peasant life versus modern life ---positive versus negative social meanings
Strategies utilized by Bilinguals
• Code switching and code mixing
• Code switching: When bilinguals integrate linguistic resources from two languages within the same discourse segment, this strategy has a number of linguistic and interactional functions
Code Switching: integration of linguistic resources from two languages
within the same segment
• to express a more precise meaning--i.e.Mohawk:“Then I woke up Sunday Morning.”“She turned sixty-five in July.”
• to compensate for memory lapses. I.e. Necesito un string para la kite (I need a string for the kite)
As an attention-getting deviceNow let me do it. Put your feet
down. Mira
To express social valueSociety hii aisii hai
“The society is like that.”
Code Mixing
• Is a linguistic process that incorporates material from a second language in a base language: morphological markers.
To watch TV: Watchando Television
Language Death
• Typically based on economic and political imperatives
• Historical reasons: overwhelming forces• Central American case: colonialism and
conquest• Assimilative policies: North America and
Australia
Language death among the Arapaho
• English associated with power
• Bilingualism becomes an asset
• Bilingualism gives way to monolingualism
• Indigenous language loses prestige
Other reasons for language death
• Being outnumbered: Normandy, Hungarian speakers of Austria
• Negative attitudes towards local languages
Tiwa opposite example• Immigration• Cultural imperialism; mass media, Hollywood
Summary
• Bilingualism is difficult to define ----depending of the purpose of the particular
language use• More than half of the population is bilingual ---monolingualism versus bilingualism• The functions of and attitudes of languages in
depend on social contexts ---diaglossia: High and low form: depend on
context
Discussion Question
• What do you think is the future of most languages in the world? What can we do to prevent the death of these languages.