Pidgins

Language Shift

Lingua Franca

Both Languages survive: Code-mixing, Diglossia and Bilingualism

Frederick the Great of Prussia (Germany) “I speak _____________ to my

ambassadors _________ to my accountant _________ to God _________ to my mistress and German to my ___________

Many people have an extensive linguistic repertoire

Zuleikha is a 40 year Malay housewife who uses Terengganu Malay (?) , Standard Malay (?), Standard Malaysian English (?), Cantonese and Classical Arabic

What language does she use when talking to God, spouse, relatives in Selangor or TGU, children, spouse (American), vegetable seller, doctor, office staff (private or govt.), friends ?

Why?

Many people speak several languages, dialects or accents

Different varieties used in different situations (domains)

School, business, work, crime, worship, family

Often strictly segregated

Paraguay Spanish for higher education, official

business, religion – 60% Guarani (or another indigenous

language) for family activities, humour, fighting – 90%

Many people speak both – 50% The elite and the poor and remote are

monolingual

But 2 codes are not mixed

Guarani has official status but largely symbolic

Communicative competence requires knowing when to use the right code

Not to know one could be a serious disadvantage

Nigeria (south) – English used in school and for ceremonial occasions – even if everyone understands Igbo or another language

London – exaggerated local accent + taboo words for football chants/songs – not used in other domains

England and Europe - local dialects in writing/drama/song nearly always humorous or literary

Ferguson 1960s Everybody speaks two languages or

dialects Used in different situations Not mixed Codes may be distinct languages (South

America,) or related (Indonesia) or dialects (Malaysia) Or ? (SW Asia & N Africa

Standard German and Swiss German German and Hungarian in Oberwart Hindi and northern Indian languages Pilipino and other languages English and Bantu languages in S Africa

Cantonese and Mandarin in Singapore French and Haitian Patois English and Jamaican Creole English and French in 12th century

England(why do sheep, cows and deer become

mutton, beef and venison when they are dead and cooked? Why is fish always fish?)

High (H) and Low (L) varieties may be language or dialect

May have different lexis, syntax, morphology, and/or phonology

Have different status Are not mixed Return to examples – which are H and L

Low variety has low status, people deny using it, existence denied, not written, not seen as a proper language

High variety has high status, seen as real language, may have religious or cultural significance, written with grammar and dictionaries

Diglossia sometimes an inadequate concept

May be a continuum – Malay dialects -- Standard Malay – post creole continua in Carribean, post-pidgin continua in West Africa

Competing high varieties – French and Classical Arabic in Tunisia

Conflict in Norway and Greece (Dhimotiki vs Katharevousa – 1901 riots, D – official after 1974)

Complementary high varieties – Standard Irish and Standard Hiberno-English in Ireland

Standard Welsh and Standard English (School English) in Wales

Triglossia – intermediate varieties between H and L varieties – Modern Standard Arabic

Conquest – but not population replacement or language shift – South America and Algeria

Fixing of written, H variety – SWANA

Rise of H varieties – unification of separate states or independence – Northern Nigeria, Malaysia, Tanzania

Limited education High level of social and economic

inequality Limited social mobility Pronounced ethnic differences

(sometimes) Recent national unity (sometimes)

Many people speak more than one language But no separation of domains – equal status French and English in Canada German minority in Belgium Smaller languages in Africa and Australia Sometimes unstable – prelude to language

shift may persist for centuries -- India

Continuum between diglossia and bilingualism

Quebec went from partial diglossia in 1960s to partial bilingualism

No cognitive disadvantages to bilingualism – possibly some advantages

In some cases – Canada, Singapore, Wales, USA in future ? – elite is bilingual