Pidgins Language Shift Lingua Franca Both Languages surviv

1
Diglossia and Bilingualism
2
Language Contact Reviewed

• Pidgins
• Language Shift
• Lingua Franca
• Both Languages survive Code-mixing, Diglossia
  and Bilingualism

3
Language Choice

• Frederick the Great of Prussia (Germany)
• I speak _____________ to my ambassadors
• _________ to my accountant
• _________ to God
• _________ to my mistress
• and German to my ___________

4
continued

• 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

5
continued

• 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?

6
Domains

• Many people speak several languages, dialects or
  accents
• Different varieties used in different situations
  (domains)
• School, business, work, crime, worship, family
• Often strictly segregated

7
Diglossia (languages, dialects, accents)

• 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

8
continued

• 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

9
Continued

• 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

10
Theory of Diglossia

• 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

11
continued

• 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

12
continued

• 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?)

13
High and Low varieties

• 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

14
continued

• 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

15
Problems with diglossia

• 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)

16
continued

• 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

17
Origins of Diglossia

• 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

18
Features of diglossic society

• Limited education
• High level of social and economic inequality
• Limited social mobility
• Pronounced ethnic differences (sometimes)
• Recent national unity (sometimes)

19
Bilingualism

• 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

20
continued

• 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