Bilingualism 1

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Bilingualism 1

• Everybody knows what bilingual means yetas 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).

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Three Questions

• What is a bilingual society?
• Where can they be found?
• What are the functions of and attitudes toward
  languages in bilingual societies?

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What is bilingualism?
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No one speaks the whole of a language

• Stubs to can wall penetration welds are?
• Injury and tort
• A treble top

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Recognizing languages as different tools

• There are many definitions
• None is satisfactory

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One

• The mastery of two or more languagesbilingualism
  or multilingualismis a special skill.
  Bilingualism and multilingualism are relative
  terms since individuals vary greatly in types and
  degrees of language proficiency (Encyclopaedia
  Britannica, 1965).

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Two

• Bilingualism is native-like control of two
  languagesOf course, one cannot define a degree
  of perfection at which a good foreign speaker
  becomes a bilingual the distinction is relative
  (L. Bloomfield, 1933).

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Three

• Bilingualism is understoodto begin at the point
  where the speaker of one language can produce
  complete, meaningful utterances in the other
  language (E. Haugen, 1953)

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Two Issues

• Bilingual individuals are part of a society
• --contact between speakers
• The relative nature of bilingualism
• --degrees of bilingualism

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Relative competence versus relative use.

• He speaks Swedish and Italian equally well.
• He speaks Swedish and Italian everyday.

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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

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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

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What are the functions of and attitudes toward
languages in bilingual societies?

• Diaglossia (Ferguson , 1959)
• --- high form and low form
• ----urban (Madina, Ghana) or rural (New
  Guinea)
• ---trades and occupations

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Example of Diaglossia Paraguay

• Two languages spoken Spanish and Guarani
• Choice of language determined by context
• Joan Rubins four contextual factors
• 1. Location of interaction
• 2. Degree of formality
• 3. Degree of intimacy
• 4. Seriousness of discourse

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Decline of Indigenous languages in bilingual
communities

• Chorti Maya (Mexico)
• Proximity to dominant language
• Political and economic factors
• Upward social mobility

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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

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