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:
. Location of interaction
2. Degree of formality
3. Degree of intimacy
4. Seriousness of discourse
1
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 smallscale 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 device
Now let me do it. Put your feet
down. Mira
To express social value
Society 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.