Sociolinguistics
Chapter 2
Language Choice in Multilingual
Communities
Learning Objectives
 Communicative repertoire
 Diglossia
 Code-switching and code-mixing
Language variation
1. Different styles
2. Different pronunciation
3. Different vocabulary
4. Different grammar
5. Different dialects
6. Different languages
Language variation
1. Participants
2. Setting
3. Topic
4. Function
Communicative Repertoire
Activity 2.1
The languages in your life: your
communicative repertoire
Communicative repertoire
Listen
Speak
Read
Write
Cantonese
Cantonese
Traditional
Chinese
Traditional
Chinese
Putonghua
Putonghua
Simplified
Chinese
Simplified
Chinese
English
English
English
English
Toishan
Toishan
Chiuchow
Communicative repertoire
 A tool kit of linguistic and communicative
resources
 Breadth – number of languages you speak
 Depth – Level of development of each
language
Domains of language use
Typical interactions
e.g. family
participants
setting
topic
e.g. Table 2.2
family members
home
family matters
Modelling code choice
Domain is a general concept involving
social factors in code choice such as
participants, setting, and topic.
It is possible to draw a simple model
summarising language use in a
community.
Example 4, Figure 2.1
Diglossia
“The situation where two varieties of a
language exist side by side throughout
the community, with each having a
definite role to play.” (Ferguson, 1959)
Diglossia
1. Two distinct varieties of the same language
are used in the community, with one
regarded as a high (H) variety and the other
a low (L) variety.
2. Each variety is used for quite distinct
functions; H and L complement each other.
3. No one uses the H variety in everyday
conversation.
Diglossia
Activity 2.2
Functional distribution of H and L varieties
across different domains of language use in
diglossic situations
Diglossia
Domains of Language Use
Sermon in church or mosque
H

L
Instructions to servants, waiters, workmen, clerks

Personal letter

Speech in parliament, legislative councils, political speech

University lecture


Conversation with family, friends, colleagues
News broadcast

TV ‘soap opera’

Newspaper editorial, news story, caption on picture

Poetry

Folk literature

Popular youth magazines

Facebook, Line, WhatsApp, Skype, Google Talk, WeChat

Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
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Function
Prestige
Literary Heritage
Acquisition
Standardisation
Stability
Grammar
Lexicon
Phonology
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
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Function
Prestige
Literary Heritage
Acquisition
Standardisation
Stability
Grammar
Lexicon
Phonology
Prestige
 H is superior to L.
 There is a usual belief that H is somehow
more beautiful, more logical, better able to
express important thoughts. This belief is
also held by speakers whose command of
H is quite limited.
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
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Function
Prestige
Literary Heritage
Acquisition
Standardisation
Stability
Grammar
Lexicon
Phonology
Literary heritage
 A sizeable body of written literature in H is
held in high esteem by the speech
community.
 Contemporary writers tend to use words,
phrases, or constructions which were used
in literary history.
18
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
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Function
Prestige
Literary Heritage
Acquisition
Standardisation
Stability
Grammar
Lexicon
Phonology
Acquisition
 L is learned by children in what may be
regarded as the "normal" way of learning
one's mother tongue.
 H is chiefly learnt by means of formal
education.
Acquisition
 The grammatical structure of L is learned
without explicit discussion of grammatical
concepts; the grammar of H is learned in
terms of "rules" and norms to be imitated.
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
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Function
Prestige
Literary Heritage
Acquisition
Standardisation
Stability
Grammar
Lexicon
Phonology
Standardisation
 There is a strong tradition of grammatical
study of the H form of the language. There
are grammars, dictionaries, treaties on
pronunciation, style and so on. The
orthography is well established and has little
variation.
 For the L variety, there is no settled
orthography and there is wide variation in
pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
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Function
Prestige
Literary Heritage
Acquisition
Standardisation
Stability
Grammar
Lexicon
Phonology
Stability
 Diglossia typically persists at least several
centuries, and evidence in some cases
seems to show that it can last well over a
thousand years.
 The communicative tensions arisen in
diglossia situation may be resolved by the
use of relatively uncodified, unstable,
intermediate forms of the language and
repeated borrowings of vocabulary items
from H to L.
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
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Function
Prestige
Literary Heritage
Acquisition
Standardisation
Stability
Grammar
Lexicon
Phonology
Grammar
 H is more rule-governed. H has grammatical
categories not present in L and has an
inflectional system of nouns and verbs which
is much reduced or totally absent in L.
 For example, Standard German has four
cases in the noun and two indicative tenses
in the verb; Swiss German has three cases in
the noun and only one simple tense.
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
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Function
Prestige
Literary Heritage
Acquisition
Standardisation
Stability
Grammar
Lexicon
Phonology
Lexicon
 Generally speaking, the vocabulary of H and
L is shared.
 H includes in its total lexicon technical terms
and learned expressions which have no
regular L equivalents.
 L includes popular expressions and the
names of very homely objects.
Lexicon
 There is existence of many paired items, one
H and one L.
Lexicon
Greek
H
ikos
idhor
eteke
als
L
spiti
nero
eyenise
ma
house
water
gave birth
but
Lexicon
American
H
illumination
purchase
children
L
light
buy
kids
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
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Function
Prestige
Literary Heritage
Acquisition
Standardisation
Stability
Grammar
Lexicon
Phonology
Phonology
H and L phonologies may be:
 quite close, as in the two varieties of Greek;
 strikingly divergent, as in Standard German
and Swiss German.
Extended definition of diglossia
Fishman (1967, 1971) extended the
notion of diglossia to any situation in
which different linguistic varieties have
functionally differentiated roles in a
society.
Diglossia and bilingualism
Diglossia
 A characteristic of speech communities
Bilingualism
 A characteristic of individuals
4 possible situations of diglossia
+ Bilingualism
- Bilingualism
+ Diglossia
+ Diglossia
+ Bilingualism
+ Diglossia
- Bilingualism
- Diglossia
- Diglossia
+ Bilingualism
- Diglossia
-Bilingualism
Polyglossia
Fasold (1984) proposed the term
‘polyglossia’ to describe a situation in
which there are more than 2 languages
or varieties which stand in mutually
exclusive functional relations with each
other.
Polyglossia
One standard language is used as a H form
in several different speech communities, each
of which employs its own L variety.
High
Low 1
Low 2
Low 3
Low 4
Triglossia
 Three languages, A, B and C.
 In relation to language A, language B is
L; in relation to language C, however,
language B is H.
 Such a case has been termed double
overlapping diglossia
 e.g. Tanzania
Triglossia
______________________________________
English
H
____________________________________
H
Swahili
L
____________________________________
L
Vernacular
____________________________________
Double-nested diglossia
 H and L varieties are each themselves
subdivided into H and L varieties
 e.g. Khalapur, India
Double-nested diglossia
H
Oratorical style
-------------Hindi-------------L
Conversational style
H
Saf boli
------------Khalapur----------
L
Moti boli
H
L
Linear polyglossia
 Three or more languages or varieties
are on a continuum from H to L
 e.g. Malaysia
Linear polyglossia
Formal Malaysian English
H1
Bahasa Malaysia
H2
Mandarin
DH
Colloquial Malaysian English
M1
Dominant Chinese language
M2
‘Native’ Chinese language
L1
Other Chinese languages
L2-Ln
Bazaar Malay
L-
Diglossia in Hong Kong Chinese
Speech Community
Spoken language (口語)
L : Cantonese
Book language (書面語)
H : Putonghua and standard written
Chinese
Triglossia
______________________________________
English
H
____________________________________
H
Standard Chinese
L
____________________________________
L
Cantonese
____________________________________
Code-switching
Code-switching
Alternate use of two or more languages in an
extended stretch of discourse, where the
switch takes place in between sentences
Code-mixing
Alternate use of two or more languages, but
the switch takes place within a sentence
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
1 Marker of solidarity
Example 8:
In New Zealand, a person may choose to
greet someone in Maori as a marker of
solidarity.
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
[Maori in red]
Sarah:
John :
Sarah:
Mere :
I think everyone’s here except Mere.
She said she might be a bit late but
actually I think that’s her arriving.
You’re right. Kia Ora Mere. Haere
mai. Kei te pehea koe? [Hi Mere.
Come in. How are you?]
Kia ora e hoa. Kei te pai. [Hello my
friend. I am fine.]
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
Example:
In a Polish family in Lancashire in the 1950s,
the family members switched code when the
local English-speaking priest arrived.
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
Example:
In Scotland, Highlanders use Gaelic to signal
their identification with the local Gaelic
speech community.
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
Example:
Two Mexican Americans met in the United
States.
[Spanish in red]
A :
M :
Well, I’m glad I met you, ok?
Andale pues [Ok well], and do come
again. Mm?
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
Example:
In Hong Kong, Cantonese is a marker of
group and ethnic solidarity. (Gibbons 1987)
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
Example 10:
In Hemnesberget, a little village in Norway,
Bokmål or standard Norwegian is the variety
to use when you go to the tax office to sort
out your tax forms.
But the person you will deal with may also be
your neighbour and you will normally use
Ranamål to speak to them.
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
[Ranamål in black. Bokmål in red]
Jan:
Peter:
Jan:
Peter:
Hello Peter. How is your wife now?
Oh she’s much better thank you Jan.
She’s out of hospital and
convalescing well.
That’s good I’m pleased to hear it.
Do you think you could help with
this pesky form? I am having a great
deal of difficulty with it.
Of course. Give it here…
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
Predicting code choice
Exercise 8
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
2 Quotation
Example 11:
A Maori person is recalling a visit of a
respected elder to a nearby town:
‘That’s what he said in Blenheim. Ki a mätou
Ngäti Porou, te Mäoritanga I papi ake i te
whenua. [We of the Ngäti Porou tribe believe
the origins of Mäoritanga are in the earth.]
And those Blenheim people listened carefully
to him too.’
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
A special kind of quotation: a proverb or a
well-known saying
Example 12:
A group of Chinese students studying in UK
are discussing Chinese customs:
‘People here get divorced too easily. Like
exchanging faulty goods. In China it’s not the
same. 嫁雞隨雞，嫁狗隨狗.’ [If you marry a
dog you follow the dog, if you marry a chicken
you follow the chicken]
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
3 Affective factors
English
Toilet
Washroom
Shxt
Cantonese
廁所
洗手間
X or XX
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
4 Anger
Example 15 (Gal 1979)
In the town of Oberwart two little Hungarianspeaking children were playing in the
woodshed and knocked over a carefully
stacked pile of firewood. Their grandfather
walked in and said in Hungarian, the
language he usually used to them:
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
‘Szo! ide dzüna! Jeszt Jerámunyi mind e
kettüötök, no hát akkor!’
[Well come here! Out all this away, both of
you, well now.]
When they did not respond quickly enough he
switched to German:
‘Kum her!’ [Come here!]
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
Example 13:
Polly
- A young British black woman
- speaks standard English with a West
Midlands accent as well as Patois, a
variety of Jamaican Creole.
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
On one occasion a school teacher annoyed
her intensely by criticising a story she had
written about British West Indians. In
particular, he corrected the use of Patois by
one of her characters – something he knew
nothing about.
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
Her response was to abuse him in Patois,
swearing at him only just below her breath.
The effect was electrifying.
Polly uses code-switching to express her
anger. The teacher didn’t need to understand
the words in this case. He simply needed to
get the message that Polly was angry.
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
Example 16
Father :
Tea is ready, Robbie.
(Robbie ignores him and carries on skateboarding)
Father :
Mr Robert Harris if you do not come
immediately there will be
consequences which you will regret.
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
5 Identity marking
Example 17:
At a village meeting among the Buang
people in Papua New Guinea, Mr. Rupa, the
main village entrepreneur and ‘bigman’, is
trying to persuade people who have put
money into a village store to leave it there.
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
[Tok Pisin is in red. Buang is in black.]
Ikamap trovel o wonem, mi ken stretim olgeta
toktok. Orait, Pasin ke ken be, meni ti ken
nyep la, su lok lam memba re, olo ba miting
autim olgeta tok …, moni ti ken nyep ega, rek
mu su rek ogoko nam be, one moni rek, …
moni ti ken bak stua lam vu Mambump re, m
nzom agon. Orait, bihain, bihainim bilong wok
long bisnis, orait, moni bilong stua bai ibekim
olgeta ples.
Sociolinguistic motivations for codeswitching
Example 18
Alf is talking to a fellow Samoan at work
about his attempt to go on a diet.
[English is in black. Samoan is in red.]
‘My doctor told me to go on a diet. She said I
was overweight. So I tried. But it was so hard.
I’d keep thinking about food all the time. Even
when I was at work. And in bed at night I’d
get desperate. I couldn’t get to sleep. So I’d
get up and raid the fridge. Then I’d feel guilty
and sick.’
Linguistic features of CantoneseEnglish code-mixing in Hong Kong
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Phonology
Morphology
Syntax
Lexis
Phonology
English pronunciation is influenced by
Cantonese sound system
a. syllabic structure
e.g. chance, power, file, post, qualification,
statistics, tutorial
b. stress e.g. member, happy
Morphology
English words with Cantonese morphemes
a. Cantonese aspect markers are used with
English verbs
e.g.
咗
cancel 咗, lose 咗, join 咗 music club
緊
talk 緊, read 緊, mark 緊
Morphology
b. Cantonese auxiliary verbs are used with English
verbs
e.g. need (駛)
唔駛 prepare, 駛唔駛 present, 唔駛 test
can (會)
會 finish, 會 dance, 會 understand
will, may (會)
會 fail, 會 collapse, 會 upload
Morphology
c. English adjectives are modified by Cantonese
adverbs of degree
e.g. quite (幾)
幾 smart, 幾 free, 幾 busy
e.g. very (好):
好 fair, 好 happy, 好 fit
Morphology
d. Chinese classifiers are used with English
nouns
e.g. a (個):
個 term, 個 semester, 個 bag
Syntax
Cantonese syntax with English lexis inserted
a. V neg V :
e.g. meet 唔 meet target
take 唔 take course
work 唔 work
b. V then V:
e.g. go 就 go
keep 就 keep
Lexis
a. English lexis is split into separate syllables
by insertion of a Cantonese morpheme
e.g. pro 唔 produce
de 唔 desirable
can 唔 cancel
Lexis
b. Cantonese expressions are literally
translated into English
e.g. no eye see
people mountain people sea