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Multilingualism is a more magnified version of bilingualism o Individual Phenomenon: How one acquires two or more languages in childhood or later, and how these languages are represented in the mind. o Societal Phenomenon: Concerned with institutional dimensions, with issues such as the status and roles of the languages in a given society, attitudes towards languages, determinants of language choice, the symbolic and practical uses of the languages, and the correlations between language use and social factors such as ethnicity, religion and class A multi-lingual s facility in moving from one language to another as the occasion demands is but an extension of the monolingual s capacity to shift registers and styles Territorial principle of multilingualism: The nation as a whole is multilingual but not all the individuals are necessarily multilingual e.g. Canada. Personality principle: Bilingualism is the official policy and most individuals are multilingual e.g. India, East and West Africa.

Reasons for Multilingualism: 1. Migration: When speakers of one language settle in an area where another language is used and over the years continue to maintain their own language 2. Cultural Contact: When a society imports and assimilates the cultural institutions e.g. religion or literature, of another society e.g. use of Arabic and English in Asia 3. Annexation: The case of French and Spanish-speaking parts of U.S. 4. Colonialism: English in Latin America 5. Commercial, scientific and technological dependence of the speakers of certain languages on the speakers of other languages.

Speech Community: A conglomeration of individuals who the share the same norms about communication. It is a community sharing knowledge of the rules for the conduct and interpretation of speech. Members are unified by norms about the uses of language Verbal repertoire:The total range of linguistic resources to an individual or a community. o Monolingual speakers: Range of regional, social, functional and stylistic varieties they command either productively or receptively. o Multilingual speakers: Not only the varieties of the same language but also entirely different languages Multilingualism involving balanced native-like command of all the languages in the repertoire is rather uncommon. The differences in competence might be a few lexical items, rudimentary conversational styles all the way to the excellent command of the grammar and vocabulary. Selective functionality: Multi-linguals develop competence in each of the codes to the extent that they need it and for the contexts in which each of the languages is used. He might ve

excellent reading, writing skills in both the languages but may be more comfortable using one language for academic and professional purposes and the other for intimate or emotional expression. Domains: Who speaks what language to whom and when in those speech communities. o Intimate (Family) o Formal (religious) o Informal (neighborhood) o Intergroup (economic and recreational activities as well as interactions with government-legal authority) Asymmetric principle of multilingualism: Some languages are more valued than others. The languages in a multilingual community can be viewed as being arranged on a hierarchy. The larger the no. of desired roles a language enables its speakers to play in a given society, the higher its place on the hierarchy. The more restricted the range of valued roles a language provides, the lower its place in the hierarchy. Example of a Tulu speaker: o Although it is spoken by two million people, it is still restricted in its functional range. It gives him ethnic identity. Spoken in the native place network. o Kannada: Medium of instruction through the secondary school. Language of education, administration, commerce, media and literature. It gives him regional identity and statewide mobility. o English: Empowers him to gain access to higher technical education, to communicate on an interstate and international level, and provides national and international mobility as a job candidate. o Hindi: Lingua franca, for communication with north Indian states o Sanskrit: To access, preserve and symbolize the classical lore of India in an enormous range of fields from religion to medicine. o All of these complement each other to the serve the complex communicative demands of a pluralistic society. Sanskrit: Use in ritualistic and intellectual contexts by the most prestigious group in the Indian social system, and so given a status of a sacred, intellectual language. But also perceived as too orthodox, difficult and old-fashioned for every-day purposes. The revival of Hebrew in Israel and the movement to revitalize Sanskrit are reminders that factors such as tribal, caste, ethnic and national identities are also powerful forces in the use, maintenance, revival and regulation of languages. The dynamics of language in a multilingual society reflect the evolution of power in that society.

Diglossia: y A relatively stable language situation in which in addition to the primary dialects of language, there is a very divergent, highly codified variety which is the vehicle of a large and respected

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body of written literature, either of an earlier period or in another speech community, which is learned largely by formal education and used for written and formal spoken purposes but not used for ordinary conversation. Classical Arabic (H) and Colloquial Arabic (L) The high variety is used in mosques, news broadcasts, political speeches, poetry and the low variety is used in conversations with friends and family, in captions on political cartoons and in folk literature. Three conditions in a speech community that lead to diglossia: o Existence of a large body of literature in a language that is the same as the indigenous language and embodies some of the fundamental values of the community o Literacy in the community is only restricted to a small elite o A long period of time is involved in establishing the first and second conditions Educated Arabic deny the L variety of Arabic and believe that the H variety is more logical, beautiful and better able to express important thoughts.

Code Switching: y y y y When two or more languages exist in a community, speakers frequently switch from one language to the other. Situational code switching: The switch is in response to a change in situation, when a new participant enters the scene or to a change in the topic of conversation or the setting Metaphorical code switching: The switch has a stylistic or textual function, to signal a quotation, to mark emphasis, to indicate the punch-line of a joke. Code-switching is not random but functionally motivated. It is governed by a grammar of consequences. Differences between Code switching and Diglossia: Diglossia 1. Occurs across domain boundaries 2. People are aware that they ve switched from H to L or vice versa 3. Little overlapping of codes Code-switching Occurs within domains Unconscious Involves quite a bit of overlap

Code mixing: y y A common mode of code switching is the switching of languages within sentences Code mixing raises several issues involving grammar, what kind of morphemes, words or phrases can be mixed from one language into another. Differences between Code mixing and Borrowing: Borrowing 1. May occasionally involve a few set phrases Code mixing Involves every level of lexical and syntactic

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but is usually restricted to single lexical items Borrowed words can occur even in the speech of monolinguals The set of borrowed expressions typically represent semantic fields outside the experience of the borrowing language Represents a restricted set of expressions with some creativity in the margins Represent mostly nouns and adjectives

structure, including words, phrases and sentences Presupposes a certain degree of bilingual competence May duplicate existing expressions and is not used to fill lexical gaps Draws creatively upon the whole vocabulary and grammar of another language Draws on every category of grammar

Functions of code-switching y Code-mixing and code-switching serve the same function of identity marking. English for modernity, sophistication or authority and Sanskrit for nationalistic and traditionalistic image, Arabic for Islamic identity, Urdu for macho image in South India. Strategy of neutrality: When the use of any language in the repertoire might suggest the wrong message such as talking-down to somebody Stylistic function: Signal a transition to the sublime or the ridiculous It is a versatile and appropriate vehicle for the expression of multi-cultural communities. Many creative writers use it as a powerful expressive resource to convey multi-cultural experiences

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Linguistic Convergence: y y y y Extensive structural modification of the languages of a geographic area in the direction of one another, even though the languages may belong to different language families Distinguished from borrowing, in that morphology and syntax is affected in addition to phonology and lexicon. It results in the formation of a linguistic area in which languages resemble each other structurally more than do their siblings from their own genetic stock. It is the adaptation and assimilation of the structure of one language by another

Language transfer: y y y Powerful force in language choice, acquisition, and use in multilingual communities It is an efficient and economical psycholinguistic process in which the tried and tested rules of the first language are used as hypotheses in mastering a second language. It reduces cognitive dissonance and contributes to processing economy

Implications for language teaching: 1. Language teachers need to revise their attitudes with regard to the status and value of bilingualism. Bilingualism is independent of intelligence and consistent with the highest educational and socio-economic achievement 2. Teachers need to realize that English, despite its undoubted importance, may only be one of the languages in a learner s repertoire 3. It may be unnecessary and unrealistic to expect complete and native-like competence in the entire range of registers, styles and functions of English 4. Teachers need to be familiar with the other languages in the learner s repertoire 5. Language teachers trained in a monolingual paradigm are harsh towards minority students speaking mixed languages. A mixed code is as important for an in-group, bicultural communication as a monolingual code would be for communicating with monolingual interlocutors. 6. Multilingualism may not only lead to division of labor but also a lot of give and take between languages. A relaxed, open-minded attitude can foster cultural pluralism.

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Wide range of variation of English throughout the world. These varieties are not deficient or fossilized inter-languages but functionally viable varieties which follow different but productive formal processes of grammar and usage. The traditional prototype paradigm of second language teaching, that a non-native speaker learned English to communicate with a native speaker is no longer applicable Required course in sociolinguistics, contrastive linguistics, methods and materials for English teaching