Bilingualism

Everybodyknowswhatbilingualmeans;
yetassoonaswestarttryingtodefinethe
conceptprecisely,thingsgetvery
complicated.Thisisnotjusthairsplitting:if
bilingualismiscomplex,itisbecauseitis
directlyrelatedtocomplexissues(Riley,
1986:31).

FourQuestions
Whatisabilingualsociety?
Wherearetheyfound?
Whatarethefunctionsofandattitudestoward
languagesinbilingualsocieties?
Whataresomebilingualstrategies?

Whatisbilingualism?

Noonespeaksthewholeofa
language
Stubstocanwallpenetrationweldsare?
Injuryandtort
Atrebletop

Thefactthatwecannotcomparethesame
individualsabilitiesintwodifferent
languagesiscentraltoourdiscussionof
bilingualism

Recognizinglanguagesasdifferent
tools
Therearemanydefinitions
Noneissatisfactory

One
Themasteryoftwoormorelanguages
bilingualismormultilingualismisa
specialskill.Bilingualismand
multilingualismarerelativetermssince
individualsvarygreatlyintypesand
degreesoflanguageproficiency
(EncyclopaediaBritannica,1965).

Two
Bilingualismisnativelikecontroloftwo
languagesOfcourse,onecannotdefine
adegreeofperfectionatwhichagood
foreignspeakerbecomesabilingual:the
distinctionisrelative(L.Bloomfield,
1933).

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)

TwoIssues
Bilingualindividualsarepartofasociety
contactbetweenspeakers
Therelativenatureofbilingualismdegrees
ofbilingualism

Relativecompetenceversus
relativeuse.
HespeaksSwedishandItalianequallywell.

Versus
HespeaksSwedishandItalianeveryday.

Wherecanwefindbilingual
societies?
Wherethereiscontactbetweenlinguistic
groups:political,economic(Examples:
Mexico,USA)
Historicalandpoliticalchanges:
changingborders,(example:Alsace,
France)
Widespreadbilingualism:Swahili,Tanzania

Monolingualandbilingual
countries
Halfthepopulation
Contradictsunilingualismabsolutelinkto
nationalandindividualidentity
Officialbilingualismdoesnotindicatehigh
percentageofbilingualsandviseversa.
Examples:FranceandTanzaniaversus
CanadaandBelgian

Whatarethefunctionsofand
attitudestowardlanguagesin
bilingualsocieties?
Diaglossia:(Ferguson,1959)Refersto
circumstanceswhereeachlanguageis
systematicallyemployedincertaindomainsand
events.
highformandlowform
urban(Madina,Ghana)orrural(New
Guinea)
tradesandoccupations

ExampleofDiaglossia:Paraguay
Twolanguagesspoken:Spanishand
Guarani
Choiceoflanguagedeterminedbycontext

JoanRubinsfourcontextualfactors:

.Locationofinteraction
2.Degreeofformality
3.Degreeofintimacy
4.Seriousnessofdiscourse
1

DeclineofIndigenouslanguages
inbilingualcommunities

ChortiMaya(Mexico)
Proximitytodominantlanguage
Politicalandeconomicfactors
Upwardsocialmobility

Languageandhistoricalevents:
Whichhistoricaleventshavecontributedtothe
disappearanceofnorthAmericanIndigenous
languages?
Languagetransformation,changesinattitudesand
practices,adjustingtootherlanguages,overtime
languageshifts

Powerstrugglesandlanguage
death
Equallyinmulticulturalaswellasinsmall
scalesocieties(AustraliaversusYimas
village)
Exampleone:Hungarianlanguagein
Austria
peasantlifeversusmodernlife
positiveversusnegativesocialmeanings

StrategiesutilizedbyBilinguals
Codeswitchingandcodemixing
Codeswitching:Whenbilingualsintegrate
linguisticresourcesfromtwolanguages
withinthesamediscoursesegment,this
strategyhasanumberoflinguisticand
interactionalfunctions

CodeSwitching:integrationof

linguisticresourcesfromtwolanguages
withinthesamesegment
toexpressamoreprecisemeaning
i.e.Mohawk:ThenIwokeupSunday
Morning.SheturnedsixtyfiveinJuly.
tocompensateformemorylapses.I.e.Necesito
unstringparalakite(Ineedastringforthekite)

Asanattentiongettingdevice
Nowletmedoit.Putyourfeet
down.Mira
Toexpresssocialvalue
Societyhiiaisiihai
Thesocietyislikethat.

CodeMixing
Isalinguisticprocessthatincorporates
materialfromasecondlanguageinabase
language:morphologicalmarkers.
TowatchTV:WatchandoTelevision

LanguageDeath
Typicallybasedoneconomicandpolitical
imperatives
Historicalreasons:overwhelmingforces
CentralAmericancase:colonialismand
conquest
Assimilativepolicies:NorthAmericaand
Australia

Languagedeathamongthe
Arapaho

Englishassociatedwithpower
Bilingualismbecomesanasset
Bilingualismgiveswaytomonolingualism
Indigenouslanguagelosesprestige

Otherreasonsforlanguagedeath
Beingoutnumbered:Normandy,Hungarian
speakersofAustria
Negativeattitudestowardslocallanguages
Tiwaoppositeexample
Immigration
Culturalimperialism;massmedia,Hollywood

Summary
Bilingualismisdifficulttodefine
dependingofthepurposeoftheparticular
languageuse
Morethanhalfofthepopulationisbilingual
monolingualismversusbilingualism
Thefunctionsofandattitudesoflanguagesin
dependonsocialcontexts
diaglossia:Highandlowform:dependon
context

DiscussionQuestion

Whatdoyouthinkisthefutureofmost
languagesintheworld?Whatcanwedoto
preventthedeathoftheselanguages.