1. Diglossia and Bilingualism

2. Language Contact Reviewed
Pidgins
Language Shift
Lingua Franca
Both Languages survive: Code-mixing, Diglossia and Bilingualism

3. Language Choice Frederick the Great of Prussia (Germany)
“I speak _____________ to my ambassadors
_________ to my accountant
_________ to God
_________ to my mistress
and German to my ___________

4. continued Many people have an extensive linguistic repertoire
Zuleikha is a 40 year Malay housewife who uses Terengganu Malay (?) , Standard Malay (?), Standard Malaysian English (?), Cantonese and Classical Arabic

5. continued
What language does she use when talking to God, spouse, relatives in Selangor or TGU, children, spouse (American), vegetable seller, doctor, office staff (private or govt.), friends ?
Why?

6. Domains Many people speak several languages, dialects or accents
Different varieties used in different situations (domains)
School, business, work, crime, worship, family
Often strictly segregated

7. Diglossia (languages, dialects, accents)
Paraguay
Spanish for higher education, official business, religion – 60%
Guarani (or another indigenous language) for family activities, humour, fighting – 90%
Many people speak both – 50%
The elite and the poor and remote are monolingual

8. continued But 2 codes are not mixed
Guarani has official status but largely symbolic
Communicative competence requires knowing when to use the right code
Not to know one could be a serious disadvantage

9. Continued
Nigeria (south) – English used in school and for ceremonial occasions – even if everyone understands Igbo or another language
London – exaggerated local accent + taboo words for football chants/songs – not used in other domains
England and Europe - local dialects in writing/drama/song nearly always humorous or literary

10. Theory of Diglossia Ferguson 1960s
Everybody speaks two languages or dialects
Used in different situations
Not mixed
Codes may be distinct languages (South America,) or related (Indonesia)
or dialects (Malaysia)
Or ? (SW Asia & N Africa

11. continued Standard German and Swiss German
German and Hungarian in Oberwart
Hindi and northern Indian languages
Pilipino and other languages
English and Bantu languages in S Africa

12. continued Cantonese and Mandarin in Singapore
French and Haitian Patois
English and Jamaican Creole
English and French in 12th century England
(why do sheep, cows and deer become mutton, beef and venison when they are dead and cooked? Why is fish always fish?)

13. High and Low varieties
High (H) and Low (L) varieties may be language or dialect
May have different lexis, syntax, morphology, and/or phonology
Have different status
Are not mixed
Return to examples – which are H and L

14. continued
Low variety has low status, people deny using it, existence denied, not written, not seen as a proper language
High variety has high status, seen as real language, may have religious or cultural significance, written with grammar and dictionaries

15. Problems with diglossia
Diglossia sometimes an inadequate concept
May be a continuum – Malay dialects -- Standard Malay – post creole continua in Carribean, post-pidgin continua in West Africa
Competing high varieties – French and Classical Arabic in Tunisia
Conflict in Norway and Greece (Dhimotiki vs Katharevousa – 1901 riots, D – official after 1974)

16. continued
Complementary high varieties – Standard Irish and Standard Hiberno-English in Ireland
Standard Welsh and Standard English (School English) in Wales
Triglossia – intermediate varieties between H and L varieties – Modern Standard Arabic

17. Origins of Diglossia
Conquest – but not population replacement or language shift – South America and Algeria
Fixing of written, H variety – SWANA
Rise of H varieties – unification of separate states or independence – Northern Nigeria, Malaysia, Tanzania

18. Features of diglossic society
Limited education
High level of social and economic inequality
Limited social mobility
Pronounced ethnic differences (sometimes)
Recent national unity (sometimes)

19. Bilingualism Many people speak more than one language
But no separation of domains – equal status
French and English in Canada
German minority in Belgium
Smaller languages in Africa and Australia
Sometimes unstable – prelude to language shift may persist for centuries -- India

20. continued Continuum between diglossia and bilingualism
Quebec went from partial diglossia in 1960s to partial bilingualism
No cognitive disadvantages to bilingualism – possibly some advantages
In some cases – Canada, Singapore, Wales, USA in future ? – elite is bilingual