Language in Contact: Multilingual Societies and Discourse Multilingualism as a Societal Phenomenon Multilingual Discourse

Is speaking one language the norm? Live next to each other Immigration Colonization Other types of conquest Separated by political boundaries They still need to communicate

What is social dominance? Language shift: People shifting to speak the dominant language. (Usually minorities shifting to using the dominant language).

What happens to the language? It either: dies Or it is maintained

Ethnolinguistic vitality: how likely the language is to be maintained? Territorial distribution Institutional Support Status

Population demographics: Birth rates Marriage patterns Economic Migrations both in and out Social Historical

The media Education Religious Social Cultural Activities Government Services Religious Social Cultural Activities

Learning the language can be either through actual schooling or through picking it up. Children learn not only how to master several languages but also to master the art of knowing the appropriate language for each social context.

Do you think it is an advantage to speak more than one language Do you think it is an advantage to speak more than one language? Do you think this is the case in other societies? Relate to how the status of the language defines whether it is an advantage or not. Immigrants’ languages are considered inferior. Many attempts were made to teach foreign languages. The first worked, the latter didn’t.

Convergence and Competence Competence: Linguistic competence is the system of linguistic knowledge possessed by native speakers of a language. It is distinguished from linguistic performance, which is the way a language system is used in communication. Convergence: Language convergence is a type of linguistic change in which languages come to structurally resemble one another as a result of prolonged language contact and mutual interference.

One’s competence in a certain language is determined by the need for that language. (ESL/ EFL). Do people choose to follow the norms of a certain context? Or are they forced to?

There are some consequences for becoming professional bilinguals/ multilinguals: Contact Languages. Language contact occurs when speakers of two or more languages or varieties interact and influence each other.

The possible results include: 1- Diffusion of certain features The possible results include: 1- Diffusion of certain features. 2- Syntax is affected. 3- Vocabulary is affected. The most common products are pidgins, creoles, code-switching, and mixed languages.

Using “code” to describe what people use in communication to overcome the issues of “dialects” and “varieties”. The use of Code-switching and code-mixing replaced with “multilingual discourse”. Code switching: Today was great. رحنا عالبحر وانبسطنا. Code mixing: Today كان so great. I wish you اجيتي معنا.

Linguistic Landscape They do not provide ideas about the society itself; rather, about the ideology and speakers of a certain code.

Is Gaza bilingual? English/Arabic?

Why do you think shops in Gaza have English names?

Why don’t shops use “Hebrew”?

Matched-guise test. The Matched-Guise Test is a sociolinguistic experimental technique used to determine the true feelings of an individual or community towards a specific language, dialect, or accent.