Download - Pidgins Language Shift Lingua Franca Both Languages survive: Code-mixing, Diglossia and Bilingualism
Pidgins
Language Shift
Lingua Franca
Both Languages survive: Code-mixing, Diglossia and Bilingualism
Frederick the Great of Prussia (Germany) “I speak _____________ to my
ambassadors _________ to my accountant _________ to God _________ to my mistress and German to my ___________
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
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?
Many people speak several languages, dialects or accents
Different varieties used in different situations (domains)
School, business, work, crime, worship, family
Often strictly segregated
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
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
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
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
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
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?)
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
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
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)
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
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
Limited education High level of social and economic
inequality Limited social mobility Pronounced ethnic differences
(sometimes) Recent national unity (sometimes)
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
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