Diglossia

Diglossia and the socialisation process

The author discusses the concept of diglossia in the sociolinguistic aspect, but also in the cognitive one, assuming the significance of the opposition between the language of primary socialisation (unofficial and spoken) and the language of secondary socialisation (official and written) for the cognitive development of an individual functioning in a situation of diglossia. A broad interpretation of the concept is supported
in the paper, with the author extending it to cover also the simultaneous presence of a minority language (as the language of primary socialisation) and the general language of the dominant culture (as the language of secondary socialisation) due to the clearly separate nature of their functioning.

In the Republic of Macedonia lives a multicultural population, which speaks different languages. The Macedonian language is the official language in the Republic of Macedonia that is why every citizen learns that language and knows to speak even though his native language is another one. Bilingualism to the citizens of Gostivar has been developed since ancient times, because there have lived and still do many different nations of different cultures. The development of education significantly influenced in the advancement of bilingualism for citizens of Gostivar. One of the most important socio-cultural factors about learning the foreign languages is considered the family, her cultural and social status. The ratio between the level of the education of the parents and the children's achievements can be explained in different ways. Each educated bilingual parent or multilingual demonstrates an example of a speaker with expressive communication skills in two or more languages. Most of the children are bilingual, because they are exposed in a bilingual or multilingual environment, where are spoken two or more languages simultaneously.

This paper presents preliminary research observations on diglossia features (in the Fergusonian sense) and bilingualism of the Turkish-speaking community of Western Thrace, as well as contact-relevant linguistic variables that may be related to different social factors.

Des représentations diglossiques à la reconnaissance d'une langue à part entière : les remises en question d'une île multiculturelle à l'illettrisme inquiétant.
Nous aborderons la question de la quête d'identité réunionnaise, d'abord en fonction du contexte diglossique dont les répercussions se font encore ressentir sur les représentations internes de la population, ainsi qu'à travers le prisme de l'art musical et littéraire. Ensuite, nous tenterons de comprendre comment à travers le fléau de l'illettrisme réunionnais, le créole parvient à se frayer un chemin dans l'enseignement, dans le cadre de la réussite scolaire. Bien entendu, le modèle diglossique tenant toujours une place prégnante, Nous étudierons comment les obstacles s'imposent sur le parcours vers la normalisation de la langue, dont le risque est de perdre son « naturel », au profit d'une graphie dans laquelle les Réunionnais ne parviennent toujours pas à se reconnaître.

Pubblicato nel 2002 dallo scrittore egiziano ʿAlāʾ al-Aswānī, Palazzo Yacoubian è uno dei romanzi più rappresentativi della società egiziana alla vigilia delle Primavere arabe. Lo studio di Lucia Avallone ne analizza forma e contenuto, mettendo in evidenza le scelte linguistiche operate dall’autore per raffigurare la comunità cairota. Romanzo corale, scritto nel solco della grande narrativa realista, le sue storie esemplificano aspetti contraddittori e conflittuali del vivere egiziano, qui interpretato in relazione all’uso delle varietà linguistiche standard e vernacolari che l’autore adotta nel dare voce a personaggi di diversa estrazione sociale e culturale.

The article makes an introduction to the modern linguistic landscape in the city of Chennai, India. The author discusses the coordination of language varieties, their status, and particular characteristics of their speakers. Special attention is paid to linguistic features of all the four Tamil variants spoken in the city: the phonetics of Colloquial Tamil in comparison with Literary Tamil, the vocabulary of Chennai Tamil slang, and the codeswitching in the Tamil – English mix, the so-called “Tanglish”. Preliminary results of the research concerning the role of Colloquial Tamil and Chennai Tamil slang in the daily life of the speakers are presented. 

Key words:  Tamil, sociolinguistics, Colloquial Tamil, Literary Tamil, diglossia, Tanglish, Chennai Tamil, Madras bhasha, code-switching, linguistic landscape, slang.

In the past decade, Latinised Arabic (LA), a popular form of writing spoken Arabic online, has made the transition from online applications such as internet chat and text messaging to offline mediums. No longer exclusive to computer mediated communication, the diffusion of LA into everyday life has been reported across the Arab world. Today, LA is a popular form of graffiti and can be found in handwritten notes and advertisements. However, the most interesting development in the career of LA has perhaps been in Egypt, where this form has appeared in a number of edited, printed magazines. Some of these have emerged in the wake of the recent boom in the Egyptian publishing industry; while others had already been on the market for longer. In an attempt to investigate the implications of this trend and the motivation behind it, four magazines were singled out and interviewed on the basis of the quantity and consistency of LA use. All of the magazines used LA alongside English, and identified themselves either as English or mainly English magazines. The applications of LA varied from one magazine to another, as did the importance of LA to the magazine’s market identity. Overall, the findings from the interviews reveal the increasing commercial and symbolic value of LA, and indicate its growing popularity and acceptability.

The full article can be found by following this link:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13629387.2016.1150183
Below are some excerpts:

The start of the 1980s marks Djebar’s return—after a decade-long absence—both to writing in general and to the French language in particular. If the 1970s stand out in her bibliography as a conspicuous gap in productivity, the circumstances of this gap are well-documented. Djebar has written about this period in her work indicating that she thought that she could write in Arabic. Yet, Arabic written by her would never appear in print. In 1980, she published Femmes d’Alger dans leur appartement, soon followed by a series of novels, all in French. At first look, it seems as though Assia Djebar eventually forsakes her unfruitful Arabic experiment for a definitive return to publishing in French. However, her Arabic experiment did bear fruit, and her output in that language did see the light of day, only it was on screen, rather than on the page. Those familiar with the Algerian author’s oeuvre know that the 1970s’ gap in her bibliography corresponds to her foray into filmmaking, which yielded two films. These films will also remain her only works that are not in French.
If Djebar did not write in Arabic but made a film instead, then how is filmmaking, in her case, a more suitable medium for Arabic expression than writing?
In order to begin answering this question, I focus on the first of her two films, The Nouba of the Women of Mount Chenoua (1978), and articulate my analysis of both the film and its circumstances around the interrelated notions of aphasia, diglossia, and what I call arabophonie in Algeria. The last of these notions merits qualification straight away. The term arabophone is generally used in the objective sense of speaking Arabic. However, I intend it to convey the same connotation that francophone carries. Just as postcolonial implications of margin and centre result in francophone signifying not quite French, the Maghreb can be arabophone also in the sense of not quite Arabic. As to diglossia, while commonly addressed in the discipline of linguistics, and central to studies of Arabic within that field, it is, in this case, also relevant from a literary perspective. Nevertheless, it is necessary to start by considering the role of Nouba in Djebar’s work, and the role of speaking for the main character, or, as it happens, not speaking, which I designate as aphasia. This choice of word is not innovative by any means. Djebar herself used it as part of a chapter title in L’Amour, la fantasia (1985). By asking how is film a better suited medium than writing for Arabic expression in Djebar’s case, what I submit is that aphasia became essential to Djebar’s work specifically in its ties to Arabic, and the language’s position in Algeria at the intersections of French, Tamazight, and a broader Arabic-speaking region.
APHASIA
Nouba is a traditional form of urban music in the Maghreb, with its roots in Arab Spain, which is why it is sometimes also called Andalusian. The word nouba has entered French in its musical sense to mean a loud, carnivalesque revelry. However, it carries another meaning, still prevalent in the original Arabic, signifying ‘turn’ or ‘opportunity’ (as in take a turn, or get an ‘opportunity’ or a ‘chance’). This double meaning is intentional, and the women’s nouba in the title carries both senses of ‘women’s song’ (implying their song in their own voice), and ‘women’s turn’ (implying their turn to speak). The connection between the sense of ‘turn’ and the musical form is based on the trilateral root ن.و.ب, meaning representing (or acting as representative), it is also etymologically related to substitution and deputation or proxy. 
The titular nouba suggests that it is literally their turn to speak after they were overlooked by history, and their voices silenced, which is consistent with Djebar’s role as a historian. However, it is not enough to get a turn to speak, one needs a voice to speak with. In the other sense, of nouba, Lila substitutes the women of the Cherchell area’s voice for her own. With their turn to speak, they give Lila a voice as much as they are given one, and they represent her as much as the film represents them. Nouba is the facto the porte-parole of these women.
DIGLOSSIA
It is important to stress the difference between the two varieties of language that constitute Diglossia. Because these varieties are situational and socially-governed, they can easily be mistaken for tone or register, and diglossia can be misunderstood when the focus is only on the social factors that regulate the situations in which H or L is used. However, the differences between the two can be very pronounced, resulting in what may seem like two different languages, each with its own grammar, lexicon, and phonology. The implications of likening varieties of a language to separate languages can be highly inflammatory and politically laden. My purpose, however, is merely to indicate the apparent difference between H and L Arabic. Most importantly, however, it is essential to keep in mind that speakers of a diglossic language are not necessarily proficient in both varieties. While the L variety is acquired the way any language is acquired, namely through speaking to children, H is achieved through formal education.
This difference in acquisition is crucial. Using H or L is not necessarily a social choice, but a privilege of the literate. The first implications of this privilege for Nouba should be immediately apparent when taking into account the literacy rates of Algeria in the 1970s. According to UNESCO, and based on a 1971 census, the illiteracy rate in Algeria was 73.6% for segments of the population aged fifteen and over, and illiteracy among rural women specifically for that age group was 94.0% (1978, 42). While the literacy of the women in the film is unverifiable, the illiteracy rates among women in rural Algeria at the time were high by any standard. These women, speaking L Arabic only as a result of illiteracy, literally and very tangibly do not have a say in situations where the use of H is required. Consider, for instance, that parliament and political speeches are examples of some of these situations where H is used.
ARABOPHONIE
When taking into account the perceived superiority of certain varieties of Arabic, arabophonie, in this context, is analogous to what the term francophonie connotes, which is precisely not quite French. Arabophone, then, suggests a perceived inferiority in comparison to other varieties of Arabic. To clarify this analogy, I propose to focus on one crucial feature of francophonie, which is that it always entails the significant existence of at least one other language alongside French. Whether it is Wolof or the many other languages of West Africa, a Créole in the Caribbean, English in North America, Dutch or German in Europe. Naturally, the situation in each of these regions is considerably more complex than I am sketching here. However, the consistent feature that differentiates France from francophone countries or regions, is that in France only French is imagined to exist, regardless of the factual existence of other languages. In contrast, when French-speaking societies are francophone rather than French, the existence—officially acknowledged or not—of some other idiom is essential.
Similarly, arabophonie is demarcated by the apparent presence of one or more other languages in the region or society. It is the appearance of a presence of another language that is the significant feature here, rather than its actual presence. Defining Arabophonie as the fact of speaking Arabic in a bi- or multilingual context acknowledges the alleged inferiority of certain varieties of Arabic based on the belief that the presence of other languages in the region is corruptive, whether this belief and the hierarchy that it implies are adhered to or not. As such, it is different from a rivalry between regions (each claiming their variety of Spoken Arabic being closer to Fussha for example), but acknowledges without necessarily condoning the dynamic between an Arabic centre and a periphery, and the ensuing discrimination against, and/or paternalist attitudes towards, literary and cultural production in certain varieties of Arabic over others. In this sense, when one does not adhere to the language attitude that arabophonie describes, it remains possible to condemn and reject its hierarchical implications, or denounce the marginalization, silencing, or snubbing of the other languages that make it arabophone rather than Arabic.
Algeria is arabophone in that at least one other language is perceived to exist alongside Arabic. This is a fundamental difference between the Maghreb and other Arabic-speaking regions. In the Maghreb, the presence of French is obvious. In fact, often what defines the Maghreb as a region, is precisely that it is the three former French colonies of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. This makes it francophone, but, consequently, arabophone also. However, if The Maghreb is obviously arabophone given the existence of French as a result of colonialism, Tamazight (the Amazigh language also known as Berber) compounds the complexity of the diglossic situation in Algeria, and plays an even more important role in making the region arabophone rather than strictly Arabic. Although the women of the Cherchell area speak in Dardja with Lila, they are also Amazigh, making Dardja presumably their second language, and Tamazight their first.

Le suisse allemand constitue la langue la plus volontiers parlée en Suisse alémanique, son usage est généralisé à tous les domaines, à tous les supports et à toutes les classes sociales ; la frontière que constituait traditionnellement l'écrit s' efface de plus en plus, ne laissant apparemment à l’allemand standard que la portion congrue des échanges langagiers. Il semble ainsi légitime de se demander quels rapports les Suisses allemands entretiennent avec une langue officielle sensée être la leur et s’ils s’identifient véritablement à celle-ci.

E’ risaputo quanto sia difficile determinare con esattezza le condizioni sufficienti per assicurare l’inversione della deriva linguistica. Nonostante ciò, l’introduzione della lingua locale o di minoranza nel sistema scolastico è ampiamente accettata come una delle poche condizioni necessarie per il mantenimento di tale lingua, oltre ad essere un diritto particolarmente difficile da ottenere. Facendo riferimento ai concetti di “diglossia” e “bilinguismo”, questo articolo esamina le dinamiche comunicative che caratterizzano le comunità linguistiche d’Italia, ponendosi il doppio scopo di (i) provvedere una tassonomia che inserisca tali dinamiche in un contesto più ampio e (ii) esaminare le implicazioni di tale tassonomia in relazione alla deriva linguistica ed alla sua eventuale inversione. Questo esame dimostra come l’Italia sia passata da una situazione di stabilità (diglossia) ad una di deriva linguistica (bilinguismo verticale), e rivela dunque l’immediata necessità di inserire le lingue locali nelle scuole come primo passo verso l’istituzione di un bilinguismo di tipo “orizzontale” attraverso il quale gli idiomi locali possano, sottoforma di lingue regionali, coesistere a livello istituzionale con la lingua di Stato pur non entrando in conflitto con essa.

Il est bien connu combien il est difficile de déterminer avec précision les conditions suffisantes pour assurer l'inversion de la dérive linguistique. Cependant, l'introduction de la langue locale ou minoritaire dans le système scolaire est largement acceptée comme l'une des rares conditions nécessaires pour le maintien de telle langue. Mais il est bien connu aussi que ce droit est particulièrement difficile à obtenir. En utilisant les concepts de "diglossie" et de "bilinguisme" cet article considère les forces dynamiques et communicatives qui caractérisent les communautés linguistiques d'Italie, ayant pour double but, (i) fournir une taxonomie qui intègre ces forces dynamiques dans un contexte plus ample et (ii) examiner les implications de cette taxonomie en relation à la dérive linguistique et à sa propre inversion éventuelle. Cette analyse démontre que l'Italie est passée d'une situation stable (diglossie) à une situation de dérive linguistique (bilinguisme vertical) et révèle donc la nécessité d'insérer dans l'immédiat les langues locales dans les écoles comme premier pas vers l'institution d'un bilinguisme de type "horizontal" à travers lequel les idiomes locales puissent, sous forme de langues régionales, coexister au niveau institutionnel avec la langue d'état, sans pour autant entrer en conflit avec celle-ci.

One of the most distinctive features of the Arabic language is the occurrence of diglossia (Al-Batal, 1995). Diglossia involves the use of two varieties of the same language by the same society for different functions. The principle objective of this independent inquiry is to study the impact of Arabic diglossia on L2 learners of Arabic studying this language in the native Arab environment i.e. Saudi Arabia, which is the centre of MSA variety of Arabic. This study also aimed at understanding the effect of awareness about Arabic diglossia on the motivation of L2 learners. Qualitative methodology has been used to gain an in-depth view of the perceptions and the motivation level of L2 learners in two language institutes in Saudi Arabia. The primary data has been collected through self-administered questionnaires from 15 participants studying Arabic at various stages of language learning in the selected language institutes. The secondary data has been taken from various past researchers and literary works related to the topic of this dissertation. It has been found that the L2 learners of Arabic are generally aware of the Arabic diglossia and understand the functional differences between CA and MSA, but this situation doesn't significantly affect their learning progress as assessed by their academic learning progress before and after attending the language centre and their willingness to continue learning the Arabic language. Indeed, learners studying at advanced stages of Arabic find the diglossic situation motivating and challenging, unlike the starters who were negatively affected (demotivated) by the presence of multiple varieties of Arabic as they find it an intimidating task to learn multiple varieties of Arabic under the umbrella of learning one language.Additionally, social circle and the number native Arabic speaking people around the L2 learners of Arabic have a huge impact on the motivation level of the learners who not only get a higher exposure to CA but also learn the spoken variety from their peers which in return positively motivate them to learn Arabic in the native Arab setting Cite as: Al Zahrani, M. A. A. (2013). A Study on the Impact of Arabic Diglossia on L2 learners of Arabic: Examining Motivation and Perception School of Linguistics, Bangor University Wales, UK. (Master's Thesis). Retrieved from (Arab World English Journal Database. (ID Number: 190, December 2017). DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/th.190

La entrevista se dio el jueves 22 de junio a las 4 p. m. en el Centro de Estudiantes de Literatura (Celit), ubicado en la Facultad de Letras de la UNMSM. A continuación, presentamos los fragmentos de la entrevista que hemos considerado más relevantes. Ante cualquier posible
malentendido, debido a la inevitable descontextualización de las declaraciones, remitimos al lector a su versión íntegra en la página web (entrecanibales.net).

Findings from a mixed method; quantitative and qualitative assessment of156 studies  and conceptual papers reviewed revealed the following:

1- There are positive effects to incorporating teaching Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) using phonics which is in line with the latest research on the science of reading.
2- The distance between MSA and various dialects was observed in several studies included in the review and more recently the effect of socio-economic factors on learning MSA has been cited in several studies as an important contributing factor to delays in learning MSA.
3- A finding that was of interest was that the difficulty students found in learning MSA decreased the more they were exposed to MSA, the higher their proficiency became and as they moved up grades . Thus, several studies suggested that difficulty of learning MSA decreased around Grade 4.
4- Various teaching and learning themes were found to emphasize the importance of bridging the gap between MSA and dialects through activities that build diglossic-awareness early on.
5- Early exposure to MSA was one way of bridging the gap and easing its learning, in addition to engaging students in literacy activities, and involving parents and the community.
6- Some studies concluded that there is no effect for diglossia on student performance in school and that students sometimes came to school with some knowledge of MSA due to exposure to literacy related activities at home.
7- Several studies emphasized the importance of paying attention to teaching methodologies used with non-native Arabic speakers.
8- The contradictory findings between research on Arabic diglossia reveal the inconclusively of the current body of evidence available and puts in the forefront the high importance and need for more research around those issues.

Recommendations: Recommendations are divided into recommendations for researchers, teachers and parents, policy makers and funders, and are summarized below as follows:

1) Recommendations for researchers:
a. More research is needed on the effect of diglossia on teaching and learning
b. More testing of teaching and learning interventions is needed
2) Recommendations for teachers and parents:
a. Early exposure to MSA at home is crucial (via reading to children, and exposing them to high quality MSA cartoons, board games and music)
b. Having teachers read children’s literature to students daily in school
c. Integrating MSA into wholesome and fun activities in school
d. Ensuring that teachers are proficient in MSA and can use a simplified form with age-appropriate vocabulary with the children
e. Preparing and training teachers in best practices related to Arabic teaching and learning and the science of reading. It needs to be understood that the notion of diglossia is an inherent feature of Arabic language that should not be an excuse for poor teaching and learning practices
3) Recommendations for education policy makers:
a. Policies should underline that diglossia is an inherent feature of Arabic language that should not be an excuse for poor teaching and learning practices
b. Policies should be more focused on the quality of teaching and learning practices
c. Policies should embrace diglossia as an enriching feature in Arabic language rather than looking at MSA & SpA as competing and parallel concepts that do not meet
4) Recommendations for funders of research:
a. Need for research funding, grants and incentives to be directed at interventions to improve the teaching and learning of Arabic
b. Need for better evidence of the effectiveness of teaching and learning practices, which may mean establishing new institutions and research centers similar, for example, to the What Works Centers in the UK, which includes the Education Endowment Foundation

Aproximación a la figura del escribano real en el reino de Navarra durante los siglos XVI y XVII. El texto repasa la historia lingüística de este territorio, en el que convivieron romance y vascuence en una situación de diglosia. Precisamente el escribano real, por dominar ambas lenguas, desempeñó un importante papel al fijar, entre otras cosas, los nombres de las personas que solicitaron sus servicios.

This is an introductory textbook to Arabic sociolinguistics. It is intended for graduate students pursuing their studies in Arabic sociolinguistics but without an adequate knowledge of English or other International languages to be able to consult studies in their original version. It is also intended for the general reader interested in the relation between language and society. It covers a large number of issues including language standardization, language variation, multilingualism, diglossia, language and culture, and others.

A lo largo del trabajo se tiene como objetivo la formación básica e informada de los lectores (de hablantes, alumnos y personas interesadas) como agentes revitalizadores que se encuentren iniciando un proceso o que busquen enriquecer sus formulaciones en torno a las propuestas de revitalización. En líneas generales, nos interesa brindar herramientas para formular proyectos de recuperación y revitalización que no se reduzcan a una única forma metodológica, con características colonialistas, cientificistas o escolares, sino que se permita la emergencia y (re)creación de modelos sociales y lingüísticos que releven la cultura y/o surgidos o propuestos por las propias comunidades.
Para potencializar el uso de la guía, el primer llamado que se hace es tener la disposición a descentralizar o despojarse de los diferentes mitos y creencias que se tienen en torno a las lenguas y su revitalización. Es decir, al ser los procesos de revitalización un proceso más social que lingüístico y si se toma en cuenta que cada sociedad y cultura es diferente, ningún método o premisa puede ser generalizable y exitoso.

Le concept de diglossie fait partie des notions centrales en sociolinguistique. Revenir sur ce sujet peut donc paraître superflu. Néanmoins, lorsqu’on tente de cerner la question, le concept n’est pas toujours aussi limpide qu’on le pense. La diglossie a pourtant été le terrain d’investigation de nombreux chercheurs au cours des dernières décennies. Mais l’on a parfois l’impression d’assister à une certaine dilution du concept : il s’enrichit de nuances diverses selon les auteurs, sans toujours faire consensus.
Mon but n’est pas d’en dresser un inventaire exhaustif, mais de présenter ma propre compréhension de la diglossie, à partir de mon terrain propre. A savoir celui des études celtiques et en particulier de la description d’un parler breton.

"Le Petit Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is one of the worldwide best-selling stories of all times. Unflagging popularity of the story in countries all around the world resulted in it being translated into a great number of languages, including Persian, in which the number of existing translations has already exceeded thirty. In this paper an attempt has been made to link this extraordinary activity of Persian translators of Le Petit Prince with a peculiar linguistic situation of contemporary Iran, where there is a great difference between the colloquial language of everyday conversation and the language used in writing. The first part of the paper is a general survey of the existing translations. The second part is a detail study of two versions of the translation by Ahmad Shâmlu: printed and audio recording. The two versions of the supposedly same (and already criticized for being overly colloquial) text vary from each other in their level of adherence to the grammatical norms of literary Persian, thus giving some hints on the diglossic situation of modern Persian language.

Organized with the assistance of an international advisory committee of medievalists from several disciplines, Medieval Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide is a new standard guide to the Latin language and literature of the period from c. A.D. 200 to 1500. It promises to be indispensable as a handbook in university courses in Medieval Latin and as a point of departure for the study of Latin texts and documents in any of the fields of medieval studies.

Comprehensive in scope, the guide provides introductions to, and bibliographic orientations in, all the main areas of Medieval Latin language, literature, and scholarship. Part One consists of an introduction and sizable listing of general print and electronic reference and research tools. Part Two focuses on issues of language, with introductions to such topics as Biblical and Christian Latin, and Medieval Latin pronunciation, orthography, morphology and syntax, word formation and lexicography, metrics, prose styles, and so on. There are chapters on the Latin used in administration, law, music, commerce, the liturgy, theology and philosophy, science and technology, and daily life. Part Three offers a systematic overview of Medieval Latin literature, with introductions to a wide range of genres and to translations from and into Latin. Each chapter concludes with a bibliography of fundamental works--texts, lexica, studies, and research aids.

This guide satisfies a long-standing need for a reference tool in English that focuses on medieval latinity in all its specialized aspects. It will be welcomed by students, teachers, professional latinists, medievalists, humanists, and general readers interested in the role of Latin as the learned lingua franca of western Europe. It may also prove valuable to reference librarians assembling collections concerned with Latin authors and texts of the postclassical period.

Εισαγωγή
Η διγλωσσία, αποτελεί διαχρονικό φαινόμενο και παρουσιάζει στη σύγχρονη εποχή πρωτόγνωρη αύξηση, γεγονός που οφείλεται σε οικονομικούς, κοινωνικούς, εκπαιδευτικούς, πολιτιστικούς και πολιτικούς λόγους. Ως όρος είναι δύσκολο να οριστεί με ακρίβεια, μια και στην επίσημη βιβλιογραφία δεν υπάρχει ένας ορισμός που να έχει γενική ισχύ (Αδαμοπούλου, 2008).
Την ίδια δυσκολία ως προς τον ορισμό και την απόδοση του όρου στη νέα ελληνική εντοπίζει και ο Δαμανάκης (χ.χ.), ο οποίος καταλήγει στο συμπέρασμα ότι με τον όρο «διγλωσσία» αναφερόμαστε στην «ατομική διγλωσσία» (bilingualism), στην οποία γίνεται χρήση δύο διαφορετικών γλωσσών από το  άτομο.  Ο ίδιος συμπληρώνει ότι με τον όρο «διπλογλωσσία» αναφερόμαστε στην «κοινωνική διγλωσσία» (diglossia), στην οποία γίνεται χρήση δύο διαφορετικών γλωσσών στην κοινωνία. Τον ίδιο διαχωρισμό σε «ατομική» και «κοινωνική» διγλωσσία (π.χ. γλωσσικό ζήτημα στην Ελλάδα) κάνει και η Κοσσύβα (2014). Η Μανίκα (2005) επισημαίνει ότι ο όρος bilingualism προέρχεται από το χώρο της ψυχολογίας και της ψυχογλωσσολογίας, ενώ ο όρος diglossia είναι όρος της κοινωνιολογίας και της κοινωνιογλωσσολογίας.
Ο Δαμανάκης (χ.χ.) συμπληρώνει ότι με τον όρο «διμορφία» εννοούμε τη χρήση δύο μορφών (εκφάνσεων) της ίδιας γλώσσας από την κοινωνία, αλλά και από το άτομο. Από την άλλη πλευρά, ο όρος «διμορφία» εξισώνεται με τον όρο «πολυμορφία» κατά την Ελένη Σκούρτου (χ.χ.). Σύμφωνα με την ίδια ως «γλωσσική πολυμορφία/διμορφία» εννοείται η χρήση διαφορετικών μορφών γλώσσας, ενώ ως  «γλωσσική διμορφία» η πολυμορφία σε μονογλωσσικές καταστάσεις.
Σύμφωνα με τα παραπάνω, ο όρος διμορφία (diglossia) σύμφωνα με τις αναλύσεις των Δαμανάκη και Σκούρτου (χ.χ.) χρησιμοποιείται με τέσσερις σημασίες: α) χρήση και ιεραρχική σχέση δύο ποικιλιών της ίδιας γλώσσας στην κοινωνία (π.χ. καθαρεύουσα-δημοτική), β) χρήση και ιεραρχική σχέση δύο διαφορετικών γλωσσών στην κοινωνία (πλειονοτική – μειονοτική γλώσσα), γ) προφορική και γραπτή μορφή της κάθε γλώσσας και δ) «ανάπτυξη διμορφίας/πολυμορφίας», ως παιδαγωγικό πρόταγμα.

The sociolinguistic term “diglossia” is one of very few international scientific terms whose origin can be traced to a Greek living in modern Greece.  Since Ferguson published his seminal article fifty years ago, several scholars have referred to the early history of the term diglossia, but while each of them has highlighted a number of pieces that fit into the jigsaw puzzle, no one, to my knowledge, has yet presented the complete picture. In this paper I trace the term back to its Greek origins in 1885.

Overview of diglossia and societal bilingualism, including a short critical analysis of queer linguistics that argues for dis-invention of languages. To appear in: Darquennes, J., Salmons, J., and Vandenbussche, W. (Eds.) (2018). Language contact. Vol. I. (Handbücher zur Sprach-und Kommunikationswissenschaft). Berlin: de Gruyter.

Gli anni che stiamo vivendo sono caratterizzati sempre più da cambiamenti sociali e culturali, dovuti in particolare alla globalizzazione mondiale, la quale ha completamente rivoluzionato il ventesimo e il ventunesimo secolo. In tale contesto, interessantissimo è stato il sorgere di numerosi dibattiti legati ai concetti di “diversità” culturale e linguistica – specie nei paesi dell’America Latina, dove sono presenti molteplici realtà socio-culturali e linguistiche differenti – e le questioni riguardanti l’interazione fra la lingua nazionale e i dialetti, ovvero quelle vivacissime varietà linguistiche capaci, alle volte, di assurgere a lingua letteraria. Tale dialettica linguistico-culturale dà origine a forme di interferenza o di mescolanza tra le lingue all’interno di uno stesso territorio, ne è un esempio il Portunhol/Portuñol sudamericano, varietà della lingua portoghese del Brasile parlato nel nord dell’Uruguay. Per comprendere come la lingua o il dialetto portunhol/portuñol si sia, per così dire, insediato in questo piccolo Stato di lingua spagnola, è importante ripercorrere la Storia del nord dell’Uruguay, fascia territoriale confinante con il Rio Grande do Sul, al sud del Brasile. Il plurilinguismo che caratterizza la società di frontiera brasiliana-uruguagia si riversa quindi nella letteratura, la quale, attraverso l’intersezione con i dialetti di base portoghese presenti nel “Paisito”, diventa il principale motore di diffusione linguistico-culturale del Portunhol/Portuñol. È in questo contesto che si inserisce la poesia fronteriza contemporanea di Fabián Severo, giovane autore di due bellissimi libri in portunhol/portuñol: Noite Nu Norte. Noche En El Norte (2011) e Viento de Nadie (2013). L’originalità della sua poesia consiste, a nostro avviso, nell’avere intuito una dimensione “altra” del portunhol/portuñol, un aspetto linguistico non superficiale che gli ha permesso di adattare la forma della lingua alle tematiche da lui affrontate. Il poeta ha saputo “riscrivere” i suoni di questa particolarissima varietà dialettale del portoghese – che egli stesso definisce lingua materna – per ricostruire la storia della città natale e rivivere la sua infanzia. Fabián Severo, attraverso la voce spensierata di un bambino cresciuto in un quartiere umile della frontiera, ha saputo cogliere ironicamente le speranze della povera gente. I suoi versi affrontano questioni strettamente correlate alla frontiera tra il Brasile e l’Uruguay, quindi quelle della lingua portunhol/portuñol o l’identità fronteriza, ma presentano anche tematiche importanti come la fame, la miseria, la solitudine, la dignità umana, con un tono mai estremamente duro o panflettistico. Le poesie descrivono al lettore i ricordi del passato di Fabián Severo, offrendoci un fedelissimo spaccato di vita quotidiana di una città di frontiera – Artigas – e dei suoi abitanti, raccontato con parole volte a ricreare melodie e sensazioni tipicamente fronterizas.

Relazione del corso di Pianificazione linguistica e lingue pianificate (Prof. Federico Gobbo), erogato dall'Università degli Studi di Torino (Corso di Laurea Magistrale in Scienze linguistiche, a.a. 2016/17).

Tra bilinguismo e diglossia.
"La scelta di inserire tra virgolette l’aggettivo sardo nel titolo di questa relazione non è casuale, ma rispecchia essenzialmente alcune problematiche che io stesso incontro nel definire la mia identità culturale e linguistica. La causa principale di questo problema identitario è certamente una storia familiare segnata da piccole e grandi migrazioni, che hanno portato alla compresenza di bilinguismo e diglossia nel mio repertorio di parlante".

A draft of a forthcoming chapter in the book Language Policy and Political Issues in Education (Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 3 rd edition), edited by Teresa McCarty and Stephen May, published by Springer. Abstract Language education policy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is a complex set of norms, beliefs, and practices deeply rooted in the history of the region. Despite the appearance of uniformity, the MENA region is marked by economic, religious, and linguistic differences. Language policies in MENA are to be understood against the background of prolonged colonial rule and the traditional opposition to colonialism and foreign intervention. Three major aspects of language policy (LP) in the region are discussed: diglossia, which involves the relatively rigid separation between the high, standard language and the native, colloquial one; Arabization, which is the historical process of reversing the linguistic consequences of colonialism, substituting Western colonial languages with Arabic; and finally, issues of linguistic minorities, multilingualism, and language education, which pose significant challenges to language policy in the region. Following the discussion of current issues in the field, a discussion of work in progress and future directions in the field specifically address the issues of political instability in some parts of the region and the challenges of improving and researching language policy in contexts where language ideologies often clash. Particular attention is given to ways in which language policy can become more democratic and inclusive, the way new language policy initiatives can be executed and monitored, the potential economic value of certain policies, and the importance of research on the links between language policy and religion.