SOCIETAL

BILINGUALISM &
MULTILINGUALISM

Theme 3
 Societal and individual
multilingualism
Multilingualism is an individual and a social
phenomenon.
It can be considered as an ability of an individual, or
it can refer to the use of languages in society.
Individual multilingualism is sometimes referred to as
plurilingualism.
 Societal and individual
multilingualism
The Council of Europe website defines plurilingualism
as the “repertoire of varieties of language which
many individuals use” so that “some individuals are
monolingual and some are plurilingual.”
In contrast, multilingualism is understood as “the
presence in a geographical area, large or small, of
more than one ‘variety of language’. . .; in such an
area individuals may be monolingual, speaking only
their own variety.”
 Societal and individual
multilingualism
This distinction is the same as the most widely used
distinction between individual and societal
multilingualism.
Within individual multilingualism, there can be
important differences in the experience of acquiring
and using languages.
 Language Contact

Language contact is the use of more than one

language in the same place at the same time.
It does not require fluent bilingualism or
multilingualism, but some communication between
speakers of different languages is necessary.
It involves face-to-face interactions among groups of
speakers, at least some of whom speak more than
one language in a particular geographical locality.
 Language Contact

- Language contact in neighboring speaking groups

Neighboring speaker groups may be on
friendly terms - sharing resources, engaging
in trade, and providing mutual support

Or they may be aggressive to each other

(getting resources, competitions, religion, etc.)
 Language Contact

Sometimes speakers of two or more languages live

together in a single community. In such cases there
may be mutual bilingualism or multilingualism.
Alternatively, there may be asymmetrical
bilingualism.

Asymmetrical bilingualism is especially common when

a subordinate bilingual group is shifting to the
language of a monolingual dominant group
 Language Contact

E.g. In Ireland most or all adults who speak Irish

Gaelic also speak English, but not vice versa; the
same is true, though not to the same degree, of
Spanish and English speakers in a city like Los
Angeles - native speakers of Spanish are much more
likely to be bilingual than native speakers of English
are.
 Language Contact

Bilingualism may be stable, in places where the

patterns of multilingualism are of long standing; or
transitional in language shift situations.
In these and other cases of contact, an important
factor in predicting whether a dominant language will
sweep the minority languages off the map is whether
or not there is institutional support for the
nondominant language(s).
 Language Contact

At the societal level, there is an important distinction

between additive and subtractive multilingualism.
In the case of additive multilingualism, a language is
added to the linguistic repertoire of the speaker while
the first language continues to be developed.
In contrast, subtractive multilingualism refers to
situations in which a new language is learned and
replaces the first language.
 Language Contact

Additive multilingualism more likely to happen when

speakers of a majority language acquire other languages.
Subtractive multilingualism - often found when immigrant
schoolchildren are required to shift to the language of the
host country without being given the opportunity to
develop their own language.
A related issue is the difference between being
multilingual in demographically strong languages with a
high status and weaker languages.
 Language Contact

The issue of stable vs. unstable contact situations, of

language maintenance (in which a group keeps its
language in a contact situation) vs. language shift (in
which a group shifts from its language to another
language) in a contact setting, will be discussed in
the coming lectures.
 Language Contact

In communities of all sizes, from the tiniest villages

to the biggest nations, language contact (which is
itself a result of social history) has social
consequences.
Sometimes these consequences are benign or
advantageous.
 Language Contact

e.g. In Paraguay, the indigenous language Guarani is

spoken alongside Spanish by the majority of the
population, and both Guarani and Spanish are
considered national languages. The people of
Paraguay are proud of their bilingualism. Spanish is
ordinary in Latin America, but Guarani is their unique
possession.
(The history of this contact is less benign, however; other indigenous
languages of Paraguay vanished because their speakers were
pressured by European missionaries to learn Guarani instead.)
 Language conflict

The existence of bilingual and multilingual societies raises

important social, political and educational issues.
◼ In what languages should education be delivered, and at
what levels?
◼ What languages should be accepted for publication and
broadcasting?
◼ In what languages should laws be written, and what
languages should be accepted in court proceedings?
 Language conflict

The presence of many languages in the same area easily

causes conflict. Language conflict arises from the
confrontation of different values and attitude structures of
two or more groups which are in contact within the same
society
 Language conflict

“Conflict is present when two or more parties perceive that

their interests are incompatible, express hostile attitudes,
or...pursue their interests through actions that damage the
other parties...Interests can diverge in many ways: Over
resources, over power, over identity, over status and over
values” (CAII, 1997a: 2–3)
 Language conflict

Language conflict appears when two or more languages

that are clearly different confront each other in the social
and political field. Language competition is then, driven by
individuals organized as groups of language speakers who
start having agreements by adopting certain language and
rejecting another. Two types of language conflict are
generally distinguishable:
Ethnic Language Conflict & Political Language Conflict
 Ethnic Language conflict

“Ethnic groups are communities whose members share a

collective identity based on cultural values”
Language - a symbolic feature of an ethnic group - every
ethnic group is deeply attached to his tongue; symbol of
identity.
“When ethnic group identity becomes important for
individuals, they may attempt to make themselves
favorably distinct on dimensions such as language”.
Liebkind (1989: 143)
 Ethnic Language conflict

Internal ethnic language conflict

vs
External ethnic language conflict
 Ethnic Language conflict

Internal ethnic language conflict (linguistic minorities)

This type of conflict differs in norms and values.
e.g. The multiplicity of indigenous minority languages in
Nigeria. In Nigeria today, according to the 15th edition of
the Ethnologue report for Nigeria, there are more than 400
living languages co-existing with one another.
 Ethnic Language conflict

External ethnic language conflict (ethno-political conflict)

It refers to a conflict which exists between minorities and
majorities.
“conflicts in which claims are made by a national or
minority group against the state or against other political
actors”. Gurr (2000: 65)
e.g. The Berber question in Algeria is one of these cases.
 Political Language conflict

One major source of political language conflict is closely

related to the unequal distribution of social roles assigned
to languages in competition.
The dominant language generally tends to reserve certain
areas of interest closely related to government, education,
economic institutions and media, whereas, the other
languages are excluded from the state national agenda.
 Political Language conflict

It is the result of the incompatibility of language attitudes

shown between population groups of different
socioeconomic structures.
“The height of a political language conflict is reached when
all conflict factors are combined in a single symbol,
language, and quarrels and struggles in very different
areas - politics, economics, administration and education-
appear under the heading language conflict” Nelde (1987)
Political Language conflict

Exploitation conflict
and
Interference conflict
 Political Language conflict

Exploitation conflict refers to an indirect interaction

between different groups involved in the conflict. It is
characterized by an unstable tension between the
conflicting parties without having recourse to violence.
e.g. The linguistic conflict existing between French and
English in public life in Canada.
 Political Language conflict

Belgium conforms a bilingual state but it contains Walloon

speakers of French dialects, Flemish speakers of Dutch
dialects, and speakers of German dialects. There, a
dominant language group (French) controls administration,
politics and economy, presumably giving employment
preferences to applicants who have command of the
dominant language (Hans Nelde, 2002).
 Political Language conflict

Interference conflict refers to a direct interaction also

called a violent conflict in which the conflicting parties are
in a perpetual state of armed confrontation.
e.g. During the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco,
Catalan and other regional languages were banned, as
Franco believed they could foster opposition to his regime.
Anyone caught speaking a regional language faced jail.
 Political Language conflict

For many decades the Kurdish language was ignored and

banned from public use and Turkish became the lingua
franca for all citizens to speak.
This way, the Turkish state sought to create a nation-state
based on one language and attempted to eliminate the use
of other languages, particularly Kurdish, through severe
regulations and prohibitions.
Political Language conflict
 Language conflict

Language conflicts can be viewed as natural or artificial

language conflicts.
Natural language conflicts have been traditionally, caused
by political decisions regarding majority or minority social
groups.
Assimilation or opposition represents the key factor in
language conflict.
 Language conflict

That type of conflict is seen in Canada with the French-

speaking community or in Spain with the Basque-speaking
community and it intensifies when ideological or political
arguments are posed and intertwine with linguistic ones.
Artificial language conflicts arise when a compromise is
attained and a language is disfavored.
The European union, for instance, faces the problem of
what languages should be officially spoken within the EU.
 Language conflict

From the language conflict concepts reviewed and what

you have learned, analyze the current situation in terms of
language conflict in Bolivia, classify the type or types of
conflict identified and provide examples.
 Language conflict

Language Conflict

Ethnic Language Conflict Political Language Conflict

Internal Ethnic Language Conflict Ethno-Political Language Conflict

 Outcomes of Language
conflict
Language contact encompasses the study of language,
language user and the language spheres. It studies
language internally and externally.
Internally, it studies phonology, syntax, lexicon and
pragmatics,…etc.
Externally, it studies the multilingualism aspects of
language community and language boundaries , language
loyalty , prestige and attitudes .
 Outcomes of Language
conflict
Contact linguistics concerns itself with studying the
interaction and outcomes of languages and varieties in
contact within multilingual settings.
Weinreich (1953) Languages in Contact: Findings and
Problems – internal and external outcomes of language
contact. – borrowing, interference, language mixing, code
switching, language shift, and language maintenance and
language loss.
 Outcomes of Language
conflict
Internal outcomes of language contact
• Borrowing
• Interference
• code switching
• code mixing
 Outcomes of Language
conflict
External outcomes of language contact
• Language shift
• Language loss
• Language dead
• Language maintenance
• Diglossia
• Pidgins and Creoles
• Decreolization
 Borrowing

Borrowing is another feature of bilingual speech, which is

often confused with interference.
Borrowing as an unpredictable “performance strategy“
which is meant to bridge gaps in the interlanguage,
whereas transfer belongs to the acquaintance process.
Borrowing is mainly subcategorized in 1) lexical and 2)
grammatical borrowing.
 Borrowing

Lexical Borrowing
Generally perceived as the incorporation of lexical items of
other languages. In the past, many languages borrowed
words from Greek and Latin, but these days, English has
obviously become the ‘dominant’ language, though it has
also borrowed words from other languages.
 Borrowing

Nevertheless, most words are definitely adopted the other

way round, that is, English is the prevailing “donor“ or
“source“ language.
Language purists claim that borrowing can even lead to
language decay, e.g. in case two languages do not transfer
words mutually, the process of loaning is restricted to one
direction.
 Borrowing

Purists also point out that loanwords do not enrich a

language, but impoverish it - they often substitute
indigenous words. This substitution is called “relexification“,
that is “the replacement of the vocabulary of one language
with that of another language, while maintaining the
original grammar“ as far as possible, since the transfer of
function words for instance often brings about grammatical
changes.
 Borrowing

In order to systematize lexical borrowing, some linguists

term two ‘actions’, namely importation and substitution:
Importation means the transfer of a particular pattern (e.g.
morphemes) into the language, whereas substitution
“involves replacing something from another language with
a native pattern.“
Both substitution and importation account for different
types of borrowing at the lexical level: loanwords,
loanblends, and loanshifts
 Borrowing

a) Loanwords
This is the most widespread kind of borrowing; morphemes
are imported, substitution may occur at the phonemic level.
e.g. kindergarten a typical examples of a loanword in
English. Despite the efforts of the French Academy to forbid
‘franglais’ words, ‘le parking’, ‘le weekend’, ‘le hotdog’ are
widely used in France.
 Borrowing

b) Loanblends
Both importation and morphemic substitution are involved,
as a part of the foreign model is imported and another part
of it replaced by an element which is already in the
borrower language.
Examples of this are hybrids like Dutch ‘soft-ware huis’
(from soft-ware house).
 Borrowing

c) Loanshifts
Also called loan translations, since they are literal
translations of items imported from the donor
language/culture.
They could be regarded as an importation of meaning,
substitution is not involved. ‘Skyscraper’ has been the
source for loanshifts to numerous other languages: German
Wolkenkratzer, French gratte-ciel, Spanish rasca-cielos,
Italian grattacielo are its direct equivalents.
 Borrowing

Grammatical Borrowing
Appel & Muysken - five different ways account for
grammatical borrowing:
a) convergence
b) cultural influence and lexical borrowing
c) relexification
d) second-language learning
e) imitation of prestige patterns
 Borrowing

a) Convergence
The achievement of structural similarity in a given aspect of
the grammar of two or more languages, assumed to be
different at the beginning of contact.
The interaction of two languages spoken in the same area
and more or less by the same people may converge if these
languages coexist for a long period of time.
 Borrowing

b) & c) Cultural influence - relexification

Cultural influence often leads to lexical borrowing, often at
the idiosyncratic level or as a complete relexification.
d) Second-language learning / Language acquisition
A language may change considerably when e.g. immigrants
take it to a region with another mother tongue and people
from that area learn it as a second language. In that case
items of their native language may have a substrate
influence.
 Borrowing

e) Imitation of prestige language patterns

A language may borrow patterns of a prestigious language
as far as they can easily be adopted to the recipient
language.
This kind of borrowing is restricted to a very superficial
stage; very complex structures of a language cannot be
integrated into a differing language.
 Interference

It is one of the most essential features of bilingual speech.

There are several approaches to define this concept, which
is also called (negative) transfer.
“The use of patterns of the first language in second
language sentences.“
L1 and L2 must resemble each other in a way to give rise to
interference. If they lack any similarity, transfer is highly
improbable.
 Interference

Four different types of interference have been

distinguished:
1 Phonological Interference
2 Grammatical Interference
3 Lexical Interference
4 Interference in spelling
 Code switching

The alternate use of two languages or linguistic varieties

within the same utterance or during the same conversation.
Code-switching can occur across sentence and phrase
boundaries and concern both single and complex lexical
items.
This phenomenon is often called mixing when it takes place
within a single sentence (intra-sentential code-switching).
 Code switching

Code-switching is neither connected to age nor gender; i.e.

it can be found in children as well as in adults of both
sexes.
A considerable degree of proficiency is required to enable
bilinguals to code-switch within one sentence. Therefore,
children are said not to code-switch until they have
achieved thorough knowledge of their codes.
 Outcomes of Language
conflict
External outcomes of language contact
• Language shift
• Language maintenance
• Language loss
• Language dead
• Diglossia
• Pidgins and Creoles
• Decreolization
 Language shift

Language shift happens when a group of people stops

using one language in favor of another, such that
subsequent generations no longer acquire the original
language.
Winford [2003], language shift refers to the partial or total
abandonment of a group's native language in favor of
another.
 Language shift

Thompson [2001] “Intense pressure from a dominant group

most often leads to bilingualism among subordinate groups
who speak other languages, and this asymmetrical
bilingualism very often results, sooner or later, in language
shift”.
Thus, language shift is the product of different socio-
economic and socio-political factors.
 Language shift

Displacement of a minority
mother tongue language by
the language of the wider
society (majority) over time
Immigrant
minority Local
majority
 Language shift in minority
languages
What factors lead to language shift?

 Economic, social and political factors

 Demographic factors
 Attitudes and values
 Death of Speakers
 Language shift in minority
languages
Economic, social and political factor
1. The dominant language is associated with social status
and prestige
2. Obtaining work is the obvious economic reason for
learning another language (Young men moving to
urban centers)
3. The pressure of institutional domains such as schools
and the media
4. Aging population in the community
 Language shift in minority
languages
Economic, social and political factor
4. Political influences
5. Conquest
6. Language policy: official language
7. Assimilatory education
 Language shift in minority
languages
Demographic factors
1. Language shift is faster in urban areas than
rural ones
2. The size of the group is sometimes a critical
factor
3. Intermarriage between groups can
accelerate language shift
 Language shift in minority
languages
Attitudes and values
1. Language shift is slower among communities
where the minority language is highly
valued,
2. When the language is seen as an important
symbol of ethnic identity its generally
maintained longer.
 Language shift three
scenarios
(i) Migrant minorities
(ii) Non migrant communities
(iii) Migrant majorities
 Language shift three
scenarios
(i) Migrant minorities
SHIFT
Minority language Dominant language
Most common types of shifts:
Shift from L1 in all contexts to L2 in most contexts;
L1 is used in one domain, L2 is used in another
domain
 Language shift three
scenarios
An important contributor to the process of language
shift is the pressure from the wider speech
community.
Typical shifts:
Parents: monolingual, insufficient knowledge of L2
Children: bilingual (L1, L2)
Grandchildren: monolingual in L2
In contact situations, it is apparent that immigrants live
with the dilemma of two conflicting wants:
(a) the want to be involved within their host
community, and
(b) the want to preserve their language as part of their
heritage and identity.
The first want may lead
immigrants, through
generations to lose proficiency
in their ethnic language and
ultimately shift towards the
dominant language, whereas
enhancing and encouraging
the second one may lead to
language maintenance.
 Language shift three
scenarios
Pressure from one language on speakers of
other languages to adopt it.
• Language
shift is
expected
• A sign of
successful
Pressure assimilation
from the
host
society
Language
shift for
practical
• Job reasons
• Education
• Business
(ii) Non-migrant communities
Political, economic and social
changes within speech
communities may affect native
languages – a dominant
language, spoken by the majority
may cause serious changes,
frequently even extinction of
native minority languages.
(iii) Migrant majorities
Portugal, Spain, Britain,
France, among other colonial
powers in many parts of the
world.
Their language was imposed
on the various communities by
becoming the official language
(government, law, education,
etc.).
In countries where multilingualism was prominent, the
language of the colonial powers became just one more
language to use (Papua New Guinea, several African
countries, etc.).
However, in countries where multilingualism was not
widespread, the dominant language threatened the
native languages, with serious consequences.
Why should we
care about
language loss?
 Language loss

Language loss and language

endangerment are most
frequently discussed in terms
of the forced or forceful
extinction of a minority
language under pressure
from a dominant majority
language.
 Language loss

This type of scenario is seen in contexts where the term

“language loss” occurs in discussions of Aboriginal
languages:
— where transmission of language between generations was
interrupted by deliberate government policy
— and transmission of minority languages or the languages of
immigrant communities, is broken by children willingly adopting the
speech of their peers from the majority language group.
 Language loss

In both of these cases, the loss of the language is

involuntary from the point of view of the minority
speech community and is frequently perceived as
undesirable, particularly in the eyes of an older
generation with little or limited access to the majority
language.
 Language loss
In other parts of the world, these are not the only ways
in which languages are lost, it can be the case of a third
scenario of language death which we is called “linguistic
suicide”.
Linguistic suicide occurs when an older generation of
speakers dominant in a minority language deliberately
chooses not to teach this language to their children and
adopts a majority language as the language of child-
rearing, thereby deliberately interrupting the
transmission of their language to the next generation.
 Language loss

In the case of indigenous languages, the principal

reasons for the cessation of language transmission are
the low prestige attached to the minority language and
concerns about the children’s ability to achieve fluency
in the socially- and economically-dominant language.
 Factors in language loss

In any given situation, language loss is the result of the

complex interplay of many different factors, both
external and internal to the speech community.
In his theory of language death, Sasse (1992) lists a
number of external factors that lead to language loss
including cultural, historical, economic and political
forces.
 Factors in language loss

These forces in turn have an effect on how a speech

community behaves, creating internal conditions which
shift patterns of language use towards a majority
language or foster negative attitudes towards the
minority language which disfavor its use.
In all situations, a key factor in language loss is the
failure of parents to transmit the language to their
children, thus the interruption of language transmission
is the first phase of language loss..
 Factors in language loss

First Language loss ( L1attrition) is observed in many

areas, from acculturation to extinction, as well as in
many age groups in various levels.
To many linguists, it is important to prevent the
languages from becoming extinct, and protect the
identities and cultures of minority populations that are
neglected due to language imperialism.
 Factors in language loss

Most importantly, educational policies can promote

additive bilingualism over subtractive, multiculturalism
over assimilation in their classrooms by providing
multicultural students’ a welcoming environment, and
helping them in expressing and overcoming their
feelings of anomie, acculturation and assimilation.
 Language death

Language death (Campbell) “the loss of a language due

to gradual shift to the dominant language in language
contact situations”
Such situations involve an intermediate stage of
bilingualism in which the subordinate language is
employed by a decreasing number of speakers in an
equally decreasing number of contexts, until it ultimately
disappears altogether.
 Language death

The process is typically accompanied by a gradual

attrition of the subordinate language along a continuum
determined mainly by age (although attitude and other
factors may play an important part).
Languages in the process of dying are endangered
languages.
Five levels of language endangerment are identified.
 Language death
1. A language is potentially endangered if the children start
preferring the dominant language and learn the
obsolescing language imperfectly.
2. It is endangered if the youngest speakers are young
adults and there are no or very few child speakers.
3. It is seriously endangered if the youngest speakers are
middle-aged or past middle age.
4. It is terminally endangered or moribund if there are only a
few elderly speakers left.
5. A language is dead when there are no speakers left at all.
 Language death

The factors determining language death are

typically “non-linguistic”. The most commonly cited
are socioeconomic and sociopolitical.
Socioeconomic factors include lack of economic
opportunities, rapid economic transformations, on-
going industrialization, work patterns, migrant
labor, resettlement, migration and so on.
 Language death

Among the sociopolitical factors are official language

policies, discrimination, stigmatization, repression, war
etc.
Official language policies can be and have been a
particularly decisive factor in language death.
Western colonialism has proven extremely efficient in
this respect, as can be gathered from the use of the
term “glottophagie” in Calvet (1974).
 Language death

Another term frequently encountered in this context is

“linguicide”, a concept analogous to genocide.
The classic example is the “English Only” policy of the
United States government in the 19th century,
designed to force Native Americans to learn English.
Many modern parallels can be adduced, such as the
repression of Kurdish in Turkey, Albanian in Kosovo or
Aromanian in Greece.
 Language death

As much as linguicide and linguistic discrimination may

add to language death, they are at the same time
powerful forces in the reawakening of ethnic identity
feelings among speakers of endangered minority
languages, which appears to have become a global
trend from about 1970 onwards.
Ethnic identy is often accompanied by an increased
interest in language maintenance.
 Language Maintenance

Why should we care about language loss?

Loss of a language is a loss of a culture

“Every language reflects a unique world-view and
culture complex” (Wurm 1991)
 Language Maintenance

How can a minority language be maintained?

✓ Documentation and archivization
✓ Intergenerational transmission
✓ Vernacularization
✓ Changing the society

Language Use
✓ Not only traditional, but also modern
context
✓ Not only in the classroom, but outside
the classroom
Factors Encouraging
Language Maintenance and
Language Loss
 Linguistic factors
◼ Maintenance: Mother tongue is standardized and
exists in written form
◼ Loss: Mother tongue is non-standard and/or not in
written form
◼ Maintenance: Use of an alphabet which makes
printing and literacy relatively easy
◼ Loss: Use of writing system which is expensive to
reproduce and difficult to learn
 Linguistic factors

◼ Maintenance: Home language has international

status
◼ Loss: Home language of little or no international
importance
◼ Maintenance: Home Language literacy used in
community and with homeland
◼ Loss: Illiteracy in the home language
 Linguistic factors

◼ Maintenance: Flexibility in the development of

the home language (e.g. limited use of new
terms from the majority language).
◼ Loss: No tolerance of new terms from
majority language; or too much tolerance of
loan words leading to mixing and eventual
language loss.
 Cultural factors

◼ Maintenance: Mother tongue institutions (e.g.

schools, community organizations)
◼ Loss: Lack of Mother-tongue institutions mass
media, leisure activities.
◼ Maintenance: Cultural and religious ceremonies
in the home language.
◼ Loss: Cultural and religious activity in the
majority language.
 Cultural factors

◼ Maintenance: Ethnic identity strongly tied to

home language
◼ Loss: Ethnic identity defined by factors other
than language.
◼ Maintenance: Nationalistic aspirations as a
language group
◼ Loss: Few nationalistic aspirations
 Cultural factors

◼ Maintenance: Mother tongue the homeland language.

◼ Loss: Mother tongue not the only homeland national
language.
◼ Maintenance: Emotional attachment to mother tongue
giving self-identity and ethnicity.
◼ Loss: Self-identity derived from factors other than
shared home language.
 Cultural factors

◼ Maintenance: Emphasis on family ties and community

cohesion.
◼ Loss: Low emphasis on family and community ties.
High emphasis on individual achievement.
◼ Maintenance: Emphasis on education to enhance
ethnic awareness controlled by language.
◼ Loss: No emphasis on education to enhance ethnic
awareness.
 Cultural factors

◼ Maintenance: Low emphasis on education if in

majority language.
◼ Loss: Acceptance of majority language
education.
◼ Maintenance: Culture unlike majority
language.
◼ Loss: Culture and religion similar to that of
the majority language.
 Ethnolinguistic vitality

How can we
predict the
likelihood that a
language will be
maintained?
By measuring its
ethnolinguistic
vitality.
 Ethnolinguistic vitality
Factor 2: Factor 3:
Number of Proportion of
Factor 1: Speakers Speakers within
Intergenerational the total
transmission Population
Factor 4:
Existing Language
Factor 9: Domains
Amount and
Quality of
Documentation Factor 5:
Response to New
Factor 8: Domains and
Community Media
Factor 6:
Members’ Materials for
Attitudes Factor 7: Language
Governmental Education and
and Institutional Literacy
Language Attitudes
and Policies
 Ethnolinguistic vitality

Factor 1: Intergenerational Language

Transmission
The most commonly used factor in evaluating
the vitality of a language is whether or not it is
being transmitted from one generation to the
next (Fishman 1991).
As seen, endangerment can be ranked on a
continuum from stability to extinction.
 Ethnolinguistic vitality

Factor 2: Absolute Number of Speakers

What is an absolute number?
Impossible to define absolute numbers, but
small speech communities are always at risk -
much more vulnerable to devastation (e.g. by
disease, warfare, or natural disaster)
Small language groups may also merge with a
neighboring group, losing its own language and
culture.
 Ethnolinguistic vitality

Factor 3: Proportion of speakers within the

total population
N° of speakers of a group in relation to the total
population - a significant indicator of language
vitality.
“Group” - ethnic, religious, regional, or national
group with which the speaker community
identifies.
 Ethnolinguistic vitality

Factor 4: Trends in Existing Language

Domains
Where, with whom, and the range of topics for
which a language is used directly affects
whether or not it will be transmitted to the next
generation.
 Ethnolinguistic vitality

Schools, new work environments, new media,

including broadcast media and the Internet,
usually serve only to expand the scope and
power of the dominant language at the expense
of endangered languages.
If the communities do not meet the challenges
of modernity with their language, it becomes
increasingly irrelevant and stigmatized.
 Ethnolinguistic vitality

The type and use of these new domains will

vary according to the local context.
e.g. an endangered language enjoying one new domain,
broadcast media (radio and television) only for a half-hour
a week.
Though the availability of these media gives the
language a potentially high ranking, the extreme
time limitation results in limited exposure to the
language.
 Ethnolinguistic vitality

In education, assigning criteria can be based on

two dimensions:
- up to what level, and
- how broadly across the curriculum, the endangered
language is used.
An endangered language which is the medium
of instruction for all courses and at all levels will
rank much higher than an endangered language
that is taught only one hour per week.
 Ethnolinguistic vitality

Factor 6: Materials for Language Education

and Literacy
Education in the language is essential for
language vitality.
There are language communities that maintain
strong oral traditions, and some do not wish
their language to be written.
 Ethnolinguistic vitality

In other communities, literacy in their language

is a source of pride. In general, however,
literacy is directly linked with social and
economic development.
To this end, books and materials on all topics for
various ages and language abilities are needed.
 Ethnolinguistic vitality

Factor 7: Governmental and Institutional

Language Attitudes And Policies, Including
Official Status and Use
Governments and institutions have explicit
policies and/or implicit attitudes toward the
dominant and subordinate languages.
 Ethnolinguistic vitality

Factor 8: Community Members’ Attitudes

toward Their Own Language
Members of a SC are not neutral towards their
own language. They may see it as…
(1) essential to their community and identity and
promote it; (2) they may use it without
promoting it; (3) they may be ashamed of it
and, therefore, not promote it; or (4) they may
see it as a nuisance and actively avoid using it.
 Ethnolinguistic vitality

When members’ attitudes towards their

language are very positive, the language may be
seen as a key symbol of group identity (valuing
family traditions, festivals and community
events) members of the community may see
their language as a cultural core value, vital to
their community and ethnic identity.
 Ethnolinguistic vitality

If members view their language as hindrance to

economic mobility and integration into
mainstream society, they may develop negative
attitudes toward their language
 Ethnolinguistic vitality

Factor 9: Amount and Quality of

Documentation
As a guide for assessing the urgency for
documenting a language, the type and quality of
existing language materials must be identified.
Of central importance are written texts,
including transcribed, translated, and annotated
audiovisual recordings of natural speech.
 Ethnolinguistic vitality

Such information importantly helps members of

the language community formulate specific
tasks, and enables linguists to design research
projects together with members of the language
community.
 Diglossia

Bilingualism vs Diglossia
A characterization of individual linguistic
behavior (the individual’s ability to communicate
in different varieties)
A characterization of linguistic organization at
the socio-cultural level (the social functionality of
each variety)
 Diglossia
A sociolinguistic situation referring to the coexistence
and use of two closely inter-related varieties of the
same language for different situations.
Typically, one variety is considered by the speech
community to be of a high value (referred to as the
High variety), and is used for formal communication,
reading and writing.
The other variety is considered to have a low value
by members of the speech community, and it is used
for daily communication and interactions (known as
the Low variety).
 Features of Diglossic Situations

 The coexistence of two or more varieties in a

speech community
 The domains of linguistic behavior are divided in a
kind of complementary distribution (an X variety
will serve some purposes and a Z variety will
serve others)
 The domains are ranked in a kind of hierarchy,
from high valued (H) to less valued (L)
 Classical and Extended Diglossia

Ferguson 1959 “Classical diglossia” varieties of the

same language having the H and L status
Fishman 1967 “Extended diglossia” expanded the
definition of diglossia to include the use of unrelated
languages as high and low varieties.
e.g. Spanish (H) and Guarani (L) (unrelated languages) and
their use in Paraguay.
Heinz Kloss calls the (H) variant exoglossia and the
(L) variant endoglossia.
 Diglossia and Bilingualism

Fishman (2003) portrays the terms, diglossia and

bilingualism as follows:
 Diglossia and Bilingualism

The first possibility (1) embraces a speech

community where both diglossia and bilingualism
occur. That is the case, for instance, of German (H)
and Swiss German (L) spoken in some cantons in
Switzerland.
There, both codes are used alternatively from school
age and used for different functions and in different
contexts (e.g. at home and at school).
 Diglossia and Bilingualism
Other instances of steady diglossia and bilingualism
co-occurring in the same speech community are the
case of Spanish (H) and Guarani (L) in Paraguay.
The status of Arabic in many Arab countries where
businessmen and the scientific community would
use classical (koranic) (H) and vernacular Arabic
(Algerian, Moroccan, etc.) (L) in specific situations,
but also a western former colonial language such as
French (H), when required in professional
circumstances.
 Bilingualism without Diglossia

The second possibility (2), bilingualism without

diglossia, relates to transitory situations where rapid
social changes affect a speech community and, for a
relatively brief period of time, the languages
involved lack well defined separate functions.
 Bilingualism without Diglossia

This situation probably describes an individual

linguistic behavior rather than a social one. This
sociolinguistic situation can take place in the course
of industrialization and/or urbanization of some
societies where one speech community provides the
means (capital and organization), and a different
speech community provides the manpower for the
production.
 Bilingualism without Diglossia
This probably entails a demographic movement of
the manpower (migration) and, therefore, the
adoption of a new language, as well as a set of
cultural values and norms, that are rapidly taken
over and often intertwined with the previous ones.
For a period of time the language of work or the
language of schooling, on the one hand, and the
language of home, on the other hand, may
intertwine without a definite separation of functions
and locations.
 Diglossia without Bilingualism

The third possibility (3), diglossia without

bilingualism, relates to societies where two or more
languages share a geographic area but they are not
inexorably used by the speakers living in that area.
That means that there are at least two speech
communities that do not share a contact language –
and communication is attained by means of
interpreters.
 Diglossia without Bilingualism

These societies tend to be formed by two or more

speech communities that are united for functional
purposes because of religious, political or economic
reasons, although apparent social and cultural
dissimilarities separate them.
The situation would appear to favor bilingualism but
what is found, instead, is diglossia as language
repertoires in one or both groups are, in some way,
restricted owing to role specialization.
 Diglossia without Bilingualism

It is also characteristic in this type of societies that

most of the elite and most of the masses lead lives
distinguished by specific role repertoires.
An instance of diglossia without bilingualism can be
found in India between people belonging to lower
castes Hindus) and the higher castes (Brahmins)
 Neither Diglossia nor Bilingualism

The fourth possibility (4) Fishman 'easier to

hypothesize than to find’ as only very small and set
apart societies could show neither bilingualism nor
diglossia.
It would be the case of speech communities where
no differentiation in registers or varieties is found,
which is rather improbable given the social
dimension of language.
 Neither Diglossia nor Bilingualism
An instance of this speech
community without
bilingualism and without
diglossia could be a band or
clan with a closed number
of members and with
restricted social relations.
Consider the case of the
Sentinelese people living on
an island on eastern India.
Pidgins
and
Creoles
 Pidgins

Another outcome of language contact is the

development of distinct varieties of language.
What is Pidginization?
It is a process that sometimes takes place when two
languages come into contact and, as a result, there
is a process of simplification or hybridization.
 Pidgins

Why does this process occur?

Develops as a means of communication among
people who do not have a common language
i.e., the language is only used for a specific purpose such as trade.
Often, the words from one language are adopted
while using the syntactic ordering of the other
language but, as a rule the grammatical system is
simplified as well as other complex linguistic
features.
 Pidgins
The formation of pidgins was characteristic in the
16th and 17th centuries when European colonial
powers spread all over the world and new
languages, which were lexically related to the
language of the colonizer emerged.

Masta
 Pidgins
These contact languages
were initially used for
functional purposes in
specific situations and
contexts and, therefore ,
they were not the native
language of anyone and
speakers continued to
use their languages in
their own speech
communities.
 Pidgins

Pidgins often undergo several geographical and

sociolinguistic contexts.
e.g. Melanesian pidgin English arose as a shipboard
lingua franca, later it was used as a plantation
language and it finally came to be a language for
inter-ethnic city communication (Richford &
McWhorter, 1997).
 Pidgins

Because of their limited function, pidgin languages

usually do not last very long, rarely more than
several decades.
They disappear when the reason for communication
diminishes, as communities either move apart, one
community learns the language of the other, or both
communities learn a common language (usually the
official language of the country).
 Pidgins

Pidgin Russian spoken in Manchuria disappeared

when Russian settlers left China after World War II.
The same is true of Pidgin French which disappeared
from Vietnam after the French left the country.
However, this is not always the case. Chinese Pidgin
English (Chinglish), developed in the 17th century in
Canton (Guandong), China,and survived for almost
three centuries.
 Pidgins

Its use spread from master-servant relationships to

those between English and Chinese traders and
bureaucrats. It continued in use until about the end
of the 19th century, when the Chinese started to
switch to standard English.
to make do
long time no see
how come?
to look see
no can do
where to?
no go
 Pidgins
Pidgins are to be found all over the world but, they
tend to share a number of general characteristics.
a. Almost complete lack of inflection in nouns,
pronouns, verbs and adjectives.
b. Nouns are unmarked for number or gender.
c. Verbs lack tense markers.
d. There is no distinction for case in personal
pronouns, so l can stand for me, and they for
them.
 Pidgins
e. Syntactically, the absence of clausal structures is
quite common in pidgins. However, relative
clauses and other types of embedding develop in
creolization.
f. In order to avoid possible confusion, as there is
often no distinction between long and short
vowels (e.g., ship and sheep would be
pronounced in the same way), a common
resource introduced in these languages is
'reduplication'.
 Pidgins

e.g., in Tok Pisin sip means 'ship' and sipsip means

'sheep', and pis means 'peace' while pispis has the
meaning of 'urinate'.
Another common usage of reduplication is to
intensify the meaning of a word, for instance, cry
means 'cry‘ whereas crycry means 'cry continually',
or talk meaning'talk' and talktalk meaning 'chatter'.
 Creoles
Creolization
The process by which a language that was originally
a pidgin becomes nativized, i.e. a community of
speakers claims it as their first language.
Creole - the language(s) of people of Caribbean and
African descent in colonial and ex-colonial countries
(Jamaica, Haiti, Mauritius, Réunion, Hawaii, Pitcairn,
etc.)
 Creoles
Characteristics of Creoles
A creole is a pidgin which:
 is learnt by children as their 1st language
 is used in a wide range of domains
 is used for a variety of functions
 has expanded structure and vocabulary
 not appreciated by outsiders but has positive
attitudes by its speakers
 Creoles

Hymes, (1971: 3)
‘pidgins and creoles were ignored to a great extent
by linguists as marginal languages, instead of being
considered creative adaptations, have been regarded
as degenerations and, therefore, not as systems in
their own right'
 Creoles

Misconceptions
Pseudo-scientific racist theories, beginning in the
19th century, began to brand Creole and African
languages as "primitive" or somehow "less
sophisticated than European languages."
Other theorists went as far as to say that Creoles
were not languages at all.
 Creoles

Despite the fact that the modern linguistic

community has disregarded such Eurocentric and
racist ideologies, the stigma placed on Creole still
lives and manifests itself as a dividing trait between
the educated elite, who often use French speech as a
badge, and the majority of monolingual Creole
speakers. Such views of Creole languages continually
further the political and social divide between the rich
and the poor.
◼
 Creoles
The Future of Creoles
The solution to the Creole debate requires first,
erasing common misconceptions surrounding world
Creoles.
Continued development of a Creole language will
require the further development of written standards
as well as the erasure of the superstrate language as
a status symbol, marking those who speak it as
somehow superior to their monolingual Creole
speaking countrymen.
 Creoles

Such attitudes are left over from a long-gone day of

excepted pseudo-scientific European racism and
wrapped up in a history of French and American
imperialism.
A standardization and elevation of Creole as the real
language of a region where it is spoken rather than a
minority language will bridge the gap between the
rich and poor.
◼
 Pidgins and Creoles

Some instances of pidgins and creoles

Most pidgins and creoles are based on an European
language, and the most common and widespread
ones are based on one of the following languages:
English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, or German.
 Pidgins and Creoles
English based creoles are very common in Caribbean
areas such as Antigua, Barbados, Jamaica and the
West Indies.
They are also present in Africa (Cameroon, Kenya,
St. Helena, Zimbabwe, Namibia), Asia (India, china,
Hong Kong) and the pacific area (Papua New
Guinea, Solomon Islands, Australia).
 Pidgins and Creoles

French-based creoles can be found in Martinique,

Guadeloupe, St. Lucia and Haiti.
Some Spanish-based pidgins and creoles were used
in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico and
the Philippines.
Some instances of Portuguese-based creoles can be
found in Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, Malaysia and
Singapore.
 Pidgins and Creoles
 Cameroon Pidgin English
 Hawaiian Pidgin
 Kamtok
 Kenya Pidgin Swahili
 Naga Pidgin
 New Guinea Pidgin German
 Nigerian Pidgin English
 Papuan Pidgin English
 Pidgin German (Gastarbeiters)
 Pidgins and Creoles
 Russenorsk
 Sango
 Vietnamese Pidgin French
 Pidgins and Creoles
Pidgin or Creole?
Terminology and sociolinguistic status are not always
consistent and some creoles can be referred to as
pidgins (for instance, Tok Pisin and
Hawaiian Pidgin English) or the other way round.
 Pidgins and Creoles
Mismatch produced because 'pidgin' and 'creole' are
technical terrns commonly used by linguists but not
necessarily by speakers of these languages.
Instances of creoles are:
 Anglo-Romani (a creolization of Romani in
England)
 Asmara Pidgin (Italian-based, it is spoken in parts
of Ethiopia)
 Berbice Creole Dutch
 Pidgins and Creoles
 Chabacano o Zamboangueño. (Spanish_based)
 Haitian Creole
 Hawaiian Creole English
 Jamaican Patwa
 Tok Pisin
 Decreolization

Arises when one creole has extended contact with a

standard language in a specific society, and that
standard brings a considerable influence to bear on
the creole.
Speakers start to develop the creole taking the
standard as a model and a continuum is created with
the standard as a model at the top and the creole as
a model at the bottom.
 Decreolization

This process can be clearly perceived nowadays in

places like Barbados, Cameroon, India, Nigeria and
Papua New Guinea, among others.
In such a situation the different forms of the creole
become socially stratified.
 Decreolization
The variety or varieties which are closer to the
standard often become the language of the elite and
educated society (acrolect), whereas the variety
which is closer to the creole often represents
illiterate people and lower social class (basilect).
Acrolect

Mesolect

Basilect
 Decreolization

Between these two poles there can appear a whole

range of varieties or mesolects which determine
social stratification and alleged identities among their
speakers.
Wardhaugh (2002:80) shows the following stages in
the continuum to say 'I told him‘ in Guyanese:
Decreolization
The varieties 1 to 3 reflect the
acrolect typical of middle-class
usage, varieties 4 to 7 display
mesolect forms characteristic in
lower middle and urban working
classes. The pronunciation in
stage 8 is closer to the basilect
and shows a rural working class,
as well as item 9 which is used
by old and illiterate rural
laborers.