UNED Academic Year 2010 - 2011

An Introduction to Sociolinguistics Rubn Chacn Beltrn

No cup no broke, no coffee no dash wey Even if disaster strikes your home, Its always possible that all may not be lost. Jamaican Proberb (in Jamaican Patwa)

Notes & Compilation by Hlne Sofos

Index
Unit 1: Key Concepts in Sociolinguistics. Origin of Sociolinguistics. Speech Communities Unit 2: Some Variables in Sociolinguistics.. Styles.. Registers Gender Speech Accommodation.. Unit 3: Pidginization & Creolization.. Creole Languages.. Characteristics of Pidgins Hawaiian Creole. Jamaican Patwa. Tok Pisin Decreolization.. Instumental, Accommodation & Awareness Programs.... Code-Switching.. Diglossia Diglossia & Bilingualism. Language Contact.. Language Conflicts Unit 5: Bilingual Education. Advantages of Bilingual Education.. Language Planning Minority Languages.. Particular Sociolinguistic Situations: India.. Particular Sociolinguistic Situations: New Zealand.. Particular Sociolinguistic Situations: Canada. Particular Sociolinguistic Situations: European Union........ The Role of English Unit 6: Language Teaching & Learning.. Communicative Competence. Rules of Speaking.. Analysis of English as a Foreign Language in Classrooom Use. Implications in Language Teaching. Pragmatics in Language Teaching Language in the Law. World Englishes. Glossary 3 4 6 8 8 9 10 13 14 15 17 19 20 23 25 28 35 38 41 44 46 47 49 50 60 63 64 66 69 71 73 74 76 79 80 81 83 85 90

Unit 1 Introduction: Key Concepts in Sociolinguistics

Language is used:
To convey meaning, To transmit a verbal message, To initiate, Maintain and Preserve social relationships. Language is a social phenomenon THAT RELATES THE SPEAKERS TO THEIR SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT and their kinship to other members of the SPEECH COMMUNITY. Sociolinguistics is a relatively NEW field. Sociolinguistics tried to find THE REASONS for linguistic variations in social and environment conditions.

Dell Hymes coined the term COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE as opposed to Chomskys LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE.

COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

refers not only to the human ability to use the language in different situations and under different circumstances, but it also refers to other NON-LINGUISTIC ASPECTS which are VOLUME AMOUNT OF TALK WORD CHOICE GESTURES Etc

When in the 1960s Sociolinguistics first began to develop, both terms were used interchangeably. However, SOCIOLINGUISTICS is the study of LANGUAGE in relation to society. SOCIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE is the study of SOCIETY in relation to language. Sociolinguists may make analyses in either a level.

Sociolinguistics VS Sociology of Language

MICRO

or a

MACRO

In a MICRO LEVEL, they would analyze

Pronunciation, Grammar, Vocabulary Within a single speech community, in order to determine some features of EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND, ECONOMIC STATUS or SOCIAL CLASS.

In a MACRO LEVEL, they would analyze

Language variations As a human phenomenon that affects large parts of the population. For example, when large populations MIGRATE to a different place and the language is preserved because of social factors. Some authors prefer to talk about MICRO-sociolinguistics and MACROsociolinguistics. BOTH are concerned with LANGUAGE and SOCIETY, although at a different SCALE.

Sociolinguistics has spread in the LAST THIRTY YEARS together with other branches of linguistics such as: Psycholinguistics Pragmatics and Applied linguistics Sociolinguistics comprises various areas of study and research like historical and comparative linguistics, dialectology and anthropology.

The ORIGINS of Sociolinguistics

IN EUROPE,

sociolinguistics started with the study of Historical linguistics and Linguistic geography Dialectology Regional languages and the Linguistic situation of the COLONIZED COUNTRIES.

In the USA,

Sociolinguistics emerged from the CONTACT OF linguistics with disciplines such as ANTHROPOLOGY and SOCIOLOGY.

SUBFIELDS

of sociolinguistics:

Pragmatics Language gender studies Pidgin Creole studies Language planning

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Policy studies Education of linguistic minorities Etc.

Sociolinguistics is ALL ABOUT VARIATION. For it, the most important source of information is the way social and situational factors affect language and make it vary.

Variation

One aspect of it

is when two people, for example, start talking about the weather and at the same time they get information about the ORIGIN of the other person, as well as their SOCIAL, ECONOMICAL, POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS and CULTURAL background.

Another aspect of variation

is that it has certain bounds. That is, a speaker CAN VARY their speech ONLY IN SOME DEGREE, but not beyond certain limits because otherwise the speech would be UNGRAMMATICAL or/and INCOMPREHENSIBLE. When we use a language, we also learn the social conventions associated with it, which can be different from one culture to another.

The AIM OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS is to DESCRIBE the variations WITHIN A LANGUAGE and MATCH these variations with the different groups of people that use them,, as well as the corresponding situations.

CONCLUSION of subchapter Variation

Some Instances of Variation Style shifting

Example 1:
In American English, the first phoneme in the words thing or that. It can be pronounced as a smooth fricative or As a lightly or strongly articulated alveolar plosive As a blend of these 2 variants or Not pronounced at all in some utterances.

Example 2:

In Black English Vernacular, we can see the double negative Nobody dont know about that.

Example 3:

WORD CHOICE also determines style shifting as the linguistic domain (home, neighborhood, job, church, store, school etc)

LANGUAGES change OVER TIME. Languages are in a CONSTANT FLUX. PRONUNCIATION also changes in all languages. (sound shift) SYNTAX also changes. SEMANTIC change takes places also. The WORD STOCK can also be expanded with coined, invented or borrowed words from other languages, especially nowadays.

Diachronic Variations

Examples:

Greek = Latin = Gothic = Old English = Present-day English = Greek = Latin = Gothic = Present-day En.

patr pater fadar foeder father

dka decem teon Ten

Speech Community
What is a speech community? definition. It is difficult to find a comprehensive

For GENERAL LINGUISTICS, A speech community is a group of people that share the same language or dialect in a specific setting, which can be close or broad. For SOCIOLINGUISTICS, Giving a definition is a much more complicated task, because, for example, of the number of variables involved in the social and linguistic interaction of some speech communities. The DEFINITION of speech community needs to be kind of FLEXIBLE and ABSTRACT to include social groupings as dissimilar as neighborhoods and countries as speech communities. A BIG COMPONENT of a speech community is to SHARE AT LEAST ONE LANGUAGE. Each individual can be a member of a speech community on one occasion and of another on another occasion.

It is also important to remember that speech communities do not necessarily correspond with political boundaries, religions or cultures. Languages are shared by groups of people that share a physical context but ALSO A NUMBER OF SOCIAL NORMS. 4 major types of speech communities, as distinguished by Kahru: 1. A MULTILINGUAL speech community = more than one official languages, such as in Switzerland. 2. A BILINGUAL speech community = two official languages in the same country, such as Canada and Belgium. 3. A MONOLINGUAL speech community = only one official language, although in the same country people can use different styles, registers and even dialects, which can be very different from the standard language. 4. A DIGLOSSIC community = two languages or varieties are functionally COMPLEMENTARY. Usually, one variety if the HIGH ONE and another is for colloquial speech (low variety) (Arabic Classical and colloquial). DIGLOSSIA is often intertwined with bilingualism/multilingualism, like in German-speaking Switzerland. Children learn the low variety (Schwyzerttsch) and then the high variety at school.

CONCLUSION On the DEFINITION OF SPEECH COMMUNITIES

NOT EASY to define a speech community. HOWEVER, there are general guidelines (Spolsky): No limitation of location or size. It entails a complex interlocking network of communication. The members of the speech community share the knowledge of language use patterns. They share attitudes towards themselves and others. They also share a set of language varieties and norms for using them.

The very same language is not used in the same way by all those who speak it. The way each person uses the language depends on the persons SOCIAL or GEOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND and other factors such as AGE, SEX or EDUCATION. A researcher needs to make sure that they will devise a way to collect data with a TRANSPARENT, SYSTEMATIC and UNAMBIGUOUS method in order to get RELIABLE, NON-BIASED DATA. They have to make sure that when
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Doing Sociolinguistic Research

they record the speech of people, that the people who speak do that in a very natural way, without thinking that somebody is recording them. This is the only way they can have reliable data for analysis. Sociolinguistic research is based on the collection of LARGE AMOUNTS OF DATA and the later statistical analysis of data in order to find general tendencies or regularities.

Unit 2 Some VARIABLES in Sociolinguistics

This chapter is divided in 2 big parts: The FIRST ONE talks about the 3 main variables in Sociolinguistics, which are: 1. Style 2. Register 3. Gender And the SECOND part is about SPEECH ACCOMMODATION.

PART I.1
It is a type of variation a bit less conspicuous and therefore more laborious to describe. Members of a speech community usually have a range of CHOICES to use when they speak regarding WORD CHOICE SYNTACTIC COMPLEXITY and even SUBTLE PRONUNCIATION features. For example, you can speak VERY FORMALLY or VERY INFORMALLY CASUALLY or REALLY INFORMALLY, Depending on certain circumstances and situations. This range of formality to informality or vice versa can be manifested either in the written or in the spoken word. STYLE implies a CHOICE on the part of the speaker to say something.
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Variable of STYLE

An example: If the speaker wants to say Can you pass me the salt?, they cannot change the word salt, because in this case they would alter the meaning of the phrase. BUT, they can change can to could or would. Another example: The different words or expressions that somebody has died, that is, die pass away bite the dust kick the bucket Can be used by a speaker depending on the style he will choose to say that somebody has died, and that depending on the context, the speakers education etc. STYLE in linked to all linguistic behavior and not only in literature.

PART I.2
A REGISTER is a SET OF LANGUAGE FEATURES, mainly the choice of LEXICAL TERMS or SYNTACTIC ORDERING of UTTERANCES, whose use tends to be associated WITH A SPECIFIC INTEREST GROUP as in the case of professionals with a PARTICULAR OCCUPATION, and, often, a PARTICULAR WORKING CONTEXT: Doctors, Air traffic controllers, Lawyers, Computer enthusiasts Etc. Nowadays, the OVERWHELMING AMOUNT of information to which we are exposed in our society favors the appearance of registers. SPECIALIZATION is encouraged and the FLOURISHING number of TECHNICAL WORDS and ACRONYMS sometimes makes it difficult for a lay person to follow a conversation on any topic that requires a specific register. Register is SOCIALLY MOTIVATED, as it entails A SOCIAL NEGOTIATION among the participants in order to accommodate the ADEQUATE register either in written or spoken discourse.

Variable of REGISTER

2 DIFFERENT CONCEPTIONS OF REGISTER 1. In a NARROW SENSE of the word, it can refer to the type of
language used by a group of PROFESSIONALS who employ
certain LINGUISTIC FEATURES which are NOT USED in other settings = THIS CONCEPTION OF REGISTER IS CLOSELY RELATED
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JARGON AND TENDS TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH WORD CHOICE RATHER THAN SYNTACTIC ORDERING. 2. In a BROAD SENSE of the word register can be understood as a SOCIAL GENRE, a SOCIOLECT that bears upon
TO

LEXICAL CHOICE and SYNTACTIC ORDERING and could

be exemplified in the language of newspaper articles, academic prose or legal language.

3 Main DIMENSIONS by means of which a register can be depicted: 1. FIELD, which relates to the ACTIVITY PERFORMED, the SETTING
and the AIM of the interaction.

2. TENOR, 3. MODE,
situation.

which refers to SOCIAL ROLES ENACTED and the relationship between the participants. which refers to the MEDIUM of the language in that

An example: In the case of a newspaper article, The FIELD would be the SUBJECT MATTER OF THE ARTICLE. The TENOR would be the JOURNALIST who wrote the article as well as the INTENDED AUDIENCE. The MODE would be the PIECE OF WRITTEN WORK THAT IS PRINTED ON THE NEWSPAPER and reaches the reader. The professor goes on giving three examples of different registers: 1. A text with legal language. 2. A newspaper article. 3. A recipe.

PART I.3
There is some evidence that marks language as SEXIST, or rather THEIR USERS, and that both sexes do not speak the same way and that CANNOT ONLY BE ATTRIBUTED to stylistic or individual differences.

Variable of GENDER

HOWEVER, language SHOULD NOT be considered as INHERENTLY

SEXIST but it is used in a sexist way or even that it reflects a sexist world. (He is the 12th commonest word in the English language, whereas She is the 31st commonest word.) But there are no more men than women in the world, so this is evidence that the English language is used to TALK AND WRITE IN A SEXIST WORLD.
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Patters of VARIATION between men and women are much more EVIDENT in some parts of the globe, as is the case of JAPAN. Japanese women, for example, show they are women when they speak by using ne as a sentence final particle. MALE SPEAKERS refer to themselves as wasi or ore and female speakers use watasi or atasi. Then, the professor exposes some of the conclusions of a study carried by

Trudgill
speak.

in 1972, in Norwich (England), about the way men and women

Men:

More language change. More tendency to underreport their use of prestige forms. Liable to react to vernacular prestige forms. Their type of language was associated with ROUGHNESS and TOUGHNESS, which were considered, to some extent, as DESIRABLE MASCULINE ATTRIBUTES.

Women: More conservative in terms of language use.

More status-conscious than men. A clear tendency to overreport their use of prestige forms. Tended to respond to standard-language prestige norms. Their type of language was associated, in the context in which the research was carried out, with REFINEMENT, SOPHISTICATION and ADHERENCE to the standard language.

The reason for womens adherence to the standard could be motivated, according to Trudgill, to their POWERLESS position in life. The study of GENDER is a COMPLEX DEVELOPING ISSUE and arises from the different ROLES and EXPECTATIONS upon the sexes. Many of the conceptions we have had about gender and variation are based upon POPULAR BELIEF and not on sociolinguistic analysis. But this is changing a lot.

Sex & Gender

Traditionally, the term SEX Has been used to refer to biological and anatomical differences between men and women.

GENDER

has been used to refer to psychological and socio-cultural differences between the sexes.
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RELATION between SEX & GENDER

SEX
These

is a biological category which is the base for the differentiation of roles, norms and expectations within a certain speech community. social roles, norms and expectations compose the idea of

GENDER.
FEMININITY and MASCULINITY change - from ONE CULTURE TO ANOTHER, - they also depend on ethnic, religious or social groups. Recently, studies have been made to support the existence of certain characteristics that identify GAY and LESBIAN LANGUAGE, although this is still an ONGOING DEBATE.

NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL Differences in the way MALES and FEMALES process LANGUAGE

It seems that PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSING in MALES relates to the left hemisphere of the brain whereas it involves both hemispheres in the case of females. However, there is no evidence that such biological differences have an effect on male-female language processing and speech. ANY DISSIMILARITY IS A RESULT OF: SOCIAL FACTORS EDUCATIONAL FACTORS, or POWER. of these DIFFERENCES lead to the formation of

ANALYSIS

GENDERLECTS.
Robin Lakoff identified certain features distinguishing womens talk in terms of: Word choice Hesitant intonation A voice pitch associated with surprise and questions Frequency of tag phrases Their attitude towards politeness The use of more polite noises which support the interlocutors view.

In general, women understand language as information gathering rather than a mechanism to initiate and support their relationship with others.
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Then, the professor refers to the use of his for men and women and mentions that a number of solutions have been suggested to avoid this instance of sexism in English. One of the BEST ONES is to use their. Also, many words which indicated professions have changed in order not to indicate that they are only jobs done by men. Examples: Bus boy Chairman Fireman Policeman Foreman Salesman Spokesman Dining room attendant chairperson Firefighter Police Officer Supervisor Salesperson Spokesperson

PART II
Speech Accommodation is to MODIFY ones speech or OTHER COMMUNICATIVE BEHAVIOURS to the ones used by the person one is interacting with. This modification is done according to the INTENTIONS of the speakers and the RESULTS of the communication encounter.

Speech Accommodation

a. Doctors, lawyers and therapists can accommodate their speech when they communicate with clients in order to show EMPATHY. b. Speakers of a NON-standard variety can accommodate their speech in such a way that they can be understood by a person who doesnt know this variety. SPEECH CONVERGENCE shows a speakers or a groups NEED for SOCIAL INTEGRATION and/or IDENTIFICATION with another or others. SOMETIMES, this accommodation may be done consciously and deliberately, BUT, on MANY occasions it reflects an UNCONSCIOUS behavior.

WAYS To perform Speech Accommodation

It increases the speakers perceived: a. Attractiveness b. Predictability c. Supportiveness d. Level of interpersonal involvement e. Intelligibility
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RESULTS of Speech Accommodation

f. Comprehensibility and g. The speakers ability to gain their listeners compliance. Speech DIVERGENCE and the use of DIVERGENT STRATEGIES are more often fostered where the participants in the communication encounter stem from DIFFERENT SOCIAL OR WORKING BACKGROUNDS giving way to a strategy of intergroup distinctiveness. By means of this TACTIC, members of an ingroup can intensify their inclusion in the relevant group while excluding others. This target can be attained with the use of a specific slang, jargon, grammatical complexity or, simply, accent.

Unit 3 Pidginization & Creolization Pidgins & Pidginization

PIDGINIZATION is a PROCESS that sometimes takes place when 2 languages COME INTO CONTACT and, as a result, there is a process of SIMPLIFICATION or HYBRIDIZATION. This normally happens because speakers of different languages need to have limited relations between them, for example, for trade/some kind of business and they invent a language in order to be able to communicate. Often, one language gives the VOCABULARY, whereas the other gives the SYNTAX. AS A RULE, GRAMMAR as well as other COMPLEX LINGUISTIC FEATURES are SIMPLIFIED. Most of pidgins were formed in the 16th and 17th centuries, during the period of colonization by European powers. That is why all these pidgins are lexically related to the language of the colonizers.

INITIALLY, NOT

these pidgins were CONTACT LANGUAGES. They were only used for specific purposes, such as trade mainly, and they were the native language of anybody. Speakers continued to use their OWN native language in their own speech communities. According to WARDHAUGH, the process of Pidginization requires the CONTACT OF MORE THAN 2 LANGUAGES. In case of only 2, there would finally be a relation of DOMINANCE OF ONE OVER THE OTHER, depending on social and economic factors. The dominant culture would impose its language. HOWEVER, WHEN MORE THAN 2 LANGUAGES ARE
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SPOKEN, THOSE WHO NEED TO COMMUNICATE MUST FIND A COMMON GROUND. EXAMPLE of a pidgin language which underwent several geographical and sociolinguistic contexts:

MELANESIAN PIDGIN ENGLISH.

1. It arose as a SHIPBOARD lingua franca. 2. It was later used as a PLANTATION language. 3. It finally came to be a language for INTER-ETHNIC communication.

CITY

CREOLIZATION takes place when that language which originally used ONLY for PURPOSEFUL communication

CREOLES CREOLIZATION

is acquired AS A

MOTHER TONGUE by children who are exposed to it.

But since this language is not used now only for very limited purposes, it has to fulfill ALL KINDS OF SOCIAL NEEDS and communicative purposes.

Therefore, the language expands and the language that used to be pidgin becomes MORE COMPLEX both
in terms of GRAMMAR and PHONOLOGY.

RELATION BETWEEN PIDGINIZATION & CREOLIZATION

Pidginization and Creolization are absolutely DIFFERENT although they may overlap. PIDGINIZATION = simplification (lexis, grammar, phonology). CREOLIZATION = expansion of linguistic features and communicative functions. NOT EVERY PIDGIN BECOMES A CREOLE. Creoles languages were considered to be of INFERIOR STATUS for a long time. However, between 1950 and 1975 they stooped to be looked upon as uninteresting and marginal bastardized jargons to gain the status of languages. They have become the CENTRAL INTEREST of many linguists: sociolinguists, applied linguists and theoretical linguists.

Lingua franca
ORIGINALLY, pidgins served the purpose of a lingua franca. That is, they were used by people who spoke different mother tongues FOR A SPECIFIC FUNCTIONAL SITUATION, SUCH AS TRADE.
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Nowadays, English as well as Esperanto can be considered as lingua franca, because they are used all over the world. English has become the language of business and intercultural communication, whereas Esperanto is sometimes used for international communication.

Most pidgins and creoles are based on EUROPEAN languages. The MOST COMMON ones are based on: English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian or German.

Some Instances of PIDGINS

ENGLISH-BASED CREOLES
= Antigua Barbados Jamaica and The West Indies in general. Also, in AFRICA = Cameroon Kenya St. Helena Zimbabwe Namibia In ASIA too = India China Hong Kong In the PACIFIC = Papua New Guinea Solomon Islands Australia

are common in the

CARIBBEAN

FRENCH-BASED CREOLES
Martinique Guadeloupe St. Lucia and Haiti

can be found in

SPANISH-BASED PIDGINS and CREOLES:

Dominican Republic Cuba Puerto Rico The Philippines.

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PORTUGUESE-BASED CREOLES
Aruba Bonaire Curaao Malaysia Singapore

SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT

Cameroon Pidgin English Hawaiian Pidgin Kamtok Kenya Pidgin Swahili Naga Pidgin New Guinea Pidgin German Nigerian Pidgin English Papuan Pidgin English Pidgin German (Gastarbeiters)1 Russenorsk2 Sango Vietnamese Pidgin French

PIDGINS

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
1. Almost complete LACK OF INFLECTION in nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives. 2. Nouns are UNMARKED for number or gender. 3. Verbs lack TENSE MARKERS. 4. NO distinction for CASE in personal pronouns, so I can stand for 5. SYNTACTICALLY, THE ABSENCE OF CLAUSAL STRUCTURES is quite common in pidgins. However, relative clauses and other types of embedding develop in Creolization. 6. NO distinction between LONG and SHORT vowels. For example, SHIP and SHEEP would be pronounced in the same way. 7. A common resource is REDUPLICATION. For example, in TOK PISIN sip means ship and sipsip means sheep. Pis means peace while pispis has the meaning of urinate. Reduplication is also used TO INTENSIFY THE MEANING OF A WORD, for instance cry
1

PIDGINS

me, and they for them.

In the 1970s guest workers in Germany coming from neighboring countries, such as Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey developed a pidgin in some big German cities like Berlin and Frankfurt. 2 Used until the 1920s in the Arctic and was used by Russian fishermen and Norwegian fish traders.

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means cry whereas crycry means cry continually. Talk means talk, but talktalk means chatter.

Anglo-Romani (a Creolization of Romani in England) Asmara Pidgin (Italian-based, it is spoken in part of Edingburg) Berbice Creole Dutch Chabacano o Zamboangueo (Spanish-based)3 Haitian Creole Hawaiian Creole English Jamaican Patwa Tok Pisin

Some Instances of CREOLES

OF ENGLISH-BASED CREOLES can be identified: 1. The ATLANTIC group, spoken in: 1.a. West Africa 1.b. The Caribbean area: 1.b.i. Jamaican Creole English 1.b.ii. The Creole English of the Lesser Antilles 1.b.iii. The Eastern Caribbean varieties: iii.. Trinidad & Tobago, iii.. Guyana All having flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries. 2. The PACIFIC group, which includes: 2.a. Hawaiian Creole and 2.b. Tok Pisin

2 MAJOR GROUPS

Spoken by more than 600,000 people in Hawaii. Also known as Hawaii Pidgin or simply Pidgin. It was DENIGRATED repeatedly in schools and public administrations for years, BUT IT IS USED MORE AND MORE in order to EXPRESS SOLIDARITY and FORGE LOCAL IDENTITY. NOWADAYS, Hawaiis Council is DETERMINED to maintain and develop this local language by means of enforcing competent language planning and policy.

Hawaiian Creole English

There are 3 main examples of creoles based on Spanish: PAPAMIENTO (formed in the 17th century in the island of Curzao which is currently used in the islands of Aruba and Bonaire); PALENQUERO (developed in the 18th century near Cartagena, Colombia), and CHABACANO or ZAMBOANGUEO (is used in some parts of the Phillipines). 18

1.

Phonologically, it is rather SIMPLE, because it avoids phonological features which are difficult to pronounce in any of the languages in contact (English, Hawaiian and many others). The VOCALIC SYSTEM was SIMPLIFIED. AVOIDED. Examples: Bo da dem (both of them) Braddah (brother) 2. FRICATIVES tend to be

CHARACTERISTICS OF HAWAIIAN CREOLE From a PHONOLOGICAL point of view.

VOCABULARY

is derived to a large extent from the SOCIALLY DOMINANT groups. English pidgins usually have about 90% of words coming from English. Some words come directly from English and some others have been adapted or simplified. From English Boy Fish Guy Stuff Stay Adapted den lata neva togedda wot?

Examples:
(then) (later) (didnt) (together) (what?)

3. Many words are POLISEMOUS. Examples: try can be used as a MAIN VERB try, BUT ALSO as a verb auxiliary with the meaning of PLEASE. inside means inside, soul and heart. 4. Almost COMPLETE LACK OF INFLECTION in nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives. NOUNS are UNMARKED for number and gender: Dis da language fo mos peopo dat say live inside Hawaii. Him was real tight wit his brudda. You go five mile sout. 5. TENSE and ASPECT are normally indicated with a

PAST TENSE is expressed by placing preverbal preterite auxiliaries wen, bin and hd BEFORE the verb:
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MARKER:

Shi wen pein da grin haus You bin say go up on roof

FUTURE EVENTS are marked by go, gona, or goin BEFORE the verb:
I gon it fish

gon,

PROGRESSIVE ASPECT can be expressed by:

a. Inserting ste (stay) BEFORE the verb in the infinitive. b. Using the ing form of the verb, and c. Using both forms altogether. Examples: Shi ste rait da leta. Dey pleing futbawl. Naue ste iting da kek. 6.

Auxiliaries

NONEXISTENT. NEGATION expressed by placing no or neva BEFORE the verb:

are

is

Shi neva si daet muvi. No can (cannot, its not possible) No mo (there isnt any)

Jamaican Patwa
There is no FIXED NAME for the creole language of Jamaica. Terms used are Jamaican, Jamaican Creole, Jamaican Patwa or Patois. Over 90% of the 2.5 million people of Jamaica in the late 1990s are DESCENDANTS of SLAVES brought from Africa, WHICH MEANS THAT language in Jamaica REFLECTS that HISTORY of that country and its contact with all the cultures and languages that have passed through. THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE remains STANDARD ENGLISH, which is the one spoken by the educated elite. In Jamaica you can find people using the most formal Standard English on one extreme, and the Jamaican Creole (Patois) on the other.

(or Patois)

JAMAICAN PATWA is characterized by:

a. Its FRAGMENTED ENGLISH SPEECH, and b. For having a SYNTAX developed during the days of slavery with the influence of several West African languages, pertaining to the NIGERCONGO family of languages.
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NOWADAYS, this language has not got much social and socioeconomic status in Jamaica and it largely represents the speech of the peasants and laborers with little education. NOT ACCEPTABLE for formal purposes. ATTEMPTS have been made to change this situation at GIVING PATWA OFFICIAL STATUS. Jamaican Patwa is gaining in prestige and is now seen sometimes in newspapers or heard on the radio. Also present in SONGS to help to raise the self-esteem of the speakers and assert their identity. Patwa DOES NOT HAVE a UNIFORM ORTHOGRAPHY. NO agreement has been made whether it should accommodate the LEXIFIER LANGUAGE (Standard English) or if an entirely new system should be created.

1. NO /t-/ or /d-/ distinction: JP De Dis Odder Wid Tink English the this other with thing

GENERAL FEATURES OF JAMAICAN PATWA

2. Final consonant clusters tend to be DEVOICED (/d/ become /t/) or DELETED: JP Husban Purfume English husband perfumed

3. It is not stressed-timed, but SYLLABLE-TIMED. So, ALL SYLLABLES RECEIVE THE SAME STRESS. 4. Modified personal pronouns: I He They me im dem

5. ABSENCE of PLURAL MARKERS on nouns. JP English all type a people All kinds of people book shoes

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6. Altered 3rd-person singular subject-verb concord: JP English If im dare axe if he dares to ask Shi greet im she greets him 7. Absence of auxiliaries to form the negative: English: J. Patwa: I dont want anything to eat. Mi nuh wan nutten fe eat.

8. Copula deletion: JP It soh bad Im short an tumpa Life ard many sey English It is so bad he is short and stocky many people say that life is hard

9. TENSE marked LEXICALLY (instead of morphologically): English That is the woman that took my money. JP Is dat ooman deh did tek mi money.

Tok Pisin
Papua New Guinea 1. Hiri Motu 2. Tok Pisin and 3. English
Tok Pisin is used nowadays by 3 MILLION PEOPLE as a UNIFYING LANGUAGE and LINGUA FRANCA too, among speakers of a number of INDIGENOUS languages (over 800) in Papua New Guinea. has 3 official languages, which turn to be SECOND LANGUAGES to most people:

Tok Pisin:
a. Remains very distant to English. b. It is sometimes used as pidgin and sometimes as Creole. c. It shows clear INFLUENCES from English.
HOWEVER, there is NO CONTINUUM between Tok Pisin and English. Papua New Guinea was born in 1975. In that year Tok Pisin was RECOGNIZED in the constitution.
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NOW, some communities can choose to have their children schooled in Tok Pisin in the first 3 years of elementary education, but parents perceive that English brings MORE ADVANTAGES TO THEIR CHILDREN. Tok Pisin is also used in many GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS in radio television broadcasting and in the House Assembly (the Parliament) in Wantok (a weekly newspaper readership over 10.000 people)

SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF TP 1. Consonant ASSIMILATION. NO distinction between

and /f/; /g/ and /k/, // and /t/:

/p/

Examples:
TP Hap pas seven Lipt Pait Pilta Pinga Pul bilong pis Pulap

English half past seven lift fight filter finger fin of fish full, full up

TP

Sak Sel Sem Sip Sot, sotpela Su Sips Sis Sops

English
shark shell shame ship short shoe

chips cheese chops

TP

Dok Lek Pik

English
dog leg pig

23

2. Simplified consonant clusters: TP

Ailan Gaden Hos Kona Lam Lephan Wok Wan handet

English
island garden horse corner lamp left hand work hundred Only /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/:

3. Simplified VOCALIC SYSTEM. TP

Fut Grin Gro Ston Smok Stret Tumora

English

foot green grow stone smoke straight on tomorrow

4. Word REDUPLICATION to indicate EMPHASIS: TP

Liklik bas Lukluk Man bilong toktok Singsing

English

minibus look at talkative person festival

5. Plural suffix -pela: TP

Emtupela Emtripela Etpela Tupela Tupelo marit

English

those two those three eight both married couple

6. LEXICON based on ENGLISH.

In the process of DECREOLIZATION, more and more words TEND TO BE ADOPTED FROM THE LEXIFIER LANGUAGE and the acrolect quickly adopts words that portray the present society.
24

TP

Adres Dokta Heven Man Stori Skul

English
address doctor heaven man story school

7. METAPHORS in word formation. TP

Haus bilong tumbuna pasin Kaikai long moning Laplap bilong windo Lain bilong Jisas Pin bilong nus

English
museum breakfast curtain disciples nose pin

8. Simplified PREPOSITIONAL SYSTEM (ONLY 3): a. long = used for to, for, from. b. bilong = used for of c. wantaim used for with
DECREOLIZATION is a PHENOMENON that arises WHEN ONE CREOLE language

Decreolization

has PROLONGED contact

with a STANDARD language

in a SPECIFIC SOCIETY, and that STANDARD LANGUAGE brings

considerable INFLUENCE on the CREOLE

So, speakers start

language.

to DEVELOP THE CREOLE taking the STANDARD as a MODEL. In this way a CONTINUUM IS CREATED WITH THE STANDARD AS A MODEL at the TOP and the
CREOLE as a model AT THE BOTTOM. This PROCESS can be CLEARLY perceived nowadays in places like: Barbados Cameroon India Nigeria and Papua New Guinea, among others.

In this way, language

THE VARIETY OR VARIETIES of the creole WHICH ARE CLOSER to the STANDARD
25

LANGUAGE gain more prestige and BECOME the language of the ELITE and EDUCATED SOCIETY (ACROLECT),
WHEREAS

VARIETY CLOSER TO THE CREOLE often represents ILLITERATE PEOPLE and LOWER SOCIAL CLASS
The

(BASILECT).

BETWEEN THESE 2 POLES,

there can appear a whole RANGE

OF VARIETIES or which determine not only social stratification but also alleged identities among speakers. The professor mentions

MESOLECTS

this Hawaiian Creole English varieties to Standard English of Hawaii. What variety each person speaks depends on their location and upbringing. The

the example of Hawaii, where we can find CONTINUUM of SPEECH which ranges from the distinct countryside, is spoken in the major cities.
is spoken in the whereas the

BASILECT ACROLECT

NOT COMMON AT ALL to find a pidgin or creole, or other minority dialect, as the LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION in FORMAL EDUCATION in ANY educational system in the world.

The use of Pidgins and Creoles in EDUCATION

Valdman gives us 2 reasons:

1. The continuum of variation that is usually found between the pidgin/creole and the standard educational language represents A STRONG OBSTACLE as it is sometimes difficult to ISOLATE A PARTICULAR NORM to be used in education. 2. The pidgin/creole is frequently considered as DEVIANT from the standard and as having AN INFERIOR STATUS in the speech community. Therefore, the SOCIAL CONSIDERATION of the pidgin/creole is in a way hindered by this fact.

Siegel tells us that speakers of creoles and pidgins generally DO NOT do well in the FORMAL education system. Why? Sometimes this is because of socio-economic factors. Sometimes LANGUAGE plays a ROLE.
26

How? Very often, these speakers are in disadvantage because the language of formal education is actually a standard variety that they do not speak as a mother tongue (like the African American Vernacular English). EDUCATORS and POLICY MAKERS introduce many arguments AGAINST the application of a non-standard variety in the educational system. What are some of these arguments?

a. That instruction time should be spent on learning the standard.

They consider that any effort to teach the non-standard is a WASTE OF TIME. b. They believe that using and teaching a non-standard variety of speech in the classroom DERPIVES children of a CHANCE TO BENEFIT FROM the socio-economic ADVANTAGES that speakers of standard varieties have, condemning them, thus, to an UNCHANGING UNDERCLASS status. c. Using a NON-standard variety in education may CAUSE CONFUSION and INTERFERENCE with the standard variety, which will result in additional difficulties for the children. NEVERTHELESS, some progress is being made over the years and pidgins and creoles are gaining social and political recognition. IN THE LAST DECADES, there has been a global attempt TO LEGITIMIZE THE USE OF PIDGINS AND CREOLES and MINORITY DIALECTS in formal education claiming that the speakers of these languages have a right to express their own linguistic and sociocultural identity in their own languages.

OBSTACLES In USING pidgins, creoles and minority dialects in FORMAL EDUCATION: (Siegel)
1. Negative attitudes and ignorance on the part of the teachers who may mistake language problems of creole-speaking children for cognitive problems and eventually lower the childrens expectations. 2. Negative attitudes and self-image of the students themselves because of DENIGRATION of their speech and culture. 3. Repression of self-expression because of the need to use an unfamiliar form of language.

27

4. Difficulty in acquiring literacy in a second language or dialect. In this case, children may be repressed if they are not allowed to express themselves in their familiar language variety.

INSTRUMENTAL, ACCOMMODATION & AWARENESS PROGRAMMES

All three of them are EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES in which pidgins, creoles and minority dialects have been used, aiming at ADDITIVE BILINGUALISM or BIDIALECTISM = that is, helping the students to acquire the STANDARD LANGUAGE while maintaining THEIR OWN PIDGIN, CREOLE or MINORITY LANGUAGE.

Education begins with the use of the HOME VARIETY as the MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION. The STANDARD language is introduced AT A LATER STAGE and it gradually becomes the LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION for SOME SUBJECTS. Instrumental programmes have been implemented in places such as

A.The INSTRUMENTAL Programme

Mauritius (Mauritian Creole) or Papua New Guinea

(Tok Pisin).

In this programme, the USE of the HOME LANGUAGE is ALLOWED and NOT PENALIZED, but it is NOT EMPLOYED as the language of instruction for ANY subject, NOR it is studied as a language in itself. At HIGHER LEVELS, as students ACCOMMODATE to the standard variety, their home language and culture CAN BE PRESERVED by means of the study of LITERATURE OF MUSIC of THEIR OWN communities. We have examples Hawaii and Australia.

B.The ACCOMMODATION Programme

of accommodation programmes

in

It includes SOME TEACHING on basic SOCIOLINGUISTIC and SOCIOPRAGMATIC principles of different language varieties, and their GRAMMATICAL rule and PRAGMATICS are COMPARED with those of the standard variety. Examples: Some awareness programmes have been created for CREOLESPEAKING CARIBBEAN immigrants in the United Kingdom and speakers of KRIOL and ABORIGINAL English in Australia.

C.The AWARENESS Programme

28

Unit 4 Bilingualism
Although we can find many countries, especially in the Western world, which can be considered as monolingual societies, overall, there are many more bilingual speakers than monolingual. In many places of the world, people use more than one language in everyday life, because bilingualism is not restricted to some countries only. Sometimes, the second language has been learned not in a formal way, at school, for instance, but because of constant exposure to that language. It is NOT EASY to define bilingualism, because there can be MANY DEGREES of proficiency and sociolinguistic factors to determine the use and knowledge of one language or the other. Range of bilingualism: one language only

Introduction

from just A FUNCTIONAL ABILITY to use in CERTAIN DOMAINS, to BALANCED

an EQUAL AND HIGH-LEVEL

BILINGUALISM,

which entails CAPACITY in 2 or more languages.

ASPECTS OF BILINGUALISM
1. It is important to take into account THE MEANS

ACQUISITION,

OF

that is, whether each of the languages was acquired as a MOTHER TONGUE, or A SECOND LANGUAGE or A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. The means of acquisition affects the level of proficiency.

2. The bilingual speaker can have DIFFERENT COMMANDS

OF THE VARIOUS SKILLS of a language,

that is, reading, writing, speaking and listening comprehension. THE DEGREE OF DEVELOPMENT in each one of these skills will depend, at least in part, on the MEANS OF ACQUISITION. For example, someone acquiring the language in a NATURAL CONTEXT will be able

language better

to speak and understand the

than read it and write it. In any case, receptive skills are more often more easily developed than productive skills.

29

3. There are CERTAIN

FUNCTIONS that bilinguals prefer to perform in one language than in the other.
Why? a. They may have not developed a specific skill in that language (so they use the other), or b. It seems MORE NATURAL to them to do it in a certain language.

4. The DOMAIN often INFLUENCES LANGUAGE CHOICE in bilingual

speakers because the ACQUISITION or learning was DOMAINDEPENDENT or because one language is PREFERRED IN SOME CONTEXTS. language is SUBJECTED to the effect of

3 main

FACTORS:

a. LOCATION (home, school, office, etc) b. ROLE RELATIONSHIPS among the interlocutors (sibling, father, mother, boss etc). c. The TOPICS involved in the conversation (domestic, weather, social greetings, academic etc).

Bilingualism DEFINITIONS & DIMENSIONS

A.

Definitions

SOCIAL bilingualism (or MULTIlingualism):

It is an area of research dedicated to the study of its SOCIAL DIMENSION in societies where MORE THAN ONE LANGUAGE are commonly used by a SPEECH COMMUNITY or SOCIAL GROUP. NOT ALL members of that speech community or social group need to speak more than one language.

INDIVIDUAL bilingualism (or bilinguality):

It refers to the individual part of the phenomenon, that is, AN INDIVIDUAL who has some knowledge of two or more languages.

Nevertheless, it is NOT POSSIBLE to make a CLEAR SEPARATION between bilingualism as an individual and a social phenomenon. Some

questions for reflection

30

are:

a. To what extent does the bilingual speaker NEED TO BE PROFICIENT in both languages so that they can qualify as bilingual? b. Does a bilingual speaker need to show equal proficiency (?) in both languages? c. Does the bilingual proficiency of the language entail a spoken or written command (?) of both languages? d. What language components should be considered as criteria for assigning the label of bilingual: vocabulary, pronunciation, syntax, fluency, etc?

B.

WEINREICH first classified different sorts of bilingualism (in 1953), according to the WAY THE CONCEPTS AND MEANINGS ARE ENCODED IN THE BRAIN. It is very important to have in mind that the following 3 divisions stem from THE WAY IN WHICH THE LANGUAGES WERE LEARNED.

1 Dimension SORTS OF BILINGUALISM

st

DIMENSIONS

When a child learns 2 languages AT THE SAME TIME, for example, one from the father and the other from the mother. So, both languages are learned in: THE SAME CONTEXT. THE SAME CONDITIONS. Both (meanings) are FUSED in the brain. The 2 languages are INTERDEPENDENT.

I. COMPOUND bilingualism

When a person first learns their mother tongue and a foreign language at school. So, the two languages are learned in: DIFFERENT CONDITIONS and DIFFERENT CONTEXTS and They are kept APART in the mind.

II.

COORDINATE bilingualism

When a child first learns one language and another one later on, for example, a child who learns both languages at home at the same time but one of them is more dominant, probably because they spend more time with one of the parents.
31

III. SUB-COORDINATE bilingualism

In this case, the meaning of the first language comes first and then the meaning of the second one.

It is what distinguishes between the BALANCED bilingual and the DOMINANT bilingual. (person) is the one who has EQUIVALENT COMPETENCE in both languages. ***A very IMPORTANT point: Balanced bilingualism does not necessarily entail MONOLINGUAL competence in both languages. A balanced bilingual should not be conceived as the addition of two monolingual speakers. Balanced speakers hardly ever show EQUAL SPEAKING and WRITING abilities in their languages. They are RARELY FLUENT about all topics in all contexts.

2nd Dimension

BALANCED

bilingual

DOMINANT bilingual (person) is the one who knows their MOTHER Dominant bilingualism is actually the norm as it is rather difficult for a bilingual speaker to reach absolutely even competence in two codes.
Another dimension to distinguish VARIOUS TYPES of bilingualism is related to THE AGE OF ACQUISITION. A useful distinction can be drawn between: 1. Childhood bilingualism, 2. Adolescent bilingualism and 3. Adult bilingualism

3rd Dimension

Difference between
Childhood
Bilingualism
And

Adolescent or Adult Bilingualism

In CHILDREN

In ADOLESCENTS OR ADULTS

Bilingualism + COMPLETED Cognitive Development Are developed AT THE SAME TIME

COGNITIVE representation of a WORD is and there is mainly a RELABELING of PREVIOUS CONCEPTS

Divisions of
1.

Childhood bilingualism
SIMULTANEOUS infant bilingualism.
32

When the child acquires a SECOND language early in infancy, but after some development of the mother tongue has been attained.

2.

CONSECUTIVE

childhood bilingualism. When a basic linguistic ability is acquired early in infancy in the mother tongue and a second language is acquired right after.

That is, the SOCIAL STATUS that the languages have in the speech community.

4th Dimension Sociocultural Environment

ADDITIVE bilingualism

takes place when BOTH languages are SOCIALLY VALUED. In this case, the child uses both of them and enhances both of them equally in order to gain COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY. In this case, the acquisition of the SECOND language does not have adverse effects on the language already known. In SUBTRACTIVE bilingualism the MOTHER TONGUE is detracted and, as a consequence, the childs cognitive development may be HINDERED because the development of the second language interferes with the development of the first language.

5th Dimension (by Hamers and Blanc) Cultural Identity BICULTURAL,

if the adolescent or adult identifies himself with both cultures associated to each one of the languages he knows. A HIGH PROFICIENCY in both languages does not necessarily involve a bicultural individual.

MONOCULTURAL,
just one group.

if the adolescent or adult identifies himself with

ACCULTURATED BILINGUAL

is a member of a given speech community who can GIVE UP or even DENY the culture of THEIR MOTHER TONGUE GROUP and FOSTER that of the SECOND language group. This process is not infrequent at all, as immigrants often wish to BLEND INTO the new society and culture where they will live from now on.

BILINGUALS and their MENTAL LEXICONS

Do bilinguals own 1 or 2 mental lexicons?

ONE-lexicon advocates

consider that semantic information is stored IN A SINGLE SEMANTIC SYSTEM were words in BOTH languages COEXIST but are LABELED as belonging to one language or the other.
33

TWO-lexicon advocates

assert that lexicon is DIVIDED into 2 SETS, ONE FOR EACH LANGUAGE, and that interrelation between the 2 is only possible through translation.

OTHER THEORIES
There are those who believe that BILINGUAL SPEAKERS have 1. A CONCEPTUAL one for their knowledge of the world. 2. A LANGUAGE STORE for language A. 3. A LANGUAGE STORE for language B.

3 stores:

CODE CHOICE
CODE:
any kind of COMMUNICATION. SYSTEM that 2 or more people use for

A USEFUL CRITERION to distinguish between BIDIALECTAL and BILINGUAL speakers could be MUTUAL INTELLIGIBILITY, that is, if the speakers can understand each other WHEN USING THEIR OWN CODE. It would be interesting to know: a. The FACTORS that rule CODE CHOICE on every single situation and, b. WHY certain speakers sometimes SHIFT from one code to another. (Explanation of the above issues) Whenever a person engages in a conversation, they have previously decided what code they will use, but sometimes, according to each

switch code, if they understand, for example, that the other person does not understand them and they want to be polite or express solidarity.
situation they may LANGUAGE CHOICE can be used to resist some kind of power in places where two or more languages coexist and have equal sociopolitical status, as in CANADA. An English-speaking Canadian who is in Quebec may insist on speaking English to an employee of the French-speaking government there, as an expression of their political rights.

(This is like a conclusion) The underlying and most important ISSUE is that MOTIVATION is a DETERMINING COMPONENT in code-choice and code-switching, as there are NUMEROUS FACTORS that affect this motivation:
34

- Solidarity with the listener. - Solidarity with the topic. - Solidarity with the contents communicative process.

of

the

THE ALTERNANCE OF CODE OFTEN ENCODES PERSONAL AND SOCIAL VALUES THAT ADD INTERPRESONAL CLOSENESS OR DISTANCE.
A lot of code-switching takes place in Hispanic communities of the United States. Sometimes this change expresses SOLIDARITY to the people of their own community.

Code-Switching

Excerpt:

OYE, when I was a freshman I had a term paper to do [] And all of a sudden, I started acting real CURIOSA, you know. I started going like this. Y LUEGO DECA, look at the smoke coming out of my fingers, like that. And then ME DIJO, stop acting like silly. Y LUEGO DECA YO, MIRA cant you see. Y LUEGO STE, I started seeing like Little stars all over the place. Y VOLTEABA YO ASINA Y LE DECA look at the the NO S ERA COMO BRILLOSITO AS like stars.

3 kinds of CODE-SWITCHING here:

The use of EXCLAMATIONS OR TAGS from one language when the other language is being used, such as OYE. This change can take place when: a. The speaker lacks the necessary vocabulary in English, or b. Simply because it comes up more easily and spontaneously, since tags are subjected to few syntactic restrictions and can be inserted without interfering with the syntactic organization of the other language. Some tags from English are: you know and I mean.

1. TAG-SWITCHING.

2. INTERSENTENTIAL SWITCH. For instance, in the sentences Y LUEGO DECA, look at the smoke coming out of my fingers, like that and Y LUEGO STE, I started seeing like little stars all over the place.
35

This type of SWITCH is found BETWEEN SENTENCES and often arises in SENTENCE BOUNDARIES, marked with a SHORT PAUSE and between SPEAKER TURNS.

3. INTRASENTENTIAL SWITCH. When BOTH CODES are mixed within THE SAME SENTENCE. For example, in the above excerpt, an example of
this switch is: I started acting real CURIOSA. This switching contains the HIGHEST SYNTACTIC RISK and it typically referred to as CODE-MIXING.

Sometimes the terms CODE-MIXING and CODE-SWITCHING are used interchangeably, as the concepts they describe often OVERLAP.

CODE-MIXING

CODE-MIXING

OCCURS WHEN the interlocutors change FROM ONE LANGUAGE TO ANOTHER in the course of a SINGLE CONVERSATION

AND EVEN MORE PRECISELY occurs WITHIN A CLAUSE.

WHEN switching back and forth

The speakers dont even need to be aware of this mixing.

CODE-MIXING

highlights HYBRIDIZATION.

CODE-SWITCHING stresses the existence of movement from one language into the other.

CODE-MIXING
BEING MIXED.

typically presumes a MASTERY OF THE CODES

CODE-MIXING

is very typical of bilinguals. (In Gibraltar, where Spanish and English are in such a close contact, people may start a sentence in one of these two languages and finish it in the other, or INSERT certain words or phrases from one language into the other.) If CODE-MIXING occurs because of not knowing some words in one of the languages, it is a MEANINGFUL DISCOURSE STRATEGY.

CODE-MIXING
IMMIGRANTS.

is

also

relatively

COMMON

in

the

speech

of

36

Why? Because a. they can be referring

to an object or concept not known to them before coming into the new culture, or

b. they were not familiar with it, or c. simply because of easy access to the word.
This process occasionally results in LEXICAL BORROWING. For example, Hispanic immigrants use words such as: Backyard Basement Coupons Mall Take it easy VCR Etc THE RESULT of this mixing is that FUNCTIONAL BILINGUALS (full command of one language and functional command over the other) often

develop a MIXED CODE

which is BASED ON the OLD language, but INCLUDES features from the NEW language.

***The

use of ALTERNATING CODES should be distinguished from the development of a MIXED variety as occurs with PIDGINS. The INCIDENTAL borrowing can finally lead to PERMANENT lexical borrowing.

NOT ALWAYS does a bilingual or multilingual speaker choose their code. Sometimes there are UNINTENTIONAL INTERFERENCES between the two codes. This can be seen very clearly in CHILDREN who receive a BILINGUAL EDUCATION. BILINGUAL CHILDREN: - Usually mix both languages and - Transfer i. Words, ii. Syntactic constructions or iii. Phonological features From one language to another.

CODE-SWITCHING IN BILINGUAL CHILDREN

37

The professor gives the examples of ten-year old Nicols (Spanish mother and brought up in Spain, English father) who said estoy pensando los pobres having been influenced by the English structure think According to De Bot, it is absolutely

of.

DE

normal

that bilingual speakers

switch codes

and use more than one language.

The ANALYSIS of HOW languages INTERACT and ARE USED by bilingual speakers can CAST SOME LIGHT on the issue of COGNITIVE

PROCESSING by bilinguals.
Some issues which have LONG PUZZLED psycholinguists and language educators are: a. How do bilingual speakers process their languages? b. Does the bilingual child develop a unique language system where both languages are intertwined, or does he have two different linguistic systems? Do they make use of one or the other depending on the context? c. If there is more than one system, are they located in the same part of the brain? d. Does the bilingual brain contain one or two different lexicons? These questions are NOT ALWAYS easy to answer.

DIGLOSSIA (HIGH-LOW VARIETIES) The CO-EXISTENCE of 2 OR MORE CODES, used in the

SAME SETTING, BUT under DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES. That is, EACH OF the codes is used with CONTRASTING FUNCTIONAL PURPOSES. So, given the existence of VARIETIES, st one is more PRESTIGIOUS and CULTIVATED than the other = The 1 The most prestigious = HIGH variety The less prestigious =

LOW

variety

One language is used to express a SET OF BEHAVIOURS, ATTITUDES and VALUES.

38

ANOTHER LANGUAGE is used to put into words CONTRASTING SET OF BEHAVIOURS, ATTITUDES AND VALUES.
And

Sermon in church

Instructions to servants, waiters, workmen, clerks Personal letter Speech in parliament, political speech University lecture Conversation with family, friends and colleagues News broadcast Radio soap opera Newspaper editorial, news story, caption or picture Caption on political cartoon Poetry*4 Folk literature*5

High Low Variety Variety H L + + + + + + + + + + + +

HIGH variety

More prestigious More appealing More appropriate Even when inferior command than the low variety Literary tradition makes use of it Long tradition of grammar Established rules for orthography, pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.

Sometimes differences between H and L are notorious Lexicon is SHARED to a large extent, but differences in form, use and meaning. Sometimes the LOW variety is acquired as a mother tongue and the HIGH variety is learned at school, like in the case of HAITIAN CREOLE. PHONOLOGY of H and L varieties: sometimes similar, sometimes quite different, depending on what languages we are talking about.

Differences between HIGH and LOW varieties

+5* In relation to these functions it should be mentioned that the High variety, the Low variety or both can be used, depending on the languages involved.

39

2 examples of HISTORIC DIGLOSSIC situations:

1.
It took place after the Norman conquest in 1066. Norman French and English became to coexist in a DIGLOSSIC situation.

NORMAN FRENCH

was considered to be the HIGH variety, used by the FEUDAL ARISTOCRACY and together with English in MONASTERIES. Norman French was also used in POLITICS, GOVERNMENT and LOCAL ADMINISTRATION.

***Chaucers literary work

around 300 years later, used the Low variety AND WAS THE CULMINATION OF A LONG PROCESS IN WHICH THE Low variety gradually assumed functions that had been restricted to the High variety in the past.

ENGLISH

was the LOW artisans in everyday situations.

variety

being used by peasants and

THIS PROCESS WAS REINFORCED BY THE STEADY ASSIMILATION OF THE FRENCH SPEAKING ARISTOCRACY INTO THE ENGLISH CULTURE.

HAITIAN CREOLE was of a PIDGIN FRENCH.

The

2.
the result of the

CREOLIZATION

Then, STANDARD FRENCH became the High variety whereas the HAITIAN CREOLE kept the status of Low variety.
The SPELLING of the Haitian Creole is NOT ALWAYS standardized. The HIGH VARIETY (STANDARD FRENCH) uses the standard language orthography.

DIGLOSSIA & BILINGUALISM Introductory observations: Diglossia exists NOT ONLY in multilingual societies, BUT ALSO in traditionally called MONOLINGUAL societies, where various dialects,
registers or styles are employed.

40

In reality, there is absolutely no monolingual society in the strict sense of the word.

Diglossia-Bilingualism 4 POSSIBILITIES (Fishmans theory 2003) 1st Possibility Diglossia YES - Bilingualism
It is the case of:

YES.

(Both)
SWISS GERMAN
spoken in some cantons in

GERMAN
Switzerland.

and

It is a BILINGUAL SITUATION because BOTH CODES are used alternatively from school age, in different functions and different contexts. It is a DIGLOSSIC SITUATION because German happens to be the HIGH variety, whereas SWISS GERMAN is considered as the LOW variety. Other instances of 1st possibility: a. Spanish (H) and Guarani (L) in Paraguay. b. The status of Arabic in many Arab countries, where businessmen and the scientific community use classical, Koranic Arabic (H) AND Vernacular Arabic (Algerian, Maroccan, etc (L) ) in specific situations, BUT former colonial languages, such as French, is used as HIGH variety, in professional circumstances. c. In societies where a Creole and a standard language or acrolect coexist.

This case 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. This sociolinguistic situation can take place where ONE SPEECH COMMUNITY provides the means (capital and organization), and a DIFFERENT SPEECH COMMUNITY provides the MANPOWER for the PRODUCTION.
41

2nd Possibility Diglossia NO Bilingualism (Only Bilingualism)

YES

DEMOGRAPHIC MOVEMENT of the manpower (MIGRATION) AND, therefore, the ADOPTION OF A NEW LANGUAGE, as well as a set of CULTURAL VALUES AND NORMS,
THIS example entails a that are rapidly taken over and often INTERTWINED with the previous ones.

For a period of time, the language of work or schooling and the language of home may intertwine, but WITHOUT A DEFINITE SEPARATION of functions and locations.

3rd Possibility Diglossia YES Bilingualism NO (Only Diglossia) It happens in societies where 2 or more languages SHARE A GEOGRAPHIC AREA, but they are NOT INEXORABLY USED by
the speakers living in that area.

WHICH MEANS THAT: There are at least 2 speech communities BUT they DO NOT SHARE A CONTACT LANGUAGE. Communication is attained
by means of, for instance, INTERPRETERS. This happens when 2 or more communities are united for FUNCTIONAL PURPOSES because of RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL and ECONOMIC reasons, BUT they are different SOCIALLY and CULTURALLY. This may sound like a bilingual situation, but it is NOT; it is DIGLOSSIA. Why?

Because LANGUAGE REPERTOIRES are, in some way, RESTRICTED SPECIALIZATION.

in one of both groups due to

ROLE

It is also characteristic that 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.)
42

It is VERY DIFFICULT TO FIND this case. Maybe it can occur in VERY SMALL and SET APART societies. It would be the case of speech

4th Possibility Disglossia NO Bilingualism (None)

NO

NO DIFFERENTIATION in registers or varieties is found, which is RATHER IMPROBABLE, given the social
communities where dimension of language. An INSTANCE OF this speech community could be A BAND or CLAN with a closed number of members and with restricted social relations.

MULTILINGUALISM
A short definition:
The co-existence of more than two languages or sufficiently distant dialects within a speech community. Most countries in the world are multilingual (only Iceland and Portugal are reported to be monolingual countries in Europe). There are about 5,000 living languages in the world today whereas there are about 200 countries. That gives us an idea of the complexity of the issue. Sometimes languages EMBODY SOCIAL IDENTITIES at a supra-state level (e.g.: the Swedish language in Finland), which can cause SOCIOPOLITICAL CONFICTS as is the case of language minorities (Welsh in Great Britain). The Romantic Movement in the 19th century supported nationalism and the general conception of one nation, one language.

(MIGRATION & MULTILINGUALISM) Migration is ANOTHER FACTOR that characterizes the CURRENT LANGUAGE SITUATION in many parts of the world. Example 1 (forced migration):
The African slave trade brought many speakers of African languages

into the EAST and WEST Indies and it was the reason many PIDGINS and CREOLES were created, which had not existed
before.

43

Example 2 (forced migration):

The Soviet policy forced the migration of the Russian population into other Soviet republics. Those rulers like, for example, in the Baltic States, need to learn new languages, such as Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian.

(VOLUNTARY Migration) Voluntary migration has determined THE LINGUISTIC SHAPE of modern countries like the USA and to a lesser extent, AUSTRALIA.
When,

in the 19th and 20th centuries

many people from all

nations in the world entered the US, they acquired ENGLISH and

MANY

ABANDONED their OWN languages. This MONOLINGUAL TREND, however, has CHANGED later in the 19th century, as IMMIGRATION from SOUTH AMERICA and ASIA has DISRUPTED the MONOLINGUAL tendency and has given way to the development of new ethnic identities in this officially
monolingual country.

Language Contact
This chapter discusses

1. What LANGUAGE CONTACT REALLY IS, 2. Some OUTCOMES of it, that is, what

created by it, but also 3. PROBLEMS that can derive when language contact takes place.

kind of situations can be

1. Description/definition of language contact Language contact occurs in places: a. Where 2 or MORE languages share a COMMON GEOGRAPHIC CONTEXT (Brussels, for instance) or simply b. Where one language stops being used by speakers and a different language is used (e.g. because of the existence of
an international border).

2. Various Outcomes Of Language Contact Possible outcome 1:

Close to INTERNATIONAL BORDERS, speakers of each of the different languages often speak DIALECTS OF THEIR OWN LANGUAGES which are CLOSE enough to the OTHER LANGUAGE to permit successful
44

communication. For example, people who live on the two sides of the border between Portugal and Spain normally understand each other without any problem. But a person who would live further away in Portugal might not be able to understand a Spanish person who would live away from the Spanish-Portuguese border.

Possible Outcome 2: From a DIACHRONIC

PERSPECTIVE, a contact situation between

languages could result in THE

LOSS OF ONE

of the languages (if

they are in a power relationship), or in the MERGING of BOTH, if both are considered to have EQUAL STATUS and
SOCIAL CONSIDERATION. Without doubt,

LANGUAGE CONTACT
MAIN SOURCE of

Language Evolution

And

Language Change

Over time

Possible Outcome 3:
Language contact can cause

POLITICAL CONFLICTS.

Belgium is an example of this situation. It is a BILINGUAL state, but it contains a. WALOONS speakers of FRENCH DIALECTS, b. FLEMISH speakers of DUTCH DIALECTS and c. speakers of GERMAN DIALECTS.
The FRENCH GROUP, which is the predominant one, controls ADMINISTRATION, POLITICS and ECONOMY. Presumably when it comes

prefer those who know the predominant language, that is, French. HOWEVER, in
to give employment, they
45

WEAKENED groups, or groups REDUCED IN NUMBER, might move towards ASSIMILATION of the dominant language and culture.
some cases, SOCIALLY or PSYCHOLOGICALLY

WHEN THOSE GROUPS ARE NUMEROUS OR, IF THEY HAVE A SOUND CULTURAL TRADITION, THE MOST LIKELY OUTCOME IS OPPOSITION AND RESISTANCE TO THE DOMINANT GROUP, RESULTING IN LANGUAGE CONFLICT. (Language Conficts) 1. NATURAL conflicts.

They have been caused by POLITICAL DECISIONS regarding MAJORITY or MINORITY social groups.

from OPPOSITION of the AGAINST the MAJORITY social group.

Language conflict arises CANADA, with the French-speaking community. SPAIN, with the Basque-speaking community.

MINORITY group

Examples of NATURAL language conflicts:

LANGUAGE conflicts are MORE INTENSE when a. Ideological, b. Political or c. Religious arguments (like between Belfast - Northern Ireland - and Connemara, to the North of Galway in Ireland), intertwine with linguistic ones.

2. ARTIFICIAL conflicts. These conflicts arise when a COMPROMISE is LANGUAGE IS DISFAVORED.

For example, languages are 25 countries in the EU and 20 languages are spoken. The

attained and a

the European Union faces the problem of what should be OFFICIAL within the EU. Until 2005, there

decision to adopt ENGLISH, FRENCH and GERMAN as the official working languages in the EU has RAISED CONFLICTS with countries that also feel they deserve consideration of
language for international communication.
46

Unit 5 BILINGUAL EDUCATION

Bilingual education:
1. Involves BOTH a given LANGUAGE POLICY and a PEDAGOGIC
REALIZATION in a particular classroom. 2. Deals with NATIONAL or REGIONAL MATTERS. 3. Tries to ASSIMILATE MINORITIES. 4. INTEGRATE MINORITY groups. 5. Spread INTERCULTURAL UNDERSTANDING. 6. POLITICS ARE ALWAYS PRESENT IN IT, as in Canada, for instance.

The Example of Canada In Canada, the AIM of FRENCH IMMERSION is to give students the OPPORTUNITY to achieve a level of bilingualism sufficient to function well in a French-speaking community, accept a job using French as the working language, or
take university or college education in French.

BUT ALSO, Canadian immersion programs help to PROMOTE UNDERSTANDING between 2 main language groups and SOLVE SOCIOPOLITICAL problems that have existed for decades and
that might otherwise bring about more serious social problems.

CONDITIONS So that MINORITY LANGUAGES can

(Baker 2002)

survive

1. Minority languages NEED TO BE USED AT HOME and therefore become MOTHER TONGUES of the NEW MEMBERS of the family (Welsh, Basque). 2. They have to be PRESENT in FORMAL schooling. In this way, the students will have WIDER LINGUISTIC TOOLS which they will be able to use OUTSIDE their home. In Catalonia and in the Basque country bilingual education has been successful, but not in Ireland, where the NUMBER OF GAELIC speakers has decreased in favor of English.

3. They

have to be PRESENT IN ECONOMIC CIRCLES, because this guarantees that speakers will MAINTAIN THEM or LEARN THEM for

EMPLOYMENT purposes.
47

This can explain why the number of Gaelic speakers has decreased: because the economy of Ireland depends on Englishspeaking countries to a large extent.

4. The minority languages have CULTURALLY valued.

to

be

SOCIALLY

and

One of the main REASONS for the DECREASE in numbers of AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL LANGUAGES speakers was THE LACK OF SOCIAL VALUE associated with these languages. Young people dont find many advantages in learning the language OF THEIR OWN ANCESTORS as they often saw that their progenitors REPRESENTED A SOCIALLY and ECONOMICALLY DEPRIVED GROUP.

The BOTTOMLINE and the main TEACHING from all this is the VERY GREAT IMPORTANCE OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION AND LANGUAGE POLICY MAKING: The DECISIONS made regarding these issues can eventually:

1. CAUSE LANGUAGE DEATH, 2. THE PREEMINENCE OF ONE LANGUAGE OVER ANOTHER, or 3. THE DEVELOPMENT OF BILINGUAL-BICULTURAL SOCIETIES = which is the MOST ADVANTAGEOUS OUTCOME.

3 DIFFICULTIES
In the IMPLEMENTATION of a well-founded LANGUAGE PLANNING POLICY in BILINGUAL EDUCATION

(Baker 2002) 1. There is a TEMPTATION on the part of the language planner TO GIVE PROMINENCE TO THE LANGUAGE rather than to the child. 2. Language planning for bilingual education has A LIMITED VIEW of the FUNCTIONS and PURPOSES of education, as it often FOCUSES ON the BENEFITS and NEEDS for the ACQUISITION of a DUALLINGUISTIC system, sometimes setting aside other social and psychological considerations. 3. There is often UNFOUNDED OPTIMISM and TOO HIGH EXPECTATIONS on bilingual education in revitalizing a language. There is a RECENT TENDENCY to perceive bilingual education as very ADVANTAGEOUS. WHY?

48

Because of the Because of the Because of the more than one

general reawakening of cultural identities. subsequent revival of minority languages. globalization process which creates the need to know language.

(8) Advantages of
1. It allows the full development of the languages involved. 2. It promotes among children deeper insights into the cultures each language represents. 3. It often results in biliteracy = more possibilities for enjoying literature, more employment opportunities and deeper understanding of heritage and traditions. 4. Children are favored with some cognitive benefits when they can speak 2 well-developed languages. 5. It may raise the childrens self-esteem, especially when the language of home is a minority one but is studied at school. 6. Curriculum achievement is connected to bilingual education (Canadian immersion studies suggest that.) 7. It establishes a secure identity within a particular community, especially in minority languages. 8. It brings economic advantages as it can secure employment both in public and private companies.

Bilingual Education in Modern Societies (Baker & Jones 1993)

(3) DRAWBACKS
1. Bilingual education does not guarantee effective schooling. 2. The language register used in formal education does not necessarily correspond with the colloquial register. 3. Productive skills (speaking and writing) are sometimes not fully developed, if the language of education is not present beyond the school.

of Bilingual Education

LANGUAGE is RARELY a casual factor.

Language POLICY

Languages DECISIONS are based on POLITICAL and ECONOMIC reasons. Language USE and EVOLUTION often mirrors WHAT HAPPENS in society. Language PLANNING is actually part of a LANGUAGE POLICY that a given government adopts (example of Catalan in Francos time).

49

What does language planning CONSIST OF?

Language PLANNING

It consists of a DELIBERATE and institutionally ORGANIZED attempt: - To change the development of a language variety, or - To change the language itself, or - To alter its functions in society.

need multilingual country to IMPLEMENT a language POLICY.

Sometimes language planning can RESULT FROM the

of a

According to WARDHAUGH (2002), LANGUAGE PLANNING is a DELIBERATE ATTEMPT to INTEFERE with the natural development of a language. It involves HUMAN INTERVENTION in the natural process of languages or varieties to change, spread or erode.

(History of Language Planning) It began SEVERAL CENTURIES AGO, but the PURPOSES of
these interventions to change the NATURAL EVOLUTION of a language WERE

NOT always HONORABLE. REPRESS and DIMINISH

In theory, language planning can be used to avoid the disappearance of a language. BUT, sometimes it is used to

a cultural ethnic minority

OF IDENTITY.

that found in their language A SIGN

A FEW DECADES AGO, language planning was characteristic of DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, which often needed to make
decisions on whether to use the FORMER COLONIAL CODE or OTHER national languages as a unifying code.

MORE RECENTLY, language planning has become WESTERN SOCIETIES for 2 main reasons:

AN

ISSUE IN

1. In order to preserve minority languages (e.g. Irish, Welsh, Catalan, etc.), or 2. To promote intercultural communication (e.g. English, French and German in the EU.) What

FACTORS can affect language planning?

Various: a. Economic b. Educational c. Historical

50

d. e. f. g.

Judicial Political Religious and Social

THAT IS WHY language planning is

complex.
the COURSE OF A LANGUAGE by

To what extent

can man DELIBERATE manipulation?

alter

There is NO CLEAR answer to this question, because in some occasions political maneuvering was successful in having some languages disappear (many Amerindian languages in North and South America) AND YET, in other occasions political repression was UNSUCCESSFUL in restricting language maintenance, as in the case of Catalan in Spain during Francos regime. Behind language planning there is a FULLY-DEVELOPED LANGUAGE POLICY.

Behind Decisions Regarding Language Planning 1. LINGUISTIC ASSIMILATION anyone forming part of a society SHOULD LEARN THE DOMINANT LANGUAGE of that society,
It considers that regardless of their origin.

4 MAIN TYPES of Ideology

Advantage of this ideology:

It is good for the integration of minority groups.

Disadvantage:
It raises the problem of conservation and respect for minority group identities and cultural heritage. Examples of the disadvantage: a. Russification in the former Soviet Union)b. Aboriginal language death in AUSTRALIA, because of the linguistic ASSIMILATION POLICY until the 1970s to only have ENGLISH at schools. It was only in 1972 that a LABOR GOVERNMENT recognized the RIGHT OF ABORIGINAL CHILDREN to become literate in their own language before they learn English. This government
51

introduced BILINGUAL SCHOOLS which are still open today, mainly in the Northern Territories where Aboriginal languages are mostly spoken.

2.
LINGUISTIC PLURALISM
It implies the acceptance of various languages or varieties. It can be centered on individual or geographical criteria.

2 examples:

An individual may be stimulated to maintain their language in the case of a multilingual environment, where their language represents a minority that does not identify with a specific geographical area (such as a group of immigrants in a big city). In the case of a multilingual state that adopts various official languages as they are spoken in different geographical areas (French and Englishspeaking Canada; English and Afrikaans-speaking South Africa).

3. VERNACULARIZATION
It entails the is

NOT USED by a wide group of speakers, but after some changes in its linguistic features it becomes widespread and adopted as official language.
Example:

reconstruction or renewal of a language

that

Tok Pisin

in Papua New Guinea

4. INTERNATIONALISM PURPOSE of language planning is to adopt a non-vernacular language for wider interethnic communication as a political solution to an internal problem often
It is reached when the arising from equally powerful minorities, one of them aiming at imposing their language as the official one, or the language of education and trade for all.
52

Example: English in India and Singapore.

FACTORS
Affecting Language Planning 1. SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS

The NUMBER OF LANGUAGES spoken and the NUMBER OF SPEAKERS. These two factors may favor of one language of the other.

2. LINGUISTIC FACTORS
For example, the DEGREE OF DEVELOPMENT of one language as well as the existence of a LITERARY TRADITION.

3. SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS 4. POLITICAL FACTORS

These factors affect peoples ATTITUDE TOWARDS ONE LANGUAGE or the other and their acceptance in a speech community. They can influence the ADOPTION of a specific ALPHABET. For example, the case of the CYRILLIC alphabet introduced in middlecentral Asia by the Russians. Also, the adoption of the Latin alphabet in Turkey. They are also important. An example of this is that Sudan, as a former colony, had ENGLISH AS OFFICIAL LANGUAGE (SPOKEN BY A MINORITY). This was CHANGED TO ARABIC, a language spoken BY HALF OF the population, because of the stronger position of Islam in the country. The Bible has also been translated into many different languages.

5. RELIGIOUS FACTORS

ACTIONS In Language Planning

What follows is 4 STARTING POINTS/STEPS language planners traditionally follow when they do their language PLANNING.

1. SELECTION OF A NORM. MULTILINGUAL countries NEED to DECIDE what languages will become OFFICIAL. Sometimes, this decision is VERY DIFFICULT
53

and COMPLICATED, because RIVALRY among different language groups may cause CONFLICTS. Because of this, sometimes it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to

INTRODUCE a language as a ENGLISH in GHANA and INDIA.

LINGUA FRANCA,

as is the case of

ALL THESE DECISIONS ARE OBVIOUSLY BASED ON GROUNDS.

POLITICAL

IF an INDIGENOUS language is chosen as the STANDARD ONE, it may be NECESSARY to make some CHANGES so that it can be used for WIDER COMMUNICATION within a multilingual country. These changes may include vocabulary, new alphabet or simply to standardize that language which could only be found in the spoken form.

2. CODIFICATION.

The language or languages chosen may have to be MODERNIZED WITH SPECIFIC VOCABULARY because of technological and scientific developments. In this case, a DECISION needs to be made whether to ADOPT LOAN WORDS or to COIN NEW TERMS. Many times, technology is developed so fast that there is not even time, really, to coin terms, so loan words are adopted.

3. MODERNIZATION.

The chosen language needs to be OFFICIALLY IMPLEMENTED and USED in: EDUCATION PARLIAMENT MEDIA, etc. This is the way this language will become used in LITERARY and ACADEMIC circles.

4. IMPLEMENTATION.

PRESTIGIOUS,

also

As it becomes more and more prestigious and acknowledged, IT WILL SPREAD AS THE NORM. Finally, its presence in DICTIONARIES, GRAMMARS and LITERARY WORKS will consolidate its status as the norm.

54

AIMS
In Language Planning
What follows is

NAHIRS (2003) 11 language planning

GOALS

which can be combined to handle the language-related problems and needs of speech communities. His classification describes the FUNCTIONS OR GOALS they have sought UNTIL NOW in response to their LANGUAGE-RELATED NEEDS (communicative, political, social, economic, religious etc). These needs and aspirations ARE LIKELY TO CHANGE in the course of time.

1. LANGUAGE PURIFICATION 2 types: 1.a. EXTERNAL Purification

There are

This consists of the development of PRESCRIPTIONS of USAGE in order to PROTECT the language from unwanted foreign influence by means, for example, of a LANGUAGE ACADEMY.

Some of the ACTIONS purification are:

-

TAKEN

for

EXTERNAL

The creation of prescriptive grammars and dictionaries, because they contain the normalized use of the language following the criteria set out by the Academy. Particularly notorious in this respect is the CONTROL over FOREIGN LEXICAL BORROWINGS. If there is an indigenous word for the same concept, a PURIST POINT of view is adopted.

1.b. INTERNAL Purification

It is the acceptance of the CODE as it exists at a certain point in history, PROTECTING it from undesirable developments which are considered as non-normative (incorrect) or simply as deviations from the standard. The generation of these NORMATIVE POLICIES and their enforcement are tasks actively undertaken by LANGUAGE ACADEMIES.

55

2.
It is an

LANGUAGE REVIVAL ATTEMPT to revitalize a language

with a small

number of speakers (e.g. Irish and Welsh), or EVEN a COMPLETELY DEAD language (e.g. Hebrew and Cornish), and turn it INTO a means of communication for a speech community. Some instances of this phenomenon has been since the MIDDLE OF THE 19TH CENTURY. They go together with general support for NATIONAL IDENTITY which entails the ADOPTION and STANDARDIZATION of a national language.

3.

LANGUAGE REFORM

Incorporation of SPECIFIC CHANGES in the language (e.g. spelling, grammar, etc) as an attempt to FACILITATE ITS USE or to INTERNATIONALIZE the language. However, it also depends on
POLITICAL, IDEOLOGICAL, RELIGIOUS or ECONOMICAL factors.

INSTANCES

OF LANGUAGE REFORM can be found in many languages since the beginning of the 19th century (e.g. Icelandic, German, Greek, Spanish etc), but THE MOST representative is

TURKISH.

4.

LANGUAGE STANDARDIZATION

To ADOPT a language or variety of language AS THE MAJOR LANGUAGE of a region or nation for WIDER COMMUNICATION with official, educational, commercial or other
functions.

5.

LANGUAGE SPREAD

to INCREASE THE NUMBER OF SPEAKERS of a particular language, normally at the expense

It involves an attempt of another language or languages.

Language SHIFT is often done for POLITICAL REASONS, like in FORMER COLONIAL TERRITORIES that became
independent states during the 19th century.
56

6.

LANGUAGE MODERNIZATION

The adaptation of existing vocabulary or the creation of a new one to assist standard languages that may have borrowed foreign vocabulary too fast to accommodate it to their orthography, pronunciation etc. NAHIR dinstinguishes 2 trends in terminological work: 1. As part of either the process of codification

or implementation of languages seeking revival (Hebrew) or reform (Turkish) that involves developing previously unwritten
languages and aims at bridging the gap between them and modern knowledge and technology.

2. As part of
have

a process of modernization of standard languages that concepts and terms having a

borrowed

UNPREPARED FOR THOSE CHANGES. LEXICAL MODERNIZATION GLOBALIZATION

LEXICON

is applied in MANY countries

around the world (Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Israel, Hungary, France, Vietnam, India etc.) and is an EFFECT OF with the resulting INCREASE in CONCEPT borrowing from leading international languages such as English.

7.

TERMINOLOGY UNIFICATION

It takes place when it is necessary to ESTABLISH UNIFIED TERMINOLOGIES, mainly technological and scientific ones, in order to diminish AMBIGUITY.

8.

STYLISTIC SIMPLIFICATION

to be simpler in order to reduce COMMUNICATION AMBIGUITY between 2 groups, for

It is found when a language use needs instance, professionals and bureaucrats on the one hand, and ORDINARY PEOPLE on the other.

57

9. INTERLINGUAL COMMUNICATION ADOPTION of the language of WIDER COMMUNICATION with the intention of FACILITATING
It implies the communication between members of different speech communities. This lingua franca can take the form of an AUXILIARY or ARTIFICIAL language, such as Esperanto. English is frequently used these days as a lingua franca in different parts of the world. What is another way in which interlingual communication can be achieved? Its by improving MUTUAL INTELLIGIBILITY between speakers of cognate languages. This can be accomplished by STANDARDIZING the various linguistic codes in order to minimize differences.

10.
It consists

LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE

in the PRESERVATION of a groups NATIVE LANGUAGE when political, social, economic, educational or any other
pressures threaten its further existence by causing a decline in status or in the number of speakers. Language maintenance can be done at

2 LEVELS:
spoken language

a. With the AIM of preserving a widely unwanted foreign influence.

from

b. As a protection of a minority ethnic language whose acquisition and use needs to be encouraged by means of social, educational and political arrangements. For example, in New Zealand, speakers of Aboriginal languages look down on their own language comparing it with English, which discourages them from taking their ANCESTORS AS MODELS and from maintaining the use of their own languages.

11.

AUXILIARY-CODE STANDARDIZATION

This entails the MODIFICATION of AUXILIARY ASPECTS of the language (signs for the deaf, place names, rules of transcription, etc) to LESSEN AMBIGUITY or to SATISFY changing SOCIAL, POLITICAL or other recent needs.
58

Changing place names can serve the functions of terminology unification or stylistic simplification, but most often they just take place when a given political party is in power.

LANGUAGE PLANNING
On some occasions language planning DOES NOT NEED to be a GOVERNMENT initiative.

INDIVIDUAL

INDIVIDUALS. Norway.
TODAY, there are

It can be THE VENTURE OF

A good example of INDIVIDUAL LANGUAGE PLANNING is the case of

Bokml (BOOK LANGUAGE) and Nynorsk (NEW NORWEGIAN).

It is also called

2 OFFICIAL FORMS of Norwegian:

Bokml
Norwegian. It language while Norway was under Danish rule (1397-1814).

Riksml (NATIONAL LANGUAGE) and Danowas influenced by Danish which was the dominant

Nynorsk
Landsml (COUNTRY LANGUAGE). on RURAL DIALECTS uninfluenced by Danish.
Also known as It is based

By the middle of the 19th century, some attempts were made to create a

purely Norwegian language.

ON THE ONE HAND, Knud Knudsen undertook a REVISION of WRITTEN DANISH with the aim of INCORPORATING colloquial oral forms coming from NORWEGIAN DIALECTS. ON THE OTHER HAND, Norwegian language
another group of specialists led by the Norwegian philologist and lexicographer

Ivar Aasen,

tried to

forge a

conceived from A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY

59

THE DIALECTS SPOKEN ALL OVER THE COUNTRY and which were at times very dissimilar due to geographic
OF ISOLATION. The

result of the efforts of Aasens group

was A LANGUAGE

CALLED Landsml (the language of the country), currently known as NYNORSK.

FOR SOME TIME, NYNORSK WAS NORWEGIANS AS RUSTIC AND VULGAR.

This situation has changed, as

PERCEIVED

BY

Nynorsk received official

recognition in 1885
In

by the Parliament itself.

1930 A LAW was passed in the Parliament which stated that official documents had to use BOTH varieties. NOWADAYS, from the 8th level of primary onwards, BOTH VARIETIES ARE COMPULSORY, one as the main language and CHOICE. Both varieties are employed by the government, the schools and the mass media, ALTHOUGH BOKML IS STILL THE MOST WIDELY USED. Also, BOKML is more used in URBAN AREAS, whereas NYNORSK is mainly used in WESTERN RURAL AREAS and cities in THE WEST, like BERGEN.
These two varieties are PERFECTLY INTELLIGIBLE, so they dont need to be used exclusively within a minority group.

another as secondary language, ACCORDING TO THE STUDENTS

MINORITY LANGUAGES
IMPORTANT DECISIONS
need to make: policy makers in multilingual nations

1. Choice of an OFFICIAL LANGUAGE, which can be problematic if

there are different ethnic groups in the same country.
60

2. Decisions regarding INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS.

This will not only determine the general ATTITUDE towards a language, but also the point of view of COMING generations. 3. There is a NEED to decide on the STANDARDIZATION PROCEDURES, such as the choice of an alphabet or a given variety, ESPECIALLY IN THE CASE OF languages having SCRIPTS different to the ones of currently internationalized languages.

IMPLEMENTATION of multilingual policies in multilingual states is a RESULT OF the SOCIOLINGUISTICS DEMANDS of modern societies and can have 3 POSSIBLE OUTCOMES, which determine the DEGREE OF SUCCESS or FAILURE
The of a specific language policy:

A.

LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE

Political decisions may determine language.

the SURVIVAL

of a specific

B.

BILINGUALISM

One of the MOST DESIRABLE OUTCOMES in a PROLONGED CONTACT of LANGUAGE GROUPS. It guarantees the SURVIVAL of the languages and seems to be the best way for multicultural and/or multiethnic societies to reach a COMMON GROUND on linguistic and sociopolitical fields.

LANGUAGE SHIFT

would NOT entail one of the more desirable outcomes, BECAUSE it can give
This is another POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENT and it way to LANGUAGE LOSS. HOWEVER, IT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND THAT LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT DOES NOT DEPEND ONLY ON LANGUAGE POLICY DECISIONS

SOCIOCULTURAL FORCES.

BUT

ALSO

ON

MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, THE SPREAD OF A LANGUAGE IN TERMS OF NUMBERS OF SPEAKERS TAKES PLACE AT THE

EXPENSE OF LANGUAGES.

ANOTHER

OR

OTHER

61

PAULSON (1994-1999) asserts that ethnic groups within a modern nationstate usually shift to the language spoken by the pre-eminent group.

LANGUAGE SHIFT
IN

Minority Languages
small group migration in a QUICK LANGUAGE SHIFT.
Voluntary individuals OR typically results

Large group migration tends to help in maintaining SOCIAL and LINGUISTIC HALLMARKS. This is the case of SWEDISH
IN FINLAND and of FRENCH in CANADA. In these countries, a MINORITY ETHNIC GROUP in demographic decay USES ITS LANGUAGE as a SIGN OF cultural and social identity. This happens because these ethnic groups have a very STRONG SENSE OF IDENTITY.

In any case, as years go by, the minority languages TEND TO DECREASE in numbers of speakers. Speakers eventually SHIFT TO THE DOMINANT LANGUAGE, although this process may take generations. An

example of this shift can be observed in AUSTRALIA,

where Aboriginal speech communities SHRINK and new generations follow the DOMINANT LANGUAGE AND CULTURE because they know that in this way they have many SOCIAL, EDUCATIONAL AND ECONOMIC ADVANTAGES. After that, the professor gives us the example of the language shift in the

why the Greeks in Pittsburg SHIFT OVER A FOUR GENERATION SPAN, compared with the three generation shift of
U.S.A. among the Greeks and the Italians and has Paulston explain the Italians.

Sometimes LANGUAGES CAN BE MAINTAINED due to:

a. b. c.

SELF-IMPOSED BARRIERS, (because of IDEOLOGICAL or RELIGIOUS constraints), EXTERNALLY IMPOSED BARRIERS (because of some kind of GEOGRAPHIC ISOLATION), or A DIGLOSSIC SITUATION where 2 or more languages are
used for different FUNCTIONAL PURPOSES.

62

Language planning does not only attempt to solve language-related problems. Language planning is also a systematic setting of

goals regarding social and linguistic aspects in modern societies, and the pursuing of goals and means that will determine the
future of national and foreign languages in a given country.

Some Particular SOCIOLINGUISTIC SITUATIONS

India
1947:
India gains its independence from the English colonial rule. The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT establishes a LANGUAGE POLICY. English would be SUBSTITUTED by HINDI as the official language . REGIONAL languages in each state would gain OFFICIAL recognition. All this was acknowledged in the nations constitution.

1950:

India recognized

15 MAJOR languages:

languages belonging to the DRAVIDIAN group, and LITERARY languages from the INDO-ARYAN group (in 1992, 3 more languages were added to this list.) In order to implement this language policy, a NUMBER OF ACTIONS were undertaken: translations, new dictionaries, encyclopaedias, new typewriters

4 11

LITERARY

But this language planning did NOT succeed and 2 DECADES LATER ENGLISH was reintroduced and adopted as the SECOND OFFICIAL language in India (it was actually called
etc. ASSOCIATE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE.)

1956:

LINGUISTIC STATES were formed. MOST OF THEM chose the MAJORITY LANGUAGE as official language in the state. The exception was the region of the NORTHEASTERN HILL STATES where there seems NOT TO BE a DOMINANT language.

NOWADAYS: MULTILINGUALISM

is encouraged in India.

Many

children learn: - English (at school) - Hindi (at school too, in the DEVANAGARI script in school, which is the OFFICIAL LANGUAGE of the country) - Their mother tongue (spoken at home), and
63

The STATE official language.

TODAY:
varieties.

there are SERIOUS PROBLEMS regarding the spread of Hindi throughout the country BECAUSE OF the LITERARY NATURE OF HINDI and its DIFFERENCES FROM other local and regional

ALL THIS RESULTS IN MULTILINGUALISM. AT THE MOMENT

The CENTRAL GOVERNMENT in India (New Delhi) deal with all types of issues related to INTERNATIONAL POLICY and the common interests of Indian people. The STATE GOVERNMENT looks after LOCAL and REGIONAL

CONCERNS and especially in the SOUTH, the language used in

NEITHER HINDI NOR ENGLISH, BUT a

local language.

FOR YEARS

there has been an attempt to introduce A THREE LANGUAGE FORMULA in schools aiming at providing every high-

2 modern Indian languages (one of them being Hindi) and English, BUT THIS ENDEAVOR HAS PROVED UNSUCCESSFUL. English has spread everywhere and is the language preferred in UNIVERSITIES,
school student with a command of IN PUBLICATION IN LEARNED JOURNALS, IN HIGHER COURTS, PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE, INDUSTRY, ECONOMIC TRANSACTIONS AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE.

New Zealand (The Case of Maori)

Almost all Maoris in New Zealand speak ENGLISH and a large proportion of the young people are BILINGUAL. HOWEVER, many youngsters, especially in cities, DO NOT SPEAK MAORI

ANYMORE.
Maori is ENDANGERED for several reasons: 1. English is the language of EDUCATION. 2. Maori is spoken more in RURAL AREAS and people prefer to live in cities.

64

1999:

in that year the population of FLUENT MAORI SPEAKERS was about 35.000, which is around 8% of the total Maori population in New Zealand.

From the LATE 1960s

measures were taken with the aim of reintroducing Maori in primary schools as well as in universities. These measures had LITTLE SUCCESS BECAUSE OF the LOW STATUS given to their language and the LACK OF RECOGNITION of Maori as a national official language.

LATE 1990s:

the BILINGUAL Maori and English-speaking population consisted MAINLY of an age group OVER 60 whose descendants DID NOT SPEAK MAORI as a mother tongue. The generation bearing children did not speak, by and large, Maori as a mother tongue and that is why they could not teach it to their children.

THE MAORI LANGUAGE SEEMED TO DISAPPEAR IN NEW ZEALAND. The situation started to change thanks to an INNOVATIVE EDUCATION MOVEMENT which began at
PRE-SCHOOL LEVEL in the EARLY 1980s with an imaginative

involved grandparents as a fundamental component in the education of their grandchildren. In 1999, over 700 KOHANGA (preschool language nests) instructed MORE THAN 12.000 children in the language of their ancestors passing on the LANGUAGE, THE CULTURE and the TRADITIONS of the Maoris directly from their GRANDPARENTS, using Maor as the
idea which only language of teaching and conversation.

NOWADAYS,

THE LANGUAGE AND CUSTOMS OF THE NEW

ZEALAND ABORIGINES

SEEM TO HAVE A FUTURE.

THE LACK OF government SUPPORT or BILINGUAL PROGRAMS meant that children coming from Kohanga were NOT able to maintain their Maori language. Finally, a Maori-speaking
In spite of these efforts to maintain the Maori culture and language, assistant was included in schools, but this was NOT sufficient to guarantee CONTINUED MAORI LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT.
65

A self-determined group of parents took the INITIATIVE and established the KKM, an IMMERSION MOVEMENT that settled some

Kura Kaupapa Maori (KMM)

immersion schools

independent

in order to let their children develop their

KKM has CLAIMED both governmental recognition and funding, but has only gained partial support.
language skills AFTER THE KOHANGA.

KKM ONLY employs and trains FLUENT SPEAKERS of Maori and ONLY accepts children coming from the Kohanga and also DEMANDS ACTIVE PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT to speak Maori at home. In this way, very few Maori
speaking children can have access to this type of education without further governmental support.

Canada
1982: It was the year in which Canada became a CONSTITUTIONALLY BILINGUAL COUNTRY. By this
constitution, the ENGLISH RIGHTS in QUEBEC were PROTECTED as much as the French rights outside Quebec.

However, the FRENCH RIGHTS WERE REVOKED in the new province of Manitoba and the French-speaking population saw themselves circumscribed to the province of Quebec, which is ruled by the Englishspeaking Montreal. THIS PARTICULAR SITUATION gave way to FREQUENT

social and French

political tensions Canadians

in that part of Canada and language is perceived

as a sign of identity and cultural heritage that unifies

which represent approximately a 30% of the total Canadian population, around 80% of them living in Quebec.

BILINGUALISM

in the 2 official languages is mainly found in the population of French origin in the East of the country such as

MONTREAL, SHERBROOKE and OTTAWA.

66

NOWADAYS, the actions to RESTRAIN the use of English in Quebec have been BANNED. At the same time, some legislation in Manitoba that denied francophone rights has been MOFIDIED. IN SPITE OF ALL THIS, THE FRENCH-ENGLISH DIVISION AND DEBATE IS STILL PRESENT. 2 things to be taken into account in the case of Canada: 1. Canada has some Aboriginal communities with their
indigenous languages. Canada is a country of immigrants, especially in big cities, with a considerable number of people speaking Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese etc., as their mother tongue.

2.

The French-English controversy is becoming territorially based, but at the same time, actions are being undertaken to HELP SOLVE THE PROBLEM.

Of bilingual and bicultural society in Canada.

EXAMPLES bilingual education programs

that aim at developing a

FRENCH IMMERSION
It began 45 years ago in 1965 with an experiment carried out in Montreal. A group of English-speaking parents
initiated a bilingual immersion programme with their children in kindergarten (FRENCH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE). The final objective was

to attain HIGH PROFICIENCY in FRENCH.

In this programme, monolingual English-speaking children were instructed in French from the very first day in kindergarten and later, in grade 2, they would start to develop L1 literacy skills. Later on, by grade 6, half of the curriculum would be taught in English and half in French. A bit later, MID-IMMERSION and LATE-IMMERSION programmes were also developed. The aim of these is for children to reach a level of bilingualism and eventually of biculturalism by secondary school education so they can work in a French-speaking community or/and to attend university.
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FRENCH IMMERSION is a general term. It is a programme in which FRENCH is used as a MEANS OF COMMUNICATION within the classroom with THE AIM of acquiring a HIGH LEVEL of proficiency in speaking, listening and literacy skills. There are 1.

3 TYPES of immersion programmes: EARLY immersion. It is offered from DELAYED or INTERMEDIATE

LATER, in grade 4.

the earliest years of schooling (kindergarden, grades 1 or 2) and represents THE MOST FREQUENT type of immersion. immersion. It is offered

2. 3.

LATE

immersion, offered in grades 6, 7 or later.

There is another classification: 1. 2.

TOTAL immersion, when ALL SUBJECTS are taught in the second

language.

PARTIAL

immersion, when the second language is used only half the school day.

In Canada no English immersion programmes have been made.

Characteristics
of Prototypical IMMERSION PROGRAMMES (Swain and Johson 1997)
the one used with students not included in an immersion programme.

1. The L2 is used as a medium of instruction. 2. The immersion curriculum is analogous to

3. The L1 receives obvious support as an essential component of the curriculum.

Additive bilingualism constitutes the chief aim of the programme. This principle entails that at the end of the programme students L1 proficiency should be comparable to those who have studied through their L1. context.

4.

5. L2 6.

exposure is by and large restricted to the classroom

All students join the programme with similar levels of L2 proficiency.

7. Teachers are bilingual in the students L1 and the L2 medium of instruction.

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The classroom culture of a prototypical immersion programme is that of the local L1 community instead of that of the culture of the L1, i.eg., where that language is used as an L1.

8.

European Union Language Policy & Planning

EU there are many languages and many cultures and this can normally be a BARRIER OF COMMUNICATION. Therefore, there is a NEED to convert this rich European HERITAGE in a source of MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING.
In the A better knowledge of European modern languages will facilitate communication and interaction among Europeans and will promote ability and mutual understanding.

THE AIM of a particular language planning UNIFY MILLIONS OF EUROPEANS

economical administration. linguistic identity.

within the EU

is TO

under a political and For this, it is necessary to find a COMMON without losing either cultural and

GROUND for interaction

25 countries in the EU with 22 different official languages out of which only 3 were considered WORKING LANGUAGES: English, French and German.
At the time the Professor wrote the manual, there were Only Portugal can be considered officially monolingual. At the time the manual was being written, there was a plan to broaden EU with new countries, and therefore new languages and cultures. THIS EXHIBITS THE NEED to develop a common EU language policy. Trimm mentions that a MAJOR PROBLEM regarding LANGUAGE LEARNING and LANGUAGE PLANNING is the lack of an organic unit to take responsibility for it. He adds that there is NO longitudinal unity as responsibilities change with the transfer of children from elementary school to high school and the university and DIFFERENT AGENCIES may be involved in the setting of curricular guidelines, teaching materials and assessment.
69

Policy makers have established SOME GUIDELINES

promote the use communication. of international languages for They have also undertaken maintenance of minority languages.

to intercultural for the

SOME ACTIONS

Important DOCUMENTS:

The European Charter for Minority or Regional Languages. The CE Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The Oslo Recommendations regarding the Linguistic Rights of National Minorities within the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The Hague Recommendations Regarding the Education Rights of National Minorities.

The EU has taken some ACTION regarding the SECOND/FOREIGN language teaching and learning
within the member states. In a White Paper published in 1995 it is stated that a

GENERAL OBJECTIVE is that everyone should gain proficiency in 2 languages apart from their mother
tongue.

PROGRAMMES
-

developed for the STUDENTS and TEACHERS in order to:

EXCHANGE

OF

Favor the learning of other EU languages, To aid teacher training, To encourage awareness-raising, and To promote the cultural exchange among different educational systems, Socrates (including Erasmus, Lingua and Socrates) Leonardo (exchange programs in the vocational field) and Tempus (for the development of higher educational systems.)

ARE:
-

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages is a document that provides a practical tool for establishing
The

certain standards at successive stages of learning and evaluating language knowledge. It aims at providing the basis for setting common standards within the EU at an international level and provides the basis for the mutual recognition of language qualifications within the EU, therefore facilitating educational and occupational mobility.
70

The Framework describes: The completeness necessary for communication. The related knowledge and skills. The situations and domains of communication.

The Role of English

English has SPREAD widely ALL OVER THE WORLD,
a. Because of the influence of the British Empire, and b. Due to the preeminence of North American culture in the world.

English has advanced as an international language

especially after the WWII, leaving behind other preeminent languages such as French.

English is now used by MILLIONS of speakers number of communicative functions across Europe.

for a

Hoffmann (2000) has talked about BILINGUALISM WITH ENGLISH, because of the always increasing popularity of English across the globe. Hoffmann also refers to the many purposes to the use of English INSIDE and OUTSIDE the EU: - It has become one of the preferred languages in a. International business, b. EU institutions. - It is the language chosen for academic discussion - Most scholars face the need to read and publish in English for international diffusion. - It influences other European languages, mostly in technical terms (lexical borrowings).

English seems to have been adopted as the language of globalization these days, therefore, proficiency in English is

seen as a desirable goal for youngsters and elderly people in all EU countries and in many parts of the world.

The Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights

It is a document made and approved in 1996 by a world-wide representation of non-governmental organizations with the support of UNESCO in Barcelona, Spain.
71

Its MAIN AIM:

To turn the worlds attention to the problems arising

from a

globalized world To preserve everyones It contains

with greater movements of people.

right to a language identity.

its the

52 articles and what follows is some of GENERAL PRINCIPLES the document tries to establish: 1. It

safeguards the PERSONAL RIGHTS to adhere to a linguistic identity and to develop ones own culture. 2. It considers that all language communities are EQUAL and merit OFFICIAL RECOGNITION in all kinds of social, political and economic respects. 3. It is ESPECIALLY CONCERNED about the role that EDUCATION plays in the maintenance and spread of a language and accordingly it states that education must help maintain and develop the language spoken by the language community. In addition to this,

4. IT

it encourages the most extensive possible command of any other language they may wish to know.

CLAIMS THE RIGHT TO USE PROPER NAMES AND PLACE NAMES IN THE LANGUAGE SPECIFIC TO THE TERRITORY, BOTH ORALLY AND IN WRITING. 5. It supports the right to decide the extent to which a minority language should be present in the media in a given territory, and to receive a thorough knowledge of its cultural heritage through it. 6. It declares the right to preserve their linguistic and cultural heritage. 7. It watches over the right to use the language in all socioeconomic activities and to have full legal validity.

Brumfits CRITISISM of UDLR:

a. That little account is taken of the language rights of individuals. b. The definition of language community is restrictive. c. Lack of references in the document to the situation in countries where a language is used to avoid giving one language a priority over the others, which could eventually give rise to a number of conflicts.

72

Unit 6
Sociolinguistics Language Teaching/Learning Common CONCERNS
1. 2. 3. 4. The The The The of language teaching & language learning: role of English in the world (as L1, L2 or foreign language). contexts in which English is acquired. way it interacts with other languages. norms that determine the use of English. &

What does COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE do? It shapes the ability to interact successfully in any speech community. Acquiring or learning

or learn a language communicative competence. The language learner

SOCIOLINGUISTIC RULES when we acquire is extremely important and is part of our

of a acquires

MOTHER TONGUE sociolinguistic rules NATURALLY, from his CHILDHOOD.

The language learner of a SECOND LANGUAGE will have innumerable occasions to acquire/learn the sociolinguistic rules

THROUGH INTERACTION AND CLOSE CONTACT

native speakers of the language.

with

However, in case of learning a FOREIGN LANGUAGE, there come the ISSUES of: Whether sociolinguistic rules can or should be taught in a classroom or whether the learner will find out about them in due course. The motivation and purpose of learning the language, that is, if as a Language of Wider Communication it is to be learned for use in an English-speaking community or with other non-native speakers of that language.

How much attention has been given to supplying learners with sociolinguistic information when they learn a foreign language?
73

For many years NO ATTENTION was given to this issue. In the last few decades there is A GROWING CONCERN
to give sociolinguistic information to learners of a foreign language.

Nowadays,

it is language instruction.

MORE OFTEN INCLUDED

in classroom

The inclusion of sociolinguistic information in teaching materials is good but cannot be trusted 100%. Because, for example, in the case of English, there are many countries and speech communities and each one of them has its own sociolinguistic rules not to mention the individual rules each native speaker of a language has. So, we have to bear this in mind when we read about social conventions in language teaching materials.

2 ASPECTS to be taken into account:

a. Whose rules of speaking we want to include in the teaching materials. b. To what extent we can generalize them to the point of using them in L2 instruction.

The best way to learn sociolinguistic rules in order to be communicatively competent is to INTERACT with NATIVE SPEAKERS or PROFICIENT SPEAKERS of the language. Especially in case of autonomous learners, it must be taken into consideration that nowadays, the extensive development of new technologies in language learning (PC programs, on-line learning etc) and technological development (cable TV, DVDs with original soundtrack etc) PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN

Conclusions

SOCIOCULTURAL DEVELOPMENT.

COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE In Language Teaching/Learning Communicative Competence:

Comprises VARIOUS types of knowledge and skills, such as: Linguistic Sociolinguistic Pragmatic. Is needed for successful interaction among members of the same speech community. In this unit it is analyzed FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF FOREIGN/SECOND language learning.
74

Linguistic Competence Sociolinguistic Competence

LINGUISTIC COMPETENCES:
Refer to the knowledge of lexical, phonological and syntactical elements and other dimensions of language, such as sociolinguistic and pragmatic knowledge. Comprise the knowledge of vocabulary, pronunciation rules, syntactic patterns and the cognitive organization and storage of this knowledge in the brain of the language learner. Vary from one learner to another, depending on various factors such as the: The number of years spent learning the language, The rate of learning, The age when contact with the second language, The learners motivation, The learning context Etc

BUT language is a SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

just a knowledge of the linguistic system.

and is more than

SOCIOLINGUISTIC COMPETENCES:
Are concerned with the SOCIAL and CULTURAL conditions for the use of language and the SOCIAL CONVENTIONS that rule language use in a specific speech community, such as norms regarding: Politeness Relations between sexes Relations between different social classes Social groups Generations Different registers Etc Are normally acquired AFTER some degree of linguistic competence has been attained. Are not always present in the case of foreign language curriculum and if they are, they not considered important. Normally, LACK OF KNOWLEDGE OF SOCIOLINGUISTIC RULES and behavior may result in communication breakdown.

75

HIGHER the linguistic COMPETENCE, the MORE will be EXPECTED.

Also, the

PRAGMATIC COMPETENCES:
Refer to the functional use of linguistic resources, such as: Language functions Speech acts in interaction Also concern themselves with the language learners mastery of discourse markers, cohesion and coherence and the recognition of text types the presence of irony and politeness etc.

Sociolinguistic Behavior: Rules of Speaking 1. Address of Behavior

The way people address each other is

sociolinguistic research

a recurrent topic in

because they are common in discourse and very easily observed. When one person speaks to another, they have many options they can use to refer to the addressee. These forms vary depending on the social conventions.

WOLFSON and MANES studied the maam in the United States and found

use of the address form

out that it has different meanings in the South of the United States than it has in other parts of the country. They observed that the term maam was used instead of

the formulas I beg your pardon? or Pardon, that is, to indicate that you had not heard what your female intercolutor had just said or to request further explanation.

Yes, maam is used as a response Thank you, with the meaning of You are welcome.
Also, the expression

to

In the same study they also noticed that the form maam not only had different meanings in the South of the United States, but it was also used in different contexts.
76

IN THE NORTH, it tended to be used BETWEEN STRANGERS, whereas IN THE SOUTH it was used not only to strangers but ACQUAINTANCES and FRIENDS.

ALSO

to

Different languages offer different possibilities and different degrees of formality and social distance. This is, actually, a frequent mistake made by language learners, that is, they violate sociolinguistic rules of how to address the interlocutor. The Professor mentions the

t and Usted

Sie and du

German case, and the

in Spanish, but he also indicates that Asian languages are more elaborate in how to keep social distance when they address the interlocutor.

2. Calling on the Phone

The way people ANSWER THE PHONE or start a telephone conversation is different from language to language and from culture to culture.

Examples:

IN THE STATES, a phone call will probably begin with the caller apologizing to the person answering the phone, especially if it is a time of the day when the caller may be busy or may be disturbed. IN FRANCE, it is the same and even more probable for the person calling to apologize. Also, in France, callers are very likely to identify themselves and to check that they are calling to the right number. IN ENGLAND, this apology takes place amongst some groups and social classes. IN GERMANY, the first thing the person who answers the phone says is their first and last name, although they are not asked to do so. All these rules may be changing because of the mobile phone technology, for instance, which lets the one who answers know who is calling them.

77

Sociolinguistic Perspectives On Language Use In Immersion Classrooms

Most of the time, bilingual education and immersion programs do help in developing proficiency in the second language for students that will need it for one reason or the other, BUT the DEGREE OF SUCCESS depends on a NUMBER OF EXTERNAL FACTORS, such as: The special sociopolitical situation, A variation in the teaching resources, The extent of immersion, The status of the L2 outside the classroom, Etc. Extensive research has been done on CANADIAN IMMERSION in the last decades to find out about the SHORTCOMINGS in their implementation, as well as the level of proficiency attained by the students when they graduate.

PROBLEMS Of Immersion Classrooms

A DIGLOSSIC situation can easily develop. Which means that the LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION or SUPERordinate language ACTS AS THE FORMAL LANGUAGE VARIETY used with the teacher and for academic purposes and THE L1 is used for INFORMAL SPEECH AND SOCIAL INTERACTION with other classmates and acts as the SUBordinate language or vernacular, used for peer
interaction.

MAIN DIFFERENCE

between Diglossia in immersion classrooms and Diglossia in a speech community:

The former is NOT STABLE.

These special speech communities in classroom immersion CHANGE OVER TIME due to aspects such as COGNITIVE, SOCIAL or PERSONAL factors affecting this peculiar speech community. For example, they change as they become grownups and their social and cognitive resources become mature. DIFFICULTY when a person learns a LANGUAGE WIDELY SPOKEN IN THE WORLD, for example, English or Spanish: sociolinguistic rules MAY VARY from one place to the other. This changes when a language is used as a LINGUA FRANCA or LWC because a language for
78

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION is not the native language for any of the speakers and therefore NOT culturally BOUND.

ANOTHER ASPECT

of

language

learning

closely

related

to

sociolinguistics is that of DIALECT. In English, for instance, there are many dialects and varieties spoken in the world. Needless to say that SOME VARIETIES have MORE PRESTIGE THAN OTHERS and this can determine the variety or varieties that a given institution tries to teach or a language learner wants to learn = which leads us to the

conclusion

that when a language is taught, explicitly or implicitly some decisions are made regarding, for example, the variety of the language which is going to be taught.

Analysis of the EFL* Classroom Language

*English as a Foreign Language Classroom language is organized and purposive in constrast to casual conversation. In classroom language TURNTAKING is organized. Classroom language is an that often has nothing to do with REAL or GENERAL ENGLISH. Which means that: IDIOMATIC language or COMPLEX SYNTAX or SPECIFIC VOCABULARY such as

interaction

UNUSUAL form of spoken

classroom.
Classroom language

SLANG
is also

is

not always part of the ASYMMETRIC participants controls the

of an and therefore makes use of

part

ENCOUNTER. One of the direction of the dialogue TEACHER TALK.

Teacher Talk is a VARIETY OF LANGUAGE sometimes used by teachers when they are in the process of teaching, which differs in some ways such as: HIGHER PITCH, more careful INTONATION more careful ENUNCIATION, SHORTER SENTENCES, more frequent REPETITIONS and more QUESTIONS
79

than usual in colloquial speech.

The teacher is the ADDRESSEE, the knowledge transmitter and that is why, traditionally, ALL DESKS FACE THE TEACHER. A number of FACTORS need to be taken into account about the learning situation and the classroom context. Language learners are in a way hindered in their speech abilities in the sense that they are making use of a linguistic system that they do not control completely and therefore, they cannot always communicate fully.

Most usual pattern

1 Teacher Initiation

of classroom language learning:

3 Teacher Evaluation

2 Student Response

SUMMARY
classroom:

OF the above

3 COMMON MOVES

in the

(I)nitiation (by the teacher) (R)esponse (by the student) (F)ollow up (by the teacher)
Another IMPORTANT ASPECT of a language classroom is that in the classroom a language is used to talk about ANOTHER LANGUAGE (METAlanguage) rather than other subjects.

Implications for Language Teaching

What this section basically talks about are the PROBLEMS or I should say, the setbacks of learning a language in a classroom (learning it as a foreign language, or learning it in an immersion program that is, when this language is used as a means to teach other subjects.)

80

spoken interaction may fit them for their COMMUNICATION NEEDS INSIDE the classroom, BUT it does nothing or not enough to help them in real situations. This is called TASK-BASED INSTRUCTION and is organized around tasks rather than grammar or vocabulary.
He says that the practice the students get in IMMERSION PROGRAMS entail CONTENT-BASED instruction and is, in a

Students are expected to learn a second language THROUGH ITS USE IN TEACHING OTHER SUBJECTS, BUT recent research has
way, similar to ask-based instruction. shown that this sort of restricted sociolinguistic context LIMITS the possibilities of learners to interact and they develop RECEPTIVE SKILLS, but their

PRODUCTIVE SKILLS are LIMITED.

So,

What can be done to correct or improve these shortbacks of learning the language in a classroom or in an immersion program? Greater use of STUDENT-STUDENT including tasks and pair and group work.

interaction,

Pragmatics in Language Teaching

It is in RECENT YEARS that curricula and teaching materials have begun to include STRONG PRAGMATIC COMPONENTS. MANY PROPOSALS for instruction in various aspects of PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE are based on analysis of NATIVE SPEAKER DISCOURSE or on the COMPARISON of INTERLANGUAGE DATA, as well as CONTRASTING L1 and L2. NEVERTHELESS, most recommendations for instructions in pragmatics HAVE NOT been examined in action in the classroom, so we dont know how effective they are. MUCH RESEARCH IS NEEDED IN THIS RESPECT. KASPER and ROSE put forward that LANGUAGE LEARNERS CAN BENEFIT FROM POSITIVE TRANSFER OF COMMUNICATIVE ACTS that have been found CONSTANT across ethnolinguistically distant speech
81

communities as it is the case of the

apologies.
THIS SPEECH ACT comprises: An explicit apology An explanation The admission or denial of responsibility Offer of repair A promise of forbearance An expression of concern for the hearer.

speech act set for

A. As Chief Semantic formulas:

B. As Minor Strategies:

These strategies can be found in:

English French German Hebrew Thai and Japanese

Learners can ALSO get pragmalinguistic knowledge without any sort of

Another Way of Getting PRAGMALINGUISTIC Knowledge

if there is

an analogous FORMFUNCTION MAPPING between L1 and L2.

EXPLICIT INFORMATION,

An example:

The English modal past COULD and WOULD have formal functional and distributional equivalents in other Germanic languages such as DANISH AND GERMAN. According to Faerch and Kasper (1989), Danish and German learners of English WILL transfer ability questions from their L1. However evident this transfer of pragmalinguistic knowledge may be, it should not be assumed that language learners will in fact make the transfer, because: a. Sometimes the LINK between the strategy in the L1 and L2 may not be so evident and, b. Language learning involves a complex PSYCHOLINGUISTIC process and positive transfer does not always occur in the way that was expected. There is, then, a NEED for description of pragmalinguistic knowledge and its use in the classroom.
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Language in the Law

The study of LANGUAGE in the LEGAL context is a FIELD of study. The INTERFACE between

relatively NEW

SOCIOLINGUISTICS AND THE LAW is also known as FORENSIC LINGUISTICS. Forensic linguistics centers on the STUDY OF DISCOURSE IN LEGAL SETTINGS and TEXTS, from the courtroom to police or
lawyer interviews.

is NOT essentially different from any other communicative situation, ALTHOUGH the way language is used in legal settings can have enormous REPERCUSSIONS for the well being of individuals and communities.
Language use in legal contexts EARLY STUDIES in courtoom discourse examined the INFLUENCE of language factors on LEGAL DECISION-MAKING. They found out that

WITNESSES generally make use of 2 STYLES: 1. A POWERLESS style, incorporating a high frequency of intensifiers (e.g. really, great, much more, etc) and many hedges (e.g. kind of, like, in a way, etc); or 2. A POWERFUL style that LACKS the aforementioned features and therefore sounds more exact and confident.

The RESULTS OF THIS EARLY RESEARCH SHOWED THAT JURORS WERE INCLINED TO FIND WITNESSES MAKING USE OF A POWERFUL STYLE MORE CONVINCING AND TRUSTWORTHY THAN THOSE EMPLOYING A POWERLESS STYLE.
THIS INDICATED THAT WAS PRESENTED AND
THE THE

WAY

INFORMATION WITNESS EXPRESSED

THE

83

THEMSELVES DID HAVE OUTCOME OF THE CASE.

AN EFFECT

ON THE FINAL

Another FEATURE of the COURTROOM It is the CLEAR power IMBALANCE between the LAWYER and the WITNESS. The lawyer controls the discourse by longwinded questioning that require MINIMAL RESPONSE or simply NOT LETTING the witness tell his/her own story except in the way the LAWYER wants it to be told. An example of THE WAY THIS CAN BE ATTAINED is by using

questions with a TAG, questions

YES-NO

which markedly CONTROL THE ANSWER

(e.g. You rang her later on, didnt you?) in opposition to

broad WH

that let the witness say something in their own words (e.g. how, why, what, etc) List of some other linguistic strategies used by lawyers to control witnesses: Interruptions. Reformulation of witnesss descriptions of event or people (e.g. from my friends to a group of louts). Manipulation of lawyer silence, for example, with the use of strategic pauses. Nonrecognition of some witnesses need to use silence as part of the anwer; which can be particularly important, for example, for Australian Aboriginal witnesses. Incorporation of damaging presuppositions in questions (such as Did you all laugh while the care was being trashed?) Metalinguistic directives given to the witness (such as You must answer this question), and Management of topics in order to convey a particular impression to the jury. The amount of work in

EFFECT this branch PARAMOUNT.

That is why

forensic linguistics is increasing and THE

of linguistics has on peoples lives is

STUDIES

in applied sociolinguistics regarding

language

have undertaken main areas: 1. The communicative difficulties that occur from the INTERACTION between LAWYERS JUDGES VICTIMS WITNESSES ASPECTS etc
84

LEGAL

2. Problems deriving FROM UNDERSTANDING LEGAL TEXTS, because of the specific jargon as well as syntax used in them. 3. Communicative PROBLEMS FACED BY NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS WHO ARE WITNESSES, SUSPECTS AND DEFENDANTS IN THE LEGAL PROCESS, due to globalization, colonization and migration. This situation REQUIRES WELL-TRAINED INTEPRETERS who, apart from the knowledge of the language, they need to know the subtleties of pragmatics.

Standard English & World Englishes STANDARD ENGLISH: the variety of English used by the SOCIAL ELITE who are part of a socially, economically and politically dominant group in English-speaking countries. It is the
one preferred in the media and taught at schools. It is considered to be

PRESTIGIOUS.
In every language there is a standard variety. It is related to those groups of people that can be said to be literate and school-oriented. The standard is also associated with a geographic variation , in the regions where institutional and economic power is located or more developed. Defining and delimiting a standard is not always easy or even possible as different varieties can be considered a standard in distant countries or regions. For example, the Received Pronunciation which is generally considered as the standard in England is not the same as the English Standard in Ireland, Australia or the USA. There has also been a demand for other local standards, such as Indian, South African, Nigerian, Jamaican etc. In some occasions it is not clear whether a variety of English is to be considered as standard or not.

NON-STANDARD ENGLISH:

those varieties that do not conform to the standard spoken by formally educated native speakers in terms of pronunciation, grammar, idiomatic usage or choice of words.

Dispersal or Diaspora of English It can be divided in 2 phases: 1. THE FIRST DIASPORA = the migration of around 25,000 people from England, Scotland and Ireland to North America,
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Australia and New Zealand.

The varieties of English used nowadays in these places are not identical with those spoken by the early colonizers, but they share some features. These varieties have incorporated vocabulary from the indigenous languages they came into contact with.

2.

THE

SECOND DIASPORA =
th th

it tooks place in different

18 and 19 centuries WITH DIFFERENT RESULTS from the first one.

moments in the

The Spread of English in Africa THE SPREAD OF ENGLISH IN AFRICA took place differently for WEST Africa and EAST Africa. English in

WEST Africa
and the

slave trade development of pidgin and creole languages.

ENGLISH IN WEST AFRICA in linked to the

Since the 15th century, British traders traveled to and from the west coast of Africa but there was not settlement in the areas

now comprising Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon. This situation favored the use of English as lingua franca among the hundreds of indigenous languages and the English-speaking traders. Some of these pidgins and creoles are now widely used, mostly as a second language, for example,

Pidgin

Krio

in Sierra Leone and

Cameroon

in Cameroon.

English in EAST Africa In East Africa the situation of English was different because English colonizers did settle there from 1850 on in places like Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and

Zimbabwe. English there was used in government, education and the law.

In the second half of the 20th century, these countries gained independence and English was kept as an official language in some of them (Uganda, Zimbabwe and Malawi) and as a second language in others. An English-based creole, Swahili, is also used as a lingua franca in Uganda,
Kenya and Tanzania.
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English in Asia and The Pacific English was extensively introduced in South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sir Lanka, Nepal, etc) during the second half of the 18th century due to British trade interests in the area. At the SAME time, British influence extended to South-East Asia and the South Pacific due to the seafaring expeditions of
Cook and other expeditions, expanding to Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the Philippines and the Pacific Islands like Papua New Guinea where a new pidgin, called Tok Pisin, was developed.

MODEL For the spread of English

Developed in 1992 by Y. Kachru. field of sociolinguistics. He divided It has been most influential in the into

WORLD ENGLISHES which stand for:

3 concentric CIRCLES

The types of spread The patterns of acquisition The position of English in different cultural contexts.

These 3 circles/areas are: United States Australia New Zealand That is, the FIRST DIASPORA The English spoken in the INNER CIRCLE is considered as NORM-PROVIDING and shows clear patterns of variation both in terms of geographical and social differences.

1. The INNER Circle

Zambia Pakistan India West Africa East Africa etc That is, the SECOND DIASPORA The English spoken in the OUTER CIRLCE is considered as NORM-DEVELOPING.

2. The OUTER Circle

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The varieties spoken in the OUTER CIRCLE countries have been called

NEW ENGLISHES.

New Englishes
the Englishes of India, Nigeria, Singapore and Tanzania, together with many other outer-circle countries SHARE some superficial linguistic characteristics that make it convenient to describe them as a group DIFFERENT from the varieties in British, American, Australian, New Zealand, etc.
Although not all specialists agree with this term, it is certain that These New Englishes are not the only languages spoken in the OUTER circle countries and they may be spoken in different circumstances (mother tongue, first language, lingua franca etc). There can also be registers, domains and styles not covered by the speaker of English as a Second Language in the Outer Circle or even variation in terms of proficiency among the speakers.

It is simplified. Example: In the case of vowels the quality of vowels normally approximates to that of the other languages spoken by the speakers. The same happens with some consonants.

PHONOLOGY of New Englishes

Some features are shared by languages in the Outer Circle but not in the Inner Circle. Example: Tag questions, which are very simplified in New Englishes. In India, its no? or isnt it on all occasions, or not so? in East and West Africa.

SYNTAX of New Englishes

Singular words referring to plural concepts tend to be simplified and treated as ordinary singulars with a general sense. Example: Luggage, furniture, software, etc

LEXIS of New Englishes

3. The EXPANDING Circle

Spain France Japan

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Germany Etc That is, countries in which English is learned and used as a Foreign Language. The English spoken in the EXPANDING CIRCLE is considered as NORM-DEPENDENT. In the EXPANDING CIRCLE, there is a marked tendency to USE a standardized variety like There are

British or American.

2 stages

in the use of English in the Expanding Circle:

1. In the first one,

the clear influence exerted by one

one,

variety
2. In

favours the use of that variety. the second

the INTERCHANGEABLE INFLUENCE of these two varieties gives way to what is often called MID-ATLANTIC ENGLISH, that is, when
features from British AND American usage are MIXED because learners are exposed to BOTH VARIETIES. There is a

THIRD possibility: (3). Students who receive the influence of British English through their FORMAL education, but the influence of American English through the music and the media.

At the PRONUNCIATION level, if we add the influence of the

mother tongue to this possible mixture of American and British pronunciation, it is rather difficult and unlikely to achieve standardization.

In terms of LEXIS, there is a CLEAR RISK of false friends. This phenomenon results either in miscommunication OR in the use of words that acquire a new meaning in local English. Another interesting phenomenon is the increasing presence of

BORROWINGS
languages.

from English and how they influence other modern

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Glossary
ABORIGINAL LANGUAGES
The languages spoken by Aboriginal Australians before the arrival of English colonizers. Aboriginal English is the technical name given to a continuum of varieties of English ranging between standard Australian English and creoles used by Aboriginal Australians.

ACROLECT

When Decreolization takes place, i.e., a creole language coexists with a standard language and the latter exerts some influence on the former, a range of varieties develop. In such a situation a continuum appears in the language and speakers in that speech community show a range of different pronunciation features, which are usually associated with social stratification. The acrolect is the top and educated variety which is closer to the standard and further away from the creole. The acrolect can evolve into a New English.

AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH (AAVE):

(See Black English Vernacular) Sometimes called Black English Vernacular; Black English, or Ebonics, it refers to the language spoken in black communities in the United States. Some linguists consider it a significantly different linguistic system from the standard dialect since it does not conform to its pronunciation, grammatical structure, idiomatic usage, vocabulary etc. In the 1960s the issue of AAVE became a source of concern in the education system as it was perceived that black students performed below average in schools and the reason was thought to lie in their language skills. It was considered that Black English speakers had to face the double load of having to deal with linguistic differences in the classroom as well as in the course content. This issue has been a source of concern ever since.

ANALYTIC LANGUAGE

Languages can be classified into typological categories based on how words are formed. An analytic language is one in which words tend to be one syllable long with no affixes, as in Chinese or Vietnamese. The function of words in a sentence is shown primarily by word order. Analytic languages are also known as isolating languages. (See synthetic language.)

AUXILIARY LANGUAGE

It is a language that is used for a special purpose and has, among others, a specific functional goal. Pidgins are auxiliary languages but there are also instances of artificial auxiliary languages such as Esperanto, Business English, Maritime English and Air-Traffic Control English.
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These languages sometimes have a specialized jargon and that tends to be the most difficult part as they are not very complex from a syntactic point of view.

BASILECT

When Decreolization takes place, i.e., a creole language coexists with a standard language and the latter exerts some influence on the former, a range of varieties develop. In such a situation a continuum appears in the language and speakers in that speech community show a range of different pronunciation features, which are usually associated with social stratification. The basilect is the bottom variety which is closer to the creole and further away from the standard.

BIDIALECTAL

This term is closely related to bilingualism. In the same way that someone speaking two languages would be considered bilingual, someone who can use two dialects can be considered bidialectal (see Dialect). It all depends, of course, on what is considered a dialect, but the ground definition would be a variant of a language due to geographical differences. Nevertheless, being bidialectal implies that the differences between the concerned codes is not so great as to prevent mutual intelligibility.

BLACK ENGLISH VERNACULAR

(See also African American Vernacular English) This term refers to the non-standard English spoken by lower-class African Americans in US urban communities. This term substituted Black English which assumed that all black people used the same variety. It has been demonstrated that the differences that distinguish Black English from Standard English are paralleled in varieties of Black language spoken in other parts of the world such as the Caribbean and West Africa. In the UK, Black English is the result of the linguistic change from creole languages spoken by Afro-Caribbean immigrants which were influenced by English as a dominant language in the UK. This language has also become more English-like for the UK-born descendants of these former immigrants.

BORROWING

This term is used in comparative and historical linguistics to refer to words or phrases which have spread from one language or dialect and are used in another. Although less evidently and less frequently, borrowings can also occur at a different linguistic level such as syntactic. The borrowing language may have various ways of incorporating the foreign form into the recipient languages phonology, morphology and syntax. Borrowing can be originated by a wide range of different causes including: a. Close contact between two or more language codes in multilingual situations which favors the transfer of elements.
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b. The domination of some languages by others due to cultural, economic, political, religious or other reasons. c. A sense of need because technology or culture advances more rapidly in countries speaking certain languages. d. A sense of prestige associated with words or expressions coming from other languages. The difference between code-switching and borrowing is not always clear. There is no doubt in the case of historically transferred forms which have settled in the target language (e.g. words like castle, forest and tempest, come from French; and, words like call, egg, and law, come from Norse.) Code-switching, however, is spontaneous, affects all levels of linguistic structure simultaneously and in unstable as it depends on the context and the relationship between the speakers (e.g., the Spanglish that is often heard in places such as Gibraltar or Texas.) On some other occasions, borrowings may resemble code-switches because they maintain a foreign status and retain another languages syntax. (e.g., Fixed phrases from Latin: ad hoc, sine qua non, etc.)

CO-ORDINATE BILINGUAL
This term applies to someone who has learnt two languages and both languages have been learnt in different contexts, and they are kept distinct. It probably entails the existence of two meaning systems with two different words. This raises the question whether both languages develop together or separately in the brain. Neurolinguistic findings suggest that words are stored together in the case of early bilingualism, from childhood, but keep in separate places if bilingualism was developed later.

COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

This term was first introduced by the American anthropological linguist Dell Hymes in opposition to the chomskian conception of native speakers linguistic competence which referred to the linguistic intuitions of an idealized native speaker. Dell Hymes considered that the linguistic knowledge of grammar, pronunciation and lexicon is not enough as speakers also have other types of linguistic knowledge about how to use that language properly in society. This additional knowledge allows speakers to be sensitive to some determining factors such as the context, the type of intercolutor, and the register, for example. Coomunicative competence is acquired by native speakers of the language but it also needs to be acquired by non-native speakers, together with linguistic competence. The ethnography of speaking studies what is necessary to be communicatively competent in different speech communities.

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COMPOUND BILINGUAL

This term describes a situation in which one language has been learnt after the other and, therefore, through the first one. Both languages are closely connected as they are composed of a single meaning system with two words or labels for a single meaning. This raises the question whether both languages develop together or separately in the brain. Neurolingustic findings suggest that words are stored together in the case of early bilingualism, from childhood, but kep in separate places if bilingualism was developed later.

CORPUS PLANNING

This term refers to the actions undertaken in order to partially modify the nature or characteristics of a language in some way, for instance, decisions regarding what pronunciation to adopt from those available; decisions regarding what syntactic or morphological patterns to use; or, even what regional forms adopt as the standard. Corpus planning may also control the incorporation of new vocabulary. Corpus planning is closely related to status planning which refers to whether the status of a language could or should be raised or lowered.

DIALECT

Geographical variation affects languages in the form of dialects. This refers to how locality correlates with differences in the way people speak the language. People who speak a dialect often use different words or pronunciations for the same word. This type of variation may also affect syntactic and intonation patterns. Nowadays, dialect variation tends to diminish due to the fact that the media and the communication infrastructures have a homogenizing effect on languages. Sometimes the distinction between dialects and languages is not quite clear as sociopolitical factors may play an important role in the decision. It must be added that not even dialectologists agree on a single definition of dialect.

DIALECTOLOGY

It is the study and search for idiosyncratic features in language use within a geographical area. Dialectologists usually analyze the typical vocabulary, pronunciation, intonation patterns, and other characteristics, and try to match these with specific geographic areas.

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

This field of research refers to the analysis of linguistic units above the sentence level, i.e., texts or conversations. By analyzing written or aural texts, discourse analysts explore the different functions of language in social interaction.

DISCOURSE MARKER

These are words, phrases or sounds that have no content meaning but, however, play an important role in marking conversational structure,
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signaling conversational intentions and assuring cooperation on the part of listeners. Some discourse markers in English are: actually, really, Oh, Yeah, etc. Notice that the types of discourse markers and their uses frequently change across languages.

DOMAIN

This term refers to the combination of social and situational factors that generally influence the choice of code by speakers: code, dialect, location, register; style, topic, etc. For example, the language of home will definitely be different to the language used at a formal meeting at work. The same speaker will use different styles, an informal one for the former situation and a formal one for the latter. This concept is frequently used in studies of code-switching in multilingual contexts where various languages, dialects or styles are employed in different social settings.

DORMANT BILINGUAL

Bilinguals who do no longer use their languages but who acquired them in the past and reached a comprehensive knowledge and command.

ENDANGERED LANGUAGE

Languages normally develop, merge or die, and whenever a language is at risk because the number of speakers decreases we can say that that language is endangered. This can be the result of many factors but bad or adverse language planning is generally behind the progressive disappearance of a language. Economics, or rather the lack of importance of a language for business, can cause its death. Many Amerindian languages are in this situation at the moment.

ENGLISH-LEXIFIER CREOLE

(See Lexifier) This term refers to any creole which is English-based and therefore has received borrowings from English. Due to the post-creole continuum, that language may still be receiving words from English.

ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION

A term that in addition to the definition of the ethnography of speaking includes nonverbal aspects of communication, for instance, distance between speaker and hearer, eye contact, etc.

ETHNOGRAPHY OF SPEAKING

This branch of sociolinguistics studies the norms and rules for using language in social situations in different cultures. This is the reason why it is so important for cross-cultural communication and that also accounts for its relation to communicative competence. The ethnography of speaking deals with aspects such as the different types of language to be used under different circumstances; how to make requests; grant
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permission, or ask a favor; the degree of indirectness desired in certain situations; how to express your opinion or interrupt your interlocutor; how and when to use formulaic language (greetings, thanking, etc.), etc.

ETHNOMETHODOLOGY

This branch of sociology deals with the content of what is being said rather than the way it is being said. Ethnomethodologists do not study speech or language but the content of what is being said and, what is more, what is not being said because of shared knowledge or common-sense knowledge.

HERITAGE LANGUAGE

This is a language spoken by an immigrant group or individual in another country. For example, in Canada, a country largely composed of immigrants, there are close to 200 languages spoken by these types of groups. This term is to be distinguished from Indigenous Language which also refers to a minority language but in this case alludes to the natives of that land. In Canada, for instance, about 50 indigenous languages are spoken some of which are only spoken in that country, and none of which is considered an official language of Canada.

HYPERCORRECTION

A manifestation of linguistic insecurity, for instance, in a social group. It can manifest itself by the overuse of the socially desired forms in careful speech or reading, especially in an attempt to speak or write in an educated manner. For instance, a speaker of a non-standard variety of English may practice more self-correction when speaking formally and make use of more sophisticated vocabulary or a more clear pronunciation.

INFORMANT

In empirical research this term refers to any person who provides information to be analyzed and is consequently a source of data for the researcher. A native speaker providing insights of his/her use of language is an informant, but also a student who attends a class that is being observed to gather information about the students progress.

INTERFERENCE

In language teaching and learning this term is used to refer to any negative influence (e.g., lexical, syntactic, phonological, etc.) that one language exerts over the other, either the L1 on the L2 or vice versa. Interference usually hinders the learning process and causes a problem to the language learner whereas positive interlinguistic influence helps or favors the language learner.

LANGUAGE ACADEMY

In some countries like Spain (The Royal Academy), France (The French Academy), Ireland (The Irish Language Commission), Norway (The
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Norwegian Language Council), etc., there are institutions which play a role in safeguarding standards, so they try to regulate the evolution of the language by means of protecting the language from foreign unwanted influences and in a way, by trying to control the evolution of language. This sort of control is more likely to be successful in written language than in spoken language and the task is rather difficult these days when the media exerts considerable influence on languages all over the world and globalization threatens the preservation of minority languages and the integrity of others.

LANGUAGE ATTRITION

Gradual language loss. This term can refer to the loss of a mother tongue that has been acquired and due to lack of use probably because it is not the language of the community it is gradually forgotten. This happens quite frequently among the second and the third generation of immigrants. In second language learning, it can refer to the loss of a language that was learnt through formal instruction but gradually forgotten after a period of time.

LANGUAGE CONFLICT

In multilingual situations languages are frequently in some sort of conflict caused by ideological, political or economical reasons. Some issues typically generate problems in multilingual settings such as decisions regarding the election of an official language, the choice of a given language for formal education, or the selection of a language to be used in courts, among others. Another typical situation of language conflict occurs when two or more languages compete for status in society. Many current language conflicts result from different social status and governements preferential treatment of the domain language.

LANGUAGE ELECTION/SELECTION

Some developing countries, at some point, need to make decisions with regards to their sociopolitical evolution and their international recognition. For instance, Mozambique adopted Portuguese, the former colonial language, as its official language. Something similar happened to India, which in spite of an initial desire to detach from their former colony, later assumed English as an additional official language. These decisions are normally made for practical purposes either because the nation-state needs a agglutinative language to overcome a wide linguistic variety and/or because some advantages are seen in the possibility of having a LWC as an official language.

LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS (or functions of language)

Language is frequently described as having THREE MAIN FUNCTIONS: descriptive, expressive, and social. The descriptive function of language is to carry factual information. The expressive function of language is to provide information about the speakers personal feelings, preferences, etc.
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And the social function of language serves the purpose of maintaining social relations between people.

LANGUAGE LOSS
This term refers to a situation where language shift in a speech community ends in the total shift to another language. For instance, imagine a group of immigrants that go to a new country and, gradually, in one or two generations blend into the new speech community as their language becomes eventually extinct (e.g., the language loss of Dutch immigrants in Australia). This phenomenon would be referred as language death if a language shift ends with the total loss of a language from the world, i.e., all speakers shift to a different one (e.g., Manx on the Isle of Man).

LANGUAGE POLICY DIVISION

This department of the EU is located in Strasburg and has responsibility for actions concerning the progress of language education policies within the EU member states. This Division is in charge of the elaboration of guidelines and policies related to language learning and the development of policy planning regarding linguistic diversity. Among other responsibilities, they a) assist member states with policy evaluation and depiction (at national and local levels); b) elaborate instruments for policy analysis; c) provide assistance regarding linguistic minorities language education; etc.

LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION (or Language revival)

Language planning efforts made in order to revive a language that because of social or economic reasons has decreased in number of speakers or which was even lost (see Language death). A language shift can lead to the spread of a dominant language and the loss of the minority language. The reasons underlying Language Revitalization can vary but they are often caused by a groups search for cultural and/or ethnic identity of a group. The best example of a successful Language Revitalization is Hebrew which was a classical liturgical language for centuries and is now a living language. An instance of a not so successful program to revitalize a language is Irish in Ireland where government efforts and programs have tried to reintroduce the use of Irish in schools without much success.

LANGUAGE SPREAD

It consists of an increase in the use of a language or language variety for a given communicative function by a specific social or ethnic group. Language spread can either refer to a traditional language within a speech community or a language that is adopted as lingua franca or Language of Wider Communication, as has been the case of English during the 20th century. Languages also spread within a nation as a new mother tongue instead of as an additional language and in that case we would
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rather talk about language shift. Extreme cases can even lead to language death as has happened with the spread of Spanish and English in America resulting in the loss of many Amerindian languages.

LEXIFIER

(See English-lexifier creole) This term refers to the language from which most of the vocabulary has been taken to form a pidgin or creole. English, French, Spanish and Portuguese have been lexifier languages as a consequence of the former colonial past of countries speaking native languages. The contact between one or more of these European languages and a native language favored the development of pidgins and creoles in different parts of the world.

LINGUA FRANCA

It is a language which is usually used by speakers who have different mother tongues and, therefore, need a common language to communicate among them. Lingua francas have existed since ancient times (e.g. Greek koine, Arabic, Mandarin, etc.) but the most remarkable example nowadays is English, which is spoken by some people as a mother tongue, many other use it as a second language, and still others as a foreign language, but, as a rule, it serves as a lingua franca for international and intercultural communication. In spite of being widely used, the knowledge of different speakers may vary considerably depending, quite often, on the domains where the language is to be used and the fuctions it is meant to accomplish.

LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE

It refers to lexical, phonological, syntactical knowledge and skills and other dimensions of language as system, independently of the sociolinguistic value of its variations and the pragmatic functions of its realizations. This component relates to the range and quality of knowledge (e.g. in terms of phonetic distinctions made or the extent and precision of vocabulary) but also to cognitive organization and the way this knowledge is stored (activation, recall, etc.)

LANGUAGE OF WIDER COMMUNICATION (LWC)

This term is equivalent to lingua franca. Two instances of LWC in the times of the Roman Empire are Latin in the west and koine Greek in the east. After World War II, English became a LWC. (See lingua franca). It is a language used by speakers of different languages to communicate with each other.

MACRO-SOCIOLINGUSTICS

This term refers to the study of sociolinguistic aspects in large groups of speakers as opposed to micro-sociolinguistics that studies areas related to small groups. Macro-sociolinguistics deals with the relationship between
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sociological factors and language as, for example, language planning, language shift and multilingual matters.

MESOLECT
When Decreolization takes place, i.e., a creole language coexists with a standard language and the latter exerts some influence on the former, a range of varieties develop. In such a situation a continuum appears in the language and speakers in that speech community show a range of different pronunciation features, which are usually associated with social stratification. The mesolect is the intermediate variety, or varieties, which is between the creole and the standard.

MICRO-SOCIOLINGUISTICS

The study of sociolinguistics in relation to small groups of speakers, speech communities or the speech of individuals. This branch of sociolinguistics deals, for example, with the analysis of face-to-face interaction and discourse analysis. This term is used in opposition to macro-sociolinguistics which refers to larger scale study of language in society.

MINORITY LANGUAGE

These are languages that live in the shadow of a culturally dominant language which puts the minority language at risk. As a result of political or social factors, these languages are very often not the languages of all areas of activity by native speakers as they can be excluded from certain spheres as administration, education,, or mass media (e.g., Scottish Gaelic is widely used in church but marginally in other social gatherings). These factors often require speakers of minority languages to be bilingual as they will need to operate in at least two languages. Minority languages may be or may have been at some point in their history at risk either by political decisions affecting their maintenance or by the lack of vocabulary to cover certain topics. Some actions can be undertaken to promote minority languages by means of language planning and language policies. Some instances of minority languages are Irish, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic which exist in the shadow of English, or Breton in the shadow of French.

NATIVE SPEAKER

A person who has spoken a language since early childhood. This term is rather controversial in linguistics because it assumes the existence of a speaker that can be appealed in questions or correct usage because she/he is reported to represent the authority that can determine correct or deviant usage. Native and non-native are not clear cut homogeneous categories as variation depending on individual factors (origin, education, etc) is enormous and all speakers are, in turn, native speakers of a given language or dialect. In second language learning, they have traditionally represented the model to follow in the process of learning but this has proven to be inefficient approach as the processes of first and second language learning
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are naturally and necessarily different. Moreover, recent studies have shown that, contrary to popular belief, native speaker introspection is an unreliable guide to actual usage.

NEW ENGLISHES

This term refers to any of the varieties of English that have emerged as a consequence of the ample spread of this language during the colonial period. Examples of New Englishes are the English spoken in India, Kenya, Singapore or Jamaica, among others. Also known as World English, it does not emphasize the dichotomy between native and nonnative use but embodies the recognition of English as an international language that shows formal and functional variation in different contexts, as a result of its use in multilingual and multicultural contexts.

OBSERVERS PARADOX

A term developed by William Labov to refer to a phenomenon that takes place when doing sociolinguistic research. The issue is raised when the sociolinguist needs to gather data from a single speaker or a group of speakers in a speech community. The problem is that observing and gathering (for instance, recording) that speech is difficult because as soon as the informants realize that they are being observed they can and consciously or unconsciously they generally do change their speech and make use of less natural talk (e.g., more careful pronunciation, less idiomatic expressions, a variety further away from the vernacular, etc) What really interests sociolinguists is the way people speak when they do not know that they are being observed.

PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE

This term is concerned with the functional use of linguistic resources (production of language functions, speech acts, etc.) used on aural communication or scripts of interactional exchanges. It also concerns the mastery of discourse, cohesion and coherence, the identification of text types and forms, irony, parody, etc.

PRAGMATICS

It is a branch of linguistics that studies the use of language in communication, i.e., the relationship between utterances and the contexts and situations in which they are used. Within pragmatics, discourse analysis studies language in discourse.

PROFICIENCY

It is someones skill in using a language, generally as a second language. This term describes the degree of skill that someone has attained in a language and his/her ability over the four basic skills: speaking, reading, writing and listening.

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(PROTO)-INDO-EUROPEAN

Languages can be classified genetically. This classification involves comparing the structure of different languages in order to show common parentage. Indo-European is the best-known language family. The major Indo-European subgroups are: Indo-Iranian, Armenian, Albanian, Anatolian, Hellenic, Italic, Celtic, Baltic, Slavic, and Germanic. English belongs to the Anglo-Frisian group of the West German branch of the Germanic subfamily. An unattested (reconstructed) language is indicated by the term proto-.

SABIR

This was a lingua franca used in the Mediterranean area from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. It is interesting to know that this language has been kept stable for centuries in spite of not having native speakers and being just a contact language used by speakers that do not share a common language. The origin of pidgins is not clear and there is an ongoing debate about it, but some specialists, the monogeneticists, suggest that all pidgins based on a European language derive from this lingua franca.

SOCIOLINGUSTIC COMPETENCE

This term refers to the sociocultural conditions of language use. Through its sensitivity to social conventions (rules of politeness, norms governing relations between generations, sexes, classes and social groups, linguistic codification of certain fundamental rituals, etc), the sociolinguistic component strictly affects all language communication between representatives of different cultures, even though participants may often be unaware of its influence.

SOCIOLINGUISTIC INTERVIEW

It is a technique to collect speech samples to gather information about a given speakers, or group of speakers, in a speech community. This qualitative method of research is of prime importance for the sociolinguist s it provides face-to-face interaction with the informant with a technique that allows recording for later analysis.

SOCIOLINGUISTIC RELATIVITY

When people coming from different social and linguistic backgrounds interact, quite naturally they tend to analyse and judge each others system and taking their own system as a reference. The more interaction with different cultures, dialects, registers, etc, the more referents speakers will have and, therefore, the more capable they will be of perceiving their culture and way of thinking as just one of many. This way, speakers may be able to understand and shape their own perception of cultural and sociolinguistic identities. Sociolinguistic relativity entails the acknowledgement of sociolinguistic diversity.
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SOCIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE

This term refers to a branch of sociolinguistics that studies large scale processes of interaction between language and its use in society. Also referred to as macro-sociolinguistics, it deals with the relationship between sociological factors and language, especially language choice. Some of the issues studied by the sociology of language are language planning, multilingualism, and language shift.

SPEECH ACT

It is an utterance that represents a functional unit in interaction. Utterances can have a locutionary meaning or an illocutionary meaning. The former refers to the basic literal meaning of the utterance which is conveyed by the particular words and structures used. The latter refers to the effect the utterance has on the listener, or the text on the reader.

STATUS PLANNING

This term refers to actions aiming at raising or lowering the status of a language or dialect and which basically refers to decisions regarding the selection of particular varieties for particular purposes or communicative functions. Status planning is closely related to corpus planning as language planning policies can never be solely corpus-oriented or statusoriented.

SYNCHRONIC VARIATION

This term refers to the instances and characteristics of variation which occur at the present time in language. That is, they way variation affects language at a given time in history, for instance: gender, register, style, etc. Diachronic variation, however, looks at language from a historical point of view and considers linguistic change through time.

SYNTHETIC LANGUAGE

In inflectional languages words have a number of suffixes which vary their shape according to the word they are added to. A single suffix can express a number of different grammatical concepts, as in Latin. Synthetic languages are also known as inflectional. (See analytic languages).

TURN-TAKING

In conversation analysis this term describes the fundamental mechanisms on which conversation is based, that is, the right and/or obligation to speak with the interlocutor. General conversation patterns are arranged in a way that only one speaker speaks at a time but the way turn-taking is organized depends on cultural specific factors. Conversation needs to be two-way. Otherwise it turns into a monologue.

VARIETY

This term is used to refer to a sort of language that is considered as a separate entity for some reason but which generally shares a great
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deal of common features with a standard or other varieties. Therefore, it is not considered a different language. A given dialect, accent, style or register can be considered a variety, which is a term preferred by linguists as it is less loaded. Language varieties can be very wide spread and standardized such as Australian English or American English but they can also be very localized such as Cockney (in London) and Scouse (in Liverpool).

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