Bilingualism

Introduction to Applied Linguistics

Vivian Raithel

What Is Bilingualism??

Please try to come up with possible

answers!

Broad Definition

'a speaker of one language who

can speak in another language'

this definition fits the person who speaks two

languages equally fluently
it also fits the person who learns another
language and is able to construct complete
and meaningful utterances in the new
language

this would also apply to a person who has

not yet acquired a full grammar for a
language but may still be able to construct
meaningful utterances in that language

Narrow Definition

'a person with a native-like control

of two languages'

This would of course exclude a beginning

language student

this would also exclude the person who

easily comprehends but does not produce
utterances in a second language

it would also exclude the fluent speaker who

has a foreign accent

it implies that a person has two mother

tongues

But...

'Native-like' is not a very precise

term
What is it? What do you think?

Age of Learning Is Not Considered

We distinguish between
- infant
- child
- adolescent
- adult

Can someone become native-like in

another language at any agae?

Problem with Broad and Narrow

Defnition:

both extremes are rather unsatisfactory

a more satisfactory definition of bilingualism is

one by Grosjean (1982):
'the most relevant factor is the regular use of
two languages'

this implies a system or two of rules for

interpreting and possibly producing
utterances in both languages

Coordinate Bilingualism....

The linguistic elements (words, phrases) in

the speaker's mind are all related to their
own unique concepts
That means, a German-English bilingual
speaker of this type has different
associations for 'Hund' and for 'dog'

....Coordinate Bilingualism

This type of bilingual speaker usually

belongs to different cultural communities
that do not frequently interact
These speakers are known to use very
different intonation and pronunciation
features, and not seldom assert the feeling
of having different personalities attached to
each of their languages

Compound Bilingualism....

Speakers of this type attach most of their

linguistic elements to the same concepts
For them, a 'Hund' and a 'dog' are two
words for the same concept

....Compound Bilingualism

Those speakers are reported to have

less extreme differences in their
pronunciations
Such speakers are often found in
minority language communities, or
amongst fluent L2-speakers

Subordinate Bilingualism

The linguistic elements of one of the

speaker's languages are only available
through elements of the speaker's other
language

This type is typical of, but not restricted to,

beginning L2-learners

Coordinate and compound bilinguals are

reported to have a higher cognitive
proficiency

They are found to be better L2-learners at a

later age than monolinguals

The early discovery that concepts of the

world can be labeled in more than one
fashion puts those bilinguals in the lead

Distractive Bilingualism
When acquisition of the first language

is interrupted and insufficient, or

unstructured language input follows
from the second language, as often
happens with immigrant children, the
speaker can end up with two languages
both mastered below the monolingual
standards.

Acquisition
Are children of bilingual parents
linguistically at a risk?
2. Can their brains cope?
3. Will they grow up semilingual?
1.

Acquisition
There is no justification for this
pessimism!
2. By the time bi- or trilingual children enter
school the vast majority have reached
the same stage of linguistic development
as have their monolingual peers
1.

But!!
The process of learning two
languages is not exactly the same as
the acquisition of one language

Bilingual Acquisition....
1. The child builds up a list of words (as
does the monolingual child) but the list
contains words from both languages it
is rare for these words to be translation
equivalents of each other

....Bilingual Acquisition....
2.when sentences begin to contain more
that two or more elements, words from
both languages are used within the
same sentence the amount of mixing
rapidly declines (e.g. from 30 % at the
begin of the year to 5 % at the end of
the year)

....Bilingual Acquisition....
3.As vocabulary grows in each language,

translation equivalents develop

- but the acquisition of separate sets of
grammatical rules takes longer

....Bilingual Acquisition
- for a while a singe system of rules seems to
be used for both languages until finally the
two grammars diverge
- at this time the bilingual child is aware of the
fact that the two languages are not the same

Code-Switching....

This term describes the process of

'swapping' between languages

In many cases, code-switching is motivated

by the wish to express loyalty to more than
one cultural group, as holds for many
immigrant communities in the New World

....Code-Switching....

Code-switching may also function as a

strategy where proficiency is lacking

Such strategies are common if one of the

languages is not very elaborated, like
Welsh, Frisian, Sorbian and other minority
languages, or if the speakers have not
developed proficiency in certain lexical
domains, as in the case of immigrant
languages

....Code-Switching....

If a speaker has got a positive attitude to both

languages and to code-switching, many
switches can be found, even within the same
sentence.
If, however, the speaker is reluctant to use
code-switching, as in the case of a lack of
proficiency, he might knowingly or
unknowingly try to camouflage his attempt by
converting elements of one language into
elements of the other language.

....Code-Switching

This results in speakers using words like

'courrier noir' in French, instead of the proper
word for blackmail, 'chantage.'

Acceptance

Important for bilingualism is that both

languages are accepted emotionally and
linguistically

If this is not the case, the acquisition is more

difficult for the child

Language Combinations

It does not matter at all which two languages

are learned at a young age