11 Bilingualism

Mother tongue
In other words: native language, first language, dominant language We can clarify the issue with the help of 4 criteria: o Origin: the language/s learnt first, or in which the first longlasting verbal contacts happened o Identification: by the speaker) External: the language one is identified with (this is decided by other people) o Competence: the best-known language o Function: the most-used language o Monolingualism: o people who speak only one language o living in a community that speaks that same language the four criteria are all met by the one language Bilinguals and multilinguals o About half of the world grows up speaking more than one language o They can have more than one mother tongue o their mother tongue can change during their lifetime Internal: the language one identifies with (this is decided

Language rights
Human rights include the right to use ones mother tongue, because language and identity are closely linked. However, this right is often violated: minority groups are not always allowed to use their own language in public administration or in education. Thats a problem of the society Allowing the use of minority languages in education and in official situations is of course more expensive some countries restrict the use of minority languages as a matter of official policy. The official language policy of the European Union: linguistic and cultural diversity is good and should be maintained. All the 23 languages of the member countries are official languages in the Union. Documents must be translated into all the 23 languages

Language revitalization and shifts

Official policies forbidding the use of certain languages can lead to a language being forgotten or not used. Minority language groups may lose their original mother tongue and shift to the majority language. o Africans in America, Scots Gaelic, all the pidgins and creoles in the world There are programmes designed to prevent language shift or to revitalize a language (to bring a language back to life) o Welsh in Wales, Gaelic in Ireland, or Hungarian among the Csngs. Hebrew in Israel. o Even when a language does not die, it may change, and the situations in which it is used may change. Hungarians living outside the borders of Hungary tend to speak a variety (dialect) of Hungarian which is influenced by the majority language.

Language choice
Bilinguals can often choose which language to use Their choice may depend on many things o language proficiency o the including prestige of the language or of its users o the relationship between the participants o in a speech event etc There are various domains of use (family, workplace, public life, school etc.) (spheres of life)

The study of bilingualism

o A number of linguistic disciplines share an interest in issues of bilingualism o Sociolinguistic o psycholinguistics (the bilingual mind how bilinguals learn two languages, how these languages are stored in their minds, how they activate their two languages and how they keep them apart, or how they mix them.) o neurolinguistics o Contact linguistics a branch of sociolinguistics studies the effects of one language on another in bilingual communities.

Misconceptions about bilingualism

o Misconception 1. True bilinguals never mix their languages; people who mix their languages can be considered only semi-lingual since they can speak neither language like a native speaker. o Misconception 2. A child needs to be fluent in one language before it should be taught a second language. But only very young children can become maximally bilingual (i.e. close to native speaker proficiency in both languages), after a certain age this is no longer possible. o Misconception 3. Two languages confuse a child and growing up bilingual leads to lower intelligence. o Misconception 4. There is no need to teach immigrant children their new language, they will pick it up easily on the playground.

Mixing languages: Code switching

Normally, bilinguals speaking one of their languages often use words, phrases or sentences from their other language. Such code switching may be due to many factors: some deficiency in their language competence (lg learner), or (more often) the wish to achieve certain special effects, to show solidarity or irony, to express certain attitudes etc. Some bilinguals consciously avoid code switching.

When bilinguals decide to speak only one of their languages, they activate that language and deactivate the other one. In this case they are in the monolingual mode. When they are in a situation where both their languages may be used they switch to the bilingual mode, i.e. both their languages are activated. However, even in the monolingual mode they may be influenced by the other language, and code switching may appear. (You may also use some English words when you are speaking Hungarian!) Code switching is a natural contact effect.

Critical period and order of acquisition

Neurolinguistics: Findings so far have been contradictory, indicating both shared and divergent representations of languages in the bilingual brain. One question of great interest is whether or not there is a critical period for language learning. Recent findings suggest that early bilinguals show similar activity in certain areas in the brain while late bilinguals show a different pattern of activation.

Cognitive disadvantage
o Peal and Lambert came to the opposite conclusion: bilingualism is linked to some cognitive advantage. o Bilinguals scored significantly higher on most measures of verbal and nonverbal intelligence. o Bilingual children who have developed both their languages have a better understanding of language, increased language awareness, and are able to use language more effectively. Bilinguals have advantages in mental flexibility and concept formation, memory, language awareness, and creativity. o Recently discovered positive effects: cognitive decline in old age is slower in bilinguals.

Natural acquisition
o Bilingual children often struggle to achieve their full potential in school. Despite the potentially positive effects of bilingualism, bilingual children may score lower in various tests. o Children seem to pick up basic conversational skills with ease this can be mistakenly interpreted by teachers / parents as native-like language skills appropriate for their age group. o However, school subjects in a second language require academic language skills. o Numerous studies have confirmed that learning academic language skills takes significantly longer. o These issues need to be addressed in curriculum design and teaching practice. o Natural acquisition needs no support: academic language skills does