LANGUAGE CHOICE IN MULTILINGUAL COMMUNITIES

l LANGUAGE CHOICE IN MULTILINGUAL COMMUNITIES

l Introduction

l Monolingualism: the ability to use a single language code è very common in many parts of the Western world.

l Bilingualism and Multilingualism è are normal in most of cultures in the world (e.g. East, Asia)

l Choosing your Variety or Code
(Kalala’s Linguistic Repertoire)

l What is Your Linguistic Repertoire?

l Informal Indonesian

l Ngoko Javanese

l Arabic

l English

l Bahasa Planet

l Domains of Language Use

l Certain social factors – who you are talking to, the social context of the talk, the function and topic of the discussion – turn out to be important in accounting for language choice.

l A number of such typical interactions have been identified as relevant in describing patterns of code choice in many speech communications è domains of language use.

l Domains of Language Use

l Other Social Factors Affecting Code Choice

l Leakage è the code associated with one domain is ‘leaking’ into another.

l Example: At home, people often discuss work or school, for instance, using the language associated with those domains, rather than the language of the family domain.

l Other Social Factors Affecting Code Choice

l Social Distance (Stranger or friend)

l Relative Status Relationship (Doctor - Patient)

l The Degree of Formality (e.g. at a formal ceremony)

l Function or Goal of the Interaction (e.g. getting a bargain)

l Diglossia

1. Two distinct varieties of the same language are used in the community with one regarded as a high (H) variety and the other a low (L) variety.

2. Each variety is used for quite distinct functions; H and L complement each other.

3. No one uses the H variety in everyday conversation.

l Diglossia

l Diglossia: sosial and institutionalised bilingualism, where two varities are required to cover all the community’s domains.

l Example of Diglossia: Arabic –speaking countries, in Haiti, in Eggenwil, Swiotzerland.

l H and L in Diglossic Communication

l Polyglossia

l Polyglossia è a useful term for describing situations where more than two distinct codes or varieties are used clearly distinct purposes or in clearly distinguishable situations.

l Example of Polyglossia: Kalala’s linguistic repertoire.

l Key Words

l Language Choice

l Multilingual Societies

l Domains of Language Use

l Diglossia è High and Low

l Polyglossia

Think about yours…..