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…..

STYLE AND REGISTER

• STYLE AND REGISTER

• Language Varieties

• – Slang and Jargon –

• Style

• Style is language variation which reflects changes in situational factors, such as addressee, setting, task or topic.

• Style is often analyzed along a scale of formality.

• The level of formality is influenced by some factors like the various differences among the participants, topic, emotional involvement, etc.

(Janet Holmes, 2001)

• Addressee as an Influence on Style

• Age of addressee è People generally talk to the very young and to the very old è For example: Baby-talk

• Social background of addressee è People talk differently to the higher class and to the lower class è For example: The pronunciation of newsreaders on different radio station

(Janet Holmes, 2001)

• Context, Style and Class
(Some Examples)

• Formal contexts and social roles

• Different style within an interview

• Colloquial style or the vernacular

• The interaction of social class and style

(Janet Holmes, 2001)

• Register

• Registers are specific sets of vocabulary items associated with different occupational group or the language of groups of people with common interests or jobs.

• For example: the language used by airplane pilots, surgeons, bank managers, jazz fans, commentators, etc.

(Janet Holmes, 2001: 246)

• Slang

• Slang is a label that is frequently used to denote certain informal or faddish usages of nearly anyone in the speech community

• Slang is special vocabulary used by any set of persons of a low or disreputable character; language of a low and vulgar type (Oxford Dictionary).

• Nowadays, slang is often applied to aspects of the language of adolescents or others who are perceived as speaking non-standard varieties of the language.

(Contemporary Linguistics, 1997:555)

• Slang

• Slang exist alongside jargon and argot

• The use of slang plays a major role in the maintenance of the gang’s group identity.

• It separates the in-group, who use the slang, from the rest of society who do not and are not part of the gang.

• For example: Glasgow slang, American university (UCLA) slang, etc.

(Contemporary Linguistics, 1997: 555)

• The Examples of Glasgow Slang

Slang

• Crap-bag è

• Punters è

• Malky è

• Snide gear è

• Sleekit è

• Peter è

Meaning

• Coward

• Fellow gang members

• Weapon

• Unfashionable clothes

• Cunning

• Police or prison cell

• Slang

• Slang is area of vocabulary which reflects a person’s age.

• Current slang is the linguistic prerogative of young people and generally sounds odd in the mouth of an older person.

• It signals membership of a particular group – the young.

• For example: spiffing, topping, super, groovy, fab, etc.

(Janet Holmes, 2001: 167)

• Jargon and Argot

• The terms jargon and argot are often used almost interchangeably to refer to “obscure or secret language” or “language of a particular occupational group”.

• The term argot arose in the 17^th century as the label for a speech variety used by French beggars and street merchants and later was applied to the secret language of criminals.

(Contemporary Linguistics, 1997: 557)

• Jargon and Argot

• It is a label for speech varieties associated with social groups whose members wish or must conceal themselves or some aspects of their communication from non-members.

• Jargon or argot is restricted to a smaller number and is more obscure to outsiders than slang.

(Contemporary Linguistics, 1997: 555-557)

• The Examples of Jargon and Argot

• Cockney rhyming slang è English argot used among navies in London’s East End in the 19^th century (bees & honey è money, merry-go-round èpound sterling)

• Gay lingo è used among homosexual co.

• Hacker jargon (freeware, happiware, etc.)

• Cyberspace jargon (www, mailing list, e-mail, etc.).

(Contemporary Linguistics, 1997: 558-561)

REGIONAL AND SOCIAL DIALECT

¢ REGIONAL AND SOCIAL DIALECT

¢ Evidence

¢ You can often make some pretty good guesses about various characteristics of the speaker, even though the speaker had said nothing explicitly about himself/herself.

¢ When the caller (on the phone) is an adult it is usually easy to tell whether a speaker is female or male. If the person has a distinctive regional accent, then their regional origins will be evident even from a short utterance. And it may also be possible to make a reasonable guess about the person’s socio-economic or educational background.

¢ Basic Concepts

¢ Language and Dialect è ambiguous terms

¢ Ex. Although Hindi & Urdu are the same languages, but for political and religious reasons are regarded as the different ones.

¢ What about Indonesian and Malaysian?

¢ Basic Concepts

} Language: some unitary system of linguistic communication which subsumes a number of mutually intelligible varieties.

} Variety: a specific set of ‘linguistic items’ or ‘human speech patterns’ (sound, words, grammatical features) which we can uniquely associate with some external factor (a geographical area/a social group. Ex. Standard English, lower-class New York speech, etc.

¢ Basic Concepts

¢ Dialect: a subordinate variety of a language. Ex. British English, American English, Ngapak Javanese, Solo Javanese, etc.

¢ Vernacular: the speech of a particular country/region or informal speech style or the common, everyday language or ordinary people in a particular locality.

¢ Koine: a form of speech shared by people of different vernaculars or a regional dialect that has become the common language of a larger area.

¢ Regional Dialect

¢ Reg. Dialect: A variety of language that is spoken in a geographical area for many hundred of years as seen in differences in pronunciations, in the choices and forms of words, and in syntax (and distinctive local ‘colorings’).

¢ Ex. Ngapak Javanese, Yogya Javanese.

¢ What about Inglish (Indonesian English)? Javlish (Javanese English)?

¢ An Example of New Zealander’s Accent

¢ ‘Gidday,’ said the young man who opened the door. ‘What can I do for you?’

¢ ‘I’ve called to see me old mate Don Stone,’ said the visitor.

¢ ‘Oh he’s dead now mate,’ said the young man.

¢ The visitor was about to express condolences, but ……

¢ The young man, in fact, had said, ‘Here’s dad now mate’, as his father came in the gate.

¢ Different Pronunciation

¢ Different Vocabulary

¢ American or British?

American or British Grammar??

¢ Social Dialect

¢ Social Dialect: Differences in speech associated with various social groups or classes.

¢ Various factors to determine social position è occupation, place of residence, education, income, racial origin, cultural background, caste, etc.

¢ Ex. Black English, Javanese speech level

¢ Received Pronunciation (RP)

¢ RP: the accent of the best educated and most prestigious members of English society.

¢ It was promoted by the BBC for decades. It is essentially a social accent, not a regional one. Indeed, it conceals a speaker’s regional origin.

¢ Standard English

¢ Just as RP, standard English is a social dialect.

¢ It is the dialect used by well-educated English speakers throughout the world.

¢ It is the variety used for national news broadcasts and in print, and it is the variety generally taught in English-speaking schools.

¢ Two Javanese words at Different Stylistic Levels

¢ Summary

¢ Accents are distinguished from each other by pronunciation alone. Different dialects are generally distinguishable in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.

¢ Regional dialects are geographically based; social dialects originate from social groups and depend on a variety of factors.