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The concept of sociolinguistics and its focus on multilingualism as a result of language contact. It discusses various language contact situations, such as in linguistic archipelagos, colonial expansion, and individual pockets of minority languages. The document also covers the classification of bilingualism, including early and late bilingualism, and the functions of language use. Speech accommodation theory is also introduced. useful for university students studying sociolinguistics, linguistics, or language and culture.
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1.1 Language Contact Sociolinguistics as a discipline has stressed the diversity in language use and this is a way to pursue multilingualism, which is the consequence of language contact. In the study of language contact, all the major issues in the sociolinguistic study of the so-called monolingual speech communities^1 reappear in enlarged form. There are many language contact situations and some historical situations has to be mentioned – a. Language contact in the linguistic archipelago : Many often unrelated languages, each with few speakers, spoken in the same ecosphere. This socio-linguistical characteristic of extensive multilingualism result in the widespread diffusion of words & elements of grammar from language to language. For instance, the Amazon basin & the Australian desert, where many aboriginal peoples still live in tribal groups. b. More or less stable borders between language families : In India, extensive borrowing is reported due to the border running between the Indo-European and Dravidian languages. On the other hand, though the border runs between the Romance and Germanic languages through Switzerland^2 and Belgium^3 borrowing does not seem to exist in Switzerland, and only marginally in Belgium. c. European colonial expansion : At times, new varieties of the colonial languages were created, resembling the original but also in often unrecognizable form – the Creole languages of the Caribbean, West Africa & the Pacific. d. Individual pockets of speakers of minority languages, cut off by the surrounding national languages : This often reflects traditional populations, already in existence when new peoples and languages swept in. For example – Welsh & Gaelic in Great Britain, Frisian in the Netherlands, Basque in France & Spain. e. Reverse migratory movement^4 : The influx of people from the post-colonial Third World societies into the industrial world. These types of language-contact situations are certainly not the only ones. Language- contact studies stress on how important the overall social context is. Language contact research has been recognized as crucial in countries such as India^5 , with a combination of languages spoken of daunting complexity. Thus, India has become one of the world's centres for this kind of research. (^1) Style shift, linguistic change, code selection and speech repertoire, attitudes, & perhaps variation. (^2) French and Romansch are spoken in the South, and Swiss German in the North. (^3) Dutch and German are spoken in the North and French in the South. (^4) Caribbeans to North America & Europe OR Central Americans to Europe (predominantly) OR Mediterraneans to Europe (^5) Sometimes called 'the laboratory of multilingualism'. LECTURE 1
1.2 Bilingualism Bilingualism is defined as the use of at least two languages either by an individual or by a group of speakers. Bilingualism is the norm in the most of the countries of the world. There is no single agreed-upon definition of individual bilingualism. A psychological definition in terms of proficiency ( 1 ), seems to be unsurmountable, not because of the complex measurement problems but because it is impossible to find a general norm or standard for proficiency. Therefore, a sociological definition is preferred ( 3 ).
1. A bilingual should possess 'native like control of two or more languages'. (BLOOMFIELD,1933: 56) 2. One should be called a bilingual if he has some second-language skills in one of the four modalities (LSRW), in addition to his first language skills. (McNAMARA, 1969) 3. 'The practice of alternatively using two languages will be called here bilingualism, and the persons involved bilinguals'. ~ (WEINRICH,1953: 5) The very fact that bilinguals use various languages in different circumstances suggests that it is their overall linguistic competence that should be compared to that of monolinguals. So, bilingualism is best regarded as occurring on a continuum and attempts have already been made to classify bilinguals –
For a very long time, it was believed that bilingualism has a negative relationship with cognitive growth and scholastic achievement^6. Saer (1923) tried to show that 7– 14 - year-old Welsh-English speaking bilinguals had lower IQ levels as compared to their monolingual counterparts. However, this is no longer the case. Several recent studies^7 have now convincingly shown that there is a highly positive relationship between bilingualism, cognitive flexibility, meta-cognition and scholastic achievement. The wide range of linguistic repertoire that they control equips them to negotiate different social situations more efficiently. (^6) Jesperson 1922; Saer 1923 (^7) Peal and Lambert 1962; Gardner and Lambert 1972; Cummins and Swain 1986, Mohanty, 1994.
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Speech Accommodation Theory Language forms do not have a social meaning by themselves, but only in so far as the participants in the interaction agree on this meaning. The social meaning of language does not depend on the speaker alone, not on the hearer alone but on an agreement, the result of negotiation as it were, between speaker and hearer. Within social psychology there has been an attempt, primarily by Howard Giles and his colleagues, to develop a model of language choice called the INTERPERSONAL SPEECH ACCOMODATION THEORY^1. − Underlying idea → language choice cannot be explained adequately by referring to situational factors only but aspects of the interpersonal relation have to be considered. − Derived similarity-attraction → An individual can induce more favourable evaluation from someone else by reducing the number of dissimilarities between her or himself and the other. Speakers will automatically adjust themselves to each other, both in gestures and often positioning of the body and in the type of speech. − ACCOMMODATION /PROCESS OF ADJUSTMENT works in two ways (opposite) – a. CONVERGENCE: Speaker uses the language that the hearer knows or likes best. b. DIVERGENCE: Speaker tries to create distance between himself and the hearer by maximizing differences in language use. − The process of speech accommodation is illustrated^2 with an example provided by Dell Hymes ( westerner speaking to a Tanzanian official ). It should proceed in the following sequence – a. The Westerner uses English first → Tanzanian can show his skills in this language, b. Afterwards the Westerner switches to Swahili → Express solidarity. Particularly in multilingual communities the conventions by which the social meaning of the forms of language used is interpreted by the participants in interactions, need to be established & reinterpreted in the course of each conversation. Blom and Gumperz (1972) , distinguish^3 three levels in the interpretive process. Each of these options requires a specific set of routine remarks and gestures, confronts the speaker with complex choices, in other words. The three notions are not given, but need to be interpreted and recreated by speaker and hearer in each interaction. a. SETTING: The locale for the interaction, the socially recognized chunk of the environment. b. SITUATIONS: Various social situations are possible; which one is valid at a particular moment is determined by the interactants on the basis of the constellation of particular people, in a particular setting, at a particular moment of time. c. EVENT: Events have clearly defined and socially recognized sequencings, centre around a limited range in topics, etc. (^1) (cf. Giles, 1973; Giles n al., 1973) (^2) Giles n al. (1973) (^3) In research directed at language use in Norway. LECTURE 3
Following research by Jakobson and Halliday, Muhlhausler (1981) distinguishes six functions/ uses to which a language may be put: a. REFERENTIAL FUNCTION - Often thought to be the only function of language, and any knowledge of a language implies command of this function. This is to transfer information by referring to extralinguistic reality. b. DIRECTIVE AND INTEGRATIVE FUNCTION – Through contacts made with others, an interactive structure is created to ensure cooperation by using standard greetings , conventional modes of address , imperatives , exclamations , and questions. c. EXPRESSIVE FUNCTION – Many non-fluent speakers have great difficulty with this function. This means that by making one's feelings known one can present oneself to others as a unique individual. d. PHATIC FUNCTION – To keep the created channel of communication open, speakers use conventionalized openings , closings , ways to signal turn taking , and if necessary, language forms that identify the in-group within which interaction is taking place. e. METALINGUISTIC FUNCTION – Using language the speaker's attitude towards and awareness of language use and linguistic norms are known. f. POETIC FUNCTION - Use of language becomes a goal and source of joy in itself by means of jokes, puns and other word play, and conscious style and register shifts.
1. 5 Functions of Code-Switching According to the functional model, switching can be said to have the following functions^5 : − REFERENTIAL FUNCTION: All topic-related switching may be thought of as serving this function of language. This type of switching is the one, of which bilingual speakers are most conscious because switching often involves lack of knowledge of one language or lack of facility in that language on a certain subject. For example – i. Radio or television news broadcasts for immigrant groups. ii. Discourse about technical subjects in many languages of the Third World. − DIRECTIVE FUNCTION: All participant-related switching can be thought of as serving the directive function of language use. Being directed at the hearer can take many forms - one is to exclude certain persons present from a portion of the conversation. Giles's accommodation theory^6 for language choice is directly formulated along the lines of the directive function. − EXPRESSIVE FUNCTION: Poplack (1980) in particular has stressed this function of code switching. Speakers emphasize a mixed identity through the use of two languages in the same discourse. This function may not be present in all code-switching communities. For example, the Spanish-English code switching in the Puerto Rican community – (^5) In presenting the reasons explored, we can refer to a number of sources, including work by Gumperz and associates (Gumperz, 1976; Gumperz and Hernandez-Chavez, 1975), Poplack ( 1 980), and Scotton (1979). (^6) Appel, Rene., & Muysken, Pieter. Language Contact and Bilingualism. (Chapter 3: The Sociology of Language Choice)
i. Fluent bilingual Puerto Ricans in New York →conversation full of code switching is a mode of speech by itself. ii. Individual switches no longer have a discourse function. − PHATIC FUNCTION: Switching often serves to indicate a change in tone of the conversation, and hence a phatic function. This type has been called METAPHORICAL SWITCHING by Gumperz and Hernandez Chavez (1975). For example – i. This has been documented extensively in a paper on switching between London Jamaican and London English (Sebba and Wootton,1984). A number of examples^7 have a stretch of basically Jamaican discourse, which is interrupted by an English 'meta comment'. ii. Stand-up comedian tells the whole joke in a standard variety, but brings the punch line in a vernacular type of speech (an urban dialect). − METALINGUISTIC FUNCTION: This function of code switching comes into play when it is used to comment directly or indirectly on the languages involved. For example, this function is when speakers switch between different codes to impress the other participants with a show of linguistic skills^8 and many such examples can be found in the public domain – performers, circus directors, market salespeople. − POETIC FUNCTION: Bilingual language usage involving switched puns, jokes, etc. can be said to serve this function of language. SUM UP Different languages may fulfil different functions in the lives of bilingual speakers, and in bilingual conversations a choice for one particular language may signal the primary functions appealed to at that moment. REFERENCES Appel, René, and Pieter Muysken. Language Contact & Bilingualism. Amsterdam University Press, 2005. Nayar, Pramod K. Contemporary Literary And Cultural Theory: From Structuralism to Ecocriticism. Pearson Education India, 2009. (^7) Language Contact and Bilingualism, Chapter 3: The Sociology of Language Choice (^8) Scotton, 1979.
The factors considered do not influence language maintenance and shift directly, but only indirectly via intervening variables. STATUS DEMOGRAPHY + INTERVENING VARIABLES → LANGUAGE MAINTANENCE/ SHIFT INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT CULTURAL (DIS-)SIMILARITY SUSAN GAL'S STUDY IN OBERWART 2 , AUSTRIA - A VILLAGE IN BURGENLAND 3 ▪ Peasant village − Generally, spoke Hungarian − Used German with outsiders & strangers ▪ Post WW II: German replaced Hungarian in many instances of everyday interaction − Hungarian became associated with traditional, elderly people − German is the language of economic progress and modern life. − Agricultural work associated with → the past + lack of social mobility + lack of economic opportunities. − German intruded in domains, which were formerly nearly completely reserved for Hungarians. − Use of German between age-mates was quite common for children < 15 − Unlike the older generation, young parents address their children not in Hungarian but in German → Only occasional switch to Hungarian. ▪ Gal notes that language shift is related to social-economic change and takes two sociolinguistic phenomena into account –
LIEBERSON AND McCABE’S STUDY 4 ▪ Studied the relation between domains of language use and mother-tongue shift ▪ In the Gujarati-speaking population in Nairobi. ▪ Observation − Many parents used both Guajarati and English in addressing their children, and it explains that much of the shift from Guajarati towards English. − Same pattern can be observed in interactions in the homes of immigrant workers' families in Western Europe^5. RINDLER SCHJERVE’S STUDY 6 IN SARDINIA ▪ An example of a household with family members belonging to four generations. − 80 - year-old grandmother: Illiterate and monolingually Sardinian − 50 - year-old mother: Insufficiently educated → a rather limited proficiency in Italian − 30 - year-old daughter: Schooled for 8 years spoke Italian well (though not perfectly). − A 12-year-old schoolboy ▪ The third-generation mother used Italian when talking to their children and Sardinian with her husband. ▪ Her reason for using Italian with her child is to avoid him being discriminated against in school ▪ Hence, the 12-year-old schoolboy has only a limited command of Sardinian and spoke a rather monostylistic & Sardicized Italian. TOSI’S STUDY 7 AMONG ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS IN BEDFORD, GREAT BRITAIN ▪ The first-generation immigrants − Principal medium of communication within the family is a local Italian dialect. ▪ The next generation − Mostly speak this dialect until school age and only occasionally switch to English − If there are several children in the same household, they often speak English among themselves. − English gains influence when the children go to school and become more proficient in it. ▪ English will become an inevitable part of the household − To use mainly with other siblings − Later, in interactions with the parents as well. (^4 ) (^5) Here, especially the children introduce the majority language (^6) On bilingualism and language shift, 1981 (^7) On Bilingualism and Language Shift