Sociolinguistics Chapter 2 Language Choice in Multilingual Communities.
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Transcript of Sociolinguistics Chapter 2 Language Choice in Multilingual Communities.
Sociolinguistics
Chapter 2
Language Choice in Multilingual Communities
Learning Objectives
Communicative repertoire Diglossia Code-switching and code-mixing
Language variation
1. Different styles
2. Different pronunciation
3. Different vocabulary
4. Different grammar
5. Different dialects
6. Different languages
Language variation
1. Participants
2. Setting
3. Topic
4. Function
Communicative Repertoire
Activity 2.1
The languages in your life: your communicative repertoire
Communicative repertoire
Listen Speak Read Write
Cantonese
Putonghua
English
Toishan
Chiuchow
Cantonese
Putonghua
English
Toishan
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
English
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
English
Communicative repertoire
A tool kit of linguistic and communicative resources
Breadth – number of languages you speak
Depth – Level of development of each language
Domains of language use
Typical interactions
e.g. family
participants family members
setting home
topic family matters
e.g. Table 2.2
Modelling code choice
Domain is a general concept involving social factors in code choice such as participants, setting, and topic.
It is possible to draw a simple model summarising language use in a community.
Example 4, Figure 2.1
Diglossia
“The situation where two varieties of a language exist side by side throughout the community, with each having a definite role to play.” (Ferguson, 1959)
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.
Diglossia
Activity 2.2
Functional distribution of H and L varieties across different domains of language use in diglossic situations
Diglossia
Domains of Language Use H L
Sermon in church or mosque
Instructions to servants, waiters, workmen, clerks
Personal letter
Speech in parliament, legislative councils, political speech
University lecture
Conversation with family, friends, colleagues
News broadcast
TV ‘soap opera’
Newspaper editorial, news story, caption on picture
Poetry
Folk literature
Popular youth magazines
Facebook, Line, WhatsApp, Skype, Google Talk, WeChat
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
Function Prestige Literary Heritage Acquisition Standardisation Stability Grammar Lexicon Phonology
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
Function Prestige Literary Heritage Acquisition Standardisation Stability Grammar Lexicon Phonology
Prestige
H is superior to L.
There is a usual belief that H is somehow more beautiful, more logical, better able to express important thoughts. This belief is also held by speakers whose command of H is quite limited.
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
Function Prestige Literary Heritage Acquisition Standardisation Stability Grammar Lexicon Phonology
18
Literary heritage
A sizeable body of written literature in H is held in high esteem by the speech community.
Contemporary writers tend to use words, phrases, or constructions which were used in literary history.
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
Function Prestige Literary Heritage Acquisition Standardisation Stability Grammar Lexicon Phonology
Acquisition
L is learned by children in what may be regarded as the "normal" way of learning one's mother tongue.
H is chiefly learnt by means of formal education.
The grammatical structure of L is learned without explicit discussion of grammatical concepts; the grammar of H is learned in terms of "rules" and norms to be imitated.
Acquisition
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
Function Prestige Literary Heritage Acquisition Standardisation Stability Grammar Lexicon Phonology
Standardisation
There is a strong tradition of grammatical study of the H form of the language. There are grammars, dictionaries, treaties on pronunciation, style and so on. The orthography is well established and has little variation.
For the L variety, there is no settled orthography and there is wide variation in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
Function Prestige Literary Heritage Acquisition Standardisation Stability Grammar Lexicon Phonology
Stability
Diglossia typically persists at least several centuries, and evidence in some cases seems to show that it can last well over a thousand years.
The communicative tensions arisen in diglossia situation may be resolved by the use of relatively uncodified, unstable, intermediate forms of the language and repeated borrowings of vocabulary items from H to L.
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
Function Prestige Literary Heritage Acquisition Standardisation Stability Grammar Lexicon Phonology
Grammar H is more rule-governed. H has grammatical
categories not present in L and has an inflectional system of nouns and verbs which is much reduced or totally absent in L.
For example, Standard German has four cases in the noun and two indicative tenses in the verb; Swiss German has three cases in the noun and only one simple tense.
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
Function Prestige Literary Heritage Acquisition Standardisation Stability Grammar Lexicon Phonology
Lexicon Generally speaking, the vocabulary of H and
L is shared.
H includes in its total lexicon technical terms and learned expressions which have no regular L equivalents.
L includes popular expressions and the names of very homely objects.
There is existence of many paired items, one H and one L.
Lexicon
Greek
H L
ikos spiti house
idhor nero water
eteke eyenise gave birth
als ma but
Lexicon
American
H L
illumination light
purchase buy
children kids
Lexicon
Criteria for diglossia (Fasold, 1984)
Function Prestige Literary Heritage Acquisition Standardisation Stability Grammar Lexicon Phonology
Phonology
H and L phonologies may be:
quite close, as in the two varieties of Greek; strikingly divergent, as in Standard German
and Swiss German.
Extended definition of diglossia
Fishman (1967, 1971) extended the notion of diglossia to any situation in which different linguistic varieties have functionally differentiated roles in a society.
Diglossia and bilingualism
Diglossia A characteristic of speech communities
Bilingualism A characteristic of individuals
4 possible situations of diglossia
+ Bilingualism - Bilingualism
+ Diglossia + Diglossia+ Bilingualism
+ Diglossia- Bilingualism
- Diglossia - Diglossia+ Bilingualism
- Diglossia-Bilingualism
Polyglossia
Fasold (1984) proposed the term ‘polyglossia’ to describe a situation in which there are more than 2 languages or varieties which stand in mutually exclusive functional relations with each other.
Polyglossia
One standard language is used as a H form in several different speech communities, each of which employs its own L variety.
High
Low 1 Low 2 Low 3 Low 4
Triglossia
Three languages, A, B and C. In relation to language A, language B is
L; in relation to language C, however, language B is H.
Such a case has been termed double overlapping diglossia
e.g. Tanzania
Triglossia
______________________________________
English H
____________________________________
H Swahili L
____________________________________
L Vernacular
____________________________________
Double-nested diglossia
H and L varieties are each themselves subdivided into H and L varieties
e.g. Khalapur, India
Double-nested diglossia
H Oratorical style
-------------Hindi--------------
Conversational style
H
L
H Saf boli
------------Khalapur----------
Moti boli
L
L
Linear polyglossia
Three or more languages or varieties are on a continuum from H to L
e.g. Malaysia
Linear polyglossia
Formal Malaysian English H1
Bahasa Malaysia H2
Mandarin DH
Colloquial Malaysian English M1
Dominant Chinese language M2
‘Native’ Chinese language L1
Other Chinese languages L2-Ln
Bazaar Malay L-
Diglossia in Hong Kong Chinese Speech Community
Spoken language ( 口語 )
L : Cantonese
Book language ( 書面語 )
H : Putonghua and standard written Chinese
Triglossia
______________________________________
English H
____________________________________
H Standard Chinese L
____________________________________
L Cantonese
____________________________________
Code-switching
Code-switching
Alternate use of two or more languages in an extended stretch of discourse, where the switch takes place in between sentences
Code-mixing
Alternate use of two or more languages, but the switch takes place within a sentence
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
1 Marker of solidarity
Example 8:
In New Zealand, a person may choose to greet someone in Maori as a marker of solidarity.
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
[Maori in red]
Sarah: I think everyone’s here except Mere.John : She said she might be a bit late
but actually I think that’s her arriving.Sarah: You’re right. Kia Ora Mere. Haere
mai. Kei te pehea koe? [Hi Mere. Come in. How are you?]
Mere : Kia ora e hoa. Kei te pai. [Hello my friend. I am fine.]
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
Example:
In a Polish family in Lancashire in the 1950s, the family members switched code when the local English-speaking priest arrived.
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
Example:
In Scotland, Highlanders use Gaelic to signal their identification with the local Gaelic speech community.
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
Example:
Two Mexican Americans met in the United States.
[Spanish in red]
A : Well, I’m glad I met you, ok?
M : Andale pues [Ok well], and do come again. Mm?
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
Example:
In Hong Kong, Cantonese is a marker of group and ethnic solidarity. (Gibbons 1987)
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
Example 10:
In Hemnesberget, a little village in Norway, Bokmål or standard Norwegian is the variety to use when you go to the tax office to sort out your tax forms.
But the person you will deal with may also be your neighbour and you will normally use Ranamål to speak to them.
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
[Ranamål in black. Bokmål in red]
Jan: Hello Peter. How is your wife now?
Peter: Oh she’s much better thank you Jan. She’s out of hospital and
convalescing well.Jan: That’s good I’m pleased to hear it.
Do you think you could help with this pesky form? I am having a great deal of difficulty with it.
Peter: Of course. Give it here…
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
Predicting code choice
Exercise 8
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
2 Quotation
Example 11:
A Maori person is recalling a visit of a respected elder to a nearby town:
‘That’s what he said in Blenheim. Ki a mätou Ngäti Porou, te Mäoritanga I papi ake i te whenua. [We of the Ngäti Porou tribe believe the origins of Mäoritanga are in the earth.] And those Blenheim people listened carefully to him too.’
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
A special kind of quotation: a proverb or a well-known sayingExample 12:A group of Chinese students studying in UK are discussing Chinese customs:
‘People here get divorced too easily. Like exchanging faulty goods. In China it’s not the same. 嫁雞隨雞,嫁狗隨狗 .’ [If you marry a dog you follow the dog, if you marry a chicken you follow the chicken]
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
3 Affective factors
English Cantonese
Toilet 廁所Washroom 洗手間Shxt X or XX
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
4 Anger
Example 15 (Gal 1979)
In the town of Oberwart two little Hungarian-speaking children were playing in the woodshed and knocked over a carefully stacked pile of firewood. Their grandfather walked in and said in Hungarian, the language he usually used to them:
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
‘Szo! ide dzüna! Jeszt Jerámunyi mind e kettüötök, no hát akkor!’[Well come here! Out all this away, both of you, well now.]
When they did not respond quickly enough he switched to German:
‘Kum her!’ [Come here!]
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
Example 13:
Polly
- A young British black woman
- speaks standard English with a West Midlands accent as well as Patois, a variety of Jamaican Creole.
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
On one occasion a school teacher annoyed her intensely by criticising a story she had written about British West Indians. In particular, he corrected the use of Patois by one of her characters – something he knew nothing about.
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
Her response was to abuse him in Patois, swearing at him only just below her breath. The effect was electrifying.
Polly uses code-switching to express her anger. The teacher didn’t need to understand the words in this case. He simply needed to get the message that Polly was angry.
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
Example 16
Father :Tea is ready, Robbie.
(Robbie ignores him and carries on skate-boarding)
Father :Mr Robert Harris if you do not come immediately there will be
consequences which you will regret.
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
5 Identity marking
Example 17:
At a village meeting among the Buang people in Papua New Guinea, Mr. Rupa, the main village entrepreneur and ‘bigman’, is trying to persuade people who have put money into a village store to leave it there.
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
[Tok Pisin is in red. Buang is in black.]
Ikamap trovel o wonem, mi ken stretim olgeta toktok. Orait, Pasin ke ken be, meni ti ken nyep la, su lok lam memba re, olo ba miting autim olgeta tok …, moni ti ken nyep ega, rek mu su rek ogoko nam be, one moni rek, … moni ti ken bak stua lam vu Mambump re, m nzom agon. Orait, bihain, bihainim bilong wok long bisnis, orait, moni bilong stua bai ibekim olgeta ples.
Sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching
Example 18
Alf is talking to a fellow Samoan at work about his attempt to go on a diet.
[English is in black. Samoan is in red.]
‘My doctor told me to go on a diet. She said I was overweight. So I tried. But it was so hard. I’d keep thinking about food all the time. Even when I was at work. And in bed at night I’d get desperate. I couldn’t get to sleep. So I’d get up and raid the fridge. Then I’d feel guilty and sick.’
Linguistic features of Cantonese-English code-mixing in Hong Kong
Phonology Morphology Syntax Lexis
Phonology
English pronunciation is influenced by Cantonese sound system
a. syllabic structure
e.g. chance, power, file, post, qualification, statistics, tutorial
b. stress e.g. member, happy
Morphology
English words with Cantonese morphemes
a. Cantonese aspect markers are used with English verbs
e.g. 咗 cancel 咗 , lose 咗 , join 咗
music club
緊talk 緊 , read 緊 , mark 緊
b.Cantonese auxiliary verbs are used with English verbs
e.g. need ( 駛 ) 唔駛 prepare, 駛唔駛 present, 唔駛 test
can ( 會 )會 finish, 會 dance, 會 understand
will, may ( 會 ) 會 fail, 會 collapse, 會 upload
Morphology
c. English adjectives are modified by Cantonese adverbs of degree
e.g. quite ( 幾 )
幾 smart, 幾 free, 幾 busy
e.g. very ( 好 ):
好 fair, 好 happy, 好 fit
Morphology
d. Chinese classifiers are used with English nouns
e.g. a ( 個 ):
個 term, 個 semester, 個 bag
Morphology
Syntax
Cantonese syntax with English lexis inserted
a. V neg V : e.g. meet 唔 meet target
take 唔 take coursework 唔 work
b. V then V: e.g. go 就 go
keep 就 keep
Lexis
a. English lexis is split into separate syllables by insertion of a Cantonese morpheme
e.g. pro 唔 produce
de 唔 desirable
can 唔 cancel
Lexis
b. Cantonese expressions are literally translated into English
e.g. no eye see
people mountain people sea