LING1901 Lecture Notes - White Australia Policy, Multilingualism, Canadian English
16 May 2018
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Monday, 15 August 2016
LING1901 LECTURE 5
INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL BILINGUALISM
-Note
•The majority of people in the world use and/or understand more than one language
-They are bilingual/multilingual
•People and/or societies can be bilingual/multilingual
•Languages in society are dominant or a minority
•Dominant languages tend to displace minority languages
-Dominant languages sometimes called ‘killer’ languages
-Can expect situations where one language becomes more powerful while another becomes less powerful
-What is multilingualism?
•Can refer to either the language use or the competence of an individual or to the language situation in an entire
nation or society (Clyne 1998: 301)
-Individual: speaks more than one language
-Societal: nations where more than one language is spoken natively
•ex/ Canada - Canadian English and Canadian French, plus other smaller languages
•Key terms
-Language use
-Competence
-Individual bilingualism
-Social bilingualism
•People tend to develop a competence of understanding before they can speak
-Bilingualism vs. Multilingualism
•Bilingualism usually refers to the use of more than one language by the individual
•Multilingualism is sometimes reserved for situations where more than one language is used in society
-The monolingual mindset
•View that knowing English may just be enough
-Tied into White Australia Policy
•Multilingualism is the rule
!1
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Monday, 15 August 2016
•Monolingualism is not the majority of the population
-However, a monolingual perspective or ‘mindset’ is common in modern linguistic theory
•Chomsky (1965: 3) defines the scope of his research as such
-Linguistic theory is concerned primarily with an ideal speaker-listener, in a completely homogenous speech
community, who knows its language perfectly.
-Generally thought of as being monolingual
-Individual bilingualism
•Focus on three types
-Balanced bilinguals
•Ideally should be able to use both languages equally fluently in the home, at school, professionally
-Dominant bilinguals
•L1 very clearly defined, but another language known
-Recessive bilinguals
•Losing some ability in one of the languages
-(Passive bilinguals)
•Able to understand but not able to respond in that language
-Balanced bilinguals
•Generally need to live in a country where that language is used as the dominant language
•Term firstly used by Lambert (1959) in Canada to describe individuals who are fully competent in both
languages
•Describes people who have “perfect control” of both languages in all settings
•Bilinguals are rarely equally fluent in both languages in all topics but rather use different languages for different
functions (Fishman 1972)
-Dominant bilinguals
•Bilinguals dominant in one language
•Less dominant language is the subordinate language
•‘Dominance’ may not apply to all domains of use
-ex/ One language may be dominant in the home, but another may be dominant in the work place
•Common when may not have lived in environments where both languages are spoken as the native language
•About exposure
!2
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Note: the majority of people in the world use and/or understand more than one language. They are bilingual/multilingual: people and/or societies can be bilingual/multilingual, languages in society are dominant or a minority, dominant languages tend to displace minority languages. Can expect situations where one language becomes more powerful while another becomes less powerful. What is multilingualism: can refer to either the language use or the competence of an individual or to the language situation in an entire nation or society (clyne 1998: 301) Societal: nations where more than one language is spoken natively: ex/ canada - canadian english and canadian french, plus other smaller languages, key terms. Social bilingualism: people tend to develop a competence of understanding before they can speak. Bilingualism vs. multilingualism: bilingualism usually refers to the use of more than one language by the individual, multilingualism is sometimes reserved for situations where more than one language is used in society.
