Language Variety & Global Languages

• Language study notes begin here:

Unit 1: Discourse Models & Language Variety

• Popular Model: Views some languages as superior to dialects
• Expert Model: Views languages as linguistic varieties without a hierarchy
• Language Variety: Different forms of a language (standard, dialects, registers, pidgins, creoles)

Unit 1, Lesson 2: Language Variation & Spread of Global Languages

• Language variation is influenced by internal and external factors
• Internal factors: Idiolects, sociolects
• External factors: Regional and social class differences
• African-American English (AAE) has a systematic grammar but is stigmatized
• Singlish in Singapore is discouraged by the government, but it has cultural prestige
• Verlan in France is youth slang used as an identity marker
• Caribbean Creole is used to resist colonial linguistic norms
• Theories on Global Language Spread include Pennycook's Framework
• Linguistic Imperialism: English spreads at the cost of other languages
• Linguistic Hybridity: English adapts into new localized forms
• Postcolonial Performativity: Resistance occurs through hybrid languages (e.g., Nouchi in Côte d'Ivoire)

Unit 1, Lesson 3: Revitalization of Endangered Languages

• Language death is not always permanent and can be reversed (e.g., Hebrew)
• Causes of language endangerment include political policies (e.g., nation-building) and the spread of dominant languages like English
• Types of Language Revitalization include language maintenance, revival, and resurrection
• Language Maintenance: For still-living but declining languages
• Language Revival: For languages with no fluent speakers
• Language Resurrection: For extinct languages
• Hebrew was successfully revived but suppressed Yiddish & Ladino
• In Māori (New Zealand), education efforts exist, but English remains dominant
• In Sámi & Kven (Norway), reversing historical oppression has led to language loss
• Neo-Breton differs from traditional Breton in France, leading to conflict
• Luxembourgish is elevated to a national language, but it lacks EU recognition
• Corsican uses a polynomic approach (accepting multiple dialects) to avoid marginalization

Key Insights

• Language survival depends on power structures
• Language variation is natural, but societies create hierarchies
• Global languages like English bring benefits but also suppress smaller languages
• Revitalization efforts work best when supported by education, policy, and community action

Unit II: Societal Multilingualism

• Multilingualism is the norm in most societies and not just an individual trait
• The majority of the world's population is multilingual
• Language use varies by context (e.g., home, work, school)
• Language policy is not a strict monolingual vs. multilingual divide but a dynamic system, subject to globalization and socio-political factors

Case Studies of Multilingual Societies

• Ukraine: Under Soviet rule, Russification promoted Russian over Ukrainian
• Post-Independence (1991): De-Russification policies enforced Ukrainian as the dominant language
• Language Laws: Required 50% of TV & radio content and State companies to use Ukrainian, foreign content to be translated into Ukrainian
• Impact: Ukraine became officially monolingual, with Russian declining. Russian is now a foreign language after English
• Many Russians in Ukraine are bilingual in Ukrainian and English rather than Russian
• Switzerland: Each region has an official language (German, French, Italian, Romansh); this is known as Territorial Multilingualism
• Issue of Swiss German (Schwyzerdütsch): More widely spoken than Standard German in German-speaking Switzerland, seen both as a symbol of Swiss identity and as a communication barrier
• Canton of Zurich introduced English as the first foreign language instead of French, sparking the “Sprachenstreit” debate
• Debate explores whether English will replace Swiss national languages, weaken Swiss identity, and put Switzerland's future at risk
• Singapore: Colonial education was in Chinese, Malay, Tamil; English was limited to elites
• Post-Independence (1965): Shift to English-medium education
• 1987 Policy: "English plus mother tongue” bilingualism was introduced
• Challenges: Many Chinese Singaporeans spoke non-Mandarin Chinese at home
• Government launched the “Speak Mandarin Campaign” to enforce Mandarin
• Result: Many Chinese Singaporeans switched to English instead of Mandarin
• Singlish emerged as a mix of English + local languages, becoming a national identity marker
• Government opposes Singlish (launched "Speak Good English" campaign to eradicate Singlish)
• Mandarin's New Value: Due to China's economic rise, Mandarin is now as valuable as English
• Possible Future: English-Mandarin bilingualism may dominate
• Nigeria: Official Languages are English, Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo
• French (1996): Declared an official language under President Abacha (as a protest against the US & UK)
• Reality: English is dominant, spreading fast in urban areas
• Indigenous languages are used regionally but not nationally
• Indigenous languages are used in early primary school, then switch to English
• Secondary students are supposed to learn another indigenous language, but in practice, English is emphasized, and the policy is rarely enforced
• Nigerian Pidgin English: Like Singlish, it is a symbol of solidarity and grassroots unity

Key Takeaways

• Global socio-political factors shape multilingual policies
• Multilingualism is dynamic; even countries labeled "monolingual" experience language shifts
• English is rising globally, sometimes at the expense of national languages
• Local varieties (Singlish, Nigerian Pidgin, Swiss German) are markers of identity, even if governments resist them