Socio. Week 6

Multilingualism and Language Contact

• Examines key concepts and research in multilingualism and language contact.
• Focuses on multilingual communities.
• Explores language change and creation resulting from language contact.

Language Diversity Statistics

• The majority of languages are spoken by relatively few people
• 0.1% of languages have above 100 million speakers (8 languages).
• 1.2% of languages have between 10 and 99.9 million speakers (72 Languages).
• 3.9% of languages are spoken by 1-9.9 million speakers (239 languages).
• 13.1% of languages are spoken by 100,000-999,999 speakers (795 Languages).
• 26.5% of languages have between 10,000-99,999 speakers (1605 Languages).
• 29.4% of languages have between 1000-9999 speakers (1782 Languages).
• 17.7% of languages have between 100 and 999 speakers (1075 Languages).
• 5.0% of languages have between 10-99 speakers (302 Languages).
• 3.0% of languages are spoken by 1-9 speakers (181 languages).

Linguistic Diversity and Poverty

• The world's poorest populations often reside in areas of high biodiversity and linguistic diversity.
• Indigenous populations, representing about 4% of the global population, speak over 60% of the world's 6000+ languages.
• Preservation of biodiversity and linguistic diversity are sometimes seen as obstacles to development.

The Monolingual Mindset

• A persistent monolingual mindset is a major barrier to recognizing and valuing language potential.
• A monolingual mindset considers monolingualism as the norm.
• There are actually more bilingual and multilingual people than monolingual individuals.

Views on Multilingualism

• Multilingualism is viewed as something prestigious.
• Multilingualism is seen as a sign of intelligence.
• It is often a core part of ethnic identity.
• It is simply a fact of life for many.
• Multilingualism is necessary for survival/daily life in some regions.
• It can be a political issue.
• Multilingualism can be a source of conflict.
• It's sometimes considered a hurdle to integration.
• In some views it is a social handicap.
• Conversely some see it as a cognitive disability.

Diglossia

• Diglossia is defined as two languages with distinct functional roles in one community.
• It is the functional distribution of languages over domains.
• Classical Arabic and Moroccan Arabic are an example of diglossia.

Societal Multilingualism - Four Scenarios:

• Scenario 1: Almost everyone speaks both the high (H) and low (L) language, e.g., Paraguay (Spanish/Guaraní).
• Scenario 2: Diglossia without societal bilingualism. One group speaks H, another speaks L, e.g., colonies with territoriality.
• Scenario 3: Bilingualism without diglossia. Speakers are bilingual, but society is not, e.g., migrants.
• Scenario 4: Neither bilingualism nor diglossia, e.g., monolingual countries where indigenous languages disappeared.

Language and Nation

• One nation can have one language such as Iceland (Icelandic) and Cuba (Spanish).
• One nation can have one official language, e.g. Australia (English), Hungary (Hungarian).
• Also Brazil (Portuguese), Suriname (Dutch) and Mexico (Spanish).
• One nation can have different official languages, like the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and South Africa.
• Official languages are designated for official use.
• National languages are chosen to express national identity.

Societal Multilingualism in Specific Countries

• In the USA, English isn't in the Constitution, but 28 states have it as the official language.
• Belgium's language situation is constitutionally anchored.
• The Netherlands does not constitutionally define Dutch, a bill to anchor Dutch was withdrawn in 2018.

Language Policy in the Netherlands

• Dutch is the official language.
• Frisian is the second official language in Fryslân.
• English and Papiamentu are recognized, on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (BES islands), as official languages in addition to Dutch.
• Limburgish, Lower Saxon, Yiddish, and Sinti-Romanes are recognized through European agreements as regional or non-territorial languages.

Utrecht, a Multilingual Hotspot

• Utrecht had 330,000 inhabitants in 2015 and is growing to 400,000 in 2030.
• 85% speak at least 3 languages.
• 58% speak 3 languages well.
• 29% speak at least 5 languages.
• 5% speak 5 languages well.
• 5% only speak one language.
• 3% does not speak Dutch at all.

Codemixing/Codeswitching

• Turkish-Dutch codeswitches as instances of congruent lexicalization.
• It can be impossible to disentangle the two linguistic systems.

Language Borrowing

• Language borrowing is the transfer of language material (words, structure) from language A to language B.
• Long-term, intensive, direct contact and multilingualism result in many loan words.
• Short, superficial contact results in fewer loan words.

Outcomes of Language Borrowing

• Common outcomes are Loan words, words from language A used in language B.
• Borrowed words tend to be content words rather than function words and adapt to the receiving language.
• Loan translations (calques) are direct translations of foreign words or phrases.

Borrowing over Time in Dutch

• 19th Century saw Germanisms incorporated into Dutch, for example, "daadzaak" from "Tatsache".
• 20th/21st centuries are marked by Anglicisms, for example, "actie nemen" from "take action."

Hugo Schuchardt quote

• "Es gibt keine völlig ungemischte Sprache”
• There is no completely unmixed language.

Loanwords In Dutch

• Loanwords in dutch: Frans, Latijn, Engels, Duits.
• Target Languages are: Indonesisch, Papiaments, Sranantongo, Zweeds.

'Baas'

• The most borrowed Dutch word that has been incorporated into 57 languages, "Baas."
• Partially distributed through American-English "boss", which is derived from Dutch "baas".
• The word, Bas, ,and Boss do appear in the Danish language each with it's own nuanced and unique meaning.

Borrowing Viewpoints

• Borrowing viewed as either deterioration or enrichment.
• Borrowing comes at the expense of creativity.

Language Birth

• Language birth can occur in a language shift, (regional) dialect leveling and Global English; World English, French etc.
• Pidgins can be a language birth.
• Mixed Languages and Creole languages are examples of language birth.

Pidgin Characteristics

• Occurs in contact situation with more than 2 languages without a common language.
• Achieved via regular communication in limited domain (trade, work on plantation).
• Speakers do not learn each other's languages in full and develop a new language.
• Vocabulary is usually derived from one of the languages (lexifier).
• Its Grammar includes elements from one or more languages in contact.
• It will include universal features L2 acquisition and Innovations.

Additional Pidgin Characteristics

• Pidgins have no native speakers.
• Pidgins have a limited social function/domains.
• These include less extensive vocabulary and less complicated morphological markers compared to L1
• Also, fewer grammatical structures compared to L1 and a limited stylistic repertoire.

Expanded Pidgin

• This is the expansion of functions and linguistic repertoire (vernacularization) without or before that the pidgin becomes a mother tongue.
• Such as Tok Pisin (Talk Pidgin" in Papua New Guinea.
• The Expansion of Pidgin occurs in certain domains.

Creole Language

• Creole language is a mother tongue
• It is used in more communicative situations (vernacularization).
• It has a more extensive vocabulary and grammar.
• Grammar features compromise features from L2 and L1 acquisition and innovation
• A creole language is a full-fledged language!.