diglossia

DIGLOSSIA

Youssef Tamer Associate Professor

Department Of English Studies Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco

/Dr.Youssef.Tamer /YoussefTamer /+Youssef.Tamer /TEFLANDICT

WWW.ENGLISHSTUDIESINFO.BLOGSPOT.COM

Key scholars

Charles A. Ferguson (1921-‐1998) Diglossia, 1959, Word vol. 15: 325-‐340 -‐introduces the concept !Joshua A. Fishman (1926-‐)-‐develops Ferguson’s ideas-‐introduces ‘extended bilingualism’



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Early Definition (1959) à p.88

Ferguson: Diglossia is a relatively stable language situation, in which, in addition to the primary dialects of the language, there is a very divergent, highly codified superposed variety… which is learned largely by formal education and is used for most written and formal spoken purposes.



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The Features of Diglossia

1. Function 2. Prestige 3. Literary heritage 4. Acquisition 5. Standardization 6. Stability 7. Grammar 8. Lexicon 9. Phonology



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1. Function

H LSermon X

Instruction to servants X

Speech in parliament X

University lecture X

Conversation with friends X

Newspaper editorial X

Etc.



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2. Prestige

• The speakers regard H as superior to L in a number of respects.

• E.g. H is considered more educated, more beautiful, more logical, better able to express important thoughts, etc.



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3. Literary Heritage

There is a sizable body of written literature in H which is held in high esteem by the

speech community.



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4. Acquisition

• Adults use L in speaking to children and children use L in speaking to one another.

• The actual learning of H is chiefly accomplished by the means of formal education.



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5. Standardization

• There are studies or books on grammars, dictionaries, treatises on pronunciation, styles, and so on, of the H.

!

• There is an established norm for pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary which allows variation only within certain limits.



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6. 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.



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7. Grammar• 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.

!• Case marking is present in SA while it is absent in MA

!• E.g. Standard German has four cases in the noun; Swiss German has only three cases in the noun.



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8. Lexicon

• H includes in its total lexicon technical terms and learned expressions which have no regular L equivalents, since the subjects involved are rarely if ever discussed in pure L.

!• L includes in its total lexicon popular expressions and the names of very homely objects or objects of very localized distribution which have no regular H equivalents, since the subjects involved are rarely if ever discussed in pure H.



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9. Phonology

• The sound systems of H and L constitutes a single phonological structure of which the L phonology is the basic system.

!

• Note: Ferguson states, “It may seem difficult to offer any generalization on the relationships between the phonology on H and L in diglossia in view of the diversity of data.



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Some Diglossic communities

HaitiH – French L -‐ Haitian creole

Switzerland H – Standard German L – Swiss German

EgyptH – Classical ArabicL – Colloquial Arabic



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Institutional Support Systems

L typically acquired at home as a mother tongue – continued use throughout life

– familiar interactions

H learned through socialisation and never at home

Diglossic societies are marked by access restriction – i.e. entry to formal institutions such as school and government requires knowledge of H



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Institutional Support Systems

Importance attached by community members to using the right variety in the appropriate context

Speakers regard H as superior to L in a number of respects

-‐In some cases speakers claim they do not speak L -‐alleged superiority for religious and/or literary reasons

-‐strong tradition of formal grammatical study and standardisation associated with H



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Fishman’s diglossia

Extended diglossia: !includes speech communities in which the high and low varieties are not necessarily close related varieties

Two or more varieties are mother tongues, each of different segments of the population



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Fishman’s extended diglossia

4 variations of linguistic relationship between High and Low

H as classical, L as vernacular, the two being genetically related

H as classical, L as vernacular, the two not being genetically related

H as written/formal-‐spoken and L as vernacular, the two being genetically unrelated to each other

H as written/formal-‐spoken and L as vernacular, the two being genetically related to each other



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Fishman (1972)

Diglossia

+ –

Bilingualism+ +B +D +B –D

– –B +D –B –D

Examples: +B +D : Paraguay (Spanish and Guarani) +B - D : Belgium (German and French) - B +D : Russian - B - D : Hypothetical



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Overlapping Diglossia and Triglossia (Mkifili, 1978) (Youssi, 1995)

• A research on the use of English, Swahili and local language.

English

Swahili

Local language



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Overlapping Diglossia and Triglossia (Youssi, 1995)

• A research on the use of Arabic in Morocco

Standard Arabic

Middle Moroccan Arabic

Moroccan Arabic



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Poliglossia (Platt, 1977)

A Research in Malaysia • Formal English • Malay • Mandarin • Malay-‐English • Other Chinese languages • Colloquial Malay



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diglossia

Documents

tamer yousseftamer youssef

tamer teflandictwww

grammar h

speakers regard h

actual learning of h

means of formal education

formal spoken purposes

noun swiss german