SOCIOLINGUISTICS

LESSON 2
INSTRUCTOR: LE NGUYEN NHU ANH
 MULTILINGUAL
SPEECH COMMUNITIES
LANGUAGE CHOICE
IN MULTILINGUAL COMMUNITIES
 OUTLINE
• Choosing your variety or code • Code-switching or code-mixing
• What is your linguistic repertoire? • Participants, solidarity and status
• Domains of language use • Topic
• Modelling variety or code choice • Switching for affective functions
• Other social factores affecting code • Metaphorical switching
choice • Lexical borrowing
• Diglossia • Linguistic constraints
• A linguistic division of labour • Attitudes to code-switching
• Attitudes to H vs L in a diglossia situation
• Diglossia with and without bilingualism
• Extending the scope of ‘diglossia’
• Polyglossia
• Changes in a diglossia situation
An example of a person’s
linguistic repertoire
Example 1 Standard (Zairean) Swahili:
Informal Shi: home different tribal group (lingua
with family; market franca), national language:
place (same ethnic) official transaction; officials in
government offices; tries for job

formal Shi: Local Swahili

weddings; (Kingwana): younger
funerals children; street;
marketplace

Indoubil: friends, young Varieties

people in Bukavu; ingroup Varieties
slang in monolingual
of Shi
communities (based on of
Swahili, dev. with French, Swahili
English, Italian
“A lingua franca, also known as a bridge
language, common language, trade
language, auxiliary language, vehicular
language, or link language is a language
or dialect systematically used to make
communication possible between
groups of people who do not share a
native language or dialect, particularly
when it is a third language that is
distinct from both of the speakers'
native languages.”
(Chirikba, 2008)
Two linguistic repertoires in the
Democratic Republic of the
Congo-Zaire
Kalala’s linguistic Addressee’s linguistic
repertoire repertoire
Shi: informal style Rega: informal style
formal style formal style
Indoubil Lingala
Kingwana
Standard Zairean Swahili Standard Zairean Swahili
Source: Based on Goyvaerts et al. 1983, Goyvaerts 1988,
1996.
 Domains of
language use
Example 2

Tonga: home with English: language at

family; school
- Grandmother: - Can be used with
Tongan customs sisters
- Mother: gossip
about Tongan friends
and relatives
- Meal-time language:
members’ activities,
outings, social events
Domains of language use
Language choice <= social factors:
- Who you are talking to
- The social context of the talk
- The function and topic of the
discussion
Typical interactions involving these
social factors => Domains
Domains of language use
A domain involves typical interactions
between typical participants in typical
settings.
Example 3

Spanish: Guaraní: American

colonisers; used Indian indigenous
by those who live language;
in the cities, Paraguayan
language of identity signal;
literature, also used by many
language of gossip rural Paraguayans;
used by those who
live in the cities,
language of gossip
Domains of language use in Paraguay
Modelling variety or code
choice
Example 4

Portuguese: at English: at school;

home; to older after-school job
people at serving in a local
Portuguese café
Catholic church
and community
centre, sometimes
greeted by
customers at work
Information about the domains of use in a
community => draw a very simple model
summarising the norms of language use for
the community. => useful for bilingual and
multilingual speech communities
Domains identified in example 4
Domain Variety/code
Home/family Portuguese
Church/religion Portuguese
Work/employment English
School/education English
Appropriate code choice in different domains among
the Portuguese communityin London
An explicit model is useful because:
1. It forces us to be very clear about
which domains and varieties are
relevant to language choice.
2. It provides a clear basis for comparing
patterns of code choice in different
speech communities.
Example 5
Cantonese: at home; Singapore English:
to mother and to friends, sisters;
grandmother; market in large
place to elder people department stores
Formal Singapore
Hokkien: in
English: taught a
smaller shops and
primary school; to
market-place
government
officials, office job
Mandarin
application
Chinese: taught at
primary school; English: secondary
Channel 8 on TV, school; university;
Chinese textbooks
newspaper
Other social factors
affecting code choice
In describing the patterns of code use of
particular communities, the relevant social
factors may not fit neatly into
institutionalised domains.
Models can usefully go beyond the social
factors summarised in the domain concept
to take account of social dimensions: social
distance, relative status or role, degrees of
formality and the function or goal of the
interaction.
 Diglossia
A linguistic division of labour
Example 6

Swiss German: Standard German:

(regional dialect), language of
everyday school;
interactions; newspaper;
radical clerics; university lecture;
weather national TV news;
broadcasts sermons in
church; novels
Diglossia (narrow sense):
1. Two distinct varieties of the same
language are used in the community, with
one regarded as a high (or H) variety and
the other a low (or 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
Attitudes to H vs L in a diglossia
H variety:
situation L variety: varied
admired;
respectful,
prestigious
 Summary of H & L
differences
(i) They are different varieties of the same language.
(ii) They are used in mutually exclusive situations. Where H is
appropriate, L is not, and vice versa. H is used in more formal
contexts and L in less formal contexts.
(iii) Only L is used for conversation with family and friends.
(iv) L is learned ‘naturally’ in the home. H is learned more formally –
usually in school.
(v) This is a tricky question. In the usual sense of prestige – i.e. high
status – the answer is H. However, people are often more attached to
L emotionally. When people have this kind of fondness for a variety,
the variety is sometimes described as having ‘covert prestige’
(vi) H is generally codifi ed in grammar books and dictionaries. More
recently linguists have also begun to codify the L variety in some
places such as Haiti.
(vii) Literature is usually written in H, but when the L variety begins to
gain status people begin to use it to write in too.
 Diglossia
Extending the scope of ‘diglossia’
Diglossia (broader sense):
Any situation where two languages are
used for different functions in a speech
community, especially where one
language is used for H functions and the
other for L functions. There is a division
of labour between the languages.
Diglossia with and without
bilingualism
Diglossia is a characteristic of speech
communities rather than individuals.
Individuals may be bilingual.
Societies or communities are diglossic.
Diglossia describes societal or
institutionalised bilingualism, where two
varieties are required to cover all the
community’s domains.
Relationship between diglossia and bilingualism

▪ Box 1: the society is diglossic, (most) individuals are

bilingual.
▪ Box 2: individuals are bilingual, there is no community-wide
functional differentiation in the use of their languages.
▪ Box 3: two languages are used for different functions, by
largely different speech communities.
▪ Box 4: monolingual groups, typical of isolated ethnic
communities
 Diglossia
Polyglossia
situations where a number of distinct
codes or varieties are used for clearly
distinct purposes or in clearly
distinguishable situations.
Colloquial Maori: Diglossia English:
L variety; friends H variety;
and family; in local triglossia language of
shops school; the
government; the
Formal Maori: courts; official
H variety; transactions with
ceremonial non-Maori New
purposes; formal Zealanders
interaction on the
marae
 Diglossia
Changes in a diglossia situation
- 2 varieties can continue to exist side by side
Or
- 1 variety may gradually displace the other
 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Participants, solidarity and status
Example 8
[ The Maori is in italics. THE TRANSLATION IS IN SMALL
CAPITALS. ]
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 now.
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 . Have you started yet?
[ HELLO MY FRIEND. I’M =>FINE
solidarity
] expressed
 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Participants, solidarity and status
Example 9
(a) Tamati : Engari [SO] now we turn to more important
matters.
(Switch between Maori and English)

(b) Ming : Confiscated by Customs, dà gài [PROBABLY]

=> identity
(Switch between English marker
and Mandarin Chinese)

(c) A : Well I’m glad I met you. OK?

M: ándale pues [ OK SWELL ], and do come again.
Mm? => solidarity marker
(Switch between Spanish and English)
 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Participants, solidarity and status
Example 10
[ BOKMÅL IS IN SMALL CAPITALS . Ranamål in lower case.]
Jan : Hello Petter. How is your wife now?
Petter : 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 ME WITH THIS PESKY FORM? I AM
HAVING A GREAT DEAL OF DIFFICULTY WITH IT.
Petter : OF COURSE. GIVE IT HERE . . .

Change of topic => change of relationship

 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Participants, solidarity and status
People sometimes switch code within a domain or social
situation.
▪related to a particular participant or addressee (expression
of solidarity, group membership, shared ethnicity)
▪Emblematic/tag switching: an interjection or a linguistic tag
in the other language => ethnic identity marker
▪Express a move along the solidarity/social distance
dimension
▪Indicate a change in the status relations between people or
the formality of their interaction
▪Situational switching: when people switch from one code to
another for reasons which can be clearly identified
Code-switching or code-
mixing
Topic

switch to quote a person

Code-switching or code-
mixing
Topic

switch to recite to a
proverb
 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Topic
For many bilinguals, certain kinds of referential
content are more appropriately or more easily
expressed in one language than the other.
Referentially oriented code-switch:
• triggered by topic
• for quotation / proverb citation => stress on
accuracy
Code-switching or code-
mixing
Switching for affective functions
Example 13

Standard English:
(West Midlands
accent)
Use Patois to
Patois: (a variety swear at the
of Jamaican teacher
Creole)
switch to express
anger => affective
function
Code-switching or code-
mixing
Switching for affective functions

switch for amusement

and dramatic effect
Code-switching or code-
mixing
Switching for affective functions

switch emphasize anger

and disapproval
Code-switching or code-
mixing
Metaphorical switching

Tok Pisin => social distance, status, referential information

of the business world
Buang => high solidarity, equal status, friendly feelings

Code-switching for rhetorical reasons

 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Metaphorical switching

English => distance and objectivity

Samoan => personal feelings
 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Metaphorical switching
▪ Rapid switch
▪ Drawing on the associations of both codes.
▪ Each of the codes represents or symbolises a
set of social meanings
=> to represent complex meanings.
▪ Involving rhetorical skill => to enrich the
communication.
 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Code-mixing
▪ Speakers mixing up codes indiscriminately
▪ Incompetence
▪ Fused lect: a relatively stable mixture of two
or more languages (conversational style by
bilinguals and multilinguals)
Sometimes sociolinguists can’t explain language choices in
situations where the participants are all multilingual…

Anh thích thì anh switch thôi

 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Lexical borrowing
Lexical borrowing <= a lack of vocabulary in a
language
Different from code-switching
▪Purpose
▪Form: borrowed words usually adapted to the
speaker’s first language
Code-switching or code-
mixing
Linguistic constraints

universal social
linguistic stylistic
constraints contextual
 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Linguistic constraints
Intra-sentential switching
Inter-sentential switching
Equivalence constraint (matched
grammar)
Matrix language frame (MLF) &
embedded language
 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Attitudes to code-switching
Reactions to code-switching styles are
negative in many monolingual
communities.
Where multilingualism is the norm,
attitudes to proficient code-switching
are much more positive.
Reasons for code-switching
Change in a feature of the domain or social
situation
Setting
Participant features
Addressee specification
Ethnic identity marker
Express solidarity
Express social distance
Assert social status
Topic
Quoting someone
Proverb
Aspect of the function or purpose of interaction
Add emphasis
Add authority
Express feelings (vs describing facts)
THAT’S ALL!
At home, please do exercises 1 to 12 for
your own sake.