part 2 question 2

2) Explain the difference between bilingualism and diglossia and identify the different types of
diglossia (Marc-Andre, Simon)

Diglossia, diglossia is a phenomenon that exist when two languages confront each other in the same society. One language becomes the official language (H) and the other becomes the lower language (L). Both language are used in the society,H however is used for official situation (church sermon, writing letters,etc) while the L language is used in informal situation ( casual talk, radio, folk literature).

Bilinguasim, is a phenomenon present when a person (usually a child) is influenced by two languages and ends up learning both languages.

Diglossia and bilinguasim are not the same thing. while both can coexist they are different. Bilingualism refers to one ability to learn two languages while diglossia refers to the relationship of two languages in a given society.

Question #2
Explain the difference between bilingualism and diglossia and identify the different types of diglossia.
In linguistics, diglossia refers to a situation in which two dialects or languages are used by a single language community. Diglossia is the coexistence of two varieties of the same language throughout a speech community. A simpler definition of it is the use of two markedly different varieties of a language in different social situations, such as a formal variety at work and an informal variety at home. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety, a second, highly codified variety is used in certain situations such as literature, formal education, or other specific settings, but not used for ordinary conversation. Even in the same community, values attached to speech types are not always static; they change along with changes in other political and social values.
Diglossia is described as a kind of bilingualism in a society in which one of the languages is (H), i.e. has high prestige, and another of the languages is (L), i.e. has low prestige. (H) and (L) are always closely related. The definition of diglossia is extended by including the use of unrelated languages as high and low varieties. The (H) variant is called exoglossia and the (L) variant endoglossia. (H) is usually the written language whereas (L) is the spoken language. In formal situations, (H) is used; in informal situations, (L) is used. One of the earliest known examples is Latin, Classical Latin being the (H) and Vulgar Latin the (L). The latter, which is almost completely unattested in text, is the tongue from which the Romance languages descended. The (L) variants are not just simplifications or "corruptions" of the (H) variants. In phonology, for example, (L) dialects are as likely to have phonemes absent from the (H) as vice versa. The High/Low dichotomy is justified in terms of social prestige.
Bilingualism is set against diglossia: the first term indicates the indistinct usage of the one or the other language and the passage of one to the other no matter what are circumstances. The second refers to the distribution of the manners in each of the languages according to circumstances and particular themes. The term of diglossia is strictly employed as synonym for bilingualism. Bilingualism is where you know two different languages. Diglossia is more subtle. The term is usually used to mean that you speak two dialects of the same language and switch between them based on social situation. But sometimes those two "dialects" are nearly as different as two languages would be.





Extra information
The term diglossia is also used to describe a person’s ability to switch from one dialect or code to another. The subtle difference between code-switching and diglossia is that diglossia is thought to be a more intentional changing of dialect due to situation and code-switching is perceived as a more subconscious change. A society's attitude to literacy is dependent upon a number of factors. The most significant of these, for the present purpose, are the following: the presence or absence of a sense of prestige with which certain forms of linguistic behaviour are held in the society; the associations people may find necessary to make between prestigious speech behaviour and good written language; the presence or absence of any strong movements dedicated to puristic endeavours; the social desire to either delimit the domains of literacy for the creation of an elitist minority or propagate literary activity beyond such limits to produce universal literacy; the extent of freedom and influence the writers and the written word may enjoy in a given community; the types of pressures brought to bear upon the learner as well as the learner's capacity to cope with such pressures; and, perhaps above all, the society's own thinking as to whether literacy is desirable or not.

2) Explain the difference between bilingualism and diglossia and identify the different types of diglossia.
WARDHAUGH, Ronald. (1986) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, Blackwell, UK.
(89) Diglossic situation: when clear functional differences between the codes (languages) govern the choice of which language to use. It exists in a society when it has two distinct codes which show clear functional separation.

(90) Ferguson defines: ‘Diglossia is a relatively stable language in which, in addition to the primary dialects of a language (which may include a standard or regional standards), there is a very divergent, highly codified (often grammatically more complex) superposed variety (the vehicule of a large and respected body of written literature, either of an earlier period or in another speech community) which is learned largely by formal education and is used for most written and formal spoken purposes but is not used by any sector of the community for ordinary conversation.’

(91) High (H) -may be deemed more beautiful, logical and expressive- and Low (L) variety: the two varieties have different functions. (ex. H may be used for formal lectures, news, literature, while L may be used for giving instructions, conversing with familiars, popular shows, etc.) Some authors break away from the diglossic situation by assigning functions to a variety that were almost exclusive to the other.

Often, in the case of children, they learn the L variety, while the H variety will be taught in a formal setting. Some will borrow words from the H when speaking in a more formal tone.
Diglossia is not ephemeral, languages can coexist for a long time. After the conquest in 1066, Norman French was the H and English the L for a long time, but eventually English took more functions. Also, Latin in the Middle Ages was a form of diglossia.

(93) Diglossia reinforces social distinctions: it is used to assert social position and to keep people in their place.

(98) Bilingualism is not rare in other parts of the world (in this case, bilingualism is the act of speaking two languages while diglossia has an H and L form, distinguishing between their functions), where the ability to converse with other people is a regular requirement for daily business. Languages are often acquired naturally.

CALVET, Louis-Jean. (1999) La guerre des langues et les politiques linguistiques, Hachette Littératures, Paris.
(p.43) Le monde est plurilingue : les hommes sont confrontés aux langues.

(44) Diglossie est un terme que Charles Ferguson a lancé en 1959 dans la littérature linguistique. En Grec, ça signifie bilinguisme. C’est ‘ le rapport stable entre deux variétés linguistiques, l’une dite “haute” (high) et l’autre “basse“ (low), génétiquement apparentés (arabe classique et arabe dialectal, grec démotique et grec épuré, etc.)’. Les variétés linguistiques se situent dans une distribution fonctionnelle des usages, c’est-à-dire des variétés hautes et des variétés basses. Exemple : en Haiti, le français est utilisé à l’école, à l’église, dans les discours politiques, etc., tandis que le créole est utilisé dans la vie quotidienne, dans les rapports avec les inférieurs, etc. Donc, la diglossie mettrait en présence 2 variétés d’une langue dont l’une est valorisée, ‘normée’, véhicule d’une littérature reconnue mais parlée par une minorité, et dont l’autre est péjorée mais parlée pas le plus grand nombre.’
1) la concurrence de 2 variétés d’une même langue
2) un statut différent (usage quotidien (vernaculaire) vs. Norme officielle (parfois, usage imposé par les autorités))

(45) Joshua Fishman, utilisant la dualité de la diglossie de Ferguson, a fait d’autres propositions en 1967 :
‘Opposant le biliguisme (la capacité d’un individu à utiliser plusieurs langues) qui relèverait de la psycholinguistique à la diglossie (utilisation de plusieurs langues dans une société) qui relèverait de la sociolinguistique’, Fishman modifie la conception de Ferguson sur 2 points :
-Il insiste moins sur la présence de 2 codes (il peut y en avoir plus, mais en général la situation se ramène à l’opposition entre une variété haute et basse).
-La diglossie existe dès qu’il y a une différence fonctionnelle entre 2 langues, quel que soit le degré de différence, du plus subtil au plus radical (la relation génétique entre les 2 formes n’est pas une obligation).

Il y aurait 4 possibilités avec exemples (46) :
- Diglossie et biling : Le Paraguay, ou tout le monde parle espagnol et guarani, l’espagnol étant la forme haute et le guarani la basse.
- Biling sans diglossie : Dans les situations instables ou il y a beaucoup d’individus bilingues mais pas de bilinguisme social (les groupes germanophones en Belgique, dans lesquels le français remplacerait lentement l’allemand).
- Diglossie sans biling : La Russie tsariste, dans laquelle les nobles ne parlaient que français et le peuple que russe.
- Ni diglossie ni biling : (rare) petite communauté avec une seule variété linguistique.
Donc, il est utile de différencier entre le biling individuel et le biling social (=diglossie).

Toutefois, dans certains pays, il peut y avoir plus de 2 langues qui sont hautes, et d’autres langues (ex. Tanzanie, la langue du colonialisme (anglais), la langue nationale (swahili, langue africaine dominante importante à parler dans ce pays autant que l’anglais) : ces 2 langues sont hautes par rapport aux autres langues africaines). Aussi, les langues ne sont pas nécessairement apparentées génétiquement de plus que les formes de langues ne sont pas plus prestigieuses par nature mais par histoire (ex. si des barbares prennent le pouvoir, leur langue deviendra langue de prestige).

BAYLON, Christian. (1996) Sociolinguistique, Armand Colin, France.
(146) Bilinguisme: usage de deux ou plusieurs langues par un même individu ou un même groupe.
(148) Diglossie : répartition des usages dans chacune des langues selon des circonstances et des thèmes particuliers, s’accompagnant généralement de la prépondérance de l’usage d’une des deux langues et d’une différence de prestige. (prestige= subjectif)
(150) 1 : Dynamique de maintien de la diglossie : variété L (les formes d’une langue s’emploient quotidiennement, équilibre)
2 : Dynamique de convergence : variété H (l’unification des variétés linguistiques en présence)






17) Describe in detail the political situation in Britain leading up to the