More than half the world's
population is bilingual and many are multilingual. They get a number of
languages because they need it for a different purpose in their daily
interactions. One language is the language of ethnic or tribal, the other is
the language of education, the other served as a useful language of wider
communication in certain contexts, such as the market or with outsiders or
tourists. In this chapter will examine the label and sociolinguistic criteria
used to distinguish between different varieties or code in a multilingual
society.
In view of the first example.
From other languages. With this type of language diversity is easy to
understand the problems facing the country at the national level. Should the
state use the same language for internal administration and for official
communication with other countries? Which language or languages to be used by
the government and the courts? In order to assess the relative claims of
different languages need to see their status and the functions they serve.
Sociolinguists have developed a
way of categorizing language, according to the status and social functioning.
The difference between the standard language and regional languages is a
useful place to start.
Vernacular
local language is a term used in
a variety of ways. This usually refers to a language that has not been
standardized and which do not have official status. There are hundreds of local
languages, such as Throw in Papua New Guinea, for example, a lot of which
have never been written down or explained. In a multilingual speech community,
many languages of different ethnic or tribal which is used by various groups
called regional languages. Language area is usually the first language
learned by people in multilingual societies, and they are often used for a
relatively narrow range of informal functions.
There are three components of the
local language meaning. The most basic refers to the fact that the local
language is different uncodifed or unstandardised. The second refers to the way
it was obtained, at home, as the first variety. The third is the fact that it
is used for a relatively limited functions. The first component that has been
most widely used as the defining criteria, but the emphasis on one or other of
the components has led to the use of local language term with slightly
different meanings.
Some have expanded the term to
refer to any language that is not the official language of a country. An
influential 1951 UNESCO report, for example, defines vernacular as the language
of fist of social or political group dominated by groups with different
languages. So in countries like the United States where English is the
language of the dominant group, a language such as Spanish vernacular is called
as the Chicano child. But Spain would not be regarded as a regional language in
Spain, Uruguay or Chile, where it is the official language. In this sense
Greece is the local language in Australia and New Zealand, but not in Greece or
Cyprus. The term local language means a language which is not an official
language in certain contexts. When people talk about education in the local
language, for example, they are usually referring to the education in the
languages of ethnic minorities in a particular country.
Regional language varieties of
the term generally refers to most day-to-day in a person's linguistic
repertoire. In a multilingual community of this variety will often be the
language of ethnic or experiments that are not standard. is the local language
varieties used for communication in the home and with close friends. It is the
language of solidarity between people of the same ethnic group. By extension
the term has been used to refer to a monolingual society informal and most
varieties of everyday language that also may have different standards.
'vernacular' term is used with this meaning by sociolinguists studying social
dialect.
Sociolinguistic |
Finally the local language is
sometimes used to indicate that the language used for day-to-day interactions,
without implying that the only suitable language in informal domains. Hebrew,
for example, is the ritual and religious language without native speakers.
'parents' tongue' no-one, and certainly not regarded as a regional language.
Sociolinguists have described the development process to be used as the
national language of Israel as 'vernacularisation' or kebahasa-daerahan. Its
function is extended from the exclusive function H to include the function L.
Of ritual language, Hebrew is the language of everyday communication - language
area. In this sense, the local language or languages in contrast to the
classical ritual. The Catholic Church at one time used in Latin for church
services, not regional languages such as English, French and Italian. By
using this definition, and is generally not useful as a more specific
definition that contrasts with everyday language standard used for a more
formal function.
Standard Language
It is the sixteenth century view
of George Puttenham about where young writers will find most acceptable variety
of English. Good English speech is to be heard, in the opinion of the
Puttenham. He was mostly right in identifying the origin of social and regional
varieties which we now regard as standard English.
One definition that can serve as
a starting point. Various standards are usually written one, and who have
experienced some level of regularization or codification (eg, in grammar and
dictionary), but is recognized as a prestigious variety or code by a community,
and is used for the H function with diverse varieties of L. This is a very
general definition and immediately exclude some of the four or five thousand
world languages. Only a minority language in the written world, and even a
small minority that are standard in the sense that codified and accepted by the
community as suitable for formal occasions. It would be useful to look at an
example to illustrate what the definition means in a particular context.
Standard English emerged
'naturally' in the fifteenth century from English dialect areas, largely
because it is the variety used by the Court and the influential London
merchants, as noted Puttenham. The area where the largest proportion of the
Indonesian population living at that time was in a neat triangle containing
London, where the Court is based, and two universities, Oxford and Cambridge.
In addition, the area is an agricultural area and important business, and
London is the center of international trade and exports to Calais. It is also
the center of political life, social and intellectual in the UK.
So it is the dialect that is used
in this area which is the basis for what we now think of as standard English.
It was prestigious because of its use in court. Was influential because it is
used by the powerful merchant class economy. People who come to London from the
provinces recognized and frequently studied, and this of course makes it
useless. The more people who use it, the people should make a little effort to
understand the regional varieties. It is easy to see how the code will quickly
develop a formal function H in the context of administration and governance.
English language development
standards describe three important criteria that characterize standard: various
influential or prestigious, codified and stable, and serves the function H in
that it is used for communication on the court, for literature and for
administration. It also illustrates that what we refer to as the standard
language is always a certain dialect that has gained a special position as a
result of the influence of social, economic and political. A standard dialect
does not have a certain linguistic benefits, both in vocabulary, grammar or
pronunciation. This is just a dialect of those who are politically powerful and
socially prestigious. Once it begins to function as a norm or standard to a
wider group, however, it is possible to develop a broader vocabulary needed to
express new functions required to serve.
After the standard dialect
evolved or developed, generally provide a very useful means of communication
throughout the dialect diversity. Status as a prestige range of guarantees it
will spread. Standard English served as useful for communication between the
various regional dialect diversity, not only in English but also in countries
where the UK has had a colonial influence.
In multilingual countries the
language of coloniall or world powers may be useful for similar purposes. In
addition, a certain vernacular or local language can develop the role of
language in the broader communication multilingual area. The language can be labeled
francas lingua, which is the topic of the next section.
Lingua Francas
In a special meeting, Latin
serves as a lingua franca - a language of communication between two people. In
Sister Dominic attended the meeting between the nuns of South America, Africa,
Ireland and the French, the language of communication is English more breadth.
When academics and experts met at an international conference, or when
politicians arrange summit meetings, world languages such as English, French
or Spanish, is often used as a lingua franca. In this example, certain language
serves as a lingua franca in certain situations. More commonly, however, the
term describes the lingua franca language serves as a means of regular
communication between the different language groups in a multilingual speech
community.
A lingua franca is a language
used for communication between people of different first languages. In some
countries the most useful and the lingua franca is a language widely used
official or national language. In a multilingual society 'lingua franca very
useful they can eventually replace regional languages. When people from
different ethnic groups were married in Zaire or Tanzania or Papua New Guinea,
they often use their lingua franca of the region as a language at home.
Pidgins and Creoles
Pidgin is a language that has no
native speakers. Pidgins evolved as a means of communication between people who
do not have the same language. Pidgin seems very likely arise when two groups
with different languages that communicate in situations where there is also a
third dominant language. Pidgins developed with a narrow range of functions.
Those who use it have other languages as well, so pidgin which is in addition
to their linguistic repertoire used for certain purposes, such as trade or
possibly administration. Pidgin is used almost exclusively for respect rather
than affective functions. They are typically used for functions that are quite
specific as to buy and sell grain, or animal skin, not to signal social differences
or express politeness.
Because pidgins evolved to serve
a very narrow range of functionality in a very limited set of domains, they
tend to have a simplified structure and vocabulary is small compared with fully
developed language. The word generally has no inflection, as in English, to
mark the plural, or signal tense of the verb. Also used to mark affixes no sex,
as in Spain and Italy. Affixes are removed. Often the information they convey
more specifically characterized elsewhere if a sentence, or can be inferred
from the context, or do not need.
Pidgin language does not have a
high status or prestige and, for those who do not speak them, they often seem
silly language.
A pidgin language has three
identifying characteristics:
1. It is used in limited domains
and functions
2. It has a simpler structure
than the source language
3. It generally has a low
prestige and attract negative attitude - especially from outside
A creole is a pidgin which has acquired native
speakers. Many languages are actually now called Pidgin Creole. They learned
by children as their first language and are used in various domains. After
creoles have developed can be used for all functions of any language -
politics, education, administration, etc. Although external attitude 'to creole
is often negative as their attitudes toward