Module 13 Flashcards
Mutual Intelligibility
-Same language, different dialects ~American and British English -Different languages ~Spanish and Japanese -But mutual intelligibility is not the only consideration
Language variation
-There’s not always a clear-cut line in terms of intelligibility
~Some speakers of Spanish and Portuguese can understand each other, others cannot
~Some may struggle to understand a dialect that is very different from their own
-Determination of languages vs dialects is often based on social and political factors rather than linguistic ones.
Cultural/ Political identity
-Example
~Cantonese vs Mandarin
*They are generally not mutually intelligible
*They are culturally/politically identified as dialects of Chinese
**Not everyone agrees
Religious identity, Historical factors, Geography
-Example
~Hindi (India) vs Urdu (India/Pakistan)
*Generally are mutually intelligible
**Often considered separate languages
Language Contact
-Regardless of how they are defined, most languages do not exist in isolation
~Speakers of different languages interact with each other in their day-to-day lives
~Across the world, languages are constantly coming into contact with each other
*Through migration, trade, colonization, etc.
Pidgins
-When people who do not speak the same language need to communicate something
-Language-like systems which typically develop for a practical purpose, such as to facilitate trading
~In their initial development, they are used in limited domains
~They are developed by adults who have to communicate with each other… they have no native speakers
-Features of Pidgins
~Very little regularized grammar
~Limited vocabulary, reduction in complexity of structural features
~Lot of variation from speaker to speaker
-Usually one of the languages is the LEXIFIER language-the majority of the words in the pidgin come from the lexifier language
~Those words may not have the same meaning or pronunciation in the pidgin as they do in the lexifier language
*The phonology may be influenced by the speaker’s native language
~The syntax and morphology of the pidgin can be quite different from the lexifier language
*All languages involved can play a role
-Historically, pidgins are common in colonization and plantation situations, where workers who spoke a variety of different languages were brought together and had to find a way to communicate
~Often, the language of the colonizer becomes the lexifier language
~The British did a lot of colonizing… so English is the lexifier language in many pidgins
Example:
**Cameroonian Pidgin (Cameroon, W. Africa)
**English is the lexifier language
*[bɔt trɔki gɛt trɔŋ nkanda nɔtiŋ no fit du i]
*‘But the tortoise has strong skin. Nothing could hurt him.’
**Phonological structure of words is simplified: [stɹɑŋ] → [trɔŋ]
*Morphological structure is also simplified
*‘think’ [θɪŋks] is produced as [tiŋk]
**Verbal morphology marking person/tense is omitted
*He/ she/ him/ her produced as [i]
**No person distinction
-Pidgins have small vocabularies, but meanings of words are extended
-Cameroonian Pidgin
~[stik] = ‘stick’ and ‘tree’
~[wikɔp] = ‘wake up’ and ‘get up’
Creoles
-When a pidgin develops and starts being used as a first language of a community
-Different from pidgins because:
~Creoles are acquired by children as native languages
~Creoles are fully developed languages with complex grammatical systems
*But they are ‘younger’ than the languages from which they developed
-Example
~Tok Pisin is a creole language spoken in Papua New Guinea
*It is now the official language of Papua New Guinea
*It derived from a pidgin developed by speakers on plantations
**A combination of English, German, Malay, Portuguese, and multiple indigenous Austronesian languages
*Tok Pisin
**Mi lukim dok.
**‘I saw the dog.’
Language Variation
-Sometimes languages come into contact with each other and speakers continue using both languages separately
~When a speaker knows two or more languages, they are bilingual or multilingual
~When a community uses two or more languages that remain distinct, we call the community bilingual or multilingual
Bilingualism
-How competent or fluent in both languages do you have to be considered bilingual?
~What if you only know a few words in a different language?
~Do you have to be fluent to be bilingual?
~What does it mean to be ‘fluent’?
-Some questions to consider when determining level of bilingualism:
~Which languages emerges spontaneously in times of high emotion?
~How early did you learn the language and how much have you used it?
~Which language do you dream in?
~How comfortable are you using the language?
~How competent are you in each of the 4 areas of language skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing?
-Determining if a speaker is bilingual is not a clear-cut process
- In many cases, bilingual status is determined and self-reported by the speaker-does the speaker identify as bilingual?
~This is how census statistics work
Fluency
-Is generally considered to be the ability to express oneself clearly and articulately in a language, such that other speakers of the language can understand you
~Particularly, being able to use the language in various contexts (rather than repeating memorized phrases, for instance)
~Do you have to be fluent in both languages to be bilingual?
Bilingualism based off Linguistics
-We consider bilingualism to exist along a continuum or scale
~There are different “degrees” of bilingualism
Knowing a few words or phrases
Being able to understand the language but not speak it
*Being able to carry on a casual conversation
*Being able to have a philosophical debates with other
*Being able to translate or interpret both languages in many or all context
*The ‘highest level’ of bilingualism would be a person who speaks, reads and writes (if written), and understands both languages equally well and feels equally comfortable using both
**Typically, both languages are acquired ‘first’ or ‘native’ languages
**One indicator of ‘high level’ bilingualism is when there is no trace of one of the languages in the other
**You can’t tell by your dialect that you speak another language
****You don’t have a “foreign accent”
**You don’t have to translate from one to the other
***Most speakers, even highly fluent ones, have a ‘dominant’ or preferred language
Bilingualism Worldwide
-Worldwide, multilingualism is more common than monolingualism
~70-80% of the people in the world are bilingual or multilingual
~Bilingual households are common in many parts of the world
~Some countries are “officially” bilingual
*Canada: English and French
*Belarus: Belarusian and Russian
*Paraguay: Spanish and Guarani
-Having an ‘official’ language means that language is specifically protected in the country’s constitution or legal policies
~Federal policies and laws are published in the official language(s)
~Legal documents and road signs must be printed in the official language(s)
~Translators and translated documents are available for official language in court
~Official languages are commonly required to be taught in schools
~It is common for official language(s) to be prominent in the media and in public discourse
-A country’s official language(s) doesn’t necessarily reflect patterns of language use in the country
~Chad has two official languages: French and Arabic
*Not all people living in Chad speak these languages
**There are also more than 100 African languages spoken in Chad
~Canada has two official languages: English and French
*Many other languages are spoken in Canada
*Not all Canadians are bilingual in English and French
*There are certain parts of Canada where French is widely spoken, and certain parts of Canada where it is not
**In Quebec, French is considered the only official language, even though English is also spoken there
What is/are the official language(s) of the U.S.?
-The U.S. does not have an official language
-There is a common misconception that English is the official language of the U.S.
~There have been efforts to make English the official language-these efforts have not come to fruition
*English can be considered the de facto national language, as it’s socially dominant throughout the country
-Many states have adopted “English-only” or “English-first” policies that establish English as the only ‘official’ language in the state
~Alabama
~Arizona
~Arkansas
~California
~Colorado
~Florida
~Georgia
~Idaho
~Illinois
~Indiana
~Iowa
~Kansas
~Kentucky
~Louisiana
~Massachusetts
~Mississippi
~Missouri
~Montana
-English is the most widely spoken language in the country, and Americans are predominantly monolingual
~20% are bilingual
*This number may be rising with increase immigration and revival of heritage languages
*Some states have higher levels of bilingualism than others
*The most common languages spoken by bilinguals in the US are English and Spanish
**But many other languages are spoken here as well
**Yet, American culture often strongly endorses English use and monolingualism
Bilingual Myth
-Learning multiple languages confuses or hinders the language-learning process
~This perception may arise because children may pick up one language more quickly than another, or prefer to use one language more than the other
*They may learn some words in one language and other words in another language, depending on input
*They may lag behind their monolingual peers in vocabulary development
*Children may switch between languages, or not use the language the parent wants them to use at a certain time
**Child may speak English when the parent is trying to get them to speak Spanish
Bilingual Facts
-There is no evidence that learning and knowing multiple languages is detrimental to the brain, developmentally
~Input matters: Children do exhibit earlier mastery of dominant language
~Development is something protracted relative to monolinguals, but is consistent with amount of input and in consistency of patterns across languages
*Composite development across 2 languages is equivalent to or surpasses monolingual development
~Bilingual children are not ‘confused’ or ‘behind’: they just have more input to sort out than monolingual children
-Dealing with this complex input actually has a cognitive benefit for bilingual speakers
~Bilinguals tend to be more sensitive than monolinguals to patterns that differ across languages
~Bilingual speakers show increased cognitive control compared to monolinguals due to mentally switching between languages
~Bilingualism protects older people from some of the negative effects of aging on the brain
-Other benefits of bilingualism
~Can communicate with a wider variety of people
~Have insight into other cultures
~Can be economically advantageous
*Increased job opportunities or pay for bilingual people
-However, bilingualism can be detrimental for social, economic, or cultural reasons
~It can be overtly detrimental to speak two languages when the use of one of those languages is punished or result in social ostracization
~In the U.S., it was a common practice for the government to discourage the use of any language besides English
*Example
**Speakers of indigenous languages, Spanish and other minority languages have been physically punished or denied economic opportunities for speaking their native languages
-Bilingualism can also be more subtly detrimental when there is a general preference for monolingualism in a society
~In the U.S., various immigrant groups rapidly lost their languages as they assimilated into American culture and began speaking English
*Speaking English was economically advantageous while speaking immigrant languages was economically disadvantageous
*It is still common today for speakers for languages other than English in the U.S. to be belittled or mocked for speaking another language
Crosslinguistic Influence
-When two languages come into contact, sometimes the languages influence each other structurally
~Features from one language are integrated into the other
*Lexical features
*Phonological features
*Morphosyntactic features
Lexical Borrowing
-Occurs when speakers incorporate words from one language into another language
-Words that are borrowed are called “borrowings”
~When the borrowings become established in the recipient language, even among monolingual speakers, they are called LOADWORDS
Loanwords
-Are integrated into the phonological system of the recipient language
~Consider the American English pronunciation of Spanish words like “burrito” or “Amarillo”
Borrowing
-Long-established loanwords are sometimes not recognized by speakers as being foreign in origin
-Consider the following loanwords in English
~Dope (Dutch)
~Ski (Norwegian)
~Piano (Italian)
~Pretzel (German)
~Sofa (Arabic)
~Zebra (Bantu)
~Yogurt (Turkish)
~Tycoon (Japanese)
~Tattoo (Tahitian)
-Which words are likely to be borrowed, and why?
~Nouns are the most commonly borrowed words
~Many words are borrowed to fill a lexical gap (recipient language or community lacks name for object or concept)
*“Zebra”
~Words that are culturally-specific may also be borrowed
*Religious terms, food, landscape terms, etc
**“Quinceanera”
-Sometimes, borrowed words don’t fill the lexical gap, and are not culturally-specific
~Consider the word “change,” which has been borrowed into some varieties of Spanish
*Spanish word: oportunidad
*Why would this word be borrowed into Spanish?
-Length (Cost-savings)
Length (Cost-savings)
-Shin (2010) found that bilinguals in NYC borrowed especially short English words to replace especially long Spanish words (Change = 1 syllable, oportunidad = 5 syllables)
Difference between Lexical borrowing and code-switching
-Borrowing
~Involves integrating a word that speakers knows from one language into a different language that the speaker also knows
-Code-switching
~Involves switching between two separate languages in a systematic way
*Bilinguals who code-switch exhibit mastery of the linguistic system of both languages
**It is not indicative of ‘being bad at’ one or both of the languages
Code-switching
-The structural system of each language remains in tact
~Phonology:
Words are not integrated into the phonological system of the other language
~Morphology
Free morphemes can be exchanged, but bound morphemes cannot
**English-Spanish
Examples
**Una buena excuse (‘a good excuse’)
**Cannot do this: eat-iendo (‘eating’) or trabajing (‘working’)
~Syntax
*Speakers adhere to syntactic rules of each language
*English: My mom makes green tamales (Adj) (N)
*Spanish: Mi mama hace tamales verdes (N) (Adj)
*Code-switching
**My mom fixes tamales verdes.
** NOT: My mom fixes verdes tamales
**Mi mama hace green tamales.
**NOT: Mi mama hace tamales green.
Reasons speakers Code-switch
-Signaling identity
-Showing solidarity with speech community
~Used as a marker of in-group status
-Using a word that does not exist in the other language
-For emphasis
-Interjections
-Elaborations
-Certain language associated with emotional contexts or cultural topics
Phonological influence
-In addition to borrowing and code-switching, sometimes, phonological features from one language are integrate into the phonological system of another language.
~Phoneme /ʒ/ in English words such as beiGe, and rouGe entered English via such words (from French)
~Middle English had [v] only as an intervocalic allophone of /f/, but French borrowings such as Vase and Vacation established /v/ as its own phoneme
*Rather than being fully integrated into the phonological system of English, some of the sounds from the source language were retained
Morphosyntactic influence
-Is the least common type of Crosslinguistic influence
~Grammatical elements from one language are integrated into another
Such as grammatical morphemes or constructions, word order
Example
**Subject pronouns in English and Spanish
**Subject pronouns in English: I, you, he, she, we, they
****Nearly obligatory (~91% of the time expressed)
**Subject pronouns in Spanish: yo, tu, usted, nosotros, ellos/ellas
**More often omitted than expressed in Spanish (~20-40% expressed)
-Spanish in the U.S: increase in Spanish subject pronoun expression with increased knowledge of English
-Double negatives in English and Spanish
~Double negatives are considered non-standard in English
~Double negatives are considered standard in Spanish
~Many varieties of Spanish-influenced English (“Chicano English”) use double negatives
*Influence from Spanish?
