Laubeová, Laura (2000)
Bilingualism
The term bilingualism has many different meanings. On individual level it refers to consecutive or simultaneous learning/ acquisition of a second language and involves issues of language competence, performance, ability, proficiency, and achievement. On a societal level it refers to a complex phenomena of minority and migrants. While it is not possible to separate effects of individual and societal bilingualism, the latter concerns with concepts such as diglossia and domain that are helpful in understanding the different ways in which linguistic resources are organised in multilingual communities, including phenomena such as borrowing, interference, transfer, and code-switching
Another
important distinction is between ability (competence) and use,
sometimes referred to as the difference between degree and function. Bilingualism
and multilingualism often involve different degrees of competence in the
languages involved. A person may control one language better than another, or a
person might have mastered the different languages better for different purposes,
using one language for speaking, for example, and another for writing.
The
terminology is complex and often overlaps. Apart from the main four language
skills, listening, reading, writing, and speaking, also the fifth competence may
be distinguished, i.e. cognitive competence as ability to use one ore both
languages for reasoning and deliberation (also referred to as inner speech used
for thinking). Within bilingual ability the following categories may be
distinguished: maximal (´native like´) and minimal (incipient) bilingualism,
balanced bilingualism (dual language proficiency), semilingualism or double
semilingualism, which are all highly controversial terms (Skutnab Kangas, 1984).
Separate
from bilingual ability is a person´s use of their two languages,
referred to as functional bilingualism that concerns the contexts (domains)
and targets (people), i.e. when, where and with whom people use their two
languages. A distinction needs to be made between functional bilingualism and language
background which is a broader concept, referring to both participative and
non-participative experience of language. The latter can be measured by
questions such as “what language do your parents, grand parents, speak to each
other when you are present?”
Diglossia refers to the coexistence of two forms of the same language in a speech community. Often, one form is the literary or prestige dialect, and the other is a common dialect spoken by most of the population. Sociolinguists may also use the term diglossia to denote bilingualism, the speaking of two or more languages by the members of the same community, as, for example, in New York City, where many members of the Hispanic community speak both Spanish and English, switching from one to the other according to the social situation or the needs of the moment.
There are many different ways and contexts in which children become bilingual, as well as many different outcomes. To date researchers have not agreed on the extent to which the bilingual child´s early language systems are merged or separate, some advocate separation of the two languages either by person or by context, some still assume that bilingualism may be harmful in terms of language interference and mixing. Skutnabb-Kangas has noted two of the most common misconceptions about bilingualism: firstly, it is always best to teach a child through the medium of the native language; secondly, the native languages must be always stabilised before instruction through the medium of another can begin. These claims may be true under some circumstances and not others. There seems to be however one guiding principle: in order to achieve higher levels of bilingualism, it is better to support via instruction the language which is less likely to develop for other reasons. This strategy has been successfully used by some multiethnic schools in the USA and elsewhere. Another myth is that bilingualism itself is the cause of poor achievement at school and accounts for the failure of minority children. Research has shown that socio-economic class is a crucial variable as bilingualism always develops in a particular social context (Romaine, 1997). Skutnabb-Kangas notes that as far as the role played by education is concerned, we must ask what goals different societies have when the try to make various children bilingual or monolingual. Often children are caught in a vicious circle. Because the schools fail to support their home language, skills in it are often poor. At the same time they do not progress in the new language at school, and are labelled semilingual. Often it is argued that bilingualism impedes development in the second language. Thus the failure of the school to let children develop further in their mother tongue is often used to legitimise further oppression of it (Skutnabb-Kangas, 1984, and Romaine, 1997).
The designation as a bilingual minority depends on the purpose of the categorisation. At different times, governments may wish to include or exclude language minorities. Where a single indigenous language exists (e.g. in Ireland or Wales), a government may wish to maximise its counts of bilinguals; a high number may then indicate government success in its indigenous language policy. Vice versa, in a suppressive, assimilationist approach, minority languages and bilinguals may be minimized (e.g. immigrants in England).
Another distinction that needs to be mentioned is between additive and subtractive bilingualism. Additive bilingualism is being described as the acquisition of a second language without any loss or weakening of the first language. Current research shows that when students´ first language is valued and recognised, the development of the second language is more effective. In reality, however it is the subtractive bilingualism that prevails, when the first language has been edged out of the classroom and schools environment. This was the case for many years, in South Africa, where Afrikaans (a variant of the Dutch language) had been used as the medium of instruction for majority of the black students. Similarly, Romanes, the language of Roma/Gypsies, have been suppressed at schools in Central and Eastern Europe. In UK this phenomena refers to situations where minority languages such as Urdu, Bengali or Punjabi are ignored or have inferior status in comparison with the so-called world (understand European) languages.
Further reading:
Baker,
Colin, Foundation of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Clevedon:
Multilingual matters Ltd., 1996
Romaine,
Suzanne, Bilingualism. 2nd
edition, London:
Blackwell Publishers, 1994
Baker,
Colin, Jones, Sylvia Prys, Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education,
Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd, 1998
Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove, Bilingualism or Not: The Education of Minorities. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1984
Skutnabb-Kangas,Tove, Linguistic Genocide in Education - or Worldwide Diversity and Human Rights?, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2000
Varennes, Fernand de, “Language, Minorities and Human Rights”, Kluwer Law International, 1996
Wei,
Li, The
Bilingualism Reader, Taylor & Francis Books Ltd, Routledge,
an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd, 2000
Cummins, Jim, Bilingualism and Special Education: Issues in assessment and pedagogy, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1984
© Laubeová, 2000