What is Bilingualism?

S. B. Gardi Deartment Of  English M.K.Bhavnagar University

Written by:- Dodiya Asha B

          
Course No:-12

Email Id :- ashadodiya15@gmail.com

Enrollment no :- PG15101012

What is Bilingualism?

 

Bilingualism simply means the ability to communicate in two languages. English is not the native language in India. English Language had become an official language in India therefore English is not the native language for Indians. English is the Second Language in India. India is a multilingual country fully diversified with multiculturalism. Agnes Lam refers to bilingualism the phenomenon of competence and communication in two languages.

What is Bi-dialectal ?

Bi-dialectalism refer to phenomenon where by 

someone  can communicate in more than two 

dialects of the same language  English and Gujarat 

language has got several dialects like , kathiyavadi , 

Mahesani, and Amdavadi for a Gujarati speaker .







What is Bi-scriptural?


 Bi-scriptural competence is the ability to read more 

than one of the same language English The Gujarati 

language can be written in there are three in the 

new simplified script and Traditional complex script. 

A final definitional issue concerns the relationship 

between Bilingualism and Multilingualism.

Multilingualism :-



 Multilingualism based on various combination of 

bilingual competencies. for example. English
 
Individuals in a Multilingual society could be 

Bilingual in the Dominant and another non - 

Dominant language .

What is Non - Dominant Language?
 

The non - dominant language may very for 

individuals. multilingual India the three language 

formula, the regional language and other mother 

tongue. Hindi or another Indian language . English 

as European language. the bilingual individual is 

now recognized as The ultimate locus of contact and 

accepted as one of the situation.

Bilingual Education :-

 

The bilingual education using both language are 

media of instruction and or having bilingualism as a 

goal of education.

There are two models are bilingual education:-
 


         

         1) Additive Bilingualism .
 

         2) Subtractive bilingualism .

1) Additive bilingualism

if becoming bilingual helps learners to develop 

positive attitudes to their native language and 

themselves, the phenomena is called " Additive 

Bilingualism "

2) Subtractive bilingualism :-

if. they develop negative attitudes towards their own 


languages in the process of becoming bilingual, than 

it is called" subtractive bilingualism"
 

There are three types of bilingual memory systems:-
 

1) coexistent bilingualism
 

2) Merged bilingualism
 
3) subordinative bilingualism.

Bilingual Individuals:

• Bilingual individual is someone who has the ability to communicate two languages alternatively, even when one language is being used in a monolingual context. (Bialystok, 2007, 2010)
• Such an ability or psychological state of an individual has been referred to as 'bilinguality'. (Hamers and Blanc 2000)

Bilingual individuals don't find it difficult to communicate in two languages and switch between two languages alternatively.

Bilingual Society:

 

A bilingual society is one in which two languages are used in communication. In bilingual society it is possible to have large number of monolinguals provided that they are enough bilinguals to perform the functions requiring bilingual competence in that society.

Multilingual society is a society which has more than one significant language group. This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Multilingual society. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

• Individual Bilingualism
  
  
  
   

Individual psychological state of mind who uses two languages for communication purpose.

Multilingualism usually refers to a speaker’s knowledge and efficient use of three or more languages while bilingualism is the sociolinguist's term to describe a speaker’s knowledge and use of more than one, i.e. two, languages - their mother tongue and an additional language. However, multilingualism and bilingualism are often used interchangeably and bilingualism might also indicate that a speaker knows and uses more than two languages. Thus, bilingualism means the mastering of two or more languages.

A communicatively competent multilingual speaker is able to code-switch between the varieties he or she knows and uses in accordance with the demands of different social situations.
A communicatively competent multilingual speaker has both active and passive knowledge of the language varieties he or she uses. In other words, this speaker can understand (= passive knowledge) certain varieties in the speech and writing of others and he or she can actively use his or her own speech or writing abilities in the respective varieties (= active knowledge). However, multilingual speakers often do not have identical competence in all the languages they know.
The opposite of multilingualism is monolingualism which describes a speaker who knows and uses one language only – his or her native language.
A person with monolingual competence is called a monolingual. A person with multilingual/bilingual competence is called a multilingual or bilingual.

• Societal Bilingualism
  
   
  
  
   

In societal bilingualism community and that number of individual can use two languages.

'Societal bilingualism' is a broad term used to refer to any kind of bilingualism or multilingualism at a level of social organization beyond the individual or nuclear family. By this definition, almost every country and region of the world has some degree of 'societal bilingualism'.

Monoliguals :-


 


 

Those who Speaks only one of the tow language used in society.

Monolingual is a program for removing unnecessary language resources from macOS, in order to reclaim several hundred megabytes of disk space. It requires a 64-bit capable Intel-based Mac and at least macOS 10.11 (El Capitan).

I don't know about you, but I use my computer in only one (human) language — English. And I'm willing to bet that you do too, albeit perhaps not English. So why do you have a bunch of localization files for the operating system filling up your hard drive? Enter Monolingual — a handy utility for reclaiming your space for more useful things… like international mp3 files, email or whatever you like.

Several Question Have been asked :-

Monolingual or Communicative norms :

Do we measure the competencies of bilingual persons against the respective competencies of monolingual persons ?

If so we end up with labeling some bilinguals as perfect bilinguals and other as imperfect bilinguals. Another approach is not to apply monolingual norms in measuring bilingual abilities but just to evaluate the communicative competence of the bilingual as a Whole ( Grosjean 1992

 

Relative Competencies in two languages :

Is the bilingual better at one language than the other ?

If so the person has dominant bilinguality . If he or she is equally good at both language then the term balanced bilingual is used .


Domains :  can someone be considered a bilingual if he or she can only function in one language in a few domains (e.g. home ) ?

Essentially the person only has the registers or varieties of language associated with particular  domains for different languages . his or her communicative abilities in one language complement those of the other. I would call this complementary bilinguality.

Components:

Can linguistic competence be subdivided into smaller components ?
for e.g can someone be considered a bilingual if he or she can comprehend both two languages but speak and write only one of them ? 

In such circumstances, the person can be described as a receptive bilingual having the ability to understand both languages . Otherwise .the ability to produce both languages in some manner is usually assumed when a person is identified as a bilingual.

Bidialectal and Bircriptural abilities are also important for individuals .

Bidialectalism refers to the phenomenon where  by someone can communication in more than two dialects of same language.

Bircriptural:

Bircriptural competence is the ability to read more than one script and the traditional complex script.

Relationship between Bilingualism and Multilingualism:
Discussions are bilingualism often include multiligual context because in many multilingual societies there are more bilinguals than multilingual individuals. There are many patterns of multilingualism based on various combinations of bilingual competences

For example: Individuals in our multilingual society could be bilingual in the dominant language may vary for individuals. Increasingly, however with the cognition that many societies are multilingual. Multilingualism is often discussed as a phenomenon in its own right.

Approaches:

Linguistic Approach: Linguists differ in the importance they accord to bilingualism. They study the structure and development of the two languages.

Socio linguistics:

It is a study as a whole. It looks at how cultures and social groups affect language performance.

• Language Choice
• Language Planning

Psycho linguistics:

It is a study of the psychological bases of bilinguals' 

language. It largely depends on language performance 

and language competence.

Neuro linguistics:

is a study of the relationship between language and 

the brain.

This article is about the academic field of 

neurolinguistics. For the pseudoscientific 

psychotherapy and communications model, see

Dominant Language and Non-dominant language:

 

Dominant language is a language with power or 

status. 

Non dominant language may vary for individuals.

A compound bilingual is an individual who learns two 

languages in the same environment so that he/she 

acquires one notion with two verbal 

expressions.Simultaneous Bilingualism: it refers to the 

acquisition of one language after another. 

Bilingual Education:

Education using both languages as medium of 

instructions and/or having bilingualism as a goal of 

education.

Compound bilinguals:

A compound bilingual is an individual who learns two

 languages in the same environment so that he/she

 acquires one notion with two verbal expressions.

Compound bilingualism has one semantic system but 

 two linguistic codes. Usually it refers to someone 

whose two languages are learned at the same time 

often in the same context..

Reference
http://valajyotsna.blogspot.in/2016/08/bilingualism-by-agnes-lam.html,http://davemayuri201416.blogspot.in/2015/11/mysem3-presentations.html,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multilingualism,

To evaluate my assignment click here.