Bilingualism
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Transcript of Bilingualism
Bilingualism
As a social and an individual phenomenon
Defining Bilingual
• Almost everyone has at least some knowledge of another language.
• Some people have excellent command of both languages.
• There is a continuum from una cerveza más, por favor to native like competency
Other issues in defining bilingual
• Skill in one domain may not translate to skill in another (pronunciation, reading, writing, etc.)
• Sociolinguistic competence: knowing styles, registers, discourse customs
• Domains of language use:– family, friendship, religion, employment,
education, hobbies, politics, law/government, etc.
Domains of language use
• family• friendship• religion• employment• education• hobbies• politics, government, law• etc
• Bilinguals are rarely equally competent in both languages to discuss all domains of life.
• To what extent should context be taken into account?
• What is the ultimate value of having a consistent definition of what it means to be bilingual?
How common is bilingualism?
• Worldwide there are ca. 5,500 languages, and ca 192 countries in the world = 29 times more languages than countries!
• San Diego City Schools (SD Unified) has some 60 languages besides English spoken as a primary home language.
• 28.4% of SD Unified students are classified as English learners.
Other countries
• South Africa: 11 official languages (5 most common are IsiZulu (23%), Isixhosa (18%), Afrikaans (14.5%), Sepedi (9%), and English (8.5%)
• India: 15 languages classified as major languages, some 387 in total.
• Kenya has some 61 languages• Papua New Guinea has some 823
languages
Is the bilingual brain different?
• Where are the different languages stored? Is there a single, overarching grammar, or are there sub-divisions?
• Brain regions: stimulation to left hemisphere language areas causes deficits to both languages, but in some areas one language may be more affected than another.
bilingual brain
• Aphasia: Stroke victims with left hemisphere lesions may experience different effects:– both languages impaired.– one language impaired, other unaffected.– one language recovers quickly, the other lags
behind.
Bilingual Processing
• How do bilinguals effect language choice?– Maintain use of one language (L1 or L2)– Switch between languages
CONCEPTUALIZER(message
generation)
FORMULATOR(grammatical and
phonological encoding)
ARTICULATOR
LEXICON
AUDITION
SPEECH-COMPREHENSION
SYSTEM
SPEECH
situational knowledge,encyclopedia, discourse, etc.
Levelt's speech production model
the model
Situational Knowledge
• Who are the interlocutors? What are their language abilities?
• How well does the speaker control both languages?
• What is the purpose/topic of the discourse?
Other components• conceptualizer: formulation of a preverbal
message, the output consists of all the information needed by the formulator to convert the communicative intention into speech.
• formulator: converts preverbal message into a ‘speech plan’, selecting lexical items and phonological sequence.
• articulator: converts the speech plan into instructions for actual speech
Adapting the model to bilingualsSeveral factors must be taken into account
when adapting this model to account for bilingual speech behavior.
• L2 knowledge is typically incomplete (there are typically fewer words & rules available to the speaker).
• L2 speech is less automatic, more attention has to be paid to execution.
• L2 speech carries a trace of L1
What does the bilingual lexicon look like?
• one system or two?
• one system more efficient than having to (de)activate whole systems.
• one system better accounts for rapid switches
[cat] [gato] [cat] [gato]
Maintaining the same language: the Subset Hypothesis
• words, syntactic rules, phonemes from a given language form a subset of the total system.
• Each subset can be activated independently.
• Subsets are formed and maintained by the use of words in specific contexts.
• In monolinguals subsets may be formed for different styles and registers.
Switching: Differential activation
• Searching the lexicon does not necessarily target or activate just one meaning.
• Context of language use may make some meanings more available than others.
• Some features of the preverbal message may be more important than others. Many features of concepts may overlap. Context may promote or demote some features in prominence.
other considerations
• Even highly proficient bilinguals need more time to retrieve words (up to 150 ms). the Non-native speaker has to balance the ‘need for speed’ (2-5 words per second) with other communicative goals.
• Language cues from the conceptualizer may exceed capabilities of the L2 formulator
Aside: speed of processing
• Passive vocabulary of a first year university student? maybe 75,000 words?
• Active lexicon considerably smaller, at maybe 30,000 words.
• Average rate of speech is about 150 words per minute (peak ca 300 wpm)
• 200-400 ms to choose a word when we speak (wrong choice made maybe 1/1000)
Reasons for Code switching?
• a meaningful discourse strategy– word or phrase has no straightforward
equivalent in LX.– domain of language use
• result from a lack of knowledge.
Some examples of code switching
• Wij zijn gewoon hetzelfde als babamiz annemiz.
‘We’re just the same as our parents.
• Maar dat is toch weer köy, hè.
‘But that is again backwardish, boorish
L2 words may express emotional value, or a more precise concept.
• Eh, Mom, ¿cómo se come la eggplant?
• No tienen miedo a la vida, you know? They risk their life on anything.
• A: Cada día se lleva su coffe pot upstairs.
B: ¿Y qué tiene que me lleve mi coffe pot upstairs?
Code Switching sites• Selection of lexical items: conceptual
mismatch between concept and word in LX may cause choice of another word or phrase from another language.
• Structural sites:– most common between coordinated sentences.– less likely between sentence and subordinate
clause– least likely within a PP, or between subject and
predicate
Childhood bilingualism
• Raising bilingual children.
• What factors influence childhood bilingualism?
• How do kids keep their languages separate?
• Does bilingualism have any cognitive benefits?
Raising bilingual children
• Children who begin acquiring a second language by the age of about 7 years tend to acquire native-like grammatical competency, given sufficient L2 input.
• Acquisition setting, amount of input, etc. generally lead to one language becoming the dominant one.
• One parent, one language a typical approach, but…
Important factors to consider
• Amount and type of input. – who is the primary care giver?– how much input does each parent give?– what other languages is the child exposed to?
• Interaction or separation of the two systems.– in what domains does the child encounter L2?– what is the status of L1/L2 in society?
Important factors to consider
• social and psychological factors.– prestige of the languages being learned.– institutional support.– social value of bilingualism.– cultural affinity.– relationship to parents/care givers.– extent to which parents’ languages are
present in the community.
Keeping languages separate
• Dominant model for raising bilingual children is ‘one parent, one language’.
• People who report using this strategy, however, often mix languages (interaction with community, with spouse, extended family, teachers, etc.)
• Parents’ languages may play less of a role in traditional societies, industrial societies.
limitations to one parent, one language
• strict separation of languages not always feasible, nor is it always a natural way of using language.
• there is no hard evidence that children with mixed input acquire their languages any slower.
• children don’t rely (only) on parental cues, but rely on UG to perform tacit structural analyses of syntax, phonology, etc.
Stages of acquisition
• Bilingual children seem to have separate grammars by the age of 2-2;6
• Bilingual children seem to undergo the same stages of acquisition as monolingual children (babbling, 1 word, 2 word, multiword stages, morpheme order, vocabulary development [including 18 month explosion)
Cognitive effects?
• Results of studies are mixed, though there are some claims:– increases cognitive flexibility?– easier to engage in abstract thought?– facilitates development of reading skills?– higher sensitivity to word form as distinct from
word meaning?
Diglossia
• Simultaneous use of 2 (or more) language varieties in distinct social domains within the same speech community.
• The languages may be related (Classical vs. colloquial Arabic, High German vs. Swiss German), or they may be unrelated (Spanish vs. Guaraní)
Language Functions
• Typically, the H variety in a diglossic situation is perceived to be – more logical– more elegant– superior
• The H variety is usually also standardized (formal grammars, classroom instruction)
• Acquired later• Typically has a literary heritage
Functions of
• H variety used in more formal situations:– sermons– political speeches– university lecture– news broadcasts– newspaper editorial– most poetry and literature
Functions of L
• L variety used in more personal settings:– instructions to waiters, servants, workmen– conversations with family, friends– folk literature (fairy tales, folk tales, songs,
light verse)– soap operas, talk shows
• Use of L in inappropriate situations can be a serious social gaffe.
Examples
• German-speaking countries
• Haiti
• Arabic-speaking countries
• Tanzania (vernacular, Swahili, English)