Languages in Contact:

Multilingual Societies and Multilingual Discourse

Lecture: Prof. Dr. Januarius Mujiyanto, M.Hum

Presented by:
Ema Sri Rahayu (0203519002)
Siti Nurhidayah (0203519077)
 Languages in Contact:
Multilingual Societies and Multilingual
Discourse

Mutungualism as a Societal Phenomenon

Diglossia

Multilingual Discourse
 The pervasiveness of
Multilingualism

• Multilingualism is the
ability of an
individual/community to
speak many language
• Multilingualism is
common in societies
across the world, In some
cases, speakers of one
language move into an
area where another
language is spoken – this
is the case for
immigration, colonization,
and various scenarios of
conquest.
 The pervasiveness of Multilingualism
language
shift
speakers shift to speak the
dominant language In
situations of commonly
within three generations,
members of the minority
group shift to the dominant
language
language
maintenance
In some scenarios, both
languages continue to be
spoken Due to what we call it
ethnolinguistic vitality
Giles et al. (1977) stated there are three things about any
threatened language;
1. its status: 2. its territorial ( geographic )
economical, social, distribution with its
and historical population demographics, for
example, absolute numbers,
birth rates, marriage patterns,
and migrations in and out
3. its institutional support
education, and
government services, as in
the workplace and in
religious, social, and
cultural activities.
 Multilingualism as a Societal
Phenomenon

In many parts of the world it is just a normal requirement of daily living

that people speak several languages: perhaps one or more at home
For example:
I use Javanese language in my home, I use Indonesian-English when in
the class, and I use Javanese-Indonesian when I speak with my
friends.

Multilingualism has become increasingly prestigious part of civilization

and urban cultures across the world .

Multilingualism can be found almost anywhere, it does not always have

positive associations.
 Competences in multilingual
societies
Most people who are multilingual do not necessarily
have exactly the same abilities in all the languages (or
varieties) they speak.

the level of competence in a code ( LANGUAGE )

developed based on the need of the speaker to use a
language in a particular domain or for a particular
activity. For example:
if you are a doctor you would be good at the medical
terminology and so and so forth.
 Convergence in multilingual
societies
Language contact occurs when speakers of two or more
languages or varieties interact and influence each other.

Language convergence is a type of linguistic change in

which languages resemble each other as a result of
prolonged language contact and mutual interference.
For example:
Gumperz and Wilson (1971). They reported that in
Kupwar, a small village of about 3,000 inhabitants in , India
speak four languages : Marathi , Urdu ,Kannada and Telugu
. The languages were distributed mainly by caste ( social
class ) there is convergence among the four languages
spoken.
 Language ideologies surrounding
multilingualism
In some Western societies , people actually ‘looking down’ on those
who are multilingual. In many of these societies, prestige is attached
to only a certain few classical languages (e.g., Classical Greek and
Latin) or modern languages of high culture (e.g., English, French,
Italian, and German).

Multilingualism became associated with ‘inferiority’. They used to

downgrade, even eradicate, the languages that immigrants bring with
them.

Code; The ‘neutral’ term code is any kind of system that two or more
people employ for communication.it is possible to refer to a language
or any variety of a language as a code.

when you open your mouth, you must choose a particular language,
dialect, style, register, or variety – that is, a particular code. The code
is used to avoid the issue of whether people are speaking multiple
language or dialects. Like the Swiss German language
 Linguistic Landscapes

 Linguistic landscape is the visibility of languages on public and

commercial signs in a given region.

 the display of languages in public spaces, including signs , billboards ,

advertisements , and graffiti.

Diglossia
• The situation in which two languages (or two varieties of the same
language) are used under different conditions within a community,
often by the same speakers.
• The term is applied to languages with distinct ‘high’ and ‘low’
(colloquial) varieties.
 Domains of diglossia

High – H Low - L
• political speeches  • instructions to workers in
low prestige occupations 
• broadcasting the news on radio or to household servants, 
and television 
• conversation with familiars,
• writing poetry  in ‘soap operas’ and
popular programs on the
radio  and in ‘folk literature
 Language attitudes and
ideologies
1. Superiority: The H variety is the superiority prestigious, powerful

2. Inferiority: the L variety lacks prestige inferiority and power

Language Learning

 Another important difference between the H and L varieties is that all

children learn the L variety; it is also generally the home language.

 To that extent, the H variety is ‘taught,’ whereas the L variety is

‘learned.’
 The statuses of the H and L varieties
A diglossic situation has the status definition specified for H and L varieties
For diglossia in one situation you must speak in one variety While for
bilingualism
you can speak in both languages

Extended diglossia and language

maintenance
 Fishman (1980, 3) has broadened or extended the term to include a
wider variety of language situations. For Fishman diglossia is ‘an
persistent societal arrangement,’ extending at least beyond a three-
generation period . 

 Without diglossia, according to Fishman, language shift within three

generations will occur as the languages compete for dominance in
various domains. 

 Rubin (1968) presents a decision tree to depict the factors involved in

language choice in this society, identifying a variety of factors: location
(city or country), formality, gender, status, intimacy, seriousness, and
type of activity.
 Questioning Diglossia

The validity of it as a language The strict compartmentalization of

practice languages which diglossia requires.
 Multilingual Discourse

 People choose to speak, and they decide to switch from that code to another or to
mix codes , that phenomenon called “Code Switching” even within sometimes
very short utterances

 Code Switching is the hallmark of communication in a multilingual society. Code

switching occurs in everyday speech at words, morphemes, sentence, and
discourse level.

 Type of code switching

a. Situational code-switching: people speak one language in one situation
b. Metaphorical code-switching: the choice of code carries symbolic, figurative
meaning.
 Accomodations and Audience Design

 Accommodation is one way of explaining how individuals and groups may be

seen to relate to each other

 Types of accommodations are;

a. Convergence behavior: A positive behavior, Join yourself from other
interlocutors
b. Divergence behavior: A negative behavior, distance yourself from other

 Audience design is when Speakers design their style in response to their

audience, speakers use different styles to represent their identity .
 The Markedness Model
 Markedness Model that a theory talks about the relationship between the
speakers (in the language choice).

 The Markedness Model does not predict that speakers always use the
unmarked code, but rather employs the concept of markedness as a means
to analyze code switching.

 The essential point is that all language choices, marked and unmarked,
contribute to the relationship between the speakers.

Multilingual identities
 Its an approach that concerns in constructing social identities

 An important aspect of this approach is that identities are not seen as

fixed but as fluid, flexible ,multiple, and culturally constructed.
 REFERENCE

Wardhaugh, R. (2015). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Australia:

Blackwell Publishing.
THANK YOU