The purpose is to show how ferguson s diglossia differs from the extensions formulated by other linguists and discuss the various critiques that the theory of diglossia. Perhaps the most familiar example is the standard language and regional dialect as used, say, in italian or persian, where many speakers speak their local dialect at home. Please define and explain and give examples for diglossia. Language situation, in which in the addition of primary dialect. It describes a situation where two languages or language varieties occur side by side in a community, and each has a clear range of. Ramseier calls germanspeaking switzerland s diglossia a medial diglossia, whereas felicity rash prefers functional diglossia. Weinreich visited the 1964 linguistic institute, delivering four lectures on semantic theory u. The concept of diglossia in caribbean creole situations. Of the language there is a divergent highly codified superposed variety which is learn largely by formal education and is used for most written and formal spoken purpose. Modelled on the french diglossie, the original concept of diglossia goes back to charles ferguson 1959. In the years since ferguson 1959 first proposed the term, diglossia has become a theoretical construct widely used in the description and analysis of societal multilingualism. This chapter discusses diglossia as one of the charismatic concepts that sociolinguistics has produced. In this electure, i discuss ferguson s classical article called diglossia published in 1959. The phenomenon of diglossia, first described by ferguson 1959, and later refined by fishman 1967, is another precursor to linguistic analyses of code switching.
Ferguson s original proposal was designed to distinguish paired language varieties having. At that time, as shown below, 28% of the leaders surveyed used frisian at. An ebook reader can be a software application for use on a computer such as microsoft s free reader application, or a booksized computer that is used solely as a reading device such as nuvomedia s rocket ebook. Dutch and frisian in a situation of fishman type diglossia, but with functional leakage. Diglossia is a relatively stable language situation in which. Arabic largely exists in a diglossic situation, which is manifested through the co existence of. Diglossia 1 in many speech communities two or more varieties of the same language2 are used by some speakers under different conditions. Pdf international journal of linguistics, literature and. As pointed out by britto, fishman s extension makes the criterion of functional complementarity irrelevant and as a consequence, h in fishman s diglossia could well be a uroc. In this video i discuss diglossia, and give some examples of this linguistic phenomenon. Diglossia delineates communities using two or more linguistic varieties for differing functions within a single speech community.
This concern for the purity and preservation of language, in part, explains why languages like sanskrit and tamil were codified in grammars way back around 500 bce. The characteristics of classic instances of diglossia are subdivided into sociocultural and linguistic features, and these in turn are used as a basis for determining the extent to which different types of community might be fruitfully described as diglossic. Latin in medieval europe, is used for religious, educational, literacy and other such. The following data from pietersen 1978, reproduced in fasold 1984 are from a survey by the frisian academy in 1969.
It is very likely, therefore, that tamil diglossia was rooted in this concern for the purity of language. There may be more than two language varieties used within a diglossic community. It attempts to outline the meaning of the concept, its different types and its relationship to language stability and change. Fishman 1967 introduced the notion that diglossia could be extended to situations found in many societies where forms of two genetically unrelated or at least historically distant languages occupy the h and l niches, such that one of the languages e. Ferguson 1959 and fishman 1972 are among the major sociolinguists who have developed this.
The creation of a typology of diglossia is not a simple task as it must be more than just a gathering of case studies of language in society, meaning a theory of language in society. Kc85 diglossiadraft 2clean center for intercultural. When people are bidialectal, they can use two dialects of the same language, based on their surroundings or different contexts where they use. The middle way david deterding introduction the concept of diglossia was developed by ferguson 1959. Then i go through its main features as introduced in his article. These earlier swork on language choicehave provided the foundation to the study of language choice, and language maintenance and language shift lslm. In true diglossia, the l is a nativelyspoken, relatively independent variety for. Schiffman 1111 introduction introduction introduction the sociolinguistic condition known as diglossia has attracted wide attention since the publication of ferguson s seminal article 1959. Diglossia and the variation of the colloquial arabic. In sociolinguistics, diglossia is a situation in which two distinct varieties of a language are spoken within the same speech community. Diglossia, the coexistence of two varieties of the same language throughout a speech community. Having defined the term diglossia and the way the concept has been extended by fishman. Diglossia revisited peter hawkins queen margaret college, edinburgh abstract ferguson s classic description and defmition of diglossia was later extended by gumperz and fishman to other multilingual and multidialectal situations which are in some ways similar. Language maintenance and language shift among four immigrant minorities in the nordic region.
At the other extreme, joshua fishman has implicitly dismissed the. Diglossia, as a consequence, describes a number of sociolinguistic situations, from stylistic differences within one language or the use of separate dialects ferguson s standardwithdialects distinction to the use of related or unrelated. Fishmans theory of diglossia and bilingualism in the. When people are bidialectal, they can use two dialects of the same language, based on their surroundings or different contexts where they use one or the other language variety. Fishman s original extension of the scope of diglossia may also be considered in the light of an early thrust in sociolinguistic thought toward the theoretical integration of dialect variation.
Diglossia definition is the use of two varieties of the same language in different social contexts throughout a speech community. The theory of diglossia developed by charles ferguson in 1959, and a later, expanded version by joshua fishman are outlined and contrasted, and some of the major objections to them are discussed. Diglossia may develop from various origins and eventuate in different language situations. This critical overview describes ferguson s 1959 classic diglossia and fishman s 1967 extended diglossia and refers to other important extensions of the concept, as well as to various critiques that the theory of diglossia has received until today. It describes diglossia s provenance, its major conceptualizations by ferguson and fishman, and its quintessential contribution to the study of language and society, before tackling some of the problems that it engenders. This paper provides an overview of diglossia in arabic. Diglossia definition of diglossia by merriamwebster. Attention is drawn to the preoccupation in diglossia studies with. Ferguson defined diglossia as the existence of a divergent, highly codified 1959. Ronald wardhaugh introduction to sociolinguistics fifth edition 5. The purpose of this paper is not only to present the concept. Of the four defining languages, arabic diglossia seems to reach as far back as our knowledge of arabic goes, and the superposed classical language has remained relatively stable, while greek diglossia has roots going back many centuries, but. Ferguson s larger picture the extension of the term diglossia to describeall cases of functional distribution between different language varieties regardless of their genetic relatedness is not very productive in cases where classical diglossia coexists with bilingualism. The theoretical status of intermediate varieties of language in a diglossia.
Joshua fishman presented a modification of fergusons 1959 original concept and rather strict definition of. Often, one form is the literary or prestige dialect, and the other is a common dialect spoken by most of the population. Joshua fishman presented a modification of fergusons 1959 original concept and rather strict definition of diglossia in 1967. Definition and examples of diglossia sociolinguistics.
In his last major statement on the subject, ferguson himself was moved to comment on how research over the course of the preceding three decades had failed to adopt a comparative. The single theory outlined above enabling us to understand, predict and interrelate both of these phenomena is an instance of enviable parsimony in the behavioral sciences. Ferguson 1959 diglossia is relatively stable language. These caveats aside, one of the purposes of this study, in furtherance of ferguson s interest in the sources and outcomes of di. In addition, ferguson s view is limited two language varieties, whereas fishman s view is more than two language varieties can be reserved for specific functions in a society fasold, 1984. According to ferguson 1959, the hvariety and the lvariety have to be two divergent forms of the same language which are above the level of a standardwithdialects distinction, but which stay below the level of two separate related or unrelated. International journal of linguistics, literature and. His theory of semantics, fishman suggested, was profoundly cultural and sociosituational, and so a comforting antidote to the antisociolinguistic theory that. A reevaluation of fishman s theory of diglossia and bilingualism.
Pdf language maintenance and language shift among four. These generalizations were intended to apply to all categories of diglossic situations. The impact of diglossia in teachinglearning the arabic. One prediction, however, that bilingualism without diglossia is inherently unstable, does not apply to certain types of diglossia.
In many speech communities two or more varieties of the same language2. Indeed, arabic represents the world s most complicated diglossic situation kaye, 2002. Ferguson who later developed a theory of diglossia as applied to the high. Such a situation exists in many speech communities throughout the worlde. He proposed an expansion of fergusons definition of diglossia in two respects. Fishman s conception of domain which is a constellation of factors of setting. Bilingual diglossia is a type of diglossia in which one language variety is used for writing and another for speech.