Diglossia definition is the use of two varieties of the same language in different social contexts throughout a speech community. Diglossia one linguistic variety, the high variety hvariety, is the prestige variety generally a standard variety and is typically reserved for official functions in more formal speech situations in the public sphere e. Diglossia was first introduced by ferguson as cited in holmes, 2007 as a stable language situation where two or more varieties of the same language have different roles to play in society, with one regarded as a high or h variety and the other as a low or l. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Diglossia definition of diglossia by merriamwebster. 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. 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. Fishman 1967 the existence in some speech communities of two or more significantly discrepant but culturally legitimate speech varieties, one of which is a universally available vernacular variety l, and the other. The impact of diglossia in teachinglearning the arabic. Please define and explain and give examples for diglossia.
What engenders diglossia and under what conditions. Fergusons nine characteristics of diglossia as a potentially open ended checklist of features or parameters of a sociolinguistic typology or have tended to focus their attentions on one. An american scientist called charles ferguson introduced this term into english in 1959. In addition to the communitys everyday or vernacular language variety labeled l or low variety, a second, highly codified lect labeled h or high is used in certain situations such as literature, formal education, or other specific. Most diglossias involve literacy, but oral diglossias are conceivable. Who we are launched in 2014, diglossia is a global language company dedicated to changing lives by fostering language development and literacy throughout the world. The concept of diglossia in caribbean creole situations.
According to ferguson 2005, diglossia is defined as the. Fergusons article and the ways in which it was interpreted in subsequent research. Ferguson who later developed a theory of diglossia as applied to the high and low. Distribution of diglossia in languagefamilies, space, and time. 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. A key defining characteristic of diglossia is that two varieties are kept quite apart functionally. There is a need to clarify the precise meaning of what is traditionally. Definition and examples of diglossia sociolinguistics. A description of diglossia essay example graduateway. According to ferguson, diglossia is a relatively stable language situation.
Often, one form is the literary or prestige dialect, and the other is a common dialect spoken by most of the population. One is used in one set of circumstances and the other in an entirely different set. In this electure, i discuss fergusons classical article called diglossia published in 1959. Diglossia s suite of language assessments provide valid and reliable data to make informed decisions when evaluating language program effectiveness, adopting new curricula, and.
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. Diglossia is the occurrence of two distinct varieties of a language. Ferguson diglossia 1 in many speech communities two or more varieties of the same language2 are used by some speakers under different conditions. The term diglossia from the greek for speaking two languages was first used in english by linguist charles ferguson in 1959. It describes a situation where two languages or language varieties occur side by side in a community, and each has a clear range of functions. Diction versus diglossia diglossia is more involved than just switching between levels of diction in the same language, such as going from slang or texting shortcuts to writing up a formal paper for a class or report. Ferguson s concept of diglossia is examined with a view to dedetermining its applicability to creole continua. Today, the notion of diglossia occupies a prominent place in sociolinguistic research.
Since the 1960s, when the dominant sense of diglossia was the complementary sociofunctional distribution of two varieties of the same language, the term has been applied often controversially to a growing number of diverse sociolinguistic situations. The middle way david deterding introduction the concept of diglossia was developed by ferguson 1959. Comhairesylvain, le creole haitien wetteren and portau. 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. One of the first to have systematically developed and defined diglossia was ferguson in a. Diglossia is a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary linguistics sociolinguistics 10. Such a situation exists in many speech communities throughout the worlde. This article outlines the diglossic approach to intraspeaker grammatical variation ferguson 1959, wherein speakerhearers acquire two grammars which are sociostylistically distinct one high, the other low but linguistically related to the extent that users regard them as the same language, and then engage one or other of them but do not mix them in their active productions. Diglossia, the coexistence of two varieties of the same language throughout a speech community. Then i go through its main features as introduced in his article.
Dec 04, 2014 in this electure, i discuss ferguson s classical article called diglossia published in 1959. Jul 12, 20 the term diglossia was introduced into the english language literature on sociolinguistic by charles a. Modelled on the french diglossie, the original concept of diglossia goes back to charles ferguson 1959. Ferguson gave the classical definition of diglossia. Diglossia is not limited to any geographical area or language family, and diglossias have existed for centuries or millennia arabic, south asia. For instance, the most common is a high variety, which is taught at school, used in the media, at church, and at scholarly gatherings, and a low variety, which is used in informal settings, such as friendly conversations or at home.