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. Fergusondiglossia 1 in many speech communities two or more varieties of the same language2 are used by some speakers under different conditions. 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. 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 or. Language ideologies in the arabic diglossia of egypt 5 widespread prejudices against vernaculars within the language community1. Swiss german, haitian creole swiss german, haitian creole fishman 1967 the widespread nature of paraguayan bilingualism caused fishman to hypothesize that diglossia could occur in any situation where two language varieties, even unrelated. The term diglossia from the greek for speaking two languages was first used in english by linguist charles ferguson in 1959. Ferguson in an article, which has by now become a classic. The toefl test was created under his leadership at the center for applied linguistics in washington, dc. Fergusons concept of diglossia is examined with a view to dedetermining its applicability to creole continua. 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. Modelled on the french diglossie, the original concept of diglossia goes back to charles ferguson 1959. 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 with and without bilingualism fergusonsdefinition 1959. Arabic largely exists in a diglossic situation, which is manifested through the coexistence of standard arabic and colloquial arabic ferguson, 1959. The middle way david deterding introduction the concept of diglossia was developed by ferguson 1959. Diglossia as a sociolinguistic situation the handbook of. Please define and explain and give examples for diglossia. 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. According to the classic definition of ferguson 1959. It is seen as superior to vernaculars, such as ea, due to. Characteristically, the hvariety is never used for everyday conversation and in this respect a diglossic situation differs from a standardwithdialects situation in.
Here we see even more clearly than before that bilingualism is essentially a characterization of individual linguistic behavior whereas diglossia is a characterization of linguistic. It describes diglossias 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. Diglossia is a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary dialects of the language, there is a divergent, highly codified superposed variety, the vehicle of a large and respected body of written. Diglossia is a linguistic term that is also used in sociology. Diglossia, the coexistence of two varieties of the same language throughout a speech community. Diglossia is the coexistence of language codes that are either 1 two varieties of one language or 2 two distinct languages. Ferguson in a famous article, diglossia,1 which appeared in the word journal in 1959, in which he. Diglossia and the variation of the colloquial arabic. 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. Diglossia is a linguistic phenomenon found in many multilingual speech communities. This chapter discusses diglossia as one of the charismatic concepts that sociolinguistics has produced. Diglossia language registers and types of diglossia. 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.
In many speech communities two or more varieties of the same language2 are used by some speakers. Bilingual diglossia is a type of diglossia in which one language variety is used for writing and another for speech. Ferguson diglossia 1 in many speech communities two or more varieties of the same language2 are used by some speakers under different conditions. Diglossia definition is the use of two varieties of the same language in different social contexts throughout a speech community. 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. One linguistic variety, the high variety hvariety, is the prestige variety generally a. The term diglossia was introduced into the english language literature on sociolinguistic by charles a. Diglossia is a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary dialects of the language which may include a standard or regional standards, there is a very divergent, highly codified often grammatically more complex superposed variety, the vehicle of a. In the standardwithdialects situation, some speakers speak h as a mother tongue, while others speak lvarieties as a mother tongue and acquire h as a second. Diglossia describes a particular type of sociolinguistic situation in which there is a clear differentiation in function between the languages or language varieties used in a bilingualmultilingual community. The concept of diglossia in caribbean creole situations. Ferguson claims that in arabic diglossia, ca is the divergent, highly codified, and superposed variety. Charles albert ferguson july 6, 1921 september 2, 1998 was an american linguist who taught at stanford university.
Attention is drawn to the preoccupation in diglossia studies with. Then i go through its main features as introduced in his article. The term diglossia was first introduced in english by charles a. Pdf an article about fergusons nine criteria of diglossia based on his article 1959 in which he explained them thoroughly. Diglossia is, as far as the arabic language is concerned, a concept that has been taken for granted, as much as it has been criticized. In this electure, i discuss fergusons classical article called diglossia published in 1959.
In order to describe the situation found in places like greece, the arabicspeaking world in general,german speaking switzerland and the island of. 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. In sociolinguistics, diglossia is a situation in which two distinct varieties of a language are spoken within the same speech community. Such a situation exists in many speech communities throughout the worlde. World cultures, but characterizes a number of languages found in various parts of the world, including western europe. In diglossia, noone speaks the hvariety as a mother tongue, only the lvariety. Bilingualism without diglossia we turn next to those situations in which bilingualism obtains whereas diglossia is generally absent quadrant 2 in figure 3. Ferguson was also the leader of a team of linguists in ethiopia under the ford. The sociolinguistic condition known as diglossia has attracted wide attention since the publication of fergusons seminal article 1959. Reliable data is critical to effective decisionmaking and improving learning outcomes.
Diglossia is a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary linguistics sociolinguistics 10. Western contexts, it is not simply a phenomenon of exotic third. When people are bidialectal, they can use two dialects of the same language, based on their surroundings or different contexts where they use. Diglossia definition of diglossia by the free dictionary. Definition and examples of diglossia sociolinguistics. An overview of the arabic situation morad alsahafi king abdulaziz university abstract. Diglossia is the occurrence of two distinct varieties of a language. He was one of the founders of sociolinguistics and is best known for his work on diglossia. The article addresses the issue of diglossia in its original and extended definition. One of the most important features of diglossia is the specialization of function for. Ferguson referred to diglossia as a term meaning that the focus of two languages used in the same geographical region changes and impacts the sociolinguistic purpose of each language or dialect in society. 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. By way of a summary, ferguson gave the following definition of diglossia.
Today, the notion of diglossia occupies a prominent place in sociolinguistic research. Ferguson in many speech communities two or more varieties of the same language are used by some speakers under different conditions. Often, one form is the literary or prestige dialect, and the other is a common dialect spoken by most of the population. Diglossia is a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary dialects low l of the language which may include a standard or regional standards, there is a. As a result, diglossia included any linguistic situation in which separate dialects, registers, or functionally differentiated language varieties of whatever kind are used for different functions fishman 1972. Ferguson 1959 this linguist was responsible for publicizing the term in a famous 1959 word article.
An american scientist called charles ferguson introduced this term into english in 1959. Language ideologies in the arabic diglossia of egypt. These caveats aside, one of the purposes of this study, in furtherance of fergusons interest in. Following ferguson, fishman 1967 developed the concept of diglossia to be applicable to many speech communities. At diglossia, our suite of language assessments provide the data you need to make informed decisions regarding placement, vocabulary growth, program effectiveness, new curricula, and professional development. The main point of discussion is the validity of the defining cases of diglossia selected. Diglossia is a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary linguistics.