He proposed an expansion of fergusons definition of diglossia in two respects. Diglossia or triglossia in morocco reality and facts by ab. Ferguson introduced the english equivalent diglossia in 1959, using the word as the title of an article. 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.
Ferguson 3 used the term to refer to a situation where two varieties of a language exist side by side throughout the community, with each having a definite role to play. Diglossia revisited diglossia revisited peter hawkins queen margaret college, edinburgh abstract ferguson s classic description and defmition of diglossia was later e. Diglossia definition of diglossia by the free dictionary. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license. In arabic, the h variety is the variety of quran and considered by.
Please define and explain and give examples for diglossia. He identified four languages, arabic, greek, haitian creole and swiss. 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. Kc85 diglossiadraft 2clean center for intercultural. Ferguson diglossia 1 in many speech communities two or more varieties of the same language2 are used by some speakers under different conditions. The impact of diglossia in teachinglearning the arabic. According to ferguson, diglossia is a probable result when a given speech community fulfills the following three conditions. 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. Arabic largely exists in a diglossic situation, which is manifested through the co existence of.
It is only in this sense that fergusons position can be reconciled with that of henry and rene. In this e lecture, i discuss ferguson s classical article called diglossia published in 1959. In the literature on diglossia, hudson 1994, 2002, following ferguson 1991, argues that the notion of diglossia should be used in the narrow, genetic sense of ferguson 1959, and that genetic diglossia is a special case of register. Reality and facts abdellah chekayri al akhawayn university in ifrane arabic is the lingua franca of arabs. An important feature of fergusons definition of diglossia is. Post1959 research on diglossia has concentrated on a number of variables and important questions. The concept of diglossia in caribbean creole situations. Often, one form is the literary or prestige dialect, and the other is a common dialect spoken by most of the population. 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. Then i go through its main features as introduced in his article. 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. Charles ferguson is credited with first using the term diglossia in an article which he wrote in 1959 called diglossia.
One of the most distinctive features of the arabic language is the existence of diglossia. Ferguson s 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 overview of the arabic situation morad alsahafi king abdulaziz university abstract. More on diglossia in arabic international journal of. I there is a sizable body of literature in a language closely related to or even identical with the natural language of the community, and this literature embodies, whether as source i. The term diglossia was introduced into the english language literature on sociolinguistic by charles a. Jul 12, 20 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. In 1947, ferguson accepted a position at the newly. In sociolinguistics, diglossia is a situation in which two distinct varieties of a language are spoken within the same speech community. In other words, the diglossia is not between catalan and spanish as the article would suggest, but its an intracatalan diglossia combined with bilingualism with spanish. In this video i discuss diglossia, and give some examples of this linguistic phenomenon. 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 is the use of two varieties of the same language in different social contexts throughout a speech community. We will examine this position in the following pages. Jan 09, 2015 this video explains the differences between diglossia, dialects and accents. Diglossia definition of diglossia by merriamwebster. Ferguson 783 in arabic, and he continued to be outspoken in questioning the academic status quo in middle eastern studies and linguistics. Dec 04, 2014 in this e lecture, i discuss fergusons classical article called diglossia published in 1959. Diglossia has been the subject of attention of many linguists and philologists dealing with arabic for many decades. Diglossia, the coexistence of two varieties of the same language throughout a speech community. According to ferguson, diglossia is a relatively stable language. Ferguson s concept of diglossia is examined with a view to dedetermining its applicability to creole continua. Kc85 diglossiadraft 2clean center for intercultural dialogue. His conceptualization of diglossia describes a society with more than one prevalent language or the high variety, which pertains to the language used in literature, newspapers, and other social institutions.
Such a situation exists in many speech communities throughout the world e. Various scholars have proposed terminologies for a taxonomy of diglossias. Per exemple, les classes diferents darab no son mutuament intel. The exclusive emphasis on the study of classical arabic as a way of deciphering medieval texts had been the prevailing exercise in. Andrew freemans perspectives on arabic diglossia dec. 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. 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. Diglossia and illiteracy in the arab world1 salah ayari department of curriculum and instruction, college of education, pelk hall. In diglossia, noone speaks the hvariety as a mother tongue, only the lvariety.
Today, the notion of diglossia occupies a prominent place in sociolinguistic research. How to be productive at home from a remote work veteran. The middle way david deterding introduction the concept of diglossia was developed by ferguson 1959. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page.
Bilingual diglossia is a type of diglossia in which one language variety is used for writing and another for speech. 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. May 16, 2018 until the late 19th century, bilingualism and diglossia were synonymous. One is used in one set of circumstances and the other in an entirely different set.
Classical vs vernacular chinese classic diglossia classical chinese. Explaining diglossia, ferguson 2 identifies four speech communities. Definition and examples of diglossia sociolinguistics. Pdf an article about fergusons nine criteria of diglossia based on his. Arabic largely exists in a diglossic situation, which is manifested through the coexistence of standard arabic and colloquial arabic ferguson, 1959. Reliable data is critical to effective decisionmaking and improving learning outcomes. Schiffman 1111 introduction introduction introduction the sociolinguistic condition known as diglossia has attracted wide attention since the publication of ferguson s seminal article 1959. A key defining characteristic of diglossia is that two varieties are kept quite apart functionally. Diglossia is a global language company dedicated to changing lives by fostering language development and literacy throughout the world.
Diglossia and register variation in singapore english. 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. 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 comes from the greek which reads literally as diglossia but is translated into english as bilingualism. Caption authors spanish latin america oscar eduardo bustos quintero.
622 91 477 348 197 1261 1310 1076 49 1568 1004 120 113 254 56 939 1064 192 681 13 1401 969 712 187 45 1099 682 1001 523 164 1388 352 443 619 573