OSUN STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND CULTURE

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES

IKIRE CAMPUS.

OYELEKE OLUSOLA OLAMIDE

COURSE TITLE: BILINGUALISM

COURSE CODE: ENG 711

TOPIC: DIGLOSSIA

LECTURER IN CHARGE: PROF. TEMITOPE BALOGUN

Let's begin by taking a look at the etymology of diglossia:

Diglossia comes from the Greek diglōssos (δίγλωσσος) meaning 'bilingual' (to speak two
languages). The term was first used in English in 1959 by linguist Charles Ferguson. Diglossia is
a linguistic term used to describe a situation where two or more languages or language varieties
are used in a complementary way within a community. One of the languages is considered a high
or formal variety used in education, religion, literature, and formal occasions, while the other is a
low or informal variety used in daily conversation and less prestigious domains.

DIGLOSSIA

`Sociolinguistics encompasses a broad range of concerns including the use of two or

more language varieties in distinct social domains within the same speech community, i.e., the
use of two distinct varieties of the same language for different functions. There are many
societies where the official language that is used at schools or media is significantly different
from that used at home or in ordinary conversations and often called a “dialect” or “vernacular”
Such a situation is referred to by linguists as diglossia, a term that was introduced in 1959 by the
linguist Charles Ferguson, and it has attracted wide attention since the publication of his article
in which he used the term. Diglossia has many definitions that were introduced by many linguists
such as Ferguson, Trudgill, Fellman

Basically, the term Diglossia was first introduced in 1959 by the linguist Charles
Ferguson,as he wrote in his article “on the French diglossie, which has been applied to this
situation, since there seems to be no word in regular use for this in English; other languages of
Europe generally use the word for ‘bilingualism’ in this sense as well.”

Furthermore, Charles Ferguson defines diglossia as a situation where: In addition to the

primary dialect or language there is a very divergent, highly codified (often grammatically more
complex) superposed variety, the vehicle of a large and respected body of written literature
which is learned largely by formal education and is used for most written and formal spoken
purposes but is not used by any sector of the community for ordinary conversation. (Ferguson,
1959:336)

Thus, Ferguson’s definition handles both the high variety as well as the low one. It also
shows diglossia regarding the linguistic structures and how both varieties play different roles in
communication process rather than being different in linguistics structure. On the whole, classic
definitions of diglossia refer to relatively stable situations where everyone within a community
uses the two varieties in these different domains. Actually, Fasold (1993: 35) also pointed out
that “there are two moderately distinct varieties of the same language, of which one is called the
High dialect (H) and the other the Low dialect (L)

The term. Diglossia has many definitions that were introduced by many linguists such as
Ferguson, Trudgill, Fellman, Hudson …etc.
 Basically, the term Diglossia was first introduced in 1959 by the linguist Charles
Ferguson, as he wrote in his article“on the French diglossie, which has been applied to this
situation, since there seems to be no word in regular use for this in English; other languages of
Europe generally use the word for ‘bilingualism’ in this sense as well.”

Furthermore, Charles Ferguson defines diglossia as a situation where: In addition to the

primary dialect or language there is a very divergent, highly codified (often grammatically more
complex) superposed variety, the vehicle of a large and respected body of written literature
which Is learned largely by formal education and is used for most.

Trudgill (1995: 97-98) defines diglossia as "a particular kind of language standardization where
two distinct varieties of a language exist side by side throughout the speech community {…} and
where each of the two varieties is assigned a definite social function.”

Hudson, Diglossia is a situation in which at least one type of social restriction or items can be
expressd in terms of large scrape varities, rather than item by item.
The term diglossia may be limited to cases in which H and L are considered to be versions of the
same language but they are different because each of them possesses its own (higher or lower)
sociolinguistic status and therefore they are applied to two discrete functions. However, both H
and L are appropriate in different types of situation; H variety is used in formal situations or
contexts and the L variety is used as the language of everyday speech. In other words, according
to Wardhaugh, (1990), H varieties are typically used for delivering formal lectures, political
speeches and in newspapers. L varieties are used when giving instructions to workers in low-
prestige occupations, in conversation with familiars and often on the radio

Diglossia in linguistics

In linguistics, diglossia is a circumstance in which two different languages or dialects are

used by a community of people who speak the same language. Diglossia is then a useful concept
in linguistics for understanding how language is used in different social contexts and how
linguistic variation can reflect social hierarchies and power relations within a community.

Diglossia, the coexistence of two varieties of the same language throughout a speech
community. Often, one form is the literary or prestige dialect, and the other is a common dialect
spoken by most of the population. Such a situation exists in many speech communities
throughout the world—e.g., in Greece, where Katharevusa, heavily influenced by Classical
Greek, is the prestige dialect and Demotic is the popular spoken language, and in the Arab world,
where classical Arabic (as used in the Qurʾān) exists alongside the colloquial Arabic of Egypt,
Morocco, and other countries. Sociolinguists may also use the term diglossia to denote
bilingualism, the speaking of two or more languages by the members of the same community, as,
for example, in New York City, where many members of the Hispanic community speak both
Spanish and English, switching from one to the other according to the social situation or the
needs of the moment.

In 1959, Ferguson introduced the notion of diglossia to assist in description of functional

distribution of two related language varieties in different settings. Ferguson developed and
employed the concept of diglossia in explaining the patterns of language use and choices in
bi/multilingual communities in different environments around the world (Ferguson, 1959).
According to Ferguson (1959), diglossia refers to a relatively stable language situation where
there exist primary language dialects (standard or regional standard) as well as divergent and
highly codified superposed variety of language. Ferguson described diglossia as a
multidimensional characterization where attitudes and usage of language depends on its function,
prestige, acquisition, stability, grammar, lexicon, phonology and standardization among other
factors (Ferguson, 1959).In 1967, Joshua Fishman presented an expanded version of Ferguson’s
original concept. Fishman proposed that the definition of diglossia to be modified to include two
crucial elements (Fishman, 1967). First, diglossic speech community should not be characterized
by the use of two languages only. He argued that there were many language varieties which were
being used within the diglossic community. Second, diglossia refers to all types of language
varieties which show functional distribution within a speech community (Evans & Levinson,
2009). In this case, diglossia consequently describes multiple sociolinguistic situations based on
stylistic differences within a language and separate dialects as well as the use of related and
unrelated separate languages.

The concept of diglossia is used in both narrow and a much broader sense. In the narrow
and original sense as outlined by Ferguson, there are three fundamental features of diglossia.
These features include two distinct varieties of the same language used within the community
(Fishman, 1967). These varieties are high (H) variety and the other low (L) variety. Each variety
should also have distinct functions which complement one another. The last feature is that L
variety is the preferred variety for day to day functions. H variety is considered a standard
variety which is largely used by people for formal and official activities including religious
services, education, government, conference events, broadcasts and formal letters among others.
H variety is also used for literary and literacy purposes (Evans, 2014). On the other hand, L
variety is considered a non-standard variety that is used by people largely in informal situations
including family, local markets and social functions (McMurray & Wasserman, 2009). L variety
is also considered to be less prestigious. However, not all members of the society can effectively
use H variety. This phenomenon arises from the fact that the speakers of the language have clear
different levels of linguistic knowledge. Within the diglossic community, H variety is
linguistically related to but considerably different from the L vernacular varieties of the native
speakers.

Significantly, Fishman expanded characteristics of diglossia language from three to nine

to include those associated with function, prestige, literary heritage, morphology, syntax,
phonology, acquisition and standardization (Fishman, 1967). Fishman explained that diglossia
happens when people use more than one language which could be native language and the
national or official language. In diglossia, Ferguson highlighted that people use a particular
language in one situation and another language in a different situation. Fishman observed that
prestige speakers consider H variety to be more powerful and positive while L variety is
considered to be less worthy, broken and ‘corrupt’ (Blommaert and Maly, 2014). H variety is
more expressive, logical and beautiful than the L variety. L variety is mainly acquired through
spoken word between parents and children and among children while the H variety is taught in
schools. In most diglossic languages, literature is written and presented in H variety except for
the folk literature. Fishman indicated that grammar is usually standardized in H variety (Merker,
2009). The use of phonological and lexicon rules are more important in the case of H variety in a
manner that has no equivalents in low variety.

Several countries around the world experience diglossia situations. In medieval Europe,
Latin was used as the H variety while daughter languages such as Italian, Spanish and French
were used in less formal situations. In the Swish German country, students are taught standard
German in school but they switch to local Swiss German language when they get home for their
daily conversations (Blommaert, 2013). In pre-modern times, diglossia became relatively
common in East Asian societies where there was one language used for high social purposes
such as writing and a different language for low social purposes including daily conversations.
Specifically, Snow (2010) indicated that the case of diglossia in Hong Kong is unique for two
different reasons. First, diglossia in modern Hong Kong is relatively different to the form of
diglossia that once spread through East Asia. This distinction arises from the social setting that is
different to the rest of East Asia and the mass education of the people. Second, features of H
variety is significant different in that the dominant Standard Chinese is the standard language and
majority of the population are also its native speakers instead of being an ancient classical
language no one speaks natively. It is important to note that diglossia is a relatively rare
phenomenon in modern world and it is only conspicuous in societies that have undergone major
social changes especially those associated with modernization like in the case of German-
speaking Switzerland (Catania, 2009). In this regard, Hong Kong is an outlier in relation to the
survival of the diglossic patterns in contemporary societies.

Hong Kong is a multilingual society characterized by multiple languages playing distinct

roles. Some of the common language varieties present in Hong Kong includes Hindi, Hakka,
Teochiu (Chaozhou) and so on (Snow, 2010). Despite the existence of these many language
varieties, Standard Chinese, Cantonese and English are considered the most important.
Cantonese is a Chinese variety that is common with people of southeastern China. In Hong
Kong, Cantonese is mainly used in spoken interactions and to some extent formal functions such
as court sessions. Standard Chinese is a language variety that also acts as the standard national
language for the mainland China and Taiwan (Gregory et al., 2013). In Hong Kong, Standard
Chinese is mostly used as a written language. It is viewed as the main language for serious
writing. English is linked to the governing class of Hong Kong when the island was a British
colony (Snow, 2010). During that time, it was used for international interactions and trade.
Today, Cantonese and Standard Chinese are the main languages of instruction in Hong Kong
schools (Snow, 2010). Based on Ferguson’s diglossic perspectives, it is clear that Cantonese is
the L variety as it is mainly learned at home as a native language of most people in the society.
In contrast, Standard Chinese and English fit the description of Ferguson’s description of H
language variety as they mainly dominate the prestigious domains of language.

Types of diglossia

The languages or dialects that are used in diglossic communities are used for different purposes
and can be labelled in two ways. The two different types of diglossia are high variety and low
variety.

1. High variety

High variety refers to the language variety used in formal/professional settings, such as in
education, politics, and the mass media.

2. Low variety

Low variety is used in everyday conversations and is spoken in more informal settings, such as at
home and with family/friends.

Ferguson proceeds by exemplifying situations in which only H is appropriate and others in which
only L is appropriate (1972: 236). He states that the following are situations in which H is
appropriate:

1. Sermon in church or mosque

2. Speech in parliament, political speech
3. Personal letters
4. University lecture
5. News broadcast
6. Newspaper editorial, News story, caption on picture
7. Poetry

He also gives situation in which L is the “only” variety used:

1. Instructions to servant, waiters, workers and clerks

2. Conversation with family, friends and colleagues
3. Radio soap opera
4. Caption on political cartoon
5. Folk literature

Alongside standard diglossia, there is another type called bilingual diglossia. This occurs when
one language variety is used for writing, and the other is used for speaking.
Some diglossic language examples are found in countries such as Arabic-Speaking Countries,
Greece, Haiti, India, Senega, and Switzerland. Diglossia Examples

Diglossic regions Diglossic languages

Haiti Haitian Creole (L variety) French (H variety)

Arabic-Speaking Countries Local dialect, such as Egyptian (L variety) Classical/Standard

Arabic (H variety)

Switzerland Swiss German (L variety) Standard German (H variety)

Greece Demotic Greek L variety) Katharevousa Greek (H variety)

India Hindi (L variety) Sanskrit (H variety)

Senegal Wolof (L variety) French (H variety)

Diglossia in specific language

Greek

Greek diglossia belongs to the category whereby, while the living language of the area evolves
and changes as time passes by, there is an artificial retrospection to and imitation of earlier (more
ancient) linguistic forms preserved in writing and considered to be scholarly and classic.[19] One
of the earliest recorded examples of diglossia was during the first century AD, when Hellenistic
Alexandrian scholars decided that, in order to strengthen the link between the people and the
glorious culture of the Greek "Golden Age" (5th c. BC), people should adopt the language of that
era. The phenomenon, called "Atticism", dominated the writings of part of the Hellenistic period,
the Byzantine and Medieval era. Following the Greek War of Independence of 1821 and in order
to "cover new and immediate needs" making their appearance with "the creation of the Greek
State",[20] scholars brought to life "Κatharevousa" or "purist" language. Katharevousa did not
constitute the natural development of the language of the people, the "Koine", "Romeika",
Demotic Greek or Dimotiki as it is currently referred to. It constituted an attempt to purify the
language from vulgar forms such as words of foreign origin, especially Turkish and Slavic
languages, but also French or Italian and replace them with ancient Attic forms and even by
reaching down to Homeric cleansed and refined words.[citation needed]

Serbian

Diglossia in modern Serbian language is the most obvious if we consider the usage of past tenses
in High and Low varieties.[21][unreliable source] The High variety of the Serbian is based on the
Serbo-Croatian language of the former communist Yugoslavia. In the High form (newspapers,
television, other mass media, education, and any other formal use or situation) all of the Serbian
past tenses are replaced by the present perfect tense (which is in the Serbian school system either
called "perfect tense" or the "past tense", but never "present perfect" since WW2).

On the other side, the Low form informal vernacular language contains several other past tenses
(aorist, two past perfect forms and rarely imperfect, and one more with no name[clarification
needed]), of which the aorist is the most important. In the Low form the present perfect tense
with perfective verbs is not strictly treated as a past tense. In many rural and semi-rural parts of
Serbia the aorist, despite being banished from any formal use, is the most frequent past tense
form in the spoken informal language, more frequent even than the highly prestigious present
perfect. When statements of peasants need to be written down by authorities, or published in any
form, the past tenses are usually replaced by the present perfect tense.

The High form of Serbian today does have native speakers: those are usually younger and more
educated parts of the population living in big cities, such as Belgrade (the capital of Serbia) and
Novi Sad. Most of them are unable to differentiate the meanings among the present perfect tense
and the other past tenses, which they do not use due to the influence of education and mass
media.

Arabic

Diglossia may have appeared in Arabic when Muslim cities emerged during the early period of
Islam.

Swiss German

In the German-speaking part of Switzerland, many people use both Standard German and Swiss
German. Standard German is the high variety and is mostly used in written communication,
whereas Swiss German is the low variety and is predominantly used in spoken conversations.

Standard French and Haitian Creole

In Haiti, many people use both Standard French and Haitian Creole. Standard French is regarded
as the high variety and is more grammatically complex. It is used predominantly in formal
written communication and in formal speech when necessary. Haitian Creole - a French dialect -
is the low variety and is used in daily

Diglossia and bilingualism

Are diglossia and bilingualism the same thing? Some people (including Ferguson
himself) would describe diglossia as a type of bilingualism, as both involve the use of more than
one language. However, it could be argued that they are not the same. Let's consider the potential
differences between them both:

Diglossia tends to place more focus on a community of people who all use two languages or
dialects. On the other hand, bilingualism can be used to describe individuals who know two
languages (usually fluently). A bilingual person does not necessarily have to come from a
bilingual family or community - they could pick up another language from elsewhere, such as in
school or from working abroad.

The three main characteristics of diglossia are:

Two different language varieties are used in the same language community. One is the high
variety (H) and the other is the low variety (L).

Both language varieties are used for different purposes.

The high variety is not used in daily conversations. lectures, political speeches and in
newspapers. L varieties are used when giving instructions to workers in low-prestige
occupations, in conversation with familiars and often on the radio .According to Ferguson, there
are several features that characterize diglossia. They are as follows:

1. Function: H is the formal language that is used in specific types of situations and writings,
such as in formal lectures, newspapers, political speeches..etc. while L is used for daily
conversations including calls, messages ..etc. When Ferguson defined diglossia, the functions of
the High and Low varieties of the four languages which were in diglossic situation (namely,
Standard German/ Swiss German, Standard Arabic /Vernacular Arabic, Standard French/ Creole
in Haiti, and Katharevousa /Dhimotikiin Greece) were complementary. Speakers use either H or
L according to situation and formality.

2. Prestige: The speakers of the language concerned regard H as superior to L in a number of

respects, e.g. H is considered more educated, more sophisticated, more logical, better able to
express important thoughts. For example, in Arab countries, the superiority of His connected
with religion; that is, the language of the Holy Qur'an And Hadeeth is Standard Arabic which is
the high variety of Arabic language. However, some speakers of the L variety, for example
educated Arabs, often deny that they even use it, even though L is widely used in everyday
conversations (Fasold ) which enjoyed a very high prestige because of historical considerations
since it was the language of the Greek civilization.

3. Literary heritage: All the literature is written in H variety. Despite the fact that some poems,
stories, novels, etc. are written in L variety inmost communities concerned with diglossia, they
are considered not to be a pure literature compared to those written in H and taught at schools or
universities. For example, the amount of literary works in Standard French is so huge. These
literary works are considered of world literature, but Creole does not any literary heritage, except
for some poems and prose which can never reach the high prestige of Standard French literature.
The same is true for Arabic where there is a big literary heritage in Standard Arabic, and a very
little heritage in Vernacular Arabic.

.4. Acquisition: L is the language of home; therefore, it is acquired first .Later, at a certain age,
the child learns the H variety at school. For example, since Swiss German is the Low variety and
the native language of its speakers, it is acquired at home. Standard German is learnt afterwards
in school. The same is true for the other diglossic societies mentioned by Ferguson.

5. Standardization: H is standardized because its grammars , dictionaries, etc. are written by

native grammarians, e.g. in Standard Arabic , the rule that a sentence must have a subject that
follows the verb " Nama Ahmad bilfondoq". Conversely, L is not strictly standardized despite
the fact that one cannot speak a dialect randomly, there are rules that can be recognized by sense
and traditionally, e.g. in Arabic dialects the sentence may include a subject preceding the verb "
Ahmad namblfondoq" and it is not accepted to say the sentence without a subject"* nam
blfondoq ". The same is true for the other diglossic situations .For example, Standard French is
well known to be a standardized language with its norms and rules, but Creole was a spoken
language with no written rules.

6. Grammar: The grammar of H variety is more complex than that of L variety . In H variety ,
the sentence must be grammatically and semantically correct, while in the L variety much
attention is to the semantic issue , e.g. in a Saudi dialect one can use a plural pronoun to refer to
duality " Amal wa Ilham akalo alasha'a " instead of " " Amal waIlham akalata alasha'a".
Moreover, grammatical categories of H may notbe available in L and the inflectional system of
nouns and verbs of H is often reduced or completely absent from L (Ferguson 1996).

7. Stability: The diglossic situation in a given language is relatively stable. It can persist for
several centuries, and in some cases seems to last well over a thousand years (Ferguson 1996).
However, in the case of Arabic language is not fully stable because both H and L variety of it
change by time.

8. Lexicon: The lexicon of both H and L varieties is somehow different though it is generally
shared, e.g. in Saudi dialects the word "do" is referred to as "sawait" while in MSA it is " fa'alt.
 REFERNCE

Blommaert, j. (2013). The sociolinguistics of Globlization. Cambridge: Cambridge university

press.

Catania (2009). Language, identity and study abroad: sociocultural perspectives. London
Equinox.

Fasold (1993). The sociolinguistics of society. Oxford: Blackwell.

Fergunson (1959). Language and social interaction Cambridge: Cambridge university press.

Fishman (1967). “ Bilingualism with and without diglossia; diglossia with and without
bilingualism”.

Mcmurray (2009). The German language in switzerland: Multilingualism, Diglossia and

variation.