By: Selly Oei
The
definition of dyglossia was introduced by Ferguson (1959). As cited in Holmes
(2008), said that dyglossia happens when there are two languages or language
varieties exist in a community. This happens because people use more than one
languages, which can be consist of their native language (vernacular) and their
official language as national language. Basically, the speaker uses one
specific language in a certain situation and uses another language in other
situation. Holmes (2008), said that dyglossia has three features. First, there
are two different varieties of the same language that are used in the
community, with one considered as high (H) variety which is used in formal
context and the other a low (L) variety which is used in informal context in
daily conversation. Second, each of variety is used for different functions,
but both are complete one another. Third, the function of H-variety is not for
daily conversation at all. The (H) variety (High variety) is regarded as the standard
variety and people use it as formal or official situations, such as government,
conference event, formal letters, broadcasts, religious services, and teaching.
In the other hand, the (L) variety (Low variety), is regarded for informal
situations, such as family members, neighbors, local markets and talking
between friends or close friend. Everyone can speak the (L) variety and will do
so in informal situation, but not everyone can use the (H) variety. This phenomenon
is due to the distinct level of linguistic knowledge the speakers have. Some
examples of dyglossia are Arabic, Modern Greek, German Swiss and Haitian
Creole. For instance, in Swiss-German country, the students will use Standard
German in their school because mostly the books and newspapers that they use in
Standard German, but when they get home, they will switch their language and
use the local Swiss-German in their home as the dialect on daily conversation
The
term of dyglossia is defined as social
or institutionalized bilingualism (Holmes, 2008). It occurs in two varieties which are needed to hide all the community’s domains.
There are some dyglossic
communities of limited
individual bilingualism as happens in Haiti which ninety per cent of the population is monolingual that using Haitian
Creole. Therefore, they cannot
actively contribute to additional
formal domains. This often becomes the
way of considering the vary
of potential relationship between diglossia and bilingualism. It associates the degree idealized model. However it usefully identifies the acute positions that are potential.
If we have the tendency to prohibit
the terms dyglossia and bilingualism to talk
with completely different
languages (rather than dialects or styles), there are four parts of
dyglossia that actually can be differed from bilingualism. First, both dyglossia and bilingualism are
used together. It happens once
the society is dyglossic, two
languages are needed to hide the total vary of domains, and (most) people are bilingual. As an
example, Republic of Vanuatu,
people speak the native village language (e.g.
Erromangan, Aulua), additionally
as Bislama, the interlanguage of
Republic of Vanuatu would
illustrate this term. Second, Bilingualism while not diglossia, happens once people are bilingual but there is no
community-wide purposeful
differentiation within the use
of their languages. Several
English speaking countries deal in
this description. People are also bilingual in Australia, USA, European countries and New Island, however their two
languages do not seem to be utilized by the total community in
numerous domains. Third, diglossia while not bilingualism. It happens when two languages are
used for various functions but by
for the most part completely different speech
communities. This is often true
for Haiti, since the majority are monolingual for Haitian
Creole. This example
tends to characterize colonized
countries with clear-cut socio-economic
class divisions. As an example,
the elite people speak one language and
also the lower people categories
use another, for instance, the French-speaking
elite in nineteenth century in Russia
and in eleventh century in
Norman England country. There
will continuously be some
bilingual people who act as go-betweens, however the general pattern is one
amongst the dyglossia while not
bilingualism. Forth, neither dyglossia nor bilingualism is used. It happens in monolingual communities and this is
often typical of isolated ethnic communities where there is very little contact with alternative linguistic groups.
Iceland, particularly before the
twentieth century, is associated degree example of such a community, however there are also communities like in this places like New Guinea Papua and the Amazon basin.
Besides
dyglossia, there are more than two language or language varieties exists in a
community named polyglossia. According to Lindsay (2007), stated that
polyglossia is a term that refers to a person's ability to communicate in more
than two languages. Basically, polyglossia situations involve two contrasting
varieties (high and low) as well as diglossia but in general, it refers to
communities that regularly use more than two languages. The concept of
polyglossia would be explained in the Singapore Chinese speaking community.
There are three languages that are used by Singaporean Chinese namely Mandarin,
Cantonese, and Hokkien. Literally, Singaporean Chinese people will use Mandarin
for their job and Cantonese and Hokkien is used for daily conversation among the
family. So, it can be considered that in the Singapore, the using of Mandarin
is used as formal language, while Cantonese and Hokkien is used as Informal
language. Based on Gupta (1992), she observes that many members of this
community are able in different varieties of English such as SSE (Singapore
Standard English), an H-variety which is close to the standard variety taught
in schools and use Mandarin language and SCE (Singapore Colloquial English) an
L-variety that is widely used in informal situations like Hokkien and
Cantonese. This colloquial variety is called as 'Singlish'. Naturally, students
of Singaporean will switch their language in different situations, for
instance, they will use SSE (Singapore Standard English) when they are in the
classroom, then when they go to the canteen, they immediately switch their
language become SCE (Singapore Colloquial English) to talk with their friends. However, students
need to be aware of the ability to use a more standard variety easily and
competently in some situations is absolutely necessary for their future. So,
the term of both diglossia and
polyglossia describes as complementary code each other use in all
communities.
Based
on the explanation above, it can be concluded that communities typically
reflect about differences. The community usually develops through language and
it happens due to distinct of languages, cultures, races, and
nationalities. In Genesis 2:18 shows
that “not good for the man to be alone” so God created a suitable helper named
Eve. Furthermore, in Genesis 10:20 talk about various communities, clans,
language, and nations. The situation of Babel can show that there were distinct
of linguistic communities. As an English teacher in the future needs to
encourage students to select the most appropriate variety of language for each
situation. Furthermore, teachers need to recognize the ability to switch
appropriately between the H varieties and L varieties of language when it
required demonstrating appropriate behavior that shows a good understanding of
language of the society linguistics demands that they live in. Trying to
encourage them to use the standard variety for some purposes is the successful way
for their future. Teachers should pray for and ask God’s help for the guidance
through Holy Spirit enabling every communication in language. Hence, God can
empower communication and understanding across communities as well as the
understanding of interconnectedness in life.
REFERENCES
:
Holmes,
J. (2008). An introduction to sociolinguistics: Fourth edition. USA:
Routledge.
Ferguson,
C. A. (1959). Diglossia. Word, 15, 325-340. Also in T. Huebner (Ed.), Sociolinguistic
perspectives : Papers on language in society 1959-1994 / C.
A. Ferguson (pp. 25-39). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Gupta,
A. F. (1992). Contact features of Singapore Colloquial English. In K. Bolton
& H. Kwok (Eds.), Sociolinguistics
today: International perspectives (pp. 323-345). London and New York:
Routledge.
Lindsay, J. (2007). Between tongues: translation and of/
in performance in Asia. Singapore: NUS Press.
Trudgill,
P. (1995). Sociolinguistics: An introduction to language and society
(Revised Edition). London, UK:
Penguin.
