Lecture 3 Notes: Multilingualism in Society and Education

Lecture 3: Multilingualism in Society and Education

Recap of Lecture 2

• Examined how societal changes (such as linguistic and cultural super-diversity) are affecting our ideas of language and, consequently, our ideas of multilingualism.
• Outlined developments making us reconsider traditional definitions of:
  • What multilingualism is.
  • Who a multilingual person is.

Whispers of the Tongue: A Journey Through Language in South Africa

• Pre-Colonialism: A Tapestry of Tongues
• Colonialism: The Tongue in Chains
• Postcolonialism: Reclaiming the Word
• Apartheid and the Language of Oppression
• Post-Apartheid: The Rainbow of Languages
• Neocolonialism: The Digital Tongue

Lecture 3 Outcomes: Aims

This lecture examines:

• How different historical periods (modernity, late-/post- modernity; pre-colonialism, colonialism, postcolonialism, neo-colonialism) have responded to or influenced views of language and multilingualism:
  • The way people use language.
  • The way language is studied.
  • The way society is organized around language.
  • The beliefs about language in society or the attitudes to language(s).

Modernity (1860s - 1970s)

• Characterized by:
  • Growth of the manufacturing industry.
  • Development of the working class.
  • The rise of the nation-state.
• Philosophically associated with:
  • Discovering absolute truths.
  • Determining universal standards.
• Language aspects:
  • Promotion of standard language varieties.
  • Suppression of non-standard or non-national languages, leading to less freedom in language choice.
  • Association of language with national identity.
  • Obsession with structuralism or formal properties of language (how language is put together).

Late/Post-Modernity (1970s - Present)

• Characterized by:
  • Technological innovation.
  • Spread of mass technology for communication.
  • Expansion of services and the leisure industry.
  • Globalization and ‘flows’.
• Philosophically associated with:
  • Post-structuralism and deconstructionism.
  • Meaning and reality originate from social actions and discourse, not formal properties of language.
  • Language is constructed locally (within particular socio-cultural contexts).
• Language aspects:
  • Greater freedom of language choice.
  • Changing/fluid language practices.
  • Local constructions and use of language.
  • Example: S: Ek sê bafobethu!.... molweni ni alright? - Girls: Si alright unjani wena?

Pre-colonialism, Colonialism, Post-colonialism and Neo-colonialism

• Pre-colonialism:

  • Large parts of the world ran their own affairs without European colonial influence.
  • Used their own languages in different domains (economic, political, and social).
  • Language practices characterized by considerable variation, fluidity, and hybridity.

• Colonialism (linked to Modernity):

  • Countries colonized by European powers (Britain, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Portugal).
  • Imposition of the ‘nation-state’ idea (one nation, one language) on multilingual countries.
  • Multilingualism regarded as a problem.

• Linguists, missionaries, anthropologists, etc. began to:

  • Codify, classify, and categorize various dialects, leading to the emergence of languages and their standardized forms (Makoni and Pennycook 2007).
    • Example: Setswana, Sesotho sa Leboa, Sesotho.
  • 'Invented languages' – standardized forms remain a problem across Africa for speakers of dialects different to the one selected for standardization.
    • Example: some words pronounced the same in the two/more varieties but spelled differently.
  • Colonial languages used as the sole/dominant media in formal domains (administration, education, etc.).

• Antia and Dyers (2019) argue that actions on African languages during the colonial era have resulted in:

  • The previously colonized continuing to question the adequacy of their languages as legitimate means of communication.
  • Being incompetent in the invented varieties of what had hitherto been the language of their forebears (ancestors).
  • Having very little chance of functioning in the imposed European language, since it ‘could never as spoken or written properly reflect or imitate the real life of its European origin’ (wa Thiong’o 1987: 16).
  • Having a higher linguistic barrier (obstacle) in terms of access to knowledge.

• Post-colonialism (linked to post-modernity):

  • The era after the colonized countries gained independence.
  • Ex-colonial languages (e.g., English, French, Portuguese) selected as official languages.
    • Leading to the countries being classified as Anglophone, Francophone, Lusophone, etc.

• Neo-colonialism:

  • Refers to attempts by past colonial powers to interfere in the affairs of their former colonies.
  • Example: in terms of what language policy the former colonies should adopt in education (e.g., “English only”).
  • Ex-colonial languages continue to be used in important or high function domains, e.g., administration, education, law, etc.
  • Question: Why do you think ex-colonial countries would want their former colonies to adopt the ex-colonial language (e.g., English or French) rather than a local language(s) as a medium of instruction?

Summary

• Demonstrate an understanding of how language or multilingualism is/was viewed (e.g. in terms of study, function, use) in each of the historical periods discussed.
• Be able to answer questions such as:
  • Describe how language is/was studied, viewed, used by individuals or functions in society in the different historical periods under consideration.

What are Language Portraits

• A graphic visualization of a language user’s linguistic repertoire by the means of a body silhouette (Busch, 2018).
• A language portrait assists individuals to represent the languages that they possess within their repertoire, by the means of these metaphorical cues (structuring) in terms of the attitude or ideological standpoint they have towards them.
• Colours also have different connotations tied to them.
• Describes how an individual views the languages they have acquired or been socialized into over their lifespan.
• It holds the attitudes, beliefs as well as feelings one have towards the particular languages they have acquired.
• The structure of how an individual sets up their portrait plays an important role in assistance to convey meaning.

Language Portrait Breakdown

• Language/variety, body part in which the language/variety is represented, reason why on this body part and why that color was chosen.
  • Example: English represented in eyes because it is the language used to read/watch movies most of the time; green was chosen to symbolize growth, progression, and development because English is seen as the language of opportunity.

Language/variety Domains/sites

• Where the language is used, the interlocutor/activity it is used for.
• Example: English is used at the University with lecturers and other staff to read academic material and watch movies.

The Language Portrait: Example

• Colloquial English (represented in red; located on torso, legs and ears): The language variety I am most comfortable speaking, as I was socialized into speaking it by my family.
• Kaaps (represented in orange; located on the heart, arms, face and feet: I am more comfortable speaking Kaaps because the Kaaps variety includes evident code-mixing practices to assist in communication while Standard Afrikaans (represented in brown; located on heart) is quite strict in its conventions. Social discourses and the Language Education I was exposed to tempt me in viewing standard Afrikaans as a purer form of Afrikaans
• isiXhosa and isiZulu (represented by the colors green and black; located on ears): I would love to learn these languages as I feel that it would break the barriers of communication

Language Portrait: Legend

• Formal English/Spanish/French
• Standard English
• Informal Afrikaans
• Formal Afrikaans
• Bantu languages
• Kaaps