MULTILINGUAL SPEECH

COMMUNITIES 1
• What is Multilingual?
• Diglossia
• Code Switch/Code Mix
• Pidgin & Creoles
 MULTILINGUAL
• An individual who speaks more than just
his/her mother tongue and other languages is
a multilingual speaker.
• An individual who is able to speak two
languages is languages is known as bilingual.
• However, the degree of identifying or
categorizing a person as a
multilingual/bilingual is debatable.
• Some sociolinguists identify multilingual/bilingual
as below:
i. a speaker who is proficient, knowledgeable and
have control over the language as his/her mother
tongue or his 1st language.
ii. A speaker who is able to speak the language
appropriately- based on the use of the language. A
tourist who is able to speak to a native asking for
direction can be considered a multilingual if the
native understands the tourist. This opinion invites
many arguments among many language experts.
• There is no specific statement or justification
made on the exact specification on an
individual being a multi/bilingual speaker;
how much knowledge, or how fluent, or how
proficient the person is to be classified as
multi/bilingual.
 Language Choice
• In multi/bilingual communities, language choice
will always be the factor to effective
communication.
• Who are you talking to, the social context of the
talk, the function and topic of the discussion, are
important factors that determine the choice of
the language.
• In choosing a language, domains of the language
use play very important role. Each domain has its
own addressee, setting and topic.
 Domains of the language use
Domain Addressee Setting Topic Variety/Code

Family Parent Home Planning a family

party
Friendship Friend Beach How to play beach
tennis
Religion Priest Mosque Beriman dan Soleh

Education Teacher School Solving a Maths

problem
Employment Employer Workplace Applying for a
promotion
 Group Task:
1. Based on the two features given on the
characteristics of a multi/bilingual speaker,
discuss the following with your partners:-
a) How far you consider yourself as a
multilingual or bilingual speaker?
b) Which between the two features fit you
the most? Why?
 Diglossia
• A situation where a society has two distinct
codes which shows clear functional separation
(Wardhaugh, 1992, pg 90). It means that a
society that practices or speaks different
varieties of the same language at different
situations.
 Read this situation that occurs in
Switzerland for further understanding
In Eggenwil, a town in the Aargau canton of Switzerland, Silvia, a
bank-teller, knows two very distinct varieties of German. One is the
local German dialect of her canton which she uses in her everyday
interactions. The other is standard German which she learnt at
school, and though she understands it very well indeed, she rarely
uses it in speech. Newspapers are written in standard German, and
when she occasionally goes to hear lecture at the university it may
be in standard German. The nationally news broadcast in standard
German, but weather broadcasts now use dialect. The sermons her
mother listens to in church are generally in standard German too,
though more radial clerics use Swiss German dialect. The novels
Silvia reads also use standard German.
(Source: Holmes, 2007, pg 27)
• The pattern variety choice/variety code in
Eggenwil is one of a well known diglossia found in
the world. There are three crucial features of
diglossia:
1) Two dialect varieties of the same language are
used in the community, with one standard being
as a high (H) variety and the other a low (L)
variety.
2) Each variety is used for quite distinct functions;
H and L complement each other.
3) No one uses the H variety in everyday
conversation.
• Thus, the three criteria fits the situation
occurs in Eggenwil. Other communities that
‘practice’ diglossia are:
1. Arabic situation have two varieties; classical
Arabic as the H variety and the various
regional colloquial varieties as L varieties.
2. Greece have the Katharevousa as the H
variety while the L variety is Dhimotiki or
Demotic.
1) The H varieties may be used for delivering
sermons and formal lecture, especially in a
parliament or legislative body, for giving
political speeches, for broadcasting the news
on radio and television, and for writing
poetry, fine literature, and editorials in
newspapers.
2) The L varieties may be used in giving
instructions to workers in low-prestige
occupations or to household servants, in
conversation with familiars, in captions on
political cartoons in newspapers.
• On occasion, a person may lecture in an H
variety but answer questions about its
contents or explain parts of it in an L variety so
as to ensure understanding.
 Attitudes toward H & L
1) H variety
– Prestigious and powerful variety.
– More beautiful, logical, and expressive .
2) L variety
– Some say it is not worth described
– Less prestige and power.
– Shows a tendency to borrow learned words from
the H variety.
 Examples

• Low Variety : Swiss German

En Schwyzer isch er zwaar nie woorde, weder en
papiirige na aine im Heerz ine; und eebigs had
mer syner Spraach aagmerkt, das er niid daa
uufgwachsen ischt. Nud nu s Muul had
Usslander verraate, au syni Moodteli. Er had
lieber min syne tuutsche Landsluute weder mit
de Yhaimische vercheert, und ischt Mitgliid und
Zaalmaischter von irem Verain gsy.
• High Variety- Standard German
Ein Schweizer ist er zwar noe geworden, weder
auf dem Papier noch im Herzen; und man hat es
seine Sprache angemerkt, dass er nicht dort
aufgewachsen ist. Nicht nur die Sprache hat den
Auslander verraten, sondern auch seine
Gewohnheiten. Er hat lieber min seinen
deuthschen Landsleuten als mit den
Einheimischen verkehrt, und ist Mitglied und
Zahlmeister ihres Vereins gewesen.
• English
He never actually become Swiss, neither on
paper nor in his heart; and you could tell from
his language that he had not grown up there. It
was not only his language that showed that he
was a foreigner-his way of life showed it too. He
preferred to associate with his German
compatriots rather than with the natives, and
was a member and the treasurer of their society.
• In a ‘normal situation’ that is an everyday
situation, an individual will never use the H
variety in his/her speaking or conversation.
• It will be an awkward situation to say “it is a
prerogative and delighted to be able to treat
you for lunch today” to be a best friend while
normally people simply say “let’s have lunch,
and it’s on me”.
 Code-Switching or Code Mixing
• There are several factors that make a
multi/bilingual speaker switch or mix the
language while having a conversation. The factors
are:
a) Participants, solidarity and status
b) Topic
c) Affective factor
d) Metaphorical switching
e) Lexical borrowing
f) Linguistic constraint
g) Attitudes to code-switching
a) Participants, Solidarity and Status
Who you are talking to bring bigger possibility of
switching code in a conversation for social reasons.
Switching code for solidarity (team spirit, unity, harmony,
etc) can be signals of group membership and shared
ethnicity with an addressee often taken place in a short
time and made primarily for social reasons. Status
relation of two speakers or the formality of their
interaction can cause code-switching. More formal
relationships, which sometimes involve status differences
too, such as doctor-patient or administrator-client, are
often expressed in the H variety or code. While friendlier
relationships between neighbours or friends are generally
expressed in an L code.
 Example
(a) Tamati: Engari [so] now we turn to more
important matters. (Switch between
Moari and English)
(b) Ming : Confiscated by Customs, da gai
[PROBABLY]

(Switch between English and

Mandarin Chinese)
(c) A: Well I’m glad I met you. OK?
M: Andale pues [OK SWELL] , and do come again.
Mm?
(Switch between Spanish and English)
• In (a) Tamati uses a Moari tag at the beginning of
his utterance while the Mandarin speaker in (b)
uses a final tag. It is called as emblematic
switching or tag switching. It simply an
interjection or a linguistic tag in the other
language which serves as an ethnic identity
marker. The exchange in (c) occurred between
two Mexican Americans or Chicanos in the US. By
using the Spanish tag, M signalled to A that she
recognised the relevance of their shared ethnic
background to their future relationship. The tag
served as a solidarity marker between two
minority ethnic group members whose previous
conversation have been entirely in english.
b) Topic
Topic of discussion plays an important role for
multi/bilingual speakers to switch their codes in
a conversation. They find it easier to discuss a
particular topic in a particular codes two Malay
speakers may find it much easier to speak
Bahasa Malaysia while talking about their
favourite food, yet switch the code to English
when discussing about their company's profit.
 Example
[The Mandarin Chinese is in italics. THE TRANSLATION IS
IN SMALL CAPITALS] A group of Chinese students are
discussing Chinese customs.
Li: People here get divorced too easily. Like
exchanging faulty goods. In China it’s not the
same. Jia gou sui gou, jis ji sui ji.
[ IF YOU HAVE MARRIED A DOG, YOU FOLLOW A
DOG, IF YOU’VE MARRIED A CHICKEN, YOU FOLLOW
A CHICKEN.]
• It exactly to the proverb being recited from
Chinese. The similarity of quotation and
proverb recitation is very clear. Both are
referentially motivated switches in that the
speaker wishes to be accurate-the exact words
are important. But switches often serve
several functions at once. In these examples
the switches not only emphasize the precise
message content, they also signal ethnic
identity. In order words they have an affective
as well as a referential function.
c) Affective Functions
Multilingual speakers who are very proficient in
the language they know, often exploit them in
their language repertoire. Indian students or
Chinese students may speak their mother
tongues when making remarks or jokes about
their Malay teacher in class. A language switch
from the L variety to the H variety is perceived
as expressing disapproval or anger.
 Example
Polly is a young British Black woman. She speaks
standard English with a West Midlands accent, as
well as Patois, a variety of Jamaican Creole. On one
occasion a schoolteacher annoyed her intensely by
criticising a story she had written about British West
Indians. In particular, he corrected the use of Patois
by one of her characters-something he knew
nothing about. Her response was to abuse him in
Patois, swearing at him only just below her breath.
The effect was electrifying. He was terrified. He
threatened to send her to the headmaster but in
fact he didn’t, and she noted with satisfaction that
he left alone after that.
• Polly’s switch to Patois was here used to express
affective rather than referential meaning. The
teacher didn’t need to understand the words-he
simply needed to get the affective message. In
other contexts too switching between Patois and
standard English can achieve a group of
interesting rhetorical effects. Just as the use of
ethnic tags signalled ethnic group membership
for speakers in the utterances, a switch from
Patois to standard English with the local British
regional pronunciation can signal a person’s
identity as a West Midlander in conversation
where local regional values are relevant.
(d) Metaphorical Switching
It is a situation when a multi/bilingual speaker
mixes his language on the same topic in the
same context. Each of the codes used
emphasises certain meaning in when the
speaker draws on the association of each code.
For example, Why do you have to quit school
kalau kamu tahu education is such as important
necessity dalam kehidupan zaman sekarang?”
This switching requires such a skilful talent and
that it enriches the communication.
 Example
At a village meeting among the Buang people in Papua
New Guinea, Mr. Rupa, the main village entrepreneur and
‘bigman’, is trying to persuade people who have put
money into a village store to leave it there. This is a
section from his skilful
[Tok Pisin is in Italics. Buang is not italiced]
Ikamap trovel a wonem, mi ken stretim olgeta toktok.
Orait. Pasin ke ken be, meni ti ken nyep la, su lok lam
memba re, olo ba miting autim olgeta tok…moni ti ken
nyep ega, rek mu su rek ogoko nam be, one moni
rek,…moni ti ken bak stua lam vu Mambump re, m nzom
agon. Orait, bihain, bihainim bilong wok long bisnis, orait,
moni bilong stua bai ibekim olgeta ples.
• English translation
If any problem comes up, I will be able to settle
all the arguments. OK. This is the way-the
money that is there can’t go back to the
shareholders, and the meeting brought up all
these arguments…the money that’s there you
won’t take back, your money will…this money
from the bulk store will come back to
Mambump, and we’ll hold on to it. Now later, if
we continue these business activities, then the
store money will be repaid to everyone.
 Explanation
• In this example, it can be achieved by a really skilled
bilingual and no obvious explanatory factors
accounting for the specific switches between Buang
and Tok Pisin. There was no change in setting or in the
topic ‘bisnis’. There are no quotations or even angry or
humorous utterances. Buang is the local tribal
language. Mr. Rupa is emphasizing his membership of
the Buang community, a skilled businessman with
contacts in the outside world of money and marketing.
He use of Tok Pisin (‘talk pidgin’), a creole which is
valuable lingua franca and an official language in Papua
New Guinea.
Buang symbolises high solidarity, equal status
and friendly feelings. Tok Pisin represents social
distance, status and the referential information
of the business world. Mr. Rupa is code-
switching for rhetorical reasons, drawing on the
associations of both codes. This is called as
metaphorical switching. Each of the codes
represents a set of social meanings, and the
speaker draws on the associations of each, just
as people use metaphors to represent complex
meanings. Skilful code-switching operates like
metaphor to enrich the communication.
(e) Lexical Borrowing
When a multi/bilingual is unsure of the right
word in the second language, s/he uses the
word in his/her mother tongue. Normally it will
involve a word or two in the sentence.
e.g:
• NZ English has borrowed the word mana from
Maori which is ‘prestige’ or ‘high status’.
(f) Linguistic Constraints
People switch codes depend on factors like which
codes are involved, the functions of the particular
switch, and the level of proficiency in each code of
the people switching. Thus, it is suggested that only
those who are very proficient can switch efficiently.
Example:
English French Possible switch point?
Red boat bateau rouge NO
Big house grande maison YES:i.e. ‘big maison’
‘grande house’
• A ‘matrix language frame’ (MLF) imposes structural
constraints on code-switched utterances.
• E.g: system morphemes (such as tense and aspect
inflections) will always come from the matrix language.
• The other language is called the embedded language.
The content words (the verb and the noun in capitals)
are from English, the embedded language, but the
system morphemes, the prefixes signalling negation,
subject, person, number and gender, are from Swahili,
the matrix language; and they occur in the order which
is normal in Swahili.
• Example:
Leo si-ku-COME na-BOOK z-angu
‘Today I didn’t come with my books’.
• Intra-sententially – people who are very
proficient and knowlwdgeable about the
language.
• Inter-sentential switching- people who are less
proficient or use only short fixed phrases or
tags in one language.
(g) Attitudes to code-switching
The attitude of switching the codes in any social
context is often regarded as unaware by the
speaker. Code switching is regarded as both
negative and positive by many communities,
depending on whether the communities
practice multilingual or monolingual. In Papa
New Guinea and East Africa code-switching is
acceptable but not in Hembesberget.
Pidgin & Creoles
 Pidgin

• A language that exists when the people living

in the same community do not share the same
language. The Africans communities are
among the most famous people who use
pidgin. More interesting, within a community
the people have many different languages for
they come from different tribes. Thus, pidgin
exists as a mean of communication.
• Pidgin developed as languages of trades between
the trades-who used a colonial language such as
Portuguese, or Spanish, or English-and the
Indians, Chinese, Africans or American Indians
that they were trading with.
• Pidgin may derive from the word ‘business’ as
pronounced in the pidgin English which
developed in China, or perhaps from Hebrew
pidjom meaning ‘trade or exchange’, or perhaps
from the combination of two Chinese characters
pei and tsi n meaning ‘paying money’.
• This ‘created’ language is thus no one’s native
language.
• This ‘creation’ of pidgin is very unique, it is
developed from the combination of the;
Sounds
Vocabulary { additional features emerge to the new variety}
Grammatical features
 Body language
• The proportion of vocabulary contributed to Tok
Pisin by English has been estimated at 77%
compared to about 11% from Tolai, the local
vernacular which has contributed the larger
amount of vocabulary.
• The language which supplies most of the
vocabulary is known as the lexifier (or sometimes
superstrate) language, while the languages which
influence the grammatical structure are called
the substrate.
• In Papua New Guinea, english is the lexifier
language for Tok Pisin, while Tolai contributes to
the substrate.
• It has simplified structure and small
vocabulary for its function is very narrow.; it is
normally restricted to certain sets of domains.
• Pidgin languages do not have high status or
prestige that often perceived as ridiculous
languages among those who do not practice
them.
• Three important characteristics identified in
pidgin are:-
1. It is used in restricted domains and functions
2. It has a simplified structure compared to the source
languages
3. It generally has low prestige and attracts negative
attitudes-especially from outsiders.
• Pidgin does not last long for it depends on the
reason of its existence and its restricted
function. For example, a pidgin English existed in
Vietnam for the American troops to
communicate with the Vietnamese long ago, and
it died out after the war ended.
 Example 1
Pidgin
Bipo tru igat wanpela liklik meri nau nem bilong
em Liklik Retpela Hat. Em I save slip wantaim
Mama na Papa bilong em long wanpela liklik
haus. Papa I save wok long bus, I save katim
paiawut na ol man save baim long em. Orait I
gat lapun meri I stap long narapela haus. Dispela
lapun emi Tumbuna Mama.
 Translation
• A long time ago, there was a little girl name
Little Red Riding Hood. She lived with her
mother and father in a little house. Father
worked in the bush, cutting trees for firewood,
which he sold to people. Now there was a very
old lady who lived in another house. This old
lady was Little Red Riding Hood.
 Example 2
Young visitor to Papua New Guinea
• When I first heard Pidgin English I just thought
it was baby-talk. I thought anyone can do that.
It had words like liklik for ‘ little’ and cranky
for wrong and nogut for ‘bad’. It just made me
laugh. Then I began to realise it wasn’t as easy
as I’d thought. People kept correcting me
when I tried, and they got annoyed if I didn’t
take it seriously. I soon learned better.
 Example 3
At Papua New Guinean stumbled against a white
woman coming out of the theatre. When
questioned about what had happened, the
Papua New Guinean replied: ‘Mi putim han long
baksait bilong misis’ [‘I touched the woman’s
back with my hand’]. As Suzanne Romaine
reports: “The answer cost him half a tooth, his
job, and three months in prison, due to the
confusion between the meaning of Tok Pisin
baksait meaning ‘back’, and English backside’.
 Creoles
• Creole exists from Pidgin. It has native
speakers and the native speakers are speakers
of children who learned the language as their
first language, and they use it widely in all
domains.
• Tok Pisin (which was used to illustrate some of
the features of pidgins in the previous section)
is one obvious example of a pidgin which has
developed into a creole language.
• Tok Pisin is a creole because it has been
learned as a first language by a large number
of speakers, and has developed accordingly to
meet their linguistic needs.
• A creole is a pidgin which has expanded in
structure and vocabulary to express the range
of meanings and serve the range of functions
required of a first language.
• Creole also become more systematic in it
syntax-verb tenses.
 Example 1:
Australia Roper River Creole
Im megim ginu He makes a canoe Present tense

Im bin megim ginu He made a canoe Past tense

Im megimbad ginu He is making a Present continuous

canoe
Im bin megimbad He was making a Past continuous
ginu canoe
• The past tense is signalled by the particle bin,
while the progressive aspect is marked by the
suffix –bad which is attached to the verb.
• An example, Tok Pisin can illustrate the
process by which a creole develops systematic
ways to concisely expressing additional
meanings as the demands made on the
language by the speakers increase.
 Example 2
Tok Pisin at different stages
a) Baimbai yu go You will go Pidgin

b) Bambai yu go You will go Creole

c) Bai yu go You will go Creole

d) Yu bai go You will go Creole

e) Yu bₔgo You will go Creole

• In its pidgin stage reference to future events in
Tok Pisin used the adverb baimbai which derived
from English phrase by and by.
• Sentence (a) – as the pidgin developed into a
creole, the adverb gradually shortened to (b) and
(c).
• Sentence (d) an alternative position for bai while
(e) show how it eventually became attached to
the verb as a regular prefix signalling future
tense.
• The meaning is expressed more concisely but are
less obviously.
 Table 4.1
French English Tok Pisin Cameroon pidgin
Je vais I go Mi A
Tu vas You go Yu Yu
Elle/ il/va She/ he/ it goes Em I
Nous allons We go Yumi/mepela [go] Wi [ go]
(2 1st person plural
pronun)
Vous allez Yupela Wuna
Elles/ils vont They go ol Dem
• Yumi- refers to the speaker and some 3rd party,
but not the addressee.
• Since this inclusive/exclusive distinction does
not occur in English ( the lexifier language), it
is a clear example of substrate influence on
Tok Pisin, and it is found widely in Pacific
pidgins and creoles.
 Table 4.2
Tok Pisin Forms
Tok Pisin English Tok Pisin English
Bik Big, large Bikim To enlarge, make
large
Brait Wide Braitim To make wide,
widen to lower
Daun Low Daunim To lower
Nogut Bad Nogutim To spoil, damage
Pret Afraid Pretim To frighten, scare
Doti Dirty dotim -
• Pidgin become more structurally regular as they
undergo creolization, the process by which a
pidgin becomes a Creole.
• When a Creole has developed, it then can be
used in any official government matters-politics,
education, administration, etc.
• Creole may be standardized and adopted as an
official language, as Tok Pisin was in Papua New
Guinea, or become a national language, as did
Indonesian, a language which developed from
pidgin Malay.