Diglossy

The word diglossy initially was synonymous with Bilinguisme before being used by the linguist William Marçais in 1930 in its " Diglossy arabe". It marks today more the state in which two are linguistic Systèmes coexistent on a Territoire given, and of which one occupies, generally for historical reasons, a statute lower Socio-policy. The diglossic situation is thus generally a conflict situation.

This social phenomenon meets when the languages in contact have different functions, for example a “formal” language and a “private” language .
This phenomenon gives place to situations of linguistic tension generally characterized by the appearance of “high” varieties and “low” of the language. An aspect of the diglossy is the complementary distribution where, in a series of the situations, only the " high (H) " is acceptable and in the another only " low (B)".

Nobody in the company must speak the language H like native tongue. It is necessary to learn the language H in pure diglossy according to Charles Ferguson, after having learned the native tongue, which supports the higher classes. Also when there is a change of languages in a diglossic situation, the change is done towards the lower form, because the lower classes do not know the higher form. It is here that a distinction is done with the general situation of the languages with dialectal levels since in the cases of diglossy there is no part of the speech community which regularly uses H in the ordinary conversation and, if it is used, that is regarded as artificial or unfair towards the community.

The diglossy probably shapes when there is a rather large group educated in another language beside the natural language of the community. This language is initially limited to a small elite, and an amount of time is necessary so that one passes from H to B. the typical diglossy persists at least several centuries and can last more than thousand years.

Where the Bilinguisme is the individual state of the Acteur who can mobilize several varieties of language, the diglossy is a phenomenon sociétal where several varieties coexist. It can thus theoretically exist situations of diglossy without bilingualism and conversely.

Diglossy in France

The France knew and knows still such diglossic situations, marked by the opposition between a regional, more or less long-lived Langue, and the French as it was the case it does not have there so a long time between the French and the alive Latin which disputed each one preeminence.

One thus meets it in Alsace, with the Basque Country, in Brittany, in the surfaces Catalan and occitane, in Corsica. In Martinique, Guadeloupe and Guyana this situation exists too. In the University S of each one of these areas, the Sociolinguistique took for object of analysis the conflict diglossic and its consequences. The contribution of this work is capital for the comprehension of a phenomenon until recently rather little studied.

The situation in Haiti

An example of a diglossic situation is that of the Créole Haitian in his cohabitation with French. All the population of Haiti speaks Creole, but the dominant social class often has a suitable knowledge of French language, while the general population speaks often only Creole. One should not confuse French and the Haitian Creole as being two varieties of a language, but well as two quite distinct languages it creole having followed a process of relexification with language superstrate French and language substrate the fongbe (see Lefebvre, 1998*). Therefore, it can not to act of diglossie between varieties, but well of diglossie between two languages, one is spoken only by part of the population which enjoys the prestige of the practice of one of languages present on the Haitian territory, in this case French.

Lefebvre, Claire. 1998, Creole Genesis and the Acquisition off Grammar: The Puts Haitian Creole off. Cambridge University Near.

Case of the German-speaking Switzerland

Case of the Arab

The situation is comparable in the countries of African North about the relationship between the classical Arabic and the Berber one put in margin.

In addition to this fact, it should be noted that the juxtaposition of two varientes of the same language (Arabic) in North Africa, characterizes the diglossy perfectly such as it is defined by Ferguson. The presence of the dialectical Arabic, language of daily use, in the family circle as well as in the public medium, and the classical Arabic of which the use is limited to the official media and at the school (because it is the language of teaching), illustrates this diglossic situation.

Thus the dialectal one which is even used by the majority of the population and that in various fields of their life day laborer does not have any official statute. It is a language practiced by everyone and yet not recognized by anyone. The classical Arabic (literal, standard) on the other hand, although it is a language régide whose fields of use are very limited (lesson primary education and secondary, media) has the statute of official language. Held with the formal situations, it is very privileged blow compared to the other languages in presence in North Africa (the dialectical Arabic and the Berber one). To also note that the prestige which the classical Arabic enjoys holds owing to the fact that it is the language of the coran, i.e. that of the revelation.

Today voices rise in the Maghreb countries (with the example of the writer Kateb Yacine in Algeria) for revandiquer an official statute for the dialectical Arabic, since it is the living language by the fact of his practice by the whole of the inhabitants of this geographical space.

That without omitting to mention the keen fight carried out for the revalorization of tamazight (the Berber one), the ancestral language spoken by the first autochtones of African North. However she is partially recognized by the capacities in place (in Morocco and Algeria), because in addition to her introduction into the media, she is also taught at the school.

External bonds

Text (rather technical) of Patrick Sauzet on the diglossy French-occitan
Text of Albert Bastardas-Boada on the diglossy and universalization (Diverscité Languages, on line)
Text of Georges Lüdi
Text of Fouad Laroussi with a paragraph on diglossy and bilingualism

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