Bilingualism

1. Bilingualism Julia Litz LN HS Dina Friderich LN GS Jada Dasser LN HS Thorben Such LN GS Daniel Glaubitz LN GS Rachel Van Zandt TN GS Jassamin Ulfat TN HS

2. Bilingualism • What is bilingualism? • What are the pros and cons of bilingualism? • Are bilinguals two monolinguals in one person or a complete linguistic entity? • How are the two languages organised in the brain? • What are reasons for foreign accents? • What is code switching? • What are the speach patterns of bilingual families like ? • What are the aims of bilingual educational systems?

3. Defining Bilingualism • Julia Litz LN HS

4. Defining Bilingualism • What is bilingualism? • It is a quite difficult task to define who is and who is not bilingual. Bilingualism involves a number of dimensions. • there is a distinction between ability in language and use of language • people’s ability or proficiency in two languages may be separate from their use of two languages •  the difference between degree (= proficiency or competence in a language) and function (= actual use of two languages)

5. Defining Bilingualism • A person’s proficiency in a language may vary across the four language skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing. • A person who is able to understand a language in its spoken or written form, but may not be able to speak or write it well (if at all) can be said to have a passive or receptive competence in a second language. • Few bilinguals are equally proficient in both languages, even though it is often thought to be the case. •  One language tends to be stronger and better developed. This is described as the dominant language • Few bilinguals possess the same competence as monolingual speakers in either of their languages: This is because bilinguals use their languages for different functions and purposes.

6. Defining Bilingualism • Minority Language: A language is a minority language when it has less power and status than a majority language. • Majority Language: Consequently the majority language is the language with more power and a higher status in a given area. • Example: Catalan can be perceived as a minority language in Spain, despite its 6 million or more speakers, because it has less status at a national level than Spanish. Spanish is of course the majority language in Spain.

7. Defining Bilingualism • A bilingual person’s competence in a language may vary over time and according to changing circumstances. • Thus there is no overall definition for the term bilingualism, but we can see that many degrees of bilingualism do exist.

8. Bilingualism -Advantages and Disadvantages- • Jada Dasser LN HS

9. Communication Culture Cognition Language Education Identity AdvantagesDisadvantages

10. Communication Advantages • Relationships with parents • Extended family relationships • Community relationships • Transnational communication • Language sensitivity

11. Experience of more than one culture Economic advantages in trade Creative and flexible thinking Greater sensitivity in communication Awareness of language Cultural AdvantagesCognitive Advantages

12. Language: Education: Identity: Underdevelopment Monolingualism vs. Bilingualism Conflicts and crises Disadvantagesof Bilingualism

13. Two Views on Bilinguals • Dina Friderich LN GS

14. The fractionalview Two halves Two monolinguals in one person The holistic view One whole Bilingual person Unique linguistic profile Two Views on Bilinguals

15. The Fractional View • Definition Bilinguals here: • people, who are equally fluent in their two languages, with proficiency comparable to monolinguals • Tests • Bilinguals normally compared to monolingual averages and norms • Don‘t take into account that bilinguals use their two languages in different situations and with different people

16. Dominant View of the World • monolingual is seen as normal • although: between 1/2 - 2/3 of the world‘s population is bilingual • Monolingual view of bilinguals: • negative consequences in cognitive processing • Effect on bilinguals: being critical of their own language competence

17. The Holistic View • François Grosjean (1946 - ) • Professor of Psycholinguistics at the University of Neuchâtel in Swizerland • is bilingual: English and French • consistently advocated a holistic view • Bilingual = complete linguistic entity, an integrated whole • book: • Life With Two Languages

18. Book: Life With Two Languages • Def. Bilingualism here: • Use of two (or more) languages in one‘s everyday life • NOT: knowing two languages equally well and optimally • The bilingual uses two languages -separately or together- for different purposes, in different domains of life, with different people The book isn‘t only succesfull because of its clarity, but because it is written by a bilingual  rooted in authentic experiences, written in a personal way

19. What does this mean for testing a bilingual‘s language proficiency? • Should competence only be compared with other bilinguals ? • Not realistic • In the real world (e.g. job market) bilinguals also have to compete with monolinguals • BETTER: Move away from traditional language tests • Emphasis on form and correctness • To an evaluation of the general communicative competence • Based on the totality of the bilingual‘s language use

20. Bilingualism and the Brain • Daniel Glaubitz LN GS

21. 2nd Language Learning Ability and IQ • 2nd language learning ability is independent of general intellectual ability • Patient referred to as “Christopher” (Smith and Tsimpili) who has an IQ of 60-70 • He knows 16 languages well enough to provide translations into English

22. Bilingual Aphasics • Linguists argue about whether bilingual information is stored in joined or separate spatial systems • If the systems were joined one would expect equivalent deficits in each language when there is damage to the language area in the brain • This is not always the case

23. Bilingual Aphasics • Languages which have been equally deficited by brain injury recovered to the same extent in more than the half of the cases (Paradis 1987) • Non-parallel recovery in the other cases • Leads to the suggestion that there might be differential processing of the two languages in the brain

24. Bilingual Aphasics: Non-Parallel Recovery • Some patients recover one language after the other, some patients never recover one of their languages • Famous case of a Swiss-born patient investigated by Minkowski • 1st language: Swiss-German; further languages: Italian, German, French • After a stroke all of his languages recovered except his native one

25. Bilingual Aphasics: Non-Parallel Recovery • The most recently used language(s) is (are) likely to recover • NB: This does not necessarily have to be one's native language

26. Bilingual Aphasics: Non-Parallel Recovery • Paradis also demonstrated a pattern of recovery referred to as “alternate antagonism” • A patient is able to speak one language, e.g. for a day; the next day he is able to speak only the other • Green (1986) suggested that the patient has not lost the ability of using one language but is not able to switch back and forth between the languages anymore

27. Lateral Dominance • Monolinguals tend to have left-hemisphere dominance • Vaid (1983) found out that age of acquisition is most crucial in determining lateral organization for bilingualism • Wuillemin and Richardson (1994) suggest a left-hemisphere dominance for those who learned the 2nd language before the age of 4; rather more right-hemisphere participation for those who learned it later

28. Conclusion • 2nd language learning ability is independent of general intellectual ability • Bilingual aphasics: Languages might recover parallel; one after the other; “alternate antagonism” • Some languages might never recover

29. Conclusion • Monolinguals tend to have left-hemisphere dominance like those who acquire a language before the age of 4 whereas rather more right-hemisphere participation is found in those who learned it later

30. Some Features of Bilingual Speach – Foreign Accent and Codeswitching • Thorben Such LN GS

31. “Foreign Accent“ and Bilingual Phonology • A child easily acquires two languages simultaneously • If children learn two languages early in life, they sound like native speakers in both of them • As a comparison, adults often struggle to learn a second language • Adults as learners of a second language will in most cases be distinguishable from native speakers • There are many differences between adult language learners and native speakers  we will focus on the phonological system!

32. The “Foreign Accent“ • Example 1 • Speakers whose two languages share a particular sound may give that sound the same phonetic realization in both of their languages • For instance, Italian and English both have a phoneme /t/ • The English [t] is generally articulated with the tongue tip at the alveolar ridge whereas the Italian [t] has a more dental articulation

34. The “Foreign Accent“ • Example 2 • Another reason for “foreign accent“ is a difference in the phoneme inventory of two languages • A sound which is not in the first language may be substituted for by a phonetically similar sound from the first language • Example: Speakers of English as second language will often substitute other sounds which are close in place and / or manner of articulation  [s] and [z] or [t] and [d]

35. The “Foreign Accent“ • Example 3 • If both languages have the same sounds with the same phonetic status, the second-language learners will experience the foreign accent phenomenon if the phontactic conditons of the two languages differ • Example: Spanish and English have the phonemes /s/, /t/ and /r/ • English permits syllable-initial consonant clusters like /st/ or /str/, Spanish does not permit such clusters • A Spanish speaker might have no problems to pronounce the word estrogen but he might have difficulty to pronounce stress

36. Codeswitching • Codeswitching is a change of language within conversation, most often when bilingualsare in the company of other bilinguals • When bilinguals converse together, they consciously or subconsciously select the language in which the conversation will take place • This selected language is called base language, items that are introduced from a second language are called donor language or embedded language

37. Codeswitching • Codeswitching may occur in large blocks of speech, between sentences or within sentences • Codeswitching within sentences may involve single words or phrases • Example: “You didn´t have to worry que somebody te iba a tirar con cerveza o una botella or something like that.“  “You didn´t have to worry that somebody was going to throw beer or a bottle at you or something like that.“

38. The Monolingual and the Bilingual Mode • Grosjean (1992) distinguishes between the monolingual and bilingual mode • The monolingual mode: when biligual speakers use one of their languages with monolingual speakers of that language • The bilingual mode: when bilinguals are in the company of other bilinguals and have the option of switching language

39. The Bilingual Mode • One language may influence the other, and often the bilingual´s dominant language influences his or her less dominant language • Such influence is called interference (transfer) • Grosjean (1992) distinguishes between ‘static interference‘ and ‘dynamic interference‘

40. Static Interference • Static interference occurs when influence from one of the bilingual´s language is present relatively permanently in the other language • Accent, intonation and pronunciation of individual sounds are areas where static interference may be present • Example: A native German speaker may speak English with a German accent and intonation, and pronounce various sounds in a ‘German‘ way, such as hardening soft consonants at the end of words (like ‘goot‘ instead of ‘good‘)

41. Dynamic Interference • Dynamic interference occurs when features from one language are transferred temporarily into the other language • Interference can occur at any level of language (syntax, phonology,vocabulary) and in either written or spoken language • Example: A native English speaker who also has some competence in French using the word librairie to mean library

42. Language Borrowing • Language borrowing is the term used to indicate foreign loan words or phrases that have become a permanent part of the recipient language • Examples: “le weekend“ from English into French or “der Computer“ from English into German • All languages borrow words from other languages and codeswitching may often be the first step in this process

43. Speach Patterns in Bilingual Families Rachel Van Zandt TN GS

44. Speach Patterns in Bilingual Families • Children form language boundaries: boundaries for subconcious language choice • Language target mental boundary: which language to speak to which person • Language domain mental boundary: which language to speak in which place or situation or about which topic

45. Speach Patterns in Bilingual Families • Example: Spoken in the community: German Spoken at home: English Mother Father English speakers German Community Child 1 Child 2 majority language minority language minority majority

46. Speach Patterns in Bilingual Families • Example: Grandma Oma Grandpa Opa Elliot Uncle Tante Mom Papa English German

47. Bilingual Speach in the Monolingual Mode • Example: Elliot (2 ½ years old) -What are you playing? -I’m at work. I have some tools and (am) working with tools. -Are you fixing something? -Yeah, the door. I’m fixing the door. -Oh look, its Opa on the phone.You talk to Opa. -Ja, ich spiele Opa. Ja. (Ich) will runter.Down, Mama.Hallo, hallo. Monolingual Mode: GermanMonolingual Mode: English

48. Speach Patterns in Bilingual Families • Example: Grandma Oma Grandpa Opa Elliot Uncle Tante Mom Papa monolingual mode: Englishbilingual mode: base language English monolingual mode: Germanbilingual mode: base language German

49. Bilingual Mode - Codeswitching • „With the Kreisspiegelunga Gerade getsabgebildet onto a circle“ • „I have to go to the Einwohnermeldeamt to meld myself um.“ • Base language: English (here: mother tongue, minority language) • Donor Language: German (here: majority language) • Situation: bilingual family in Germany with English as the normal language at home (family members are English language targets.) • Context: Words concerning special knowledge (sciences) or administration are in German. (They belong to a German language domain)

50. Bilingual Mode - Codeswitching • Other examples: • „Meine Mutter war früher immer voll delighted wenn ein Auto Power Steering hatte.“ (German/English) • „Man toro abholen mikonam“ (I will pick you up) • „Mo emruz nohor Kartoffelauflauf chordim“ (We ate Potato Casserole for lunch today) (Iranian/German)