Below is a glossary about languages, monolingualism, bilingualism, and the history of language rights.
The Origin of Language & General Definitions
Language family: Languages with similarities in vocabulary, syntax, inflections, and other aspects are descendents of the same parent language. One example of this is the parent language of Latin. Through the Roman Empire’s period of colonizing in Europe, the Latin language spread into many countries, including Italy, France, and Spain. Over time, the Latin spoken in these countries, forming their own evolutions into the daughter languages of Italian, French, Spanish, and many more.
Dialects: Originally, a dialect was described as a low status form of a language, primarily spoken in rural areas and by people with relatively low education. They often contrasted unfavorably with the “standard” speech and writing styles of the main language. Today, the implication that dialects are inferior is not used, and dialects are used to describe any variation of a language. People, therefore, speak dialects of their language – nobody speaks it exactly the same.
Vernacular language: The type of language that is typically spoken by its users. It tends to include slang and is very informal compared to the written standard for a language. This goes hand in hand with dialects, as vernacular language usage has regional differences.
Standardized language: The official rules of a language. This is the type of language that you tend to learn in an educational setting. It includes the proper grammar and word usage that you would see written down rather than spoken. Standardized langauge typically doesn’t include any dialects of the language or slang.
Language death: When a language completely disappears as a means of communication. Written records or tape recordings may exist to be studied by scholars, or another language may adopt words or phrases from the original language, but it isn’t spoken widely in a region.
Languages in contact: Bilingualism derives from the contacts between languages and the relationships between groups of peoples of different cultures. These contacts have and continue to occur due to physical country borders, the trading of commodities (technology, food, materials, etc.), and exploration and exploitation of regions.
Proficiency: Having the skill and experience to do something.
Linguistics: The scientific study of the structure and development of language in general, or of specific languages.
Semantics: The study of meanings in a language.
Syntax: The grammatical arrangement of words in a sentence.
Lexicon: A list of all the words used in a particular language or subject.
Phonology: The underlying properties of sounds.
Phonetics: How the above sounds are pronounced during real-time speech.
Principles of Language Acquisition
Language is an abstract, complex, implicit mental representation of the formal properties of words, sounds, constraints on sentence structure, meaning, and how these relate to each other (VanPatten, p. 4).
Language acquisition- Subconscious process by which individuals acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language. When acquiring the language, the learner subconsciously stores the information/knowledge in their brain.
Language learning- Conscious process, individuals are aware they are learning. Learned knowledge is presented consciously in the brain. Individuals will say rules and grammar are part of learning.
Theories of Language Origin
Bow Wow theory: The idea that language first came from sounds produced to mimic sounds in the world.
Pooh Pooh theory: The idea that language began from instinctual sounds produced due to pain and anger.
Monogenesis theory: All languages are descended from a single original language.
Polygenesis theory: Different languages emerged more-or-less at the same time in different places.
Monolingualism
Bilingualism
Bilingualism has been an interdisciplinary and complex field of study that has occupied the attention of linguists, psychologists, sociologists, educators, and many others. A significant aspect of bilingualism is that because it is studied from various points of view, “there is no autonomous discipline encompassing the linguistic phenomenon of bilingualism.” This means that there has not been a precise definition of bilingualism since it is studied from different focal points and for the interest of each discipline (Wald, 1974, p.301). Nevertheless, because of a range of factors to consider when defining what bilingualism is and what it encompasses, the term is usually reserved to describe two languages within an individual.
Based on whether two languages are learned in the same or different environments bilingualism can be divided into two categories compound bilingualism and coordinate bilingualism.
Compound bilingualism refers to learning two languages in the same context, where they are used concurrently; in this case, a fusion of languages occurs in the brain.
Coordinate bilingualism refers to learning languages in separate environments, and the words of the two languages are kept separate, with each word having its specific meaning. There is a Sub-type of coordinate. In this case, the sub-coordinate bilinguals make meaning of words of their weaker language through the words of the more robust language.
Considering language fluency, which means considering individuals level of language skills, bilingualism can be divided into:
Additive bilingualism: The individual, normally a child, learns the language while reinforcing the first.
Subtractive bilingualism: In this case, the individual, usually a child, learns a language without reinforcing the first, which results in losing some of the knowledge from the first language.
Receptive bilingualism: The individual comprehends the additional language, but they cannot use it actively.
Subordinate bilingualism: The individual, primarily an adult, learns additional language through their first language.
The Bilingual Brain
In a study about the bilingual brain, when comparing the brain responses to language sounds in 11-month-old babies from bilingual Spanish-English households to those from monolingual English households, researchers found that, at that age, the monolingual baby brain was specialized to process English sounds, but not the sounds of Spanish (an unfamiliar language). On the other hand, the brains of babies from bilingual households were specialized to process the sounds of Spanish and English (both native languages). This means that the baby brain can process whatever language they are exposed to in their environment. A child’s language experience is shown by the brain’s responses to language sounds (Ferjan Ramirez et al. 2017).
Strategy for Language Instruction
Students can practice conversation skills with native speakers of the language through global connections such as COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning).
eBooks- encourage the students to listen to or read eBooks in the target language –international children’s digital library..
Learner-made recordings of performances- learner records a speaking performance using an online platform for instance VoiceThread.
Brainstorming- learners use platforms or apps to brainstorm ideas, in the target language, with their peers or independently. Padlet, Google notes…
Instructors and learners should set learning goals so that the learning responsibility is not solely in the hands of the educators. A successful partnership between students and teachers will result in learning together and each student’s needs being met. Research related to goal setting shows that learners are more committed to working towards goals when they are specific, proximal, and challenging (Bandura, 1986, Locke & Latham, 1990, 2002).
Can-Do statements help students monitor their work and if they advance from one level to the other in their language journey.
History of Linguistic Rights
Period 1: Before 1815. Language rights weren’t covered by international treaties, although religious minorities are greatly mentioned in agreements. This period also glorified civilizing languages and stigmatized local, vernacular languages and dialects.
Period 2: 1815-1914. Most 19th century acts and treaties contained no specific mention of linguistic minorities, but many steps were taken toward that direction. The Final Act of the Congress of Vienna in 1815 contained clauses that safeguarded national and religious minorities. Many national minorities were also linguistic minorities.
Period 3: 1914-1945. This was marked by World War One and Two, in which there were peace treaties and international conventions, such as the League of Nations, that protected minorities. Most of these were done on the national level, rather than on the more global scale.
Period 4: 1945-1970s. After World War Two, the desire to prevent the abuse of human rights was a big factor due to the horrors of the rise of fascism. A new movement toward the protection of human rights was undertaken by the United Nations, who created the Universal Declarations to create clear emphasis on the protection of ethnic groups. Little focus was given specifically to language minorities, but many were coupled with the rights for ethnic minorities and basic universal human rights.
Period 5: 1970s-today. There has been a growing interest in the rights of language groups and ethnic minorities. The strongest levels of protection are currently given on the national level rather than the international and universal level. Focus has also continued to be on groups rather than the individual. Language still doesn’t have a lot of focus – most is on indigenous ethnic minorities with less concern for in-migrant ethnic minorities. Language rights are often incorporated in religious and ethnic rights. The rights of non-national individuals are also rarely considered.
References
Additional Resources
Videos
“Welcome to Fleischmanns” – Jessica Vecchione. A documentary featuring an immigrant community located in rural New York
“No Child Left Monolingual” – Kim Potowski. A TEDx Talk discussing bilingualism and monolingualism.
Articles
“I can’t say my own name” – Mithu Sanyal. This article discusses the author’s experiences with her father’s heritage language, Bengali, and her experiences being bilingual.
“For the Love of Spanish… And the Teacher who Changed my Life” – Rachel Frick Cardelle. This article discusses the author’s experiences with Spanish in high school, and its significant impact on her life.