Multilingualism “Most of us in the industrialized countries of North America, Western Europe, and Australasia tend to take the concept of the nation-state and its associated national standard language for granted, but, in fact, both of these are the outcome of centuries of struggles among competing political and economic groups to advance their own interests” (Foley 2001: 398).

Multilingualism Modern nations and multilingual The result of contact 5000 to 8000 languages worldwide USA: 27 ethnic groups: 230 languages

Bakhtin (1981) Centripetal forces of language: ---political and institutional forces ---Imposition of one variety code over others Centrifugal forces of language: ---forces pushing speakers away from a common code or language ---multilingualism ---differentiation

Tewa, Arizona (Kroskrity 1993) Long history of contact (Hopi) Links between identity and language Some symbols only available to Tewa Language medium of identity expression

Catalan, Spain (Woodlard 1989) Political control by central government Imposition of language code ---Centripetal forces: school system, media High status in Catalonia

Basis of Linguistic Problems Economic and political Result in war, genocide ---Yugoslavia, Rwanda ---Hutus and Tootsies

Man: Could you tell me where the French test is? Recep: Pardon? (“Pardon?”) Man: Could you tell me where the French test is? Recep: En Français (“In French”) Man: I have the right to be addressed in English by the government of Quebec according to Bill 101. Recept: (To a third person) Qu’est-ce qu’il dit? (“What’s he saying?”)

Language Status (Multilingual Nations) Canada and India Issues contributing to language status: ---Ethnicity ---Race ---Political and social power of native speakers

India Indo-Aryan (74), Dravidian (24), Austro- Asiatic (1,5) and Tibeto-Burman (0.7) Hindi official language + 14 state official languages English elite language and the second language of millions Mass communication affects minority languages

Kamala Das I don’t know politics but I know the names Of those in power, and can repeat them like Days of week, or names of months, beginning with Nehru. I am Indian, very brown, born in Malabar, I speak three languages, write in Two, dream in one. Don’t write in English, they said, English is not your mother tongue. Why not leave Me alone, critics, friends, visiting cousins, Every one of you? Why not let me speak in Any other language I like? The language I speak Becomes mine, its distortions, its queernesses All mine, mine alone…. (In Valentine, 2004)

Canada Two different cultural and linguistic identities(linguistic majority French in Quebec) Economic and politics controlled by Anglo interests until the 1970’s Calls for independence Official language act1969 : bilingual education, Referendum 1995 Reversal of fortunes in Quebec

Situational Use of Language Quebec situation Francophones, Anglophones and Allophones, language according to situation Reflects attitudes

Summary In all societies some people speak more than one language Conflict are based on economic and political conditions but appear as linguistic issues India and canada good examples of multilingualism: