Diglossia, language maintenance, language shift and reversing language shift: A case example of China

Academic Paper from the year 2019 in the subject Speech Science / Linguistics, grade: A, Kenyatta University, language: English, abstract: Multiple varieties of languages co-exist in a complex interrelationship where the society assigns them different tasks. In 1959, Charles Ferguson provided a comprehensive diglossicview of bilingualism by building on the various domains which are essential in macro-analysis of the functional distributions within the speech communities (Ferguson, 1959). These communities are characterized two or more languages used in intra-societal communications. Diglossia is generally defined as a situation where two different language varieties are spoken with the same speech community (Fishman et al., 1982). On the other hand, bilingual diglossia is a situation where one language variety is used in writing while another one is used in speech. Today, diglossia is one of the most important elements in the study of societal multilingualism. Based on Ferguson's argument, diglossia can be described as a special kind of bilingualism where two co-existing linguistic codes that have different status in the society compete. Use of these language varieties relies on the circumstance (Crystal, 2010). Each the language variety must have a clearly defined role. For example, standard language mainly in formal contexts while a specific dialectal form is used in low functions such as family and social gatherings. Studies observed that the concept of diglossia can be observed in the case of language use in China. In support of this observation, the author reviewed the concepts diglossia, language maintenance, language shift and reversing language shift in general and in relation to a specific case of Inner Mongolia, China.