Chapter No.

1 INTRODUCTION

Question No. 1. What is Bilingualism and what are the Different Types of Bilingualism?
Answer:

 Bilingual
Bilingual is defined as using two languages spoken with the fluency just like a native speaker.
 Bilingualism
A person using two languages habitually like a native speaker and bilingualism is the constant oral use of
two languages.
 Language Use
Language use is also often dependent on wider societal attitudes to the particular languages they speak.
 Language Domains
The different contexts of language use are called language domains.

 Types of Bilingualism
1. Additive Bilingualism
2. Subtractive Bilingualism
3. Simultaneous Bilingualism
4. Sequential Bilingualism or Consecutive Bilingualism
5. Early Bilingualism
6. Late Bilingualism
7. Balanced Bilingualism
8. Dominant Bilingualism

1. Additive Bilingualism (Balanced Manner)

Additive bilingualism is when a person learning a second language and does not interfere with the learning
of a first language. Both languages are developed.
2. Subtractive Bilingualism (One Dominant Language)
Subtractive bilingualism is when a person learning a second language interferes with the learning of a first
language. The second language replaces the first language. This is commonly found in children who
immigrate to a foreign country when they are young, especially in cases of orphans who are deprived of
their first language input.
3. Simultaneous Bilingualism
Simultaneous bilingualism is a learning of two languages as "first language". Simultaneous bilinguals learn
both of their languages from childhood, rather than learning one language before starting to learn the
other.
For example: When children are raised by parents speaking more than one language.
4. Sequential Bilingualism or Consecutive Bilingualism
Sequential bilingualism or Consecutive bilingualism is when the child acquires the second language(s) after
having learnt the first language.
For example: When the parental tongue is different than the main language of the community or
education system.
5. Early Bilingualism
A person who has acquired two languages in early childhood called early bilingualism.
6. Late Bilingualism
A person who acquired a second language after the age twelve (12) is called late bilingualism.
7. Balanced Bilingualism
A person uses two languages at the same time is called balanced bilingualism.
8. Dominant Bilingualism
A person with greater proficiency in one of his or her language and uses it significantly more than the other
languages.
Question No. 2. Set of Criteria or Scale that help us to find which Language is EXTINCT or not? UNESCO’s
Language Vitality and Endangerment Framework
Answer:

 Endangered Languages
An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use as its speakers die out or shift to
speaking another language. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers, and
becomes a "dead language". If eventually no one speaks the language at all, it becomes an "extinct
language".
The attitude of the people make language endangered. People feel hesitation to speak their own language.
Ideologies are changed and so attitudes towards one language changes. They attach some dominant
language and they are not allowed by their parents to speak their mother tongue.
 Steps
a. You desert or abandon that language
b. You shift to another language
c. You start speaking two languages
 Further Factors
a. Many languages are endangered because there have been a measurable decline in the percentage of
children who learn to speak them over the course of two or more generations.
b. Trajectory of the decline of the number of the people learning these languages as such that at some
point INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSION will seize. At that point that language is considered moribund
(A stage at which language cannot survive).
c. This factor is generally accepted as the ‘Gold Standard’ of language vitality.
 Classification OR Criteria OR Scale
UNESCO’s establishes six degrees of vitality/endangerment based on above mentioned factors. UNESCO
provides a classification system to show just how 'in trouble' the language is:

(SVD - SCE) 1. Safe

2. Vulnerable
3. Definitely Endangered
4. Severely Endangered
5. Critically Endangered
6. Extinct

1. Safe
Language is spoken by all generation and intergenerational transmission is uninterrupted
2. Vulnerable
Most children speak the language, but it may be restricted to certain domains (e.g., home)
3. Definitely Endangered
Children no longer learn the language as a 'mother tongue' in the home
4. Severely Endangered
Language is spoken by grandparents and older generations; while the parent generation may understand it
but they do not speak it to children or among themselves
5. Critically Endangered
The youngest speakers are grandparents and older and they speak the language partially and infrequently
6. Extinct
There are no speakers left.
Question No. 3 Causes of Language Endangerment?
Answer:
 Language Endangerment
An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use as its speakers die out or shift to speaking another
language. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers, and becomes a "dead language". If eventually
no one speaks the language at all, it becomes an "extinct language".
 Threatened Language
Threatened language and culture are both vulnerable. The vulnerability may stand for the number of factors like a small number
of speakers or social transformation that decreases the necessity for using the language in daily activities.
There are four (04) main causes that endangered the language:
1. Natural Catastrophes, Famine and Disease
2. War and Genocide
3. Overt Repression or Assimilation
4. Cultural/Political/Economic Dominance

1. Natural Catastrophes, Famine and Disease

A language dies due to natural disasters or diseases.
For example: Papua New Guinea (Earthquake); Andaman Islands (Tsunami)
2. War and Genocide
Lot of languages died due to the civil wars.
For example: Tasmania (Genocide by Colonists); El Salvador (Civil War)
3. Overt Repression or Assimilation
There is overt repression for national unity.
For example: Kurdish, Welsh and Native American Languages
4. Cultural/Political/Economic Dominance
Cultural, political and economical power tends to build up pressure on the speakers to shift to the
dominant language.
For example: Sorbian, Quechua and many others.
 Effects
Language endangerment affects both the languages themselves and the people that speak them.
The fourth category which is the most common and it can be further sub divided into five common factors:
1. Economic
2. Cultural Dominance
3. Political
4. Historical
5. Attitudinal

1. Economic
People of the rural areas migrate to cities. Due to the migration of the rural poverty people, local economy improves and
tourism brings speakers of majority languages.
2. Cultural Dominance
Communities lose their language they often also lose parts of their cultural traditions which are tied to that language, such as
songs, myths and poetry that are not easily transferred to another language.
3. Political
Losing a language may also have political consequences. They also lose political status or privileges on minority ethnic groups.
There will be a ban on the use of minority languages in public life.
4. Historical
It also affects historically due to the colonization, boundary disputes and the rise of one group and their language.
5. Attitudinal
Thousands of minority languages are marginalized and their speakers are under pressure to shift to the dominant language.
Because minority language are associated with poverty, illiteracy and hardships while the dominant language is associated with
progress.
 Conclusion
A language disappears when its speakers disappear or when they shift to speaking another language. Languages are threatened
by external forces such as military, economic, religious, cultural or educational subjugation, or by internal forces such as a
community’s negative attitude towards its own language. Today, increased migration and rapid urbanization often bring along
the loss of traditional ways of life and a strong pressure to speak a dominant language.
Question No. 4 Language Heritage or Cultural Heritage? OR What is Intangible Cultural Heritage?
Answer:
 Heritage
Heritage is anything that is considered important enough to be passed on to the future generations.
Heritage is broadly categorized into two main divisions:
a. Natural Heritage
b. Cultural Heritage
a. Natural Heritage
Natural heritage refers to the natural aspects like the fauna and flora, landscapes, beaches, gardens etc
that are considered important enough to be preserved for the future generations.
b. Cultural Heritage
Cultural heritage refers to the cultural aspects like heritage sites, monuments, folk lore and LANGUAGE
that are considered vital to be preserved for the future generations.
Cultural Heritage can be further divided into two main groups:
a. Tangible Heritage
b. Intangible Heritage
a. Tangible Heritage
Tangible heritage refers to those significant places that advocate the country’s history and culture.
For example: Monuments, Mosques, Shrines and Monasteries etc.
b. Intangible Heritage
Intangible heritage refers to those aspects of a country that cannot be touched or seen.
For example: Traditional Music, Folklore and LANGUAGE etc.
 Intangible Cultural Heritage
 Emotions
There are things that we regard as important to preserve for future generations. They may be significant
due to their present or possible economic value, but also because they create a certain emotion within us,
or because they make us feel as though we belong to something like a country, a tradition, a way of life.
 Transferring of Language
The term ‘cultural heritage’ has changed content considerably in recent decades. Cultural heritage does
not end at monuments and collections of objects. It also includes traditions or living expressions inherited
from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social
practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe, the
knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts and LANGUAGE.
 Cultural Diversity
Intangible cultural heritage is an important factor in maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing
globalization. An under - standing of the intangible cultural heritage of different communities helps with
intercultural dialogue, and encourages mutual respect for other ways of life.
 Conclusion
The loss of endangered languages means the loss of such knowledge and cultural richness for the
communities who speak them and to human beings in general.
Question No. 5 Relationship between Language and Identity?
Answer:
The relationship among language, culture and identity has been a hot issue over the last decade. In
order to fully understand it, the concept of each element should be clearly defined. Firstly, language is an
inventive product of human communication. On the other hand, the term “culture” refers to all the
characteristics that a particular group of people learn to share in common. In a broad sense, culture can be
seen as the property of a community.
The concept of identity is hard to define, to some extent it refers to self-interpretation of individual
and the way the society sees him/her as himself/herself within his/her group or community. Language is
such a powerful instrument to express identity and belongings.
The age of globalisation has seen thousands of people immigrate to other countries in search of
better employment and educational opportunities. Sometimes people migrate in order to escape conflicts
at home and to find safer and more stable living conditions abroad. This movement from one place to
another affects people mother tongue. Language is not simply an assortment of words but an entity that
connects an individual to his family, identity culture, music, belief and wisdom. It is the carrier of history,
traditions, customs and folklore from one generation to another. Without language, no culture can sustain
its existence. Our language is actually our identity.
A lost language is a lost culture, a lost culture is invaluable knowledge lost. Language does not serve
only as a means of communication, but as a marker of identity amongst the tribes. Language serves as
important symbols of group belonging, enabling different groups of people to know what ETHNIC GROUP
they belong to and what common heritage they share. It is important to develop and sustain languages and
protect them from being adulterated and overwhelmed by outside influences, as happens when one
culture dominates another. No doubt languages are the most authentic ways through which people and
communities can retain and safeguard knowledge.
 One Language
Another common assumption, among non linguist that there must be a single language which is
spoken worldwide and it brings peace e.g. Esperanto Language
Question No. 6 Documentary Linguistics or Documentation of Language?
Answer:
The documentation of endangered languages is an especially important and urgent task if we want
to at least preserve some of the wealth that these languages possess and that otherwise will soon be gone
forever. Having said that, documentary linguistics is not only concerned with endangered languages, and
many issues, for example, issues concerning recording speech, transcribing spoken data, or
building corpora, are the same for all languages. However, smaller, less studied and especially endangered
languages also provide special challenges – first and foremost with respect to the amount of available data.
For the documentation of language we need to preserve these elements:
 Phonetic System
 Phonology
 Morphology
 Syntax
 Semantic
 Pragmatics