BILINGUALISM & MULTILINGUALISM

Contrary to what is often believed, most of the world populations are bilinguals or
multilinguals. Monolingualism is only the characteristic of a minority of the world people.
According to Stavenhagen (1990), five to eight thousand different ethnic groups reside in
approximately 160 nation states. Moreover, scholars estimate that there are over 5000 distinct
languages spoken in that same small number of nation states. What evident from these figures is
that few nations are either monolingual or mono-ethnic. Each of the world's nations has groups
of individuals living within its borders who use other languages in addition to the national
language to function in their everyday lives.

1. Definition of bilingualism and multilingualism

Bilingualism can be defined as the ability to build understandable utterances in any of the

languages known. When people hear the term bilingual, many of them imagine an individual
who speaks two languages perfectly. For them, someone who is 'truly' bilingual is two native
speakers in one. They imagine that such a person can speak, understand, read, and write in two
languages at the highest levels. For others, the term bilingual means something quite different.
When newly arrived immigrant children entering U.S. schools, for example, are described as
'bilingual children,' the term is often used as a euphemism for 'poor' and 'uneducated'. In this
case, newly arrived immigrant children do not yet function in two languages. They are
monolingual speakers of their first language and not bilingual at all. The term bilingual here is
used to convey a very different set of meanings from what linguists intend. However, in this
case, language learners are also considered bilingual because it is such a rare that a person knows
two languages equally well.

Meanwhile, multilingualism is the ability to use several languages (not perfectly well),
assuming a mutual interaction of languages in the mind of the user, as well as the bulk of
linguistic and cultural experience of the user which add to his/her communicative competence.
Such a way of understanding multilingualism is connected with the notion of plurilingualism,
used in EU documents. Plurilingualism does not mean a perfect command of several languages
but the attempt to use one’s linguistic knowledge and skills to communicate with others in many
different situations. In practice, it means the ability to effectively function in a multinational and
multicultural community thanks to a sensitivity to similarities and differences between languages
and cultures.

2. Types of bilingual and multilingual

Because there are very different kinds of bilinguals and multilinguals, much effort in the
study of bilingualism has gone into developing categories which might make the measurement
and description of these differences possible. The categories used to describe different types of
bilinguals reflect different researchers' interests in focusing on specific aspects of bilingual
ability or experience. These types of bilinguals are divided into several parts as below
a. Compound, Coordinate, and Subordinate Bilinguals
 Compound bilingual has one semantic system but two linguistic codes. It usually
refers to someone whose two languages are learnt at the same time, often in the same
context.
 Coordinate bilingual has two semantic systems and two linguistic codes. It usually
refers to someone whose two languages are learnt in distinctively separate contexts
 Subordinate bilingual indicates that the weaker language is interpreted through the
stronger language
b. Early and Late Bilinguals
 Early bilingual is someone who has acquired two languages early in childhood
(usually received systematic training/learning of a second language before age 6).
 Late bilingual is someone who has become a bilingual later than childhood (after age
12).
c. Balanced and Dominant Bilinguals
 Balanced bilingual is someone whose mastery of two languages is roughly equivalent.
 Dominant bilingual is someone with greater proficiency in one of his or her languages
and uses it significantly more than the other language.
d. Successive, Simultaneous, and Receptive Bilingualism
 Successive bilingualism means that someone learns one language after already
knowing another. This is the situation for all those who become bilingual as adults, as
well as for many who became bilingual earlier in life. It is sometimes also called as
consecutive bilingualism.
 Simultaneous bilingualism means that someone learns two languages as "first
languages". That is, a person who is a simultaneous bilingual goes from speaking no
languages at all directly to speaking two languages. Infants who are exposed to two
languages from birth will become simultaneous bilinguals.
 Receptive bilingualism is being able to understand two languages but express oneself
in only one. This is generally not considered "true" bilingualism but is a fairly
common situation.
e. Additive and Subtractive Bilingual

Additive or subtractive bilingualism is related to the different status associated with the
two languages in a society.

 Additive bilingual is the learning of a second language does not interfere with the
learning of a first language. Both languages are well developed.
 Subtractive bilingual is the learning of a second language interferes with the learning
of a first language. The second language replaces the first language.
f. Elite and Folk Bilingual
 Elite bilingual means that individuals who choose to have a bilingual home, often
in order to enhance social status.
  Folk bilingual means that individuals who develop second language capacity
under circumstances that are not often of their own choosing, and in conditions
where the society does not value their native language.

The usefulness of these labels and categories clearly depends on the specific interest a
researcher has in bilingualism. Meaningful comparisons of bilingual persons cannot generally be
made unless attention is given to the differences and similarities between these individuals in
terms of a number of key dimensions such as age of acquisition of the second language,
circumstances in which the two languages are used, patterns of use of the two languages in the
surrounding community, level of formal education received in each language, and degrees of
proficiency

REFERENCES
 Bilingualism & Multilingualism. quoted on April 8, 2019 from
https://www.slideshare.net/cmcgoun/bilingualism-definitions-and-issues?next_slideshow=1

Bilingualism, multilingualism, plurilingualism. quoted on April 8, 2019 from

http://www.ia.uw.edu.pl/en/about-the-institute/structure-of-the-institute/applied-linguistics-
department/research-areas/357-bilingualism-multilingualism-plurilingualism

Multilingualism. quoted on April 8, 2019 from

https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/multilingualism