ALDERSGATE COLLEGE LANGUAGE PROGRAMS AND POLICIES IN MULTILINGUAL SOCITIES

COLLEGE OF ARTS, SCIENCES AND EDUCATION EROLLE TOLENTINO CARIÑO

UNIT 1

MULTILINGUAL AND LANGUAGE POLICY

OVERVIEW
Globalization has immensely bolstered interconnectedness between and among nations, people, and cultures. As a result,
language communities come in contact more often, which makes multilingualism as the norm of the present world.

In this unit, you will learn about multilingualism, linguistic rights, and the language issues inherent in a multilingual society. You
will know more about the diverse factors that influence language choice, and how such choice, both the individual and
that of society, shapes language policy.

LESSON 1: UNDERSTANDING MULTILINGUALISM

LEARNING GOALS:
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

1. Define multilingualism and know the factors that have invigorated the phenomenon;
2. Understand and recognize the value of linguistic diversity in a multilingual society; and
3. Write a reaction paper essay on the issue of a national language vis-à-vis its place in a multilingual environment.

UNDERSTANDING MULTILINGUALISM

In the biblical literature, it is said that the world originally had “one shared
language” until the “Tower of Babel.” The story (from Genesis)
began with people of Babel attempting to build a tower that would
reach the heaven to prove that they can reach it on their own. Such
arrogance greatly displeased God that he deliberately created
multiple languages so that the people building the tower will not
understand one another and it will be impossible for them to finish
the tower.

Pre-Activity:

Imagine that you live in a world where there is only one language. What do you think will happen? How will be different from
what it is now? Will you consider it as a “linguistic paradise”? Why? Why not?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
ALDERSGATE COLLEGE LANGUAGE PROGRAMS AND POLICIES IN MULTILINGUAL SOCITIES

COLLEGE OF ARTS, SCIENCES AND EDUCATION EROLLE TOLENTINO CARIÑO

Whether the story of Tower of Babel is true or not, the multiplicity of languages in the world is definitely real. Also known as
“linguistic diversity,” the multitude of languages that exist at present is approximately at 6,000-7,000 languages
worldwide (UNESCO). With the exception of Iceland – the only country that is legitimately identified as linguistically
homogenous or monolingual – multilingualism is a rule.

Multilingualism is a natural phenomenon. Cenoz (2013), on her article on “Defining Multilingualism,” clearly presented the
concept of multilingualism and its inevitably as a phenomenon.

Why is multilingualism a common phenomenon?

• There are more languages in the world (almost 7,000) than countries. It follows that a significant number of speakers
have more than one language;
• Languages are “unevenly distributed”; speakers of the minority languages groups need to learn and use the language
of the majority groups;
• We have immigrants who speak their first language and who need to acquire and speak the languages of the majority
groups;
• We learn additional languages, like English, for better social and economic opportunities.

Here are some key points why linguistic diversity is needed:

• Languages are “libraries of the intangible heritage of humankind”. Human knowledge, history, and experiences are
encoded and stored in languages.
• Languages reflect an individual and a community’s culture, tradition, and identity.
• Diversity in languages and cultures results in a more ideas and creativity for communities to collectively adapt to the
changing world and find solutions to new issues that arise.
• The significance of linguistic diversity was compared with ecological diversity where diversity is directly related to
stability, which is important for long-term survival.

Language is the ability to produce and comprehend both spoken and written (and in the case of sign language, signed)
words. Understanding how language works means reaching across many branches of psychology—everything from basic
neurological functioning to high-level cognitive processing. Language shapes our social interactions and brings order to our
lives. Complex language is one of the defining factors that makes us human. Two of the concepts that make language
unique are grammar and lexicon.

• Grammar is a set of rules for generating logical communication.

• All languages have a grammar, and native speakers of a language have internalized the rules of that language’s
grammar.
• Every language has a lexicon, or the sum total of all the words in that language.
• Phonetics and phonemics are the study of individual units of sound in languages.
• Morphology is the study of words and other meaningful units of language.
• Syntax is the study of sentences and phrases, and the rules of grammar that sentences obey.
• Semantics is the study of sentence meaning; pragmatics is the study of sentence meaning in context.
ALDERSGATE COLLEGE LANGUAGE PROGRAMS AND POLICIES IN MULTILINGUAL SOCITIES

COLLEGE OF ARTS, SCIENCES AND EDUCATION EROLLE TOLENTINO CARIÑO

Structure of Language

• The five main components of language are phonemes, morphemes, lexemes, syntax, and context. Along with grammar,
semantics, and pragmatics, these components work together to create meaningful communication among individuals.
• A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that may cause a change of meaning within a language but that doesn’t have
meaning by itself.
• A morpheme is the smallest unit of a word that provides a specific meaning to a string of letters (which is called a
phoneme). There are two main types of morpheme: free morphemes and bound morphemes.
• A lexeme is the set of all the inflected forms of a single word.
• Syntax is the set of rules by which a person constructs full sentences.
• Context is how everything within language works together to convey a particular meaning.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:

A. Multilingualism is considered as a RULE or a “common phenomenon”. What do you think prompts or drives people to
become multilinguals?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

B. What does a multilingual mean to you at this point?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

C. Read the article of Rodriguez’ (2014) “Should we even have a national language in the first place?” and write a reaction
paper for or against the arguments presented.

Criteria for grading the Reaction Essay:

Content 15 points
Idea Organization 10 points
Grammar and Mechanics 5 points

Total 30 points