Bilingualism, Definitions and Distinctions

Republic of the Philippines
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Gov. Pablo Borbon Campus I, Batangas City, Philippines 4200
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Tel. No. 980-0385 local 1125
Name: ESTRELLA H. PICCIO Date: FEBRUARY 21,2021

Course: LANG 606- BILINGUALISM AND BILINGUAL EDUCATION
PROFESSOR: BENEDICT O. MEDINA, PhD
ASSIGNMENT 01
REFLECTION: BILINGUALISM, DEFINITIONS AND DISTINCTIONS
Bilingualism is the ability to use two languages. A person may be
bilingual by virtue of having grown up learning and using two languages
simultaneously (simultaneous bilingualism). Or they may become
bilingual by learning a second language sometime after their first
language. There are several reasons people become bilingual. The first
one is Choice, next is Geography, migration and lastly is religion or
professional reasons. Of course, sometimes becoming a bilingual is
purely motivated by an interest in languages. Next is, Geography. Choice
is a relatively uncommon reason for becoming bilingual, however in
Migration, bilingualism becomes more applicable to let the migrate/s be
fitted in the place they transfer, to let them communicate to the people
and let them understand the culture and others.
It is not easy to formulate a generally accepted definition of bilingualism.
Bilingualism means different things to different people. Bloomfield
(1933:56) defined bilingualism as 'native-like control of two languages'.
However, this definition excludes many people who speak more than one
language but do not have 'nativelike' control of one or both of their
languages. A large number of people who use two languages regularly may
not have 'nativelike' control of one of their languages. It is clear that
Bloomfield's definition of bilingualism needs to be modified if it is to reflect
GRADUATE SCHOOL
accurately the reality of people's ability to use languages. The existence of
large numbers of people who speak more than one language but who do
not exhibit native-like control in both languages, raises the question of how
proficient a person must be to be classed as bilingual. Haugen (1953:7)
suggests that oil bilingualism begins 'at the point where a speaker of one
language 0 M can produce complete, meaningful utterances in the other
language'. Diebold (1961) has even suggested that bilingualism has
commenced when a person begins to understand utterances in a second
language, but is unable to produce utterances. Bilingualism may be defined
as having some ability to use two (or even more) languages. There can,
therefore, be degrees of bilingually at one extreme there are those people
who have native-like control over two languages and at the other extreme
are those people who have just begun to acquire a second language.
Degrees of bilingualism can be assessed in the individual's command of
the four skills of listening comprehension, speaking, reading
comprehension and writing in each language. Some children in immigrant
communities, for example, have all four skills only in the official language of
their country of residence while in their parents' language they have only
the oral skills of listening comprehension and speaking. In addition, people
who are bilingual in all four skills can have different levels of skill in each
language. For example, a Vietnamese speaking child educated in English
may have a better command of written English than of written Vietnamese,
even if the child's spoken Vietnamese is better than his/her spoken English.
Groajean (1982) points out that we need to consider a holistic view of
bilingualism. The linguistic abilities of bilinguals have often been compared
to those of monolingual speakers of the languages concerned. The
bilingual, however, should not be considered as the sum total of two
complete or incomplete monolinguals. The presence of two languages and
their interaction in the bilingual produces a different but complete language
system which responds to the individual's needs to communicate using one
or other language or, in some settings, a mixture of both languages.
GRADUATE SCHOOL

Bilingualism, Definitions and Distinctions

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Bilingualism, Definitions and Distinctions

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Bilingualism, Definitions and Distinctions

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Republic of the Philippines

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Name: ESTRELLA H. PICCIO Date: FEBRUARY 21,2021

You might also like