Diglossia

Diglossia can be described as two varieties within a language that are so distinct they can almost be called two different languages. These two varieties are often a standard form of the language which people use for television news broadcasts, in writing, and in any other formal setting, and sometimes also called the HIGH form. The other variety, is the form of the language people speak at home, and is also sometimes called the LOW form. It is possible that these two forms started, originally, as registers, but became so different that the split created the more dramatically different varieties. Arabic is a great example of this.

DRAW ON BOARD: ____Standard Arabic (Fusah)_____

Moroccan/Syrian/Egyptian/Saudi Arabian

First there is a Standard Arabic that is taught in schools and used in newspapers and on television.

Then there are the local dialects of vernacular Arabic, such as Syrian, Egyptian, Jordanian, Moroccan, that people speak at home and which can be so different from Standard Arabic and each other that the dialects are not mutually understandable. But, because all the people who speak different dialects of Arabic study Standard Arabic, they can use that form of the language to communicate. That is why all Arabic newspapers and television are in Standard Arabic, so everyone within the Arabic speaking world can read the same papers and watch the same TV programs. NO ONE, however, SPEAKS STANDARD ARABIC on the street, unless of course they are from two different dialects and need to use standard Arabic to communicate.

In my opinion this sort of thing might eventually happen to English. Everyone is now teaching what is called “Standard English”, but all English speakers from the U.S. to Australia still have their vernacular English they speak with their friends and family. Now, when two people from say, Australia and the U.S. meet, they can’t use all of their vernacular dialect so they switch to Standard English. Its not a dramatic switch yet, but it is a switch none the less.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, as we have said:

• Differentiating one language from another and a dialect from a language can be very difficult but we have some guidelines to follow to make this process easier.

• Furthermore every speaker of a language speaks a dialect of that language.

• Also, the decided on standard for a language is still a dialect, but one that has been chosen to represent that language.

• Moreover, there are different types of dialects including regional dialects, social dialects, and individual dialects.

• We have also talked about accents. Accents are NOT dialects. They are only different ways people pronounce words and may be regional or social.

• Finally, Other variations in dialects and language include register and diglossia.