In a few sentences describe how one or more aspects of the politics of language use described by Shin are relevant for understanding the Georgetown students’ experience of diglossia.
Temple University Politics of Bilingualism Discussion
School
Temple University
Question Description
Read Shin, Ch. 3
In a document to be uploaded to Canvas, briefly define the following terms in about 40-60 of your own words for each one, depicting how the author uses them to explain the politics of bilingualism.
language vs. dialect
diglossia
language shift
language maintenance
killer languages
language minorities (two types)
cultural assimilation
de facto vs. de jure bilingualism
elite bilinguals
natural bilinguals
Then watch this 13-minute video about diglossia at Georgetown University, an elite private institution where a number of students of low economic means receive scholarships.https://youtu.be/4HIe4qwObUk (Links to an external site.)Note that they use the term “code switching” in the video to talk about how people shift between different dialects according to the context of interaction. That’s actually called “style shifting” in linguistics; “code-switching” in linguistics is when you switch between languages or dialects in the very same conversation.
In a few sentences describe how one or more aspects of the politics of language use described by Shin are relevant for understanding the Georgetown students’ experience of diglossia. Then conclude with a few sentences describing what stood out to you most from both the reading and the video.
At the end of your assignment, list at 3-5 countries with bilingual or multilingual communities that you would be interested in exploring for your end-of-term, group project.