Understanding Language Dynamics in Society
Linguistic Community
A linguistic community is a human society historically rooted in a particular territorial space, recognized or not, that self-identifies as a people and has developed a common language as a natural means of communication and cultural cohesion among its members.
Contact Languages
Contact languages refer to a situation in which there is direct and common interaction among speakers of two or more languages. Previously, language contact occurred primarily between neighboring territories with different linguistic communities. Currently, the displacement of large population groups has become commonplace. Language contact can occur on an equal footing (the normal situation a language enjoys within its territory) or in terms of overlapping language (speakers of one language understand the other, but not vice-versa).
Language Conflict
The term language conflict expresses the sociolinguistic conflict or tension between groups in which language differences become the symbol of fundamental antagonism. This arises when one language invades another, especially in a situation of inequality. All actions of language politics, whether democratic or not, cause actions and reactions among the affected groups. The evolution of such a conflict may imply linguistic replacement and assimilation into the dominant culture, or, conversely, recognition of the cultural situation of the disadvantaged group and normalization.
Linguistic Normalization
Linguistic normalization consists mainly in the formulation and implementation of linguistic rules that aim to influence all spheres of life of a society. Priority areas with the highest communicative incidence are typically considered, such as teaching, health, justice, media, and commerce.
Verb Conjugation Example (Catalan)
- Gerund: assentant (settling)
- Past Participle: assentat (settled)
- Indicative Present: assento, assentes, assenta, assentem, assenteu, assenten (I settle, you settle, he/she settles, we settle, you settle, they settle)
- Indicative Imperfect: assentava, assentaves, assentava, assentàvem, assentàveu, assentaven (I was settling, you were settling, etc.)
- Indicative Perfect: assentí, assentares, assentà, assentàrem, assentàreu, assentaren (I settled, you settled, etc.)
- Indicative Future: assentaré, assentaràs, assentarà, assentarem, assentareu, assentaran (I will settle, you will settle, etc.)
- Indicative Conditional: assentaria, assentaries, assentaria, assentaríem, assentaríeu, assentarien (I would settle, you would settle, etc.)
- Subjunctive Present: assenti, assentis, assenti, assentim, assentiu, assentint (that I settle, that you settle, etc.)
- Subjunctive Imperfect: assentés, assentessis, assentés, assentéssim, assentéssiu, assentessin (that I settled, that you settled, etc.)
- Imperative: assenta, assenti, assentim, assenteu, assentint (settle, let him/her settle, let’s settle, settle, let them settle)
Bilingualism
Bilingualism is a term that refers to the existence of two languages in an individual or a social group; it is a realization of multilingualism. We can distinguish:
- Individual bilingualism: Occurs when an individual has the ability to master both languages. Psycholinguistics is devoted to studying this phenomenon. The bilingual individual can be:
- Active: Understands and speaks both languages.
- Passive: Understands and uses one language but understands the other slowly and does not use it.
- Symmetric: Knows both languages equally well.
- Asymmetric: Knows one language better than the other.
- Instrumental: Needs to study the language.
- Integrative: Studies a second language with a desire to become a member of the community that speaks it.
- Social bilingualism: When a given social group of any kind uses both languages for different purposes or for the same purpose due to any factor.
- Territorial bilingualism: Occurs when a territory is divided into two parts, each using a different language.
Multilingualism
Multilingualism refers to an individual’s ability to use two or more languages or a community of speakers where two or more languages are used.
Official Language
The official language of a country is the language adopted as its own, preferably in negotiations between the government and the people or between this country and others. It is the language of each institution and usually corresponds to the historical language of the area.
Own Language
Own language is a legal term in Spanish legislation referring to languages that have been declared official in autonomous regions of Spain, alongside Spanish. The same term is also used in Catalan’s Law of Arrangement of the Use of the Language of the Principality of Andorra in relation to Catalan, the only official language of the state of Andorra.
Diglossia
In linguistics, diglossia is a situation that occurs when, in a given society, there are two closely related languages: one of high prestige, generally used by the government and in formal texts, and one of low prestige, usually the spoken vernacular. The high-prestige language tends to be more formalized, and its forms and vocabulary often interfere with the vernacular.
Language Shift
Language shift is a sociolinguistic term that refers to a process at the end of which a linguistic community becomes part of another linguistic community by abandoning their language. The abandonment of the language is due to geographical isolation, the progressive decline in land, the reduction in the use of the language in its demographic area, the reduction in population growth, and the reduction in its fields of use. By continuing the dynamics of replacement, a complete language may disappear. This may be the target of a determined language policy through planning.
Verb Conjugation Example (Catalan)
- Subjunctive Perfect: hagi, hagis, hagi, hàgim, hàgiu, hagin (have)
- Subjunctive Pluperfect: hagués, haguessis, hagués, haguéssim, haguéssiu, haguessin (would have + participle)