Bilingualism, Diglossia, and Sociolinguistics in Asturias

Languages in Contact: Bilingualism and Diglossia

The Sociolinguistic Situation of Asturias

Currently, there are approximately five thousand languages in the world, grouped into language families based on historical relationships. Most European languages are derived from a now-extinct language, Indo-European.

Political and linguistic boundaries do not always align. Sometimes, a single state has several languages, as in Spain. Conversely, different states may use the same language, such as Great Britain and America, or Spain and South American countries. Language contact situations are very common, where people develop the ability to communicate in two or more languages (bilingualism) for various reasons.

The nature of language coexistence, the communicative situations or roles of each language, and their social, political, and cultural value are complex. The concepts of bilingualism and diglossia help explain these language contact situations.

Bilingualism

Bilingualism can be considered from two perspectives:

• Individual: A bilingual person has similar communicative competence in two languages and can use them effectively in any situation.
• Social: A bilingual society is one where large groups of speakers use both languages, even if not all members are fully bilingual. Examples include Canada (French and English) and Belgium (French and Flemish).

When two official languages have equal cultural, social, and political value, it is called horizontal bilingualism. However, language coexistence is not always easy and can present various situations related to the number of speakers, roles, prestige, and power.

Diglossia

The concept of diglossia refers to an inequality or imbalance between two languages. A typical situation involves a strong language, which is the official language used in the juridical-administrative system, education, culture, and media, and is regarded as prestigious by the community. The other language is considered weak.