Language Culture And Communication 7th Edition by Bonvillain – Test Bank

Chapter 11—Multilingual Nations
Chapter Objectives
After reading this chapter students should be able to:
1. Recognize the pervasiveness of multilingualism throughout the world.
2. Identify how many languages are spoken in the United States.
3. Describe the role of English in some areas of India.
4. Discuss the role of Hindi in India and explain how standardization has affected some languages in India.
5. Outline the history of official bilingualism in Canada.
6. Describe the ways that Canadian speakers choose to use French or English based on the social situation.
7. Describe the findings of studies designed to gauge attitudes toward English and French in Canada.
8. Describe the history of bilingualism and attitudes about bilingualism in the US.
9. Explain why it is important to promote the use of Native American languages.
10. Explain the differences between a pidgin and a creole.

Chapter Overview
This chapter on multilingualism begins by informing students of the commonness of multilingualism in nations around the world. Then, the author gives an overview of the multilingual situations of India and Canada. The section on India first outlines the enormous linguistic diversity in the country in terms of languages and writing systems, then goes on to discuss standardization and language change, and ends with a description of the situation for speakers of minority languages. The section focused on multilingualism in Canada starts with a description of the history of official bilingualism in the country, followed by a description of the situational use of English and French that takes place for many Canadians. This sections ends with an introduction to speech accommodation theory and a description of studies aimed to determine language Canadian attitudes about English and French.
The second half of the chapter is devoted to multilingualism in the United States. The linguistic diversity in the United States is reviewed first. Then, the author goes on to describe the bilingualism within the New York City Puerto Rican community, followed by a discussion of bilingual education in the US as well as laws that affect bilingualism such as the Court Interpreter’s Act, the Language in Government Act, California’s Proposition 227, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The author also discusses the US government’s approach to bilingualism and Native American languages over time before bringing the chapter to a close by describing the features of Gullah, Louisiana Creole, and Hawaiian Creole English.

Technical Terms: anglophone, creole, francophone, Gullah, Hawaiian Creole, Hispanized English, Louisiana Creole, matched-guise technique, pidgin, Popular Puerto Rican Spanish, Puerto Rican English, situational use, speech accommodation theory, Standard Puerto Rican Spanish, standardization, transitional model of bilingual education, “two-way” bilingualism

Chapter Outline
I. India
• Linguistic Diversity
• Standardization
• Linguistic Minorities
II. Canada
• Language in Canada
• Situational Use
• Attitudes Toward Languages and Speakers
III. The United States
• Language in the United States
• Puerto Rican Speakers in New York City
• Bilingual Education
• Recent Trends in Law
• Native American Languages
• Creole Languages in the United States
o Gullah
o Louisiana Creole
o Hawaiian Creole

Discussion Questions
1. This chapter describes how French-English bilinguals in Canada tend to use the same language with an interlocutor when they have positive feelings for that person but tend to use a different language when they have negative feelings for their interlocutor. Have you ever noticed yourself or other people switching between languages or dialects in this way? If so, what prompts the switch?
2. Do you support or oppose bilingual education? Why? If you support it, for which languages should bilingual education be available? What model of bilingual education do you think is most desirable and why?
3. How do you feel about the legislation that has been proposed and/or passed that affects multilingualism (such as the Court Interpreter’s Act, the Language in Government Act, and the Native American Languages Act)? Why do you think these pieces of legislation are good or bad?

Research Questions
1. Creoles all over the world bear striking structural resemblances to each other, regardless of what languages contributed to the creole. Research one of the theories that explain these similarities (such as those posited by Derek Bickerton or Jean Aitchison) and write a research paper that explores the theory.
2. Research a creole not discussed in the textbook. Write a research paper that describes the history and structural features of that creole.
3. Research the bilingual education system of another country not described in the textbook. Write a research paper that describes the nature of the system and any studies reporting on the effectiveness of the system.
4. Research three cases of linguistic discrimination that appeared in US courts (Lippi-Green (2011) is a good place to start this research). Write a paper in which you describe the court cases and connect those cases with national language ideologies.
5. Research the multilingualism of a nation not covered in detail in the textbook. Identify the languages spoken there and discuss the political issues surrounding language attitudes or policy in that nation.
6. Observe the languages being used in your community and take notes on the setting and situation in which you hear each language as well as some information about the speakers. Write a paper in which you give an overview of the multilingualism in your community.

Other Readings:
Bilingualism and Multilingualism
Bialystok, Ellen. 2001. Bilingualism in Development: Language, Literacy, and Cognition. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Blackledge, Adrian and Angela Creese. 2010. Multilingualism: A Critical Perspective. London: Continuum.
Pavlenko, Aneta (Ed.). 2008. Multilingualism in Post-Soviet Countries. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Romaine, Suzanne. 1989. Bilingualism. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

Language Choice
Auer, Peter, Frans Hinskins and Paul Kerswill (Eds.). Dialect Change: Convergence and Divergence in European Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fishman, Joshua. Who speaks what language to whom and when? La Linguistique 1, no. 2, pp. 67-88.
Giles, Howard, Justine Coupland and Nikolas Coupland (Eds.). 1991. Contexts of Accommodation: Developments in Applied Sociolinguistics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Heller, Monica. 1985. Ethnic relations and language use in Montreal. In Language of Inequality, ed. N. Wolfson and J. Manes. The Hague: Mouton, pp. 75-90.
Miller, Katherine. 2005. Communication Theories: Perspectives, Processes, and Contexts, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw Hill.
Language Policy and Education
Crawford, James. 1995. Bilingual Education: History, Politics, Theory, and Practice. Los Angeles: Bilingual Education Services.
García, Ofelia and Colin Baker (Eds.). 2007. Bilingual Education: An Introductory Reader. Tonawanda, NY: Multilingual Matters.
Hornberger, Nancy (Ed.). 2003. An Ecological Framework for Educational Policy, Research, and Practice in Multilingual Settings. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Pavlenko, Aneta (Ed.). 2008. Multilingualism in Post-Soviet Countries. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Ricento, Thomas (Ed.). 2005. An Introduction to Language Policy: Theory and Method. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Wright, Sue. 2004. Language Policy and Language Planning. Hampshire, England: Palgrave Macmillan.