Of the Rote Ofsecond Languages in Asia,Africa
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DO CUMRSV finSUMII AL 002 054 ED 031 706. By-Rice, Frank A., Ed. Study of the Rote ofSecond Languages in Asia,Africa. and Latin America. Center for Applied Linguistics,Washington. D.C. Pub Date 62 Note -130p. Applied Linguistics, 1717Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Available from-PublicationsSection. Center for WashiNton, D.C. 20036($2.50). EDRS. EDRS Price MF -$0.75 HCNot Available from ogy, Planning,*Language Standardization,Language T Descripfors-*Bilingualism,Creoles, Language Sociocultural Patterns, Sttndard er) *Multilin4;ualism, *Second LanguageLearning, *Second Languages. Usage, Surveys of the The purpose of this survey wasto investigatethe nature and extent factor in nationaldevelopment in countries problem of secondlanguage learning as a the findings of the of Asia. Africa, andLatin America.This document is based on information not covered inthe survey. and represents survey butincludes some of the problems dealtwith essentially the reactionof half a dozenspecialists to some (1) "Background toSecond LanguageProblems: in the survey.Essays included are: (3) (2) "The LanguageFactor in NationalDevelopment." Ferguson; Charles A. Ferguson; Multilingualism," William A.Stewart; (4) "An Outline of LinguisticTypology for Describing Bilingualism," A. RichardDiebold, Jr.; (5) "CreoleLanguages in "Mexican and Guatemalan William Stewart; (6) "LinguaFrancas, With SpecialReference to Africa." he Caribbean." East Africa," Ruth E.Sutherlin; (8) "Language J. Samarin; (7)"Language Situation in (9) "Language Problems in the RuralDevelopment of NorthIndia." John J. Cumperz; "Sociocultural Change andCommunication Standardization," PunyaSloka Ray; and (10) Problems." Janet Roberts.(DO) Edited by Frank A. Rice EDUCATION & WELFARE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, OFFICE OF EDUCATION FROM TR THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEENREPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS PERSON OR ORGANIZATIONORIGINATING IT. REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OFEDUCATION STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY POSITION OR POLICY. Study of the Role of Second Languages in Asia, Africa, and Latin America Al Center for Applied Linguistics of the Modern Language Association of America Si k) Washington DC 1962 Edited by Frank A. Rice i Stuyof the Role of Second Languages in Asia, Africa, and Latin America Center for Applied Linguistics of the Modern Language Association ofAmerica Washington DC 1962 00205 Acknowledgment This report was preparedpursuant to a contractwith the International CooperationAdministration of the United States for itsOffice of EducationalServices. r CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY NOTE BACKGROUND TO SECOND LANGUAGE PROBLEMS 1 by Charles A. Ferguson THE LANGUAGE FACTOR IN NATIONALDEVELOPMENT 8 by Charles A. Ferguson AN OUTLINE OF LINGUISTIC TYPOLOGYFOR 15 DESCRIBING MULTILINGUALISM by William A. Stewart MEXICAN AND GUATEMALAN BILINGUALISM 26 by A. Richard Diebold, jr. CREOLE LANGUAGES IN THE CARIBBEAN 34 by William A. Stewart LINGUA FRANCAS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE 54 TO AFRICA by William J. Samarin LANGUAGE SITUATION IN EAST AFRICA 65 by Ruth E. Sutherlin LANGUAGE PROBLEMS IN THE RURAL DEVELOPMENT79 OF NORTH INDIA by John J. Gumperz LANGUAGE STANDARDIZATION 91 by Punya Sloka Ray SOCIOCULTURAL CHANGE AND COMMUNICATION 105 PROBLEMS by Janet Roberts INTRODUCTORY NOTE This study is one of a seriesof documents resulting fromthe Survey of Second Language Teachingconducted by the Center for Applied Linguistics of theModern Language Association of America during the periodDecember, 1959 - March,1961 under the provisions of a specialgrant from the FordFounda- tion for this purpose. Theaim of the survey was toinvesti- gate the nature and extentof the problem of secondlanguage learning as a factor in nationaldevelopment in countries of Asia, Africa, and LatinAmerica.It was carried out with the advice of an informallyconstituted international groupof specialists in the field and inactive collaboration withthe British Council, the FrenchBureau d'Etude et de Liaison pour L'Enseignement du Francais dansle Monde, the Common- wealth Office of Education inAustralia, the English Language Education Council, Incorporated,of Japan, and other institu- tions and individuals inthe United States andelsewhere. One aspect of the survey wasthe collecting of descriptive data about specific countriesand regions.It brought together an extensve bodyof information about thepresent position of second oradditional languages, especiallyEng- lish and French, as well asabout the present extentand status of training insuch languages, methodsof training, available and potential resources,and current efforts to strengthen those resources.Over sixty country andregional reports were prepared, paperswere draftedassessing the activities of resource countriessuch as Great Britain,France, the United States ofAmerica, Canada, andAustralia, and a considerable amount ofadditional information was accumu- lated in the files. Anotheraspect of the survey was con- cerned with bringingtogether the professionalevaluations, oy',:ions, and recommendationsof individuals and organiza- tions currently involvedin the problem ofsecond language teaching. The present document isbased in the first instance onthe findings of the survey butincludes some information not covered in the survey andrepresents essentiallythe reaction of half a dozen specialiststo some of theproblems dealt with in the survey. TheU.S. Agency for InternationalDevel- opment sponsored thepreparation of the documentbecause of its concern with someof the basic problemsinvolved in its programs of assistancein the teaching ofEnglish as a foreign language in a numberof countries. vi Introductory Note The opinions presented here havenot been submitted to the original international advisorygroup of the survey, and therefore the authors themselvestake full responsibility for the material given in their respectivechapters. The Center for Applied Linguistics maintains thatall this material, as the considered opinion ofspecialis:s, is relevant to fuller understanding of the role of secondlanguages and is worth publication so that it may be availableto those interested in it.The Center, in the person of FrankA. Rice, has assumed editorial responsibility for the wholestudy. Charles A. Ferguson Director Center for Applied Linguistics April 1962 Study of the Roleof Second Languages BACKGROUND TO SECONDLANGUAGE PROBLEMS by Charles A.Ferguson problems involved in thelarge-scale teach- To understand the such as English and ing of languagesof wider comm ,nication French in the developingcountries it is necessaryto become familiar with the verydifferent kinds oflanguage situations which exist in thesecountries.I n a previous studyof the Series 1 1961) anoutline was given of Center (Information Africa and Latin the major languagecharacteristics of Asia, America. The presentstudy will take up someof the points enlarge upon them,attempting to provide a made there and background and somew'iat moresophisticated theoretical much more detailedinformation on certainsample areas. Perhaps the mostobvious point todeal with in describingthe of a country is itslinguistic diversity,i.e. language situaLien incidence of the number r)fdifferent languagesspoken and the the inhabitants.Strangely enough, multilingualism among Joseph apart from onearticle by theanthropological linguist there has been no attempt on Greenberg (Greenberg1956), the part of socialscientists to devise anumerical index of linguistic dive...sitywhich could be usedto give a simple characterization of a locality orcountry, or larger areawhich for comparative purposes.Certainly could readily be used field the planner oradministrator in thelanguage education would welcome an indexof this sort whichwould measure the level of linguisticdiversity in one region ascompared with that of another. Greenberg in his articlesuggested severalpossible indices of this kind andcalculated two of themfor parts of Mexico His simplest index,method A, the and a few other areas. probability "monolingual nonweightedmethod", measures the the populationchosen at random would that two members of from 0 to 1, not speak the samelanguage. The scale runs A=1-Zi(i2) where i is the propor- calculated by the formula If tion of speakers ofeach language to thetotal population. in a population, to usehis example,1/8 speak language M, 3/8 speak N, and1/2 speak 0 then theindex figure of 2 Charles A. Ferguson linguistic diversity (method A)is .5938. Using this index, a country like Costa Rica wherealmost 100% of the population speak one language (Spanish),the figure would bevery close to zero, while for anarea like the Plateau Province ofNorthern Nigeria, an area noted forits linguistic diversity, thefigure is .9539, very close to 1. This index A does not takeinto consideration the degreeof similarity among the languagesin question or the possibility of multilingualismon the part of the inhabitants, andGreen- berg suggested several othermeans of calculating indices (B C D E F G) whichtake these questions intoaccount. Perhaps his most interestingindex, method H, the "indexof communication", measures theprobability that two members of the population chosenat random would have at leastone language in common. Although Greenberg's indicesare promising, they can be of very little immediate help to theplanner or administrator, First because accurateinformation on which to calculatethem is not available for mostcountries and second becausethey do not take into account thevery different importance andrange of use of the various languagesspoken in a givencountry. Let us hope, however, thatin