diglossia
/ˌdaɪˈɡlɑsi.ə/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.44 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The coexistence in a given population of two closely related native languages or dialects, one of which is regarded as more prestigious than the other; the similar coexistence of two unrelated languages.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "To begin with, of the two varieties involved in diglossia, the one serving (H)igh societal functions, unlike that reserved for (L)ow ones, is nobody's mother tongue: it is learned in later life largely by formal education, and is not used for ordinary conversation. Secondly, the diglossic contrast concerns widely divergent varieties, as opposed to stylistic contrasts which tend to be small-scale. Moreover, diglossia occurs within a single language, while bilingualism or multilingualism, involve far more divergent linguistic systems."
- "2000, Joshua A. Fishman, Chapter 3: Bilingualism with and without diglossia; diglossia with and without bilingualism, Li Wei (editor), The Bilingualism Reader, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), page 81, It is the purpose of this chapter to relate these two research traditions to each other by tracing the interaction between their two major constructs: bilingualism (on the part of psychologists) and diglossia (on the part of sociologists)."
- "Only very small and isolated communities display neither diglossia nor bilingualism."
- "The puzzle of the Cypria concerns specific speech traditions: Atra-ḫasīs is written in Akkadian, a Semitic language, and emerged from an intellectual culture where diglossia with Sumerian was typical."
Etymology
From Latin diglōssia. In linguistics introduced 1959 by Charles A. Ferguson, based on French diglossie, from Ancient Greek δίγλωσσος (díglōssos, “bilingual”) + -ία (-ía). Equivalent to di- + -glossia.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: diglōssia, diglossie, δίγλωσσος
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌdaɪˈɡlɑsi.ə/
- British English: /ˌdaɪˈɡlɒsi.ə/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Linguistics.
Inflected Forms
diglossy (alternative)