Code (Diglossia, Bilingual, Multilingual, Code-switching & Mixing)

A. DIGLOSSIA

Diglossia ( /daɪˈɡlɒsiə/; two languages) refers to a situation in which two dialects or languages are used by a single language community. In addition to the community's every day or vernacular language variety (labelled "L" or "low" variety), a second, highly codified variety (labelled "H" or "high") is used in certain situations such as literature, formal education, or other specific settings, but not used for ordinary conversation.

B. BILINGUAL AND MULTILINGUAL

The simple definition of Bilingual is who are able to speak and understand two languages while multilingual is people who speak more than one language - sometimes use elements of multiple languages in conversing with each other.

Bilingualism generally refers to the existence of more than one language in an individual or a community. Bilingualism in a broad meaning constitutes the most common condition on both the personal level and the society level: the real exception is rather monolingualism. More specifically, bilingualism refers to both the broader and more general concept of the knowledge and usage of two languages, and the more specific concept of linguistic inventory (better defined as social bilingualism) formed by two languages, which stands opposite to diglossia. Diglossia is therefore a particular form of bilingualism in which the two available languages are related in a hierarchical and complementary way.

Multilingualism is the use of two or more languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of globalization and cultural openness. Owing to the ease of access to information facilitated by the Internet, individuals' exposure to multiple languages is becoming increasingly frequent, thereby promoting a need to acquire additional languages. People who speak several languages are also called polyglots. As far as learning a language, multilingual speakers have acquired and maintained at least one language during childhood, the so-called first language (L1). The first language (sometimes also referred to as the mother tongue) is acquired without formal education, by mechanisms heavily disputed. Children acquiring two languages in this way are called simultaneous bilinguals. Even in the case of simultaneous bilinguals, one language usually dominates over the other. People who know more than one language have been reported to be more adept at language learning compared to monolinguals. Additionally, bilinguals often have important economic benefits over monolingual individuals as bilingual people are able to carry out duties that monolinguals cannot, such as interacting with customers who only speak a minority language.

Multilingualism in computing can be considered part of a continuum between internationalization and localisation. Due to the status of English in computing, software development nearly always uses it (but see also Non-English-based programming languages), so almost all commercial software is initially available in an English version, and multilingual versions, if any, may be produced as alternative options based on the English original.

C. CODE-SWITCHING AND MIXING

Code-switching is the concurrent use of more than one language, or language variety, in conversation. Code-switching is the use of more than one linguistic variety in a manner consistent with the syntax and phonology of each variety. In linguistics, code-switching occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation. Multilinguals, speakers of more than one language, sometimes use elements of multiple languages when conversing with each other. Thus, code-switching is the use of more than one linguistic variety in a manner consistent with the syntax and phonology of each variety.

Code mixing is a thematically related term, but the usage of the terms code-switching and code-mixing varies. Some scholars use either term to denote the same practice, while others apply code-mixing to denote the formal linguistic properties of said language-contact phenomena, and code-switching to denote the actual, spoken usages by multilingual persons.