This document discusses multilingualism at both the individual and societal level. It defines multilingualism as the use of multiple languages by an individual or community. It describes types of multilingualism like individual multilingualism involving a person using more than two languages, and societal multilingualism involving linguistic diversity within a region. Key concepts discussed include language shift, where a dominant language is adopted, and language maintenance, where multiple languages continue to be used. The document also covers advantages and disadvantages of multilingualism, competence in various languages, language convergence, language ideologies, and linguistic landscapes.

1. LANGUAGES IN
CONTACT
BY WAJID ALI

2. MULTILINGUAL SOCIETIES AND
MULTILINGUAL DISCOURSE
-What is multilingualism?
It is the act of using multiple languages, either
by an individual speaker or by a community of
speakers.

3. TYPES OT MULTILINGUALISM
 INDIVIDUAL MULTILINGUALISM
It is the ability of a person to use more
than two languages in their daily life.
 SOCIETAL MULTILINGUALISM
The linguistic diversity that can be found
in a country, a region or a particular
community where language have
different functions and status.

4. Key Concepts
 Language shift
There is likely to be one language which
has social dominance, and in this
situation language shift may occur, that
is, speakers shift to speaking the
dominant language.
 Language Maintenance
In this scenario, speaker continues to
speak both languages.

5. Multilingualism as a societal
phenomenon
 The world is becoming a global village, everyone interact with people from
another part of the world.
 It is just a normal requirement of daily living that people speak several
languages: perhaps one or more at home, another in the village, still
another for purposes of trade, and yet another for contact with the outside
world of wider social or political organization.

6. Example of a varied multilingual
society:
 I use Khowar in my home, English in my college, Urdu for television
viewing, Shina to communicate with my Gilgiti friends, a variety of Urdu-
Punjabi in Lahore, Arabic for my prayer and religious activities.

7. Advantages and Disadvantages
of Being Multilingual
Advantages
 Privileged linguistic abilities, cognitive
competence in polygots
 Exposure to most of the worlds
knowledge
 Personal development
Disadvantages
 Code switching makes it hard for
outside observer to understand.
 It causes social distress and hinders
social interaction
 Language loss or the decrease in
incompetence of a language less used
 Possible disappearance or Death of a
language
 Multilingualism is a threat to
nationalism

8. Competence and convergence
Competence
 Linguistic competence is the system
of linguistic knowledge possessed by
native speaker of a language. It is
distinguished from linguistic
performance, which is the way a
language system is used in
communication
 competence in a code is developed
based on the need of the speaker to
use a language in a particular domain
or for a particular activity
Convergence
 Language convergence is a type of
linguistic change in which languages
come to structurally resemble one
another as a result of prolonged
language contact and mutual
interference
 This can effect the vocabulary,
pronunciation, sentence structure and
grammar of concerned language
 Balkans (Greek, Albanian, Romania,
Bulgarian)all share same certain
features of grammar

9. Language ideologies
 Language is deeply connected with cultures, beliefs and ideas of any
society
 Western societies look down on those who are multilingual
 prestige is attached to only a certain few classical languages ( Classical
Greek and Latin) or modern languages of high culture (English, French,
Italian, and German)
 Multilingualism in such societies is often associated with immigrant status
 Multilingualism becomes associated with inferiority

10. Linguistic landscapes
 The display of languages in public spaces, including signs, billboards,
advertisements, and graffiti.

11. THANK YOU
If you talk to a man in a
language he understands, that
goes to his head. If you talk to
him in his language, that goes
to his heart.
Nelson Mandela