Sample of Construct Bilingualism

1. Bilingualism
According to Harley, (1995) cited by Maki Nomura, (2003)
the term bilingualism refers to “the use of two languages
by an individual or a speech community”. He also points
out that “it is not necessary for them to be equally fluent,
but at least they should be very competent in the foreign
language”. This is to say, being bilingual means being able
to interact with people in more than one language. This
interaction implies the capability to produce and
understand a word, a sentence or a discourse in any of the
languages shared by the participants. According to
Weinreich, (1953) there are three types of bilingualism.
Each type depends on the way in which the languages are
learned. These types are compound, coordinate and
subordinate bilingualism.

2. Construct analysis (not strong enough)
• Author 1 (chronologically ordered): 1st
definition.
– Expansion of the term. (same author)
• Contrastive sentence or writers understanding
• Author 2 (Variation of the term)

3. According to Harley, (1995) cited by Maki Nomura,
(2003) the term bilingualism refers to “the use of
two languages by an individual or a speech
community”. He also points out that “it is not
necessary for them to be equally fluent, but at least
they should be very competent in the foreign
language”. This is to say, being bilingual means
being able to interact with people in more than one
language. This interaction implies the capability to
produce and understand a word, a sentence or a
discourse in any of the languages shared by the
participants. According to Weinreich, (1953) there
are three types of bilingualism. Each type depends
on the way in which the languages are learned.
These types are compound, coordinate and
subordinate bilingualism.

4. Bilingualism
There is not a generally accepted definition of bilingualism;
instead there are several definitions that describe this
phenomenon. Mackey (1968, cited by Romaine, 1995, p. 555)
considers bilingualism as simply the alternate use of two or
more languages. Likewise, Weinreich (1953, cited by Baetens,
1986, p. 5) states that “the practice of alternatively using two
languages is called bilingualism and the person involved,
bilingual. Whereas Haugen (1953, cited by Romaine, 1995, p. 56)
maintains that bilingualism begins when the speaker of one
language can produce complete meaningful utterances in the
other language. Conversely, bilingualism is defined by Spolsky
(1998) as the ability or knowledge developed by people in a
language different from their mother tongue. These abilities can
diverge from limited skills of language used in specific contexts
to a strong mastery of both languages

5. Construct analysis (stronger but not
enough)
• Introductive sentence (denotes writers
understanding and revised literature)
• Author 1 (chronologically ordered): 1st
definition.
• Author 2 (consolidate author´s 1 definition)
• Author 3 (expand the definition)
• Author 4 (deepen the element writers want to
highlight

6. Bilingüismo es un término que ha sido discutido por varios años en el campo de las lenguas
por sus múltiples definiciones. Lo primero que se debe caracterizar es el bilingüismo de una
persona, es decir como un individuo, o el bilingüismo que caracteriza un grupo social, región
o país. Establecer una definición única de bilingüismo sería limitante y arbitrario ya que
podría excluir otras distinciones que son propias del concepto. Históricamente, primero se
enmarca primera definición de Bloomfield (1933, pp 55-56) quien define bilingüismo desde
la perspectiva del "control casi nativo de dos lenguas". Según Baker (2006, p6), esta
definición es maximalista y resulta ser limitada en el sentido que no se distingue que
significa "control" o cuál sería la referencia para determinar "nativo". Por otro lado está a
definición de Diebold (1964) quien habla de una definición donde la persona tiene un
bilingüismo incipiente ya que cuenta con habilidades básicas en la segunda lengua, es decir
que el individuo conoce ciertas frases o saludos. Estas dos definiciones dan un margen muy
amplio o restringido de lo que un "bilingüe" por excluir o incluir muchos posibles perfiles
que se podrían considerar o no bilingües.
Otra definición que ha sido cuestionada, es la que Thiery (1978) postula en el sentido de
considerar a un "verdadero bilingüe" como alguien que es reconocido por los miembros de
las dos comunidades con el mismo nivel social y cultural (p.146). Grosjean (1982, p232)
cuestionó la definición en el sentido que los "verdaderos bilingües" que Thiery estudió
habían aprendido la lengua antes de los catorce años de edad, hablaban las lenguas en casa,
se habían cambiado de una comunidad de lengua a otra y habían sido enseñados en las dos
lenguas.

7. BILINGUALISM
Definitions Key word
Bloomfield (1933, p55-56)
Baker (2006, p6)
Diebold (1964)
Thiery (1978, p146)
Grosjean (1982, p232)
Control - Native
Incipient bilingualism
True bilingual