Functional Bilingualism |
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Functional bilingualism is one's ability to use and produce both languages accross 'an encyclopedia of everyday events' (Baker, C. (1993) Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Clevedon, Phil.: Multilingual Matters. p.13). Functional bilingualism implies that languages of an individual are only his/her tools, which are used to fulfill a certain linguistic need or a need for interaction with an environment. The term 'functional' is bound to competent use of one language to another if necessary. As situations for language use are not ideal usually, so are not ideal the degrees of functional bilingualism. This may vary in different situations according to individual's uses. As a term, functional bilingualism cannot be substituted with a concept of a 'language background', as functional bilingualism is a narrower concept which concerns only a user and his/her individual reception and production of language. It is a linguistic concept, which concerns when, where and with whom bilinguals use their two languages. Baker (1993, p.13) states five actions, which need attention when studying functional bilingualism: a) who is a subject and who is a speaker b) who is a language target and who is a listener c) what is the situation d) what is the topic of conversation (cotext) e) for what purpose and to what effect language is used. A successful use of more than one language always includes the speaker's judgment of situation, a target and communication intention. When the speaker makes wrong judgment concerning the language use, his/her use of language may sound rude or a speaker may embarrass himself/herself etc. Functional bilingualism therefore wholly depends on situation (when), location (where), target (to whom) and topic (what) and requires speaker's own judgment and choice of an appropriate language. |
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