Digraphia
In sociolinguistics, digraphia refers to the use of more than one writing system for the same language.[1] Synchronic digraphia is the coexistence of two or more writing systems for the same language, while diachronic digraphia (or sequential digraphia) is the replacement of one writing system by another for a particular language.[2]
Hindustani, with an Urdu literary standard written in Urdu alphabet and a Hindi standard written in Devanagari, is one of the 'textbook examples'[3] of synchronic digraphia, cases where writing systems are used contemporaneously. An example of diachronic digraphia, where one writing system replaces another, occurs in the case of Turkish, for which the traditional Arabic writing system was replaced with a Latin-based system in 1928.[4][5]
Digraphia has implications in language planning, language policy, and language ideology.
Terminology
Etymology
English digraphia, like French digraphie, etymologically derives from Greek di- δι- "twice" and -graphia -γραφία "writing".
Digraphia was modeled upon diglossia "the coexistence of two languages or dialects among a certain population", which derives from Greek diglossos δίγλωσσος "bilingual." Charles A. Ferguson, a founder of sociolinguistics, coined diglossia in 1959.[6] Grivelet analyzes how the influence of diglossia on the unrelated notion of digraphia has "introduced some distortion in the process of defining digraphia," such as distinguishing "high" and "low" varieties.[7] Peter Unseth notes one usage of "digraphia" that most closely parallels Ferguson's "diglossia," situations where a language uses different scripts for different domains; for instance, "shorthand in English, pinyin in Chinese for alphabetizing library files, etc. or several scripts which are replaced by Latin script during e-mail usage."[8]
History
The
English digraphic and digraphia were contemporaneous with their corresponding terms in French linguistics. In 1877,
Although the word "digraphia" is new, the practice is ancient.
Neologizers
Four authors independently neologized English digraphia from diglossia.
The
Zima differentiated these paired situations.- Digraphia: "Two types of written form of one language co-exist, based upon the usage of two distinct graphical systems (scripts) by the respective language community."
- Diorthographia: "Two types of written form of a particular language co-exist, using the same script, but they are based upon the usage of two distinct orthographies by the same language community."[17]
Usage of "diorthographia" is unusual. Compare
The anthropologist James R. Jaquith (1976), who studied unconventional spelling in advertising, used "digraphia" to describe the practice of writing brand names in all caps (e.g., ARRID). He described digraphia as "the graphic analog of what linguists call diglossia", and defined it as "different versions of a written language exist simultaneously and in complementary distribution in a speech community."[18]
The
The
Hegyi coined and suggested the terms "bigraphism" and "multigraphism",[22] but he only used them twice (p. 265; fn. 17, p. 268) and did not promote the use of either of these terms, nor follow up on his insights into the importance of studying "the use of two or more different writing systems for the same language... such cases have been more widespread than commonly assumed."
Usage
Digraphia is an uncommon term in current English usage. For instance, the Corpus of Contemporary American English, which includes over 425,000,000 words, lists digraphia three times in "academic genre" contexts.
Stéphane Grivelet, who edited a special "Digraphia: Writing systems and society" issue of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language, explains.[23]
After 25 years and various articles on the subject, there are still important differences in the scope of the definition, and the notion itself is rarely used in sociolinguistics, apart from the field of Chinese studies, where the notion of digraphia is nowadays frequently used to describe the coexistence of two writing systems: Chinese script and Pinyin.[24]
Digraphia has some rare synonyms. Orthographic diglossia antedates digraphia, and was noted by Paul Wexler in 1971."[25] Bigraphism, bialphabetism, and biscriptality are infrequently used.
Some scholars avoid using the word "digraphia". Describing terminology for "script obsolescence," Stephen D. Houston, John Baines, and Jerrold Cooper say, "'Biscript' refers to a text in two different writing systems. 'Biliteracy' and 'triliteracy' label the concurrent use of two or three scripts."[26]
Theoretical aspects
Digraphia can be either "synchronic" (or "concurrent") or "diachronic" ("historical" or "sequential"),
Two primary factors have been identified as operating on a society in the choice of script for representing its language. These are the prevailing cultural influence (often a religion) and the prevailing political influence of the period in which the choice is made. Synchronic digraphia results when more than one such influence is operating and none can dominate all groups of speakers of the language in question [ … ] Diachronic digraphia results when different influences prevail over a given speech community at different times.[29]
Some recent scholarship questions the practicality of this synchronic/diachronic distinction. Grivelet contends that, "digraphia is a single sociolinguistic process with two types of outcome (concurrent or sequential digraphia) and with specific features related to the causes and types of development of the various cases.[30]
Peter Unseth lists and exemplifies four factors that can influence a language community's choice of a script.[31]
- "To identify themselves with a group." In the 1940s, Mongolia replaced the traditional Mongolian script first briefly with the Mongolian Latin alphabet and then, under Soviet influence, with the Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet. From the 1980s, the Mongolian script was reintroduced into schools for its historical and cultural importance.
- "To distance themselves from a group." In the mid-19th century, the LDS Church developed and promoted the Deseret alphabet for English. Brigham Young publicly claimed it was more phonetically accurate than Latin script and would facilitate learning to read and write English. However, historian David Bigler says the Deseret alphabet "demonstrated cultural exclusivism, an important consideration. It also kept secrets from curious non-Mormons, [and] controlled what children would be allowed to read."[32]
- Participation in developments on a broader scale. The choice of a script can influence a group's preparedness to interact with other regional or international groups. For instance, the Hmong language has numerous alternate writing systems. Hmong who live in Southeast Asia prefer the indigenous Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA) or the Pahawh Hmong semi-syllabary; Hmong expatriates who live in the United States prefer to romanize names differently, such as Latin Hmong instead of RPA Hmoob.
- "Linguistic considerations." Sometimes a foreign script is rejected because it is unsuitable for the phonetics of a language. Chosŏn'gŭl alphabet, which is better suited for transcribing Korean phonology. In the present day, North Korea uses only Chosŏn'gŭl, while South Korea uses both Hanja logographs and Chosŏn'gŭl letters. In order to differentiate from North Korea, South Koreacalls Chosŏn'gŭl as Hangul.
Linguists who study
Not only scripts, but also letters can have iconic power to differentiate social groups. For example, the names of many
Synchronic digraphia
Synchronic digraphia is the coexistence of two or more writing systems for the same language. A modern example is the Serbo-Croatian language,[35] which is written in either the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet or Gaj's Latin alphabet. Although most speakers can read and write both scripts, Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosniaks generally use Latin, while Orthodox Serbs and Montenegrins commonly use both. However, older indigenous scripts were used much earlier, most notably Bosnian Cyrillic.[36] Inuktitut is also officially digraphic, using both Latin and Inuktitut syllabics. In Hindustani, the Devanagari or Urdu script generally follows the Hindi and Urdu standards and the speaker's religious affiliation, though Urdu is sometimes written in Devanagari in India. Digraphia is limited, however, in that most people know only one script. Similarly, depending on which side of the Punjab border a Punjabi language speaker lives in, India or Pakistan, and religious affiliation, they will use the Gurmukhi or Shahmukhi script respectively. The former shares similarities with Devanagari and the latter is essentially a derivative of the Urdu writing script (Perso-Arabic).
The
Another example is the
An element of synchronic digraphia is present in many languages not using the Latin script, in particular in text messages and when typing on a computer which does not have the facility to represent the usual script for that language. In such cases, Latin script is often used, although systems of transcription are often not standardised.
Digraphia is controversial in modern
Other examples of synchronic digraphia:
- Balinese was written in the Balinese script especially in palm-leaf manuscripts for religious purposes. However, similar to Javanese, it is now largely written in Latin. Attempts to popularize the script through counseling and using it public spaces are supported by the local government.[citation needed]
- Javanese was written in the Javanese script, but is now largely written in Latin. Attempts to reintroduce the Javanese script are gaining popularity. The use of Pegon is limited to pesantren, traditional Islamic boarding schools.[citation needed]
- Kashmiri is written in Sharada, Devanagari, Nastaliq, and Latin scripts.[44]
- Kazakh is written in Arabic in Xinjiang;[45] in Kazakhstan, it is written in Cyrillic (though, in an instance of diachronic digraphia, it is slated to be replaced there by Latin in 2025).[46]
- Perso-Arabic.[citation needed]
- Marathi was historically written simultaneously in Modi script and Balbodh Devanagari until the 1940s, after which Devanagari was preferred over Modi script due to a lack of printing infrastructure for the latter.[47]
- Shahmukhi used in Punjab, Pakistan.[citation needed]
- Sundanese now largely written in Latin, was written in both the Sundanese script and the Javanese script. The reintroduction of the Sundanese script has gained popularity in recent years.[citation needed]
- Perso-Arabic and there are still people who use it. The Latin script is mostly common among people, while the Tifinagh script is the official script but not widely found outside of official uses.[citation needed]
- Uzbek was written in the Cyrillic script from the 1940s until 1993, when a Latin-based alphabet was made official in Uzbekistan. While the Latin-based alphabet is widely used online, the Cyrillic alphabet is just as common on the Internet[citation needed] and is still the main script of most of the printed media, with most people able to read both much as in Serbia.[citation needed]
Diachronic digraphia
Diachronic or sequential digraphia, in which a language switches writing systems, can occur gradually through language change or more quickly though language reform. Turkish switched from Arabic script to Latin within one year, under reforms ordered by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, while the transition from writing Korean in Chinese characters to writing in Hangul took hundreds of years.[8]
There are many examples of languages that used to be written in a script, which was replaced later. Examples are
The Azerbaijani language provides an extreme example of diachronic digraphia; it has historically been written in Old Turkic, Arabic, Latin, Cyrillic, and again Latin alphabets.[8][49]
Other examples of diachronic digraphia:
- In Kazakhstan, Kazakh is written in Cyrillic, but a switch to Latin has been scheduled to take place in 2025.[46]
- Jawi, but that has now been largely replaced by Latin.[50]
- Mongolian was written previously in Mongolian script (with many short-lived alternatives including ʼPhags-pa), and eventually to Cyrillic. By 2025, the Mongolian government hopes to re-instate the Mongolian script (alongside Cyrillic).[51]
See also
References
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- ^ Pierides, Demetrios (1875). "On a digraphic inscription found in Larnaca". Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology. 4 (1): 38–43.
- ^ Oppert, Jules (1877). [Review of] François Lenormant, Études sur quelques parties des syllabaires cunéiformes, Paris 1877; idem, Les syllabaires cunéiformes, Paris 1877. Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen 1877(45–46). 1409–1449.
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- ^ Wexler, Paul (1971). "Diglossia, language standardization and purism." Lingua 27, 340. "Orthographic differences are not always a reflection of ethnocultural differences and multiple standards. Different scripts may be used by a single ethnic group for different purposes (e.g., secular versus religious literature), in which case we could speak of 'orthographic diglossia'."
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- ^ Cheung, Yat-Shing (1992). "The form and meaning of digraphia: the case of Chinese". In K. Bolton and H. Kwok. Sociolinguistics Today: International Perspectives. 210-215. Routledge.
- ^ "Kashmiri language | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-06-15.
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- ^ a b Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche, Kazakhstan rewrites its alphabet to shed its Soviet past | DW | 01.07.2019, retrieved 2022-06-15
- ^ "Modi Lipi or Modi Script: History Of Modi Lipi". 2013-10-25. Archived from the original on 2013-10-25. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
- ^ DeFrancis (1984), p. 60.
- ^ Hatcher, Lynley. 2008. Script change in Azerbaijan: acts of identity. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 192:105–116.
- ^ "From Jawi to Rumi: The Preservation of Malay Manuscripts as a Cultural Heritage". IFLA. Retrieved 2022-06-15.
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Relevant literature
- Iyengar, Arvind. 2021. A diachronic analysis of Sindhi multiscriptality. Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics 6.1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jhsl-2019-0027
External links
- New Perspectives on Digraphia, Elena Berlanda
- Biscriptality – Sociolinguistic and Cultural Scenarios Conference, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
- Writing Systems and Society, "Scripts become flags", Ozideas
- Diglossia as a Sociolinguistic Situation, Harold F. Schiffman