Domain analysis According to Fishman 1971 - Assignment Example

Running Head: DOMAIN ANALYSIS ACCORDING TO FISHMAN 1971 Domain analysis According to Fishman 1971 Insert Name Institution Introduction A language is a method of human communication using spoken or written words. Thus language is an interactive aspect that is used as a means of conveying information among people in a given location. As such, language is influenced by different domains (American Community Survey, 2005). A domain of language is about normal interactions between usual participants within a given in typical settings about a typical topic. Examples of these domains are family, friendship, religion, education and employment. On the other hand, a setting or set up is the physical situation or the typical place where speech interactions occur (code choice). Examples of a set up include a home, church, mosque, school, office (Fishman, 1972). A research was carried out to assess the domains of a language in a bilingual setting. The research was composed of 3 bilingual families with a total population of 25 participants. Questionnaire Part A Social Background Please answer the following questions. 1. Age: _______ Years old 2. Gender; _______ Male, Female________ 3. Marital Status: Single____/ Married Divorced_____/ Separated Other_____ 4. Please tick any of the following that you consider yourself to be: Asian/Pacific Islander ______ (1) American Indian ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­________ (2) Hispanic/Latin@/Chicano _____ (3) Black/African American White _____ (4) Other (please specify) ______ (5) 5. If married, what is your spouse ethnic background? Asian/Pacific Islander ______ (1) American Indian ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­________ (2) Hispanic/Latin@/Chicano _____ (3) Black/African American White _____ (4) Other (please specify) ______ (5) What is your mother’s ethnic identity? Asian/Pacific Islander ______ (1) American Indian ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­________ (2) Hispanic/Latin@/Chicano _____ (3) Black/African American White _____ (4) Other (please specify) ______ (5) 6. Place of birth: _______________________________________ 7. What is the place of growth? ___________________________ 8. Please list the places where you have lived (feel free to be as specific as possible) 10. What is your highest level of education? (Choose one) Elementary ________ (1) Grade school or some high school________ (2) High school graduate________ (3) College________ (4) Bachelor’s degree________ (5) Master’s degree________ (5) Doctorate________ (7) Part B 11. What language was spoken in the home in which you grew up? Arabic only ______ (1) Mostly Arabic ______ (2) Arabic and English equally ______ (3) Mostly English ______ (4) 12. Which was the first language of your mother or primary female caretaker? Arabic _____ (1) English ____ (2) Both ____ (3) Don’t know _____ (4) other (please specify) _____ (5) 13. Which was the first language of your father or primary male caretaker? Arabic _____ (1) English ____ (2) Both ____ (3) Don’t know _____ (4) other (please specify) _____ (5) 14. Which language did you first learn? Arabic _____ (1) English ____ (2 other (please specify) _____ (3) 15. Which language is helpful in finding a language in future? Arabic _____ (1) English ____ (2 other (please specify) _____ (3) 16. Which language do you express yourself best? Arabic _____ (1) English ____ (2 other (please specify) _____ (3) 17. Which language would you not like to lose? Arabic _____ (1) English ____ (2 other (please specify) _____ (3) 18. As a second language, I learned (skip if you learned Arabic and English from birth): Arabic _____ (1) English ____ (2 other (please specify) _____ (3) a) I began to learn this language at age: ________ b) I learned this language primarily from (choose one): ____Parents ____Siblings ____Grandparents ____Schooling ____Friends Other (please specify):________ 19. What language was spoken at the schools you attended (grade school/high school)? ____Arabic ____English ____English, though I took Arabic courses ____Arabic, though I took English courses ____Both (It was a bilingual program) ____Both (I attended two or more different types of schools) 20. Did you continue second language instruction at a college or university? ____Yes ____No ____I did not attend college 21. How would you evaluate your proficiency in the following? Fluency Language Proficiency Very fluent (1) Fluent(2) Average(3) Poor(4) Not able to understand at all(4) Reading Arabic Writing Arabic Speaking Arabic Writing Arabic Understanding spoken English Reading English Writing English Understanding spoken English Part C Please mark the column that best describes your language use in the following situations. If the situation does not apply to you, leave it blank. Situation Arabic Always (1) English Always (2) Both Equally (3) Sometimes English (4) Sometimes Both Arabic (5) Both Never (6) At Home Outside of my home At work At school At church At a friend’s home While out shopping With my spouse With my children With my parents With my grandparents With my grandchildren With my siblings With my neighbours With store employees With teachers With classmates With my priest or pastor With my boss With co-workers With close friends With strangers With my pet(s) With myself With God Watching television Reading the newspaper Reading for leisure Keeping a journal Writing letters ore- mails Using the internet Dreaming Part D. Please write the number against each question that best describe your situation. If not applicable leave the question unattended 1 Always Arabic 2 Mostly Arabic 3 Both equally 4 Mostly English 5 Always English 1 Talking with your mother 2 Talking or your child 3 Talking with your spouse 4 Talking with your grandparent like sharing stories 5 Discussing with your child what to prepare for supper 6 Discussing a personal problem with a bilingual friend 7 At work, talking to your bilingual boss about politics, sports 8 A casual conversation with your bilingual sheik/priest or pastor 9 Discussing religion at lunch with a bilingual co-worker or friend 10 Praying with family before dinner 11 Chatting online to a bilingual cousin about a television program 12 Speaking with an Arabic client on a particular to make a transaction 13 Asking a bilingual teacher questions about a project after class 14 The language normally used in job interviews is __________ Part E. Please write the number against each question that best describe your situation. If not applicable leave the question unattended. 1 Strongly Agree 2 Agree 3 neither agree nor disagree 4 Disagree 5 Strongly disagree 1. I like speaking English 2. I prefer speaking Arabic 3. I find it in order to switch between Arabic and English, even within one conversation 4. I find it crucial for my community maintains Arabic 5. I like being identified with the Arabic language 6. I like being identified with the English Language 7. I think it is important that children in my community learn English 8. Arabic is used by both young and old in my community 9. Arabic is mostly spoken by old members of my community 10. Younger members of my community speak and understand Arabic well Thanks for your cooperation Analysis of Domains All the questionnaires for all participants were analyzed using SPSS statistical analysis package. It was found out that participants used the Arabic most in the domain of Family and the least in the domain of Employment. Table1 Domain Mean Family 2.2044 Religion 2.3021 Friendship 2.6001 Employment 3.0432 Education 3.0842 Table 2; Type of occupation and language use Type of occupation Mean Management and other related professionals 2.4 Service 3.2 Mining, forestry, farming and fishing Production and transportation 2.3 Sales and office 2.8 Construction and maintenance 2.5 Student 3.9 Table 3 Level of Education Mean of language use Elementary 1.89 Grade school or some high school 2.30 High school graduate 2.60 College Bachelor’s degree 2.90 Master’s degree Doctorate 2.89 It was found that English is the main language in the domain of education as illustrated below. Table 4 Reading and writing Mean Language Used for Leisure Reading 2.83 Language Used for Reading Newspapers 3.14 Language Used while on the Internet 3.3 Language Used for Writing Letters or Emails 3.16 Language Used for Journaling, or in mass communication 2.92 Attitudes about English and Arabic reflected that the participants the mean was at 0.01. It was calculated by finding the mean for the responses of the following questions. Table 5 Language attitude towards Arabic and English Mean percentage English 35.6 Arabic 64.4 First Language of Parents and Overall Language Use Table 6 First Language of Mother First Language of Father Mean Language Use Arabic 73.1 Arabic 86.3 English 26.9 English 13.7 Multiple comparison of language use among different interlocutors Table 7 Interlocutors Arabic Mean English Mean Grandparents 2.91 0.01 Parents 2.82 1.23 Siblings 2.76 1.27 Teachers 2.6 2.5 Friends 2.77 2.00 Colleagues 2.67 1.85 Religious leaders 2.80 0.71 Spouses 2.73 1.01 Bosses 2.5 1.89 Discussion and Implications It was found out that English is especially used in education. This included to the fact that there mode of examination is by English. However there could be a possibility of the means of instruction being in Arabic. Arabic is the first language learnt .This might be included to culture whereby one identifies him or herself n Arabic. Also the Islamic religion has played a pivotal role by ensuring that Arabic is the first language learnt in the acquisition and memorization of Koran. Thus in the context of religion Arabic is the domineering language. Due to this majority of people are wall versed with the language (Taiwan Normal University, 2007). During the interviews women were found to use more official form of language compare to their male counterparts. This could be attributed to the fact that they are the care givers and take a larger responsibility of modeling and training language and speech to their children. Still the society expects them to be well behaved and more polite and courteous compared to men (Taiwan Normal University, 2007). As for friendship and employment domain, there is a language shift from Arabic to English. This could be associated to the fact that the younger generation is embracing the fact that the world has become more globalised thus there is need to expand ones communication network. Also to get the white colour jobs abroad one needs to be fluent in English. However in the employment set up most of colleagues communicate in Arabic. Still, learning English has also has been steered by the obvious economic reason obtaining work (Bailey, Richard W., 1991). The government may also have played part since every official function uses Arabic discourse. Also documents in government offices are printed using both languages. Thus in this context English becomes the minor language. Still the government has sponsored abroad programs to facilitate learning and mastery of English language (Bailey, Richard W., 1991). Media has also played role in that. News is mostly conveyed in Arabic in form of printed, visual and audio visual means. Recently, this culture is gradually fading off and English is being embraced in an ample and amicable manner as depicted in table 4 ( Bonvillain, Nancy. 1993). Language proficiency is also found to be inclined towards English in education. This is because the official language of communication in formal education is meant to be English. Nevertheless teachers conduct their teaching sometimes by Arabic. Also students are found to be talking to one another in Arabic. Nonetheless, there is a slight shift in education whereby English. This could be on the emphases being laid by the ministry of education (Baker, Colin. 1988). In every day conversation in informal set up like a couple1s talk, friends chatting, Arabic is the preferred language. This is well portrayed in table 7.This is seen as in conversation between grandparents and their grand children and amidst family members. Thus the language denotes prestige, belonging and culture and heritage. Therefore Arabic language is seen as an imperative emblem of ethnic identity which makes it to be generally maintained and sustained (Bailey, Richard W., 1991). There is code switching among the young generation whereby the participants said that they do appreciate it. This plainly shows a mastery of both languages among this age group. There is also a source of prestige and achievement of social status gained from knowing the two languages as noted during the interviews. Also, their chats over the internet and e- mails show their pleasure towards use of English in their discourse (Greenfield 1979). It was noted that the younger generation prefers English as opposed to Arabic especially in a formal and public set up centrally to the older generation during the interviews. This depicts that there is a slight though significant language shift from the domineering Arabic to English. Conversely, it might be impossible to have Arabic being displaced in Arabic countries since the language connotes their cultural uniqueness, religion thus it is highly valued. On the other side, the language is also used in government offices and workplaces since most of the employees are the aborigines (American Community Survey, 2005). Lastly, accepting the language shift does not mean Arabic will be completely displaced. It is possible that Arabic might develop into diglossia in which it will be used for situations of intimacy, solidarity and informality while English will be more and widely used in formal education, written and formal occasions (Fishman, 1972). References American Community Survey. (2005). Language Spread and Language Policy Issues, Implications and Case Studies. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press.. Bailey, Richard W. (1991). Images of English. A Cultural History of the Language. Cambridge: CUP. Baker, Colin. 1988. Key Issues in Bilingualism and Bilingual Education. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Bonvillain, Nancy. 1993. Language, Culture and Communication: the Meaning of Messages. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. International Journal of Taiwan Normal University (2007). Domain Analysis [Electronic Version].Taiwan University, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences. 49 (1), 75- 108. Fishman,J. A. (1972). The relationship between micro and macro socio-linguistics in the study of who speaks what language to whom and when. Penguin Books Ltd. Greenfield, L. (1972) Situational Measures of Normative Language Views in Relation to Person, Government Census. Read More