D EFINITIONS OF BILINGUALISM

Various definitions of bilingualism have been proposed. A few will be provided in order to have a clearer idea it. Butler and Hakuta (2004:115) define bilinguals as:

Individuals or groups of people who obtain communicative skills, with various degrees of proficiency, in oral and/or written forms, in order to interact with speakers of one or more languages in a given society. Bilingualism can be defined as psychological and social states of individuals or groups of people that result from interactions via language in which two or more linguistic codes (including dialects) are used for communication.

In Webster’s Dictionary (1961) and Bloomfield (1935:56) definition bilingual is defined as a person who is able to speak two languages fluently like a native speaker which is contrary to the definition of Macnamara (1967a) who believes that bilingualism means to have minimum level of competence in listening, speaking, reading or writing (cited in Hamers & Blanc, 2000:6).

According to Hamers & Blanc (2000:7) it is difficult to classify and operationalize bilingualism in the aforementioned definitions because sometimes there exist non-linguistic factors which affect the whole situation. Skutnabb-Kangas (1984a:90) defines a bilingual speaker as:

A bilingual speaker is someone who is able to function in two (or more) languages, either in monolingual or bilingual communities, in accordance with the sociocultural demands made of an individual’s communicative and cognitive competence by these communities or by the individual herself, at the same level as native speakers, and who is able positively to identify with both (or all) language groups (and cultures) or parts of them.

As the definition above suggests, Skutnabb-Kangas (1984a:91) believes that in order to define the concept of bilingualism one should consider factors such as the origins of two languages, which means the places a person has learnt and used the two languages from the beginning, competence, level of proficiency, function i.e., being able to use the two languages according to the demand of a community, attitudes of one self and other to bilingualism (cited in Hoffmann 1991:27).

Generally speaking, bilingualism refers to having the knowledge of more than one language.

Keeping a balance in bilingualism is not an easy task to achieve. Rosenberg (1996) believes that:

The reasons for choosing to raise kids with two or more languages are as varied as the families themselves. Even the word “bilingualism” has different meanings for different families. For some families, having the ability to listen in two languages but speak in just one may constitute bilingualism, while other parents expect their kids not only to be bilingual, but also literate in both languages. Whatever the goals for developing bilingualism in each family may be, success appears to depend on whether a “language plan” has been worked out in advance. Families, who take the time to consider how their kids will develop two languages and who make the necessary commitments to bilingual language development, tend to be more successful in raising bilingual children.

Bilingualism can be referred to as the immersion and submersion -situations where the child is required to use in school a language that is different from that used in the home. Cummins and Swain (1978 c) believe that immersion occurs when the children from the same or different linguistic and cultural background who have had no prior contact with the second language are put together in a classroom setting in which the second language is used as the medium of instruction. Submersion on the other hand is a situation encountered by some children wherein they must make a home-school language switch, while others can already function in the school language. Reyes (2008:1) highlights that bilingualism should be viewed as a continuum in which the language ability would change with respect to factors such as social, educational background, etc.

Bialystok (2001:2) believes that it is impossible to be and remain completely monolingual because there are always ‘intrusions’ from other languages. Sometimes children can be bilingual because their parents, each, choose to speak in one’s own language in the home environment. In addition, sometimes the language of a community is different form a child’s language at home, which forces the child to speak two languages in order to be able to communicate both at home and in the community.

It is now clear that there is a very broad spectrum of what bilingualism is and how it is defined. It always has been difficult to reach one solid definition of a bilingual person because researchers tend to view bilingualism as having many aspects. These aspects include native like fluency in both languages as Webster (1961) and Bloomfield (1935:56) believe; having competence in language skills which was highlighted by Rosenberg (1996); being able to function in the society according to the demand of the situation; being able to communicate oral or written, and communicate and interact with other people in the society using two or more linguistic codes (Skutnabb-Kangas 1984a:90; Butler and Hakuta 2004:115).

The last definition presented by Butler and Hakuta (2004:115) is more relevant to the idea behind this study because families who participated in the study were from different social, cultural background who have moved to Norway. The children of these families do not have the same fluency and accuracy, oral or written, in the two languages but are still able to communicate both in their mother tongue and the language of the society, which is Norwegian this this case.

2.3. Types, dimensions, and cognitive advantages of bilingualism