Explain the basic concepts of multilingualism.

Multilingualism:

Multilingualism is the knowledge of more than one language by a person or within a social group; it assumes the ability to switch from one language to another in speech, in writing, or in reading. Other terms describing this phenomenon include bilingualism, polylingualism, plurilingualism, diglossia, and languages-in-contact. Multilingualism may be personal, social, or intersubjective.

A generic term for multilingual persons is polyglot. Poly (Greek word) means “many”, glot (Greek) means “language”; and for the monolinguals is monoglot. Personal multilingualism refers to the knowledge and verbal behaviour of an individual, not necessarily shared by the whole community.

Social multilingualism refers to the communicative practices of a nation, tribe, or other social group that sustains two or more languages. As in India, nearly 200 languages are spoken by its natives. 

The Structure of Multilingualism:

For many years, the popular belief was that a multilingual person should have learnt all of his or her languages simultaneously in early childhood and that he or she should have a native – like oral and written competence in all of them. Today, a broader definition is more common. Accordingly, a person may be called multilingual if s/he uses his or her languages on a regular base and is able to switch from one to another where ever it is necessary, independently from the symmetry of his/her command of the languages, of the modalities of acquisition and of the distance between the varieties.

Thus, an Indian guest worker who learnt enough Swiss German dialect for his struggle for life in Switzerland may be considered bilingual with the same right as an interpreter working at the European Union and having systematically extended his or her ‘native’ French English bilingualism.

Multiligualism in India:

India is said to be a socio-linguistic giant and the nerve system of this giant is multilingualism.  “Indian multilingualism is huge in size, having 1620 mother tongues reduced to 200 languages. With the population of many of minorities larger than European countries”. This multilingual character of India is represented by its metropolitan cities like Mumbai and New Delhi, where people from all over come and settle down.

For example, in Mumbai every child is exposed to at least four languages right from its infancy. Government of India has introduced the Three Language Formula in its educational system, which means every child has to study two more languages other than their first language. The two languages are introduced simultaneously at upper primary level.

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