diglossia
/ˌdaɪˈɡlɒsi.ə/US/ˌdaɪˈɡlɑsi.ə/
diglossia noun: the coexistence in a given population of two closely related native languages or dialects, one of which is regarded as more prestigious than the other; the similar coexistence of two unrelated languages.
Noun
diglossia (uncountable)
- The coexistence in a given population of two closely related native languages or dialects, one of which is regarded as more prestigious than the other; the similar coexistence of two unrelated languages.
- To begin with, of the two varieties involved in diglossia, the one serving (H)igh societal functions, unlike that reserved for (L)ow ones, is nobody's mother tongue: it is learned in later life largely by formal education, and is not used for ordinary conversation. Secondly, the diglossic contrast...1994, Periklis Daltas, “The Concept of Diglossia from Ferguson to Fishman to Fasold”, in Irene Philippaki-Warburton, Katerina Nicolaidis, Maria Sifianou, editors, Themes in Greek Linguistics: Papers...
- It is the purpose of this chapter to relate these two research traditions to each other by tracing the interaction between their two major constructs: bilingualism (on the part of psychologists) and diglossia (on the part of sociologists).2000, Joshua A. Fishman, Chapter 3: Bilingualism with and without diglossia; diglossia with and without bilingualism, Li Wei (editor), The Bilingualism Reader, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), page 81
- The presence of a cleft or doubled tongue.
- Synonyms:
- bifid tongue, cleft tongue
diglossia meaning in Tamil and Arabic
diglossia in Tamil
- தமிழ், பிளவு நாக்கு
diglossia in Arabic
- the coexistence of two closely related native languages
- اِزْدِوَاجِيَّة لُغَوِيَّة izdiwājiyya luḡawiyya, دِيجْلُوسْيَا diglūsyā
Examples of diglossia in a sentence
- Moreover, diglossia occurs within a single language, while bilingualism or multilingualism, involve far more divergent linguistic systems.1994, Periklis Daltas, “The Concept of Diglossia from Ferguson to Fishman to Fasold”, in Irene Philippaki-Warburton, Katerina Nicolaidis...
- Only very small and isolated communities display neither diglossia nor bilingualism.2013, Elien Declercq, Michael Boyden, “Multilingualism and Diglossia in Migration Literature: The Case of Flemish Songs in Northern...
- The puzzle of the Cypria concerns specific speech traditions: Atra-ḫasīs is written in Akkadian, a Semitic language, and emerged from an intellectual culture where diglossia with Sumerian was typical.2025 December 12, Tom Hercules Davies, “Horses, Wheels, Languages: Greek, Mesopotamian and Indic Epic on the Eurasian Steppe”, in The...
Synonyms of diglossia
- bifid tongue
- cleft tongue
Forms of diglossia
| alternative form | diglossy |
|---|
Origin of diglossia
From Latin diglōssia. In linguistics introduced 1959 by Charles A. Ferguson, based on French diglossie, from Ancient Greek δίγλωσσος (díglōssos, “bilingual”) + -ία (-ía). Equivalent to di- + -glossia.
Questions about diglossia
- What does diglossia mean?
- Diglossia means the coexistence in a given population of two closely related native languages or dialects, one of which is regarded as more prestigious than the other; the similar coexistence of two unrelated languages.
- What is diglossia in Tamil?
- Diglossia in Tamil is தமிழ், பிளவு நாக்கு. See Diglossia meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use diglossia in a sentence?
- Moreover, diglossia occurs within a single language, while bilingualism or multilingualism, involve far more divergent linguistic systems.
- What part of speech is diglossia?
- Diglossia is a noun.
- How do you pronounce diglossia?
- Diglossia is pronounced /ˌdaɪˈɡlɒsi.ə/ (UK).
Words near diglossia in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: diglossia (page history and authors); diglossia (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-diglossia.wav.
Cite this entry: “diglossia.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/diglossia. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.