The Sociolinguistics of Diglossia in Switzerland

Diglossia: A Mixed-Mode Survey Analysis on the Use of Formal and Informal Speech among Sorani Kurdish Speakers

“…The term is originally Greek for 'two tongues', thus, the ability to speak two languages. Stepkowska (2012) claims that the word diglossia was first introduced by the American Linguist Charles Ferguson, in his article, in 1959. According to Hornberger and Lee McKay (2010, p. 119), Ferguson explains that diglossia refers to a linguistic situation whereby two genetically connected varieties of a given community's language, one is considered as the high (H) or standard variety while the other one is seen as the low (L) or nonstandard variety. The varieties could refer to different dialects within the same language whereby apart from the primary dialect, there is another dialect(s) that is phonologically and grammatically different (Ball, 2005, p. 57).…”