Diglossia

CORE DEFINITION

Diglossia refers to a situation in linguistics where two closely related languages exist in a given society, one with higher prestige, typically used by the government or in formal texts, often referred to as the literary or written form; the other with lower prestige, often used as a spoken dialect, referred to as the vernacular or colloquial form. The higher-prestige language has a more standardized form, and its forms and vocabulary are filtered into the dialect in various guises, even gradually replacing the dialect as a lingua franca (e.g., Guoyu or Mandarin in the Republic of China). In addition to the community's everyday language or colloquial variety (labeled 'L' or 'low' variety), a second, highly codified variety (labeled 'H' or 'high') is used in certain situations, such as literature, formal education, or other specific occasions, but typically not in ordinary conversation. There may be no native speakers within the H group. When three varieties are present, the term 'triglossia' is used. When referring to the coexistence of two writing systems for one language, the term 'digraphia' is used.