The Wealth of Plurilingualism

Photo: Sara Þöll Finnbogadóttir

“All city people inhabit several worlds in many languages.”

So speaks Binyavanga Wainaina, Kenyan author, in his autobiography, One Day I Will Write About This Place, referring specifically to Kenya, where most people speak the nation’s two official languages, i.e. English and Kiswahili, often in addition to their mother tongue which could be any one of the 68 languages spoken in Kenya. This extract manages to encapsulate the power of plurilingualism in a way that maybe transposed onto narratives in a global context.

Languages open doors

This is increasingly true as our society shifts and morphs with continued globalisation. The globalised society is characterised by mobility and change, two phenomena that have a direct impact on the broad linguistic landscape. The effects are inherently paradoxical, the world at our fingertips steadily growing even as the accessibility of regions previously too far removed seems to lend itself to the feeling that the world is ever-shrinking. Small enough to fit in the palm of our hands. We are now capable of convening cross-nationally, gathering at our screens to trade ideas and experiences in a borrowed language, adopted as our lingua franca. With each language we learn we gain a whole world; a wealth of opportunities and understandings not previously accessible to us. Not only because it opens communication-pathways formerly closed to us but because language is inherently cultural in nature; the two existing within a symbiotic relationship where culture shapes language and language, in turn, moulds culture. Because language shapes thought.

Reflective of challenges

In Pormpuraaw, an Aboriginal shire in Queensland, Australia, they speak Kuuk Thaayorre, a language that does not possess the vocabulary of relative spacial terms such as left or right. Instead they use cardinal directions, not only when referring to large spatial scales but in every circumstance, such as “the fork should be placed west of the plate.” In Kuuk Thaayorre you must stay oriented to speak. The requirements of the language enforce and train cognitive prowess.

Humans are adaptable creatures, inhabiting areas that pose different challenges and come with unique cultural backgrounds and language is our history. The history of the challenges, the needs, the wants and the ambitions of our people. Each provides its own cognitive toolkit and encapsulates the knowledge and worldview developed over thousands of years within a culture. Each contains a way of perceiving, categorising and making meaning in our world. Our language is our legacy, passed down through generations, constantly morphing and growing to encapsulate our experiences.

That is what I mean when I say that with each language we learn we gain a whole world, because a language isn’t just a set of symbols with an agreed upon meaning. Language is an inseparable part of culture which is why plurilingualism is such a wealth.

To survive is to change

Our current curricula is largely characterised by a monolingual vision that still has a firm grip on our society. At the heart of this is a fear of change, of our seemingly “pure” language and consequently our culture being affected or even sullied by foreign influence. But this is a fallacy that views language as a complete and stationary phenomenon that can somehow be confined and maintained when that has never been true. Conversely, language is an ever-shifting, ever-developing entity that can not be preserved as it is. We know this, at heart, as evidenced by the need for regularly revised dictionaries because a language is not, and should not be, stagnant. Once we let go of the notion that we can “protect” our language from developing to fit the changed needs of its speakers, once we manage to distance ourselves from the idea of monolingual purity, then, and only then, can we open ourselves up to a plurilinguistic vision, where mixing, mingling, and meshing languages is no longer stigmatised, but recognized as a naturally occurring strategy in real-life communication; languages are not individualistic phenomena that can exist in isolation and should be kept in mental compartments, only to be brought out for show. They are continually morphing entities over which we have limited control.

Seeing the possibilities

The idea of a national purity or a purity of language is untenable. By confining ourselves to that which already exists, that which we know, we reject all change and consequently all growth. The idea behind plurilingualism is that of finding stability in change, not seeing stability as resistance to change. Embracing plurilingualism means consciously shifting our narrative so that we may breed a community of those who do not shy away from our differences or our various forms of linguistic and cultural systems, and who do not seek to nail down a language and confine it to that which already exists but see the possibilities, the potential for cultural exchange.

A community that sees whole worlds and can’t wait to get to know them.

A plurilingual community.

And that is what our educational system ought to be fostering. A world view that recognises the wealth contained within languages, that encourages curiosity and linguistic innovation from an early age and endeavours to prepare students for this increasingly globalised world.