ABSTRACT
In a typology of language situations, 'diglossia' is contrasted with 'bilingualism' on the one hand, and with 'standard-with-dialects' on the other. In the sociolinguistic literature, the two concepts have acquired distinct meanings: bilingualism refers to a language situation/community with the coexistence of two different languages, while diglossia refers to a situation with coexistence of two related varieties considered to belong to the same language, with one variety having exclusively formal uses. In a standard-with-dialects situation, the standard variety and the dialects are also related, but the standard variety normally covers all registers and is used as natural spoken language by some segment of the community, usually the educated of the urban center. The chapter discusses some issues that have crystallized in the scholarly debate around the concept of diglossia throughout the years following Ferguson 1959. It suggests that overlapping, common ground, and lack of discreteness should be adopted into/accommodated in the diglossia framework.
