ABSTRACT

A rider of the assumption that there exists a straightforward equation 'language A (LA) is more dominant than language B (LB), or vice-versa, is the notion that, for whatever reason (because it was acquired first; because most people in the community speak it; because legislation demands it etc.), this dominance relationship remains constant, and is unchanging over time and place. The view also implies that the pattern of dominance will be equal for all aspects of language function; not only listening, speaking, reading and writing, but within these categories for their subcomponents - phonology, syntax, morphology, lexicon and semantics. Such a position has been commonly extended from the individual to apply to all bilinguals in an assumed speech community. Hence it is assumed that all Spanish-English bilinguals in North America, or all Irish-English bilinguals in Ireland, will present a comparative picture. The position to be argued here is that the profile of dominance is not constant but is dynamic and fluid, both over different situations and at both societal and individual levels over time. It is suggested that the grossly oversimplified perspective on the relationship between a bi-or multilingual's languages, however well motivated in terms of searching for an avenue of fair assessment, is both flawed and ultimately divisive.