One House, Two Languages
One House, Two Languages

Summary/Abstract: The author deals with the topic of family bilingualism, or—to be more precise—with the question of which language should be spoken while raising a child (or children) in a multiethnic and multilingual environment. An example of such an environment is the Czech part of Cieszyn/Těšín Silesia, where, in addition to the standard varieties of Czech and Polish, the unwritten mixed language po naszymu is also commonly used. The members of the local Polish minority use several codes on a regular basis: two ethnic languages in their literary and dialectal varieties, as well as the aforementioned mixed language, which functions here, in particular, as a language of communication within the family (familect). There are very few households where standard Polish is used as the means of communicating with children. This atypical linguistic behaviour of at least one of the parents is the focus of the author, who conducted a survey and obtained important information from people who decided to raise their children using standard Polish. She lists the factors that lead parents to such unusual linguistic behaviour and points out its risks, consequences and side effects. The conclusion of the article is that at least one language code is used in families that have chosen to speak standard Polish to their children, that the code intended for children may not be the same as the means of communication between the parents, that grandparents usually speak to their children in their own dialect, or that (Polish) kindergartens and primary schools are paradoxically an environment where even a child who has so far spoken only standard Polish quickly picks up the regional unwritten language.

• Details
• Contents