The term bilingualism is typically used to describe the two languages of an individual. When the focus changes to two languages in society, the term often used is diglossia. Ferguson (1959) first described diglossia in terms of two varieties of the same language (dialects). Fishman (1972, 1980) extended the idea of diglossia to two languages existing side by side within a geographical area. Ferguson’s original description distinguishes between a high language variety (called H) and a low variety (called L). Different languages or varieties may by used for different purposes.
