Introduction
The founding executive editor of wired magazine and a former editor/publisher of the whole earth review, Kevin Kelly once said “The creation of language was the first singularity for humans. It changed everything. Life after language was unimaginable to those on the far side before it.” According to him language is a tool that allows the mind to know what it is thinking.
Language is a system of conventional spoken, manual(sign), or written symbols by means of which human beings as members of a social group and participants in its culture, express themselves. The functions of language include communication, the expression of identity, play, imaginative expression, and emotional release. Language has to do with sentience. Before language, there was no self-awareness or self-consciousness.
Theories of Language Development
Behavioral theory
According to the behavioral theory, language is learned through operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is defined as the reinforcement or punishment of a behavior as it occurs. B.F. Skinner is considered the father of behaviorism. This theory is applied in different fields of learning including speech and language. The theory states that children are conditioned by their environment and reinforced by their communication. For instance, when a child utters ‘mama’ for the first time he/she is reinforced by the way his/her mother smiles at him/her and says ‘very good’. Also, it was believed by pronounced behaviorists like Bandura that children learn language from their parents or elders through imitation, reinforcement and copying adult language behaviors.
Nativistic theory
It is a theory based on biology, according to which, language is determined physiologically and is transmitted genetically. This means language is innate and the infant is ‘pre-wired’ for language acquisition and a language mechanism is activated by exposure to language (Hulit, Howard and Fahey, 2011). Renowned linguist, Noam Chomsky asserted that children have a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) that is hard-wired in their brains which helps them to set different parameters of language and deduce the grammatical principles then and when they are exposed to a language. Chomsky centered on the idea of ‘Universal Grammar’, which posits that all the languages in the world have the same basic underlying structure and that specific languages have rules that transform this structure into the specific patterns found in given languages.
Interactionist approach
This theory states that language is learned not only socially but is also genetically predetermined. According to this approach both biological and social factors have to interact in order for children to learn a language. Language has developed as a need to communicate with others. Children have this specific urge to communicate with adults and in this process of requiring to talk to them, children learn their languages. This theory was given by Lev Vygotsky.
Mono/Bilingualism and Multilingualism
There are about 6,500 languages in the world. A condition in which a person can speak only one language is called monolingualism or monoglottism (Greek, “alone” + glotta “tongue”). If a person can speak two languages, he/she is called bilinguistic. In today’s world, almost everyone can speak two or more than two languages. When someone is able to speak or communicate in three or more than three languages, he/she is called a multi linguistic person. Being a multilingual is found to be beneficial over monolingual or bilingual in many ways like
- They can communicate easily with people speaking another language thus expanding travel and job opportunities in countries or places we desire.
- Multilinguistic people have different brain structures.
- They have improved memory and can process information better.
- According to BBC, being able to speak multiple languages can actually delay the effects of dementia by an average of five years.
Though monolinguistic also have some advantages over multilinguistic like their word retrieval rate might be better, they might have wider vocabulary and better letter fluency.
Multilingualism and Multiculturalism
Multilingualism as defined in the European commission is the ability of societies, institutions, groups and individuals to engage on a regular basis, with more than one language in their day-to-day lives. Multiculturalism is the term used for societies dealing with cultural diversities, where there is harmonious coexistence of different cultures. Rosado (1996) gave the definition of multiculturalism as follows:
“Multiculturalism is a system of beliefs and behaviour that recognizes and respects the presence of all diverse groups in an organization or society, acknowledges and values their sociocultural differences, and encourages and enables their continued contribution within an inclusive cultural context which empowers all within the organization or society.”
Multiculturalism also covers multilingualism and both are very closely associated. Language and culture are inseparable. A specific culture is perceived from the language they speak. For example, a person speaking Marathi is considered to be belonging from a Maharashtrian culture. We mostly perceive someone belonging from a particular culture by the language they speak. A person living in a multicultural society may adapt different languages thus making him/her a multilinguistic. Nowadays, many people can speak two or more than two languages very fluently; one particular reason for this is because they are brought up among people with different cultures. It is very common for multiculturalism to go hand in hand with multilingualism. Learning a language also involves learning the culture from which that language belongs, which is why it is said that the relationship between culture and language is very close.
PERSONALITY
Personality refers to the enduring patterns of behaviour. Personality describes the traits a person shows consistently at different times in different situations. For predicting an individual's behavior, it is very important to understand his/her personality first. American Psychological Association defines personality as follows:
“Personality is the enduring configuration of characteristics and behaviour that comprises an individual’s unique adjustment to life, including major traits, interests, drives, values, self-concept, abilities and emotional patterns.”
The word personality is derived from a Latin word ‘persona’ meaning ‘a mask’. In the ancient Latin speaking world, the theatres used the mask to represent not a cloth to disguise but to typify the very character.
The Big-5 Personality Traits
It is believed by many modern psychologists that there are five basic dimensions of personality called the “big-five personality traits”. They are – Openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. Research on these personality traits was initiated by D.W. Fiske (1949) and later expanded upon by other researchers including Norman (1967), Smith (1967), Goldberg (1981) and McCrae and Costa (1987).
Each of these five-factors displays a range between two extremes. For example, Extraversion is a continuum between extreme extraversion and extreme introversion. Most individuals lie in between these two extremes. The five traits are openness which shows the characteristics of imagination, insight and so on. Individuals high on this trait tend to have a broad range of interests. They like exploring and are curious about the world. They are also more adventurous and creative. Those low in this trait are often traditional and might have difficulties with abstract thinking; Conscientiousness in which people high on this trait are strict about their work, they take time to prepare and are punctual, they pay attention to details and enjoy set schedules. Individuals low on this trait dislikes schedule and structure. They tend to be careless and fail to return or put things back to places, procrastinate and fail to complete given tasks on time; Extraversion in which individuals with a high level of this trait enjoy being the center of attention, they initiate conversations, have a big social circle of friends and acquaintances, can easily make friends, are active when around people and might say things before thinking. Individuals low on this trait like being alone, feel exhausted when having to socialize a lot, struggle initiating a conversation, think before speaking anything and dislike being the center of attention; Agreeableness in which people who are high in agreeableness have interest in other people, cares about others a lot, feels empathetic and concern for others, assists others who are in need of help. People low in this trait are least interested in others, don’t care about the feelings of other people, may belittle others and also manipulate others to get what they want; Neuroticism in which people high on this trait experience a lot of stress, worry about things, get upset easily, might experience mood swings and feel anxious. People low on these particular traits are emotionally stable, can deal with stress, rarely feels sad and are relaxed.
Theories of Personality
1.5.2.1 Type theories of personality:
This theory was first introduced by Greek physician Hippocrates and Galen in 400 BC. They gave the concept of four humors – liquid substance within the body, which describes the personality of an individual. The four humors are:
a) Choleric (yellow bile) – Individuals with an excess amount of this humor tends to be independent, decisive, ambitious, goal oriented, dominant and result oriented which makes them natural leaders. They also tend to be violent, short-tempered, vent full, and they might also have sudden depression or mood swings.
b) Melancholic (black bile) - Individuals with this bile are deep thinkers, introverted, self-reliant, reserved, analytical, thoughtful and concerned with details. They have a detail-oriented behaviour and have a perfection within themselves and the environment. Also, they have a tendency to dwell around the negative aspects of the world around them.
c) Sanguine (blood) – People with this type of personality are extroverted, forgetful and might have difficulty in finishing the task, usually enthusiastic, active, highly talkative, they like joining crowds and also tend to engage in some risk-taking behaviour.
d)Phlegmatic (phlegm) – People with these personality types tend to be relaxed, quiet, easy-going, sympathetic, hide their emotion, they are good at generalizing ideas or problems to the world and they make compromises.
1.5.2.2 Carl Jung’s personality type theory:
Carl Jung’s type theory mainly deals with the understanding of attitude. According to Carl Jung, attitude can be described as “an individual predisposition and a tendency to behave in a certain manner.” According to Carl Jung, there are two types of contrasting attitudes, which are – extroversion and introversion. Introverted people are more concerned with the happenings within himself/herself rather than the events going around him/her. They focus more on their own feelings, ambition, fantasies, action and are more subjective than objective. In Carl Jung’s opinion, extroversion is the outward turning of attitude. Their energy is drawn from action, making them act out and reflect. In the state of inactivity, their motivation declines and to regain their energy, they need regular action. The flow of energy of an extrovert directs towards people, while introvert’s flow is directed towards ideas and concepts. He also stated four functions of personality which are- feeling, thinking, sensation and intuition. These functions are further combined in two pairs – sensation and intuition representing the function of perception; thinking and feeling representing the functions of judgements.
a) The understanding and interpretation of new information is defined by sensation and intuition. People, prone to the function of sensation, trust the information that is concrete, present and tangible. This information is the ones that can be easily understood by the five human senses. Individuals belonging to this category are more concerned with facts and details. People belonging to the function of intuition trust information which is abstract or theoretical and relies on the insight proceeding from the unconscious mind.
b) The decision-making function of the personality which is thinking and feeling are used for rational decision making, based on the information gathered through the sense of intuition and sensation. The function of thinking has to do with what looks reasonable, consistent and logical with experience. The function of feeling is associated with observation of problems from the inside or empathy.
The four functions i.e. feeling, thinking, intuition and sensation are combined with either introversion or extroversion results in eight different types of personality according to Jung, which are:
a) Extroverted sensation
b) Introverted sensation
c) Extroverted intuition
d) Introverted intuition
e) Extroverted feeling
f) Introverted feeling
g) Extroverted thinking
h) Introverted thinking
1.5.2.3 Allport’s Personality Trait Theory
Gordon Allport (1897-1967) is an American psychologist, also referred to as one of the founding fathers of personality psychology. Allport defined personality as “The dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristics behaviour and thought.” He did not agree with the psychoanalytic theory and the behavioral approach because he believed that these theories were too interpretative. He rather emphasised on the present reality in the understanding of personality and developed a trait-based personality theory. Allport emphasized that each individual is unique and is distinguished by some specific peculiar traits.
He studied more than 4,000 words related to trait and then propounded three levels of traits:
a) Cardinal trait: Cardinal traits are the dominant traits in an individual which influences his/her behavior such as passion for popularity, money, influence, etc.
b) Central trait: Central traits are the general features present to a certain extent in every individual and forms the basic building blocks that determine behavior. These traits according to Allport are not as overwhelmingly manifest in a person compared to the cardinal trait. An example of a central trait can be honesty, which is present in all human beings in varying degrees.
c) Secondary trait: These traits are only present in certain situations and can only be seen by individuals who are very close to the person being studied.
1.5.2.4 Eysenck’s theory of Personality
This theory of personality is also based on the trait approach and was developed by Hans Eysenck (1916-1997). Eysenck identified three factors of personality, which are, Extroversion, Neuroticism, and Psychoticism. Each one of these factors having a bipolar dimension:
- Extroversion versus Introversion
- Neuroticism versus Emotional stability
- Psychoticism versus Self-control.
Extroversion is described as an inclination of an individual’s interests and energies toward the outside world rather than the inward. Extroverted individuals are very expressive, sociable, and outgoing, active, talkative, and tend to be impulsive.
Introverted individuals are more focused on their internal world of oneself, thoughts, and feelings. They tend to be reserved, careful, thoughtful, less expressive, and may prefer to work independently.
Neuroticism includes the qualities of being moody, anxious, restless, and aggressive. In other words, neurotic people are said to be emotionally unstable. The opposite of this is emotional stability which is characterized by consistent and predictable emotional reactions.
The illustration of aggression, impulsivity, and aloofness is psychoticism. The other end of the spectrum is self-control which is the ability to control one’s emotion and behavior as well as restraining impulses.
1.5.2.5 Cattell theory of Personality
Raymond Cattell (1905-1998) is a British American psychologist, known for developing the 16 – factor personality model.
Cattell gave the definition of personality as follows
“That which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given situation.”
Cattell initially made a list of 171 different traits. Later, through the technique of factor analysis, he reduced the list further to 16 key personality traits which he considered as the source of all human personality. He also developed the “Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF)”, which is one of the most widely used personality assessment. Career counselling in education and vocational guidance as well as for personnel selection, and clinical diagnosis widely uses this questionnaire today.
According to Cattell, through scientific study, human characteristics and behaviors could be predicted based on underlying personality traits. Cattell stated that there is a continuum of personality traits which means that each person contains all of these 16 traits to a certain degree, though there might be variations in the levels of the traits from one person to another. The 16PF (16 Personality Factor) has 160 questions with ten questions relating to each personality factor. The 16 PF are as follows:
Warmth, Intellect, Emotional Stability, Aggressiveness, Liveliness, Dutifulness, Social Assertiveness, Sensitivity, Paranoia, Abstractness, Introversion, Anxiety, Open-Mindedness, Independence, Perfectionism, Tension.
1.5.2.6 Sheldon Theory of Personality:
In the 1940’s, William Herbert Sheldon associated human body types with personality. Sheldon classified three groups of body/personality types called somatotypes.
a) The Endomorphic- Also known as viscerotonic, are the people whose body structure is round i.e. wide hip and narrow shoulders giving a pear like shape. Their body shape can be defined by the extra fat in their body, arms and thighs and skinny ankles and wrist. Individuals with these personality types are relaxed, comfortable, tolerant, sociable, fun-loving, good humor, love good and affection.
b) The Mesomorphic- Mesomorphic people are also called somatotonic and they have an attractive body with large head, broad shoulders and narrow waist. Their body is strong and muscular with very little fat. Individuals with this personality types are adventurous, courageous, assertive, not afraid to break out and do new things, competitive, domineering, and have the desire for power in addition to loving to take risks in life.
c) The Ectomorphic- They are also known as cerebrotonic and have a body structure with thin legs and arms, narrow face, narrow chest and a little fat on their body. According to psychology, they are self-conscious, socially anxious, artistic, quiet, thoughtful, private and are afraid to venture out.
1.5.2.7 Friedman Theory of Personality
Friedman and Rosenman accidently discovered the type A behaviour while repairing the upholsteries in their clinic. They found out that some of their cardiac patients were very impatient and couldn’t sit for long in their seats and eventually they wore out the seats.
They then conducted a longitudinal study on their patients in 1976 including 3154 healthy men between the age of 39 and 59 for eight and a half years. The results showed that 1589 men had type A personality qualities while 1565 showed type B personality qualities. Type A personality characteristics displayed the following characteristics: Competitiveness, time urgent, hostile and aggressive; while type B individuals showed the following characteristics: relaxed, patient and easy going. Both type A and type B personality falls on the extreme ends of a continuum. These types have to do with how people respond to stress and according to their study type a personality showed higher risk of heart attack and high blood pressure.
They also later discovered another type of personality in which the person has difficulty in expressing emotion and they tend to suppress it displaying pathological niceness, conflict avoidance, high social desirability, over compliance and patience. Friedman and Rosenman named this personality type C personality.
1.5.2.8 Sigmund Freud’s theory of Personality
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the first born in a family of three boys and five girls. To understand the development of his theory, it is first important to know his family background. Freud has various psychosomatic disorders in his early 40’s which made him perform a lot of self-analysis. He realized after the examination of his own childhood that he had an intense hostility for his father and sexual feelings for his mother who was attractive, loving and protective. He then formulated his own theory after observing his patients as they worked through their own problems. He is also known as the father of psychoanalysis.
Structure of Personality- Personality has three systems according to the psychoanalytic view which are the id, ego and superego. These systems operate as a whole rather than discrete segments. The id is the raw, primitive system which represents the blind, demanding, insistent and lack of organization. It works on the principle of reducing tension and increasing gratification. The ego dominates the personality in an individual. It mediates between the instincts and the surrounding environment. It is regulated by the reality principle which means it controls our consciousness. The superego governs a person’s moral code with the main concern of whether an action is good or bad. It functions to inhibit the id impulses, to persuade the ego to substitute moralistic goals for realistic ones, and to strive for perfection. The orthodox Freudian perspective view humans as energy systems in which the dynamics of personality consists of the ways in which psychic energy is distributed to the id, ego, and the superego. Since the amount of energy is limited, one system gains control over the available energy at the expense of the other two systems and therefore behaviour is determined by this psychic energy.
1.5.2.9 Alfred Adler theory of Personality
Alfred Adler (1870-1937) believed in the unity of personality and stated that every individual can only be understood as integrated and complete beings. His view supports the idea that where we are striving to go is more important than where we came from. According to Adler, the first six years of an individual is crucial to form an approach towards life. He named this approach ‘Individual psychology’. His theory believed that inferiority feelings are normal condition and a source of all human striving and instead of looking at them as some abnormality or weakness but they can utilize these feelings as the wellspring of creativity which motivates us to strive for mastery, success/superiority and completion
1.5.2.10 Erik Erikson theory of Personality
Erikson (1963) introduced the psychosocial theory of development. According to the psychosocial theory of development, the psychosexual and psychosocial growth takes place together and we face the task of establishing equilibrium between ourselves and our surroundings at each stage of life. Erikson stated the term crisis, which means there is a turning point in each stage which may later lead an individual to either grow or regress; and this entirely depends on the choices we make at each stage.
Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development are:
a) Infancy: Trust versus Mistrust. In this stage the child is taken care of by their significant others who provide them with basic physical and emotional needs like love and care. Trust is developed by the infant only if these basic needs are met or else a sense of mistrust is built among them towards others.
b) Early childhood: Autonomy versus shame and doubt. This is the age between 1-3 years when the child either develops autonomy or a sense of self-doubt is formed. During this stage, the child needs to explore and experiment, test their limits and make mistakes.
c) Preschool age: Initiative versus guilt. This is the age from 3-6 years, where the basic task is to either achieve a sense of competence or taking initiative or if enough freedom is not given to the child, they have the tendency to develop guilt over taking initiative.
d) School age: Industry versus Inferiority. At the age from 6-12, the child continues to develop appropriate gender role identity, expands understanding about the world, and learn basic skills required for school success. The task here is to achieve personal goals and failure in doing so will lead to inferiority.
e) Adolescence: Identity versus role confusion. This is the time of transition (12-18) from childhood to adulthood. The child establishes a self-identity, life goals and life meanings. Failure will result in role confusion.
f) Young adulthood: Intimacy versus isolation. This stage (18-35) is the crucial period to develop intimate relationships and failure to achieve this will result in alienation.
g) Middle age: Generativity versus stagnation. This period is between ages 35-60, there is a need to go and help the next generation. This time is to adjust the discrepancy between one’s dream and one’s personal accomplishments. If there is no productivity, it may lead to stagnation.
h) Later life: Integrity versus despair. After the age of 60, if one looks back at life with fewer regrets and one feels accomplished, then there is a sense of integrity or else there will be feelings of despair, guilt and self-rejection.
1.5.2.11 Carl Rogers
Carl Rogers (1902-1987) is known for humanistic psychology. According to him, there are some basic assumptions which are follows:
a) That people are trustworthy
b)That they have a vast potential for understanding themselves and resolving their own problems without direct intervention on the therapist’s part
c) That they are capable of self-directed growth if they are involved in a specific type of therapeutic relationship
According to Carl Rogers, individuals need an environment in which they can grow, an environment that provides them with genuineness, acceptance and empathy. He also stated that every person can achieve their wishes, goals and desires and they does so, they achieve a sense of self-actualization. For a person to achieve self-actualization, his/her self-image (the person he/she is) needs to be in congruence with his idea self (the person he/she wants to be). An individual who is self-actualizing is a fully functioning human.
According to Rogers, people who are becoming increasingly actualized have the following characteristics:
a) Openness to experience
b) A trust in themselves
c) An internal source of evaluation
d) Willingness to continue growing
1.6 Self- Esteem
Self-esteem, also known as self-respect or self-worth is defined as an individual’s overall value of the self. This means how much a person likes or appreciates himself/herself is called self-esteem. It involves different beliefs about ourselves, such as the appraisal of our own beliefs, appearance, emotions and behaviour.
Self-esteem plays a very important role in our motivation and success throughout life. We may not succeed in our work or school if we have a low self-esteem because we might not believe in our ability to succeed. On the other hand, people with healthy self-esteem have a positive view about themselves and tend to succeed as compared to people with low self-esteem.
1.6.1 Theories of Self - Esteem
Abraham Maslow mentions the need for self-esteem and how self-esteem plays an important part in our lives in his hierarchy of needs. In the hierarchy of needs, Maslow depicts that self-esteem plays a very important role in being a basic human motivation. Maslow believed that an individual needs appreciation from both the inside and the outside. For a person to reach self-actualization, both these needs are very important.
1.7 Relationship between Multilingualism and Personality
Multilingualism has a fascinating connection with one’s personality. An individual speaking a different language also has a good amount of ideas about the culture of that specific language speaking community. Since he/she adapts to the various cultures, it impacts his/her personality as well. Multilingual people know that the language they speak influences how they act, feel and come across others. Many research studies have found that changing or switching of language has a great impact on one’s personality.
1.8 Relationship between Multilingualism and Self-esteem
According to different research studies, being multilingual actually tends to enhance one’s self-esteem. Individuals speaking different languages, understands the framework of that particular culture as well. Knowing the concept and practices of other cultures gives a sense of being valued by others as well as by ownself. But also, few other studies have revealed that being bilingual or multilingual has very less or no impact on one’s self-esteem. Therefore, self-esteem and the effect of multilingualism on it has been a controversial topic.
1.9 Relationship between Personality and Self esteem
Many researches have displayed that there is a positive relationship between personality and self-esteem. It was found from studies that self-esteem is highly connected to the big-5 personality traits- openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. Though, self-esteem has a positive correlation with openness, agreeableness, extraversion and conscientiousness, but it is negatively correlated with neuroticism. For example, an extroverted individual has an outgoing, active and enthusiastic personality leading to appraisal from others. This will motivate and boost up the self-esteem of the individual.