Researchers have noted the situation where some speakers control H but
others have L as a mother tongue, and learn H as a second system. Thus
in some linguistic cultures, all speakers exhibit diglossic
behavior (i.e. use both H and L varieties in complementary distribution),
while in others, only some members of the society do. This could be illustrated
either by a society where everyone controls L, but only some actively control
H, or the opposite case where everyone speaks and writes H, but some also
control an L variety. We can refer to this dichotomy as total
diglossia vs. partial diglossia. This factor is distinct from the
issue of whether diglossia is homogeneous or heterogeneous in the area (see
below ).