Multilingualism is a typical aspect of everyday life for most of the world's population; it has existed since the beginning of humanity and among individuals of all backgrounds. Nonetheless, it has often been treated as a variant of bilingualism or as a phenomenon unique to individual areas of study. The purpose of this book is to review current knowledge about the acquisition, use and loss of multiple languages using a multidisciplinary perspective, highlighting the common themes and stimulating insights that can emerge when multilingualism is viewed from different but related areas of investigation. The chapters focus on research evidence, showing that multilingualism is a complex phenomenon that involves a myriad of linguistic and extra-linguistic forces and that should be studied in its own right as evidence of human potential and capacity for language. The book is primarily addressed to students and scholars interested in deepening their understanding of the different facets of multilingualism, including the individual and societal circumstances that contribute to it, the cognitive and neural mechanisms that make it possible, and the dynamics involved in the acquisition, use and loss of multiple languages.

Multilingualism is a typical aspect of everyday life for most of the world's population; it has existed since the beginning of humanity and among individuals of all backgrounds. Nonetheless, it has often been treated as a variant of bilingualism or as a phenomenon unique to individual areas of study. The purpose of this book is to review current knowledge about the acquisition, use and loss of multiple languages using a multidisciplinary perspective, highlighting the common themes and stimulating insights that can emerge when multilingualism is viewed from different but related areas of investigation. The chapters focus on research evidence, showing that multilingualism is a complex phenomenon that involves a myriad of linguistic and extra-linguistic forces and that should be studied in its own right as evidence of human potential and capacity for language. The book is primarily addressed to students and scholars interested in deepening their understanding of the different facets of multilingualism, including the individual and societal circumstances that contribute to it, the cognitive and neural mechanisms that make it possible, and the dynamics involved in the acquisition, use and loss of multiple languages.

Current research on multilingual acquisition is concerned with whether children exposed to multiple languages from birth build separate language systems from early on or a single system comprised of elements of all languages. While several studies have shown that developing bilinguals show signs of language differentiation from the onset of speech, very little work has been done on children learning more than two languages. This book examines the emergence of three languages - Tagalog, Spanish, and English - in a child raised in a trilingual environment and focuses on the process of language differentiation from the perspective of phonology, lexicon, word order, and language choice. These analyses shed light on a child's ability to develop the various components of three languages and suggest that multilingual exposure does not slow down the process of language differentiation. The results of this study and their implications will be of interest to those working in linguistics, developmental psychology, and related fields, interested in the processes and mechanisms involved in multilingual children's language and cognitive development.

The study of bilingualism unfolds against a varied backdrop of sociocultural and sociopolitical factors. While the nature of bilingualism and multilingualism has often been misunderstood, the bilingual community is a dynamic and ever-growing part of the global population. This book pioneers the study of bilingualism across the lifespan and in all its diverse forms. In framing the newest research within a lifespan perspective, the editors highlight the importance of considering an individual's age - from infancy to late adulthood - when researching how bilingualism affects language acquisition and cognitive development. A key theme of the volume is the variability among bilinguals, which may be due to a host of individual and sociocultural factors. Five major topics are explored: early bilingualism; factors affecting bilingualism across the lifespan; academic achievement and literacy in bilinguals; and cognitive effects of bilingualism. While bilingualism is not always valued in the U.S.A. and thus may result in negative outcomes, in other countries and contexts, positive outcomes are common. Thus, this book is a call for language researchers, psychologists, and educators to pursue and promote a better understanding of bilingualism in our increasingly multicultural society.