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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.
This book presents the findings of a case study in bilingual
acquisition and explores their implications for theories of first-
and second-language acquisition. The authors focus on the emergence
of two languages - Spanish and English - during one child's second
year of life, and examine the process of language learning from the
perspectives of phonology, lexicon, syntax, and language choice.
The theoretical questions addressed by the authors include whether
phonological distinctions can be acquired on acoustic evidence
alone; whether lexical acquisition involves an avoidance of
synonymy (not necessarily, the authors suggest); whether all words
in early two-word utterances can be assigned to lexical categories;
and how early children are able to make appropriate language
choices. They also consider the implications of their research for
bilingual acquisition, including the questions of whether a
bilingual child has one or two linguistic systems; the criteria
which should be used in identifying one versus two systems; and the
most important determinants of language choice - the identity of
the interlocutor, for example, or the location and context of the
conversation? This is an original contribution to the field of
early bilingual acquisition and to theoretical work in language
acquisition. The authors' finely observed results and the
implications they draw from them will be of interest to those
working in linguistics, psychology, and related fields, both
theoretical and applied, concerned to understand the human ability
to acquire language and the evolution of a young child's mind.
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