Twelve Lectures on Multilingualism

David Singleton, Larissa Aronin, David Singleton, Larissa Aronin

• Publisher: Multilingual Matters
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781788922081
• Topic: Langues et linguistique
• Subtopic: Linguistique

This major new textbook offers an accessible introduction to many of the most interesting areas in the study of multilingualism. It consists of twelve lectures, written by leading researchers, each dedicated to a particular topic of importance. Each lecture offers a state-of-the-art, authoritative review of a subdiscipline of the field. The volume sheds light on the ways in which the use and acquisition of languages are changing, providing new insights into the nature of contemporary multilingualism. It will be of interest both to undergraduate and postgraduate students working in linguistics-related disciplines and students in associated social sciences.

Part 1

Multilingualism in Society and Education

Lecture 1

What is Multilingualism?1

Larissa Aronin

Introduction

Multilingualism is a complex, vibrant and ever-intriguing phenomenon. Today the significance of multilingualism has spilled over its local and private roles into having a much broader, global importance and it is one of the most essential social practices in the world.

The term multilingualism is used here to refer to the use of three and more languages and is distinguished, where appropriate, from bilingualism, the use of two languages. In this perspective bilingualism is taken to be a special case of multilingualism rather than vice versa. This position will be further explained later in this lecture where, rather than taking the similarities between bilingualism and multilingualism for granted, we consider the meaningful differences between the two.

The question ‘What is multilingualism?’ is not as simple as it looks at first sight. Decades have been spent on heated discussions about what kind of person a multilingual is. Definitions and descriptions of various communities which are labelled as multilingual vary in their accounts. The basic understanding of what multilingualism is often diverges for researchers depending on their differing backgrounds and ideologies. Definitions include: ‘Multilingualism is the presence of a number of languages in one country or community or city’; ‘Multilingualism is the use of three or more languages’; and ‘Multilingualism is the ability to speak several languages’. In this last sense, multilingualism is widely regarded as ‘a natural state of humankind’ (Flynn, 2016). In addition, neuroscientists discuss multilingualism in the context of the way the brain is organized among those who speak multiple languages.

The above accounts suffice for general acquaintance with different dimensions of multilingualism. Still, there is so far no simple, short and ‘one size fits all’ answer to the question ‘What is multilingualism?’. This lecture will show why we should not expect one. Instead, it will acquaint the reader with the forms, appearances and key features of multilingualism. It will discuss the basic terminology and concepts of multilingualism, introduce the fundamentals that have been established in the field so far, mention some theories and concepts suggested and employed for the study of multilingualism and provide an update on its most recent developments. In the lecture, multilingualism will be considered in a general sense mostly as a societal phenomenon.

Forms of Multilingualism

Individual and societal multilingualism

It is convenient and logical to distinguish between individual and societal multilingualism. This said, we must acknowledge that the domains of individual multilingualism and societal multilingualism are not clear cut. They are closely interwoven. Human language is a collective phenomenon (Andrews, 2014: 49; Donald, 2004) and it is impossible to study individual multilingualism without considering its societal dimensions. And the opposite is also true: societal multilingualism cannot be understood without knowing how multilingualism affects individuals.

Individual multilingualism relates to the personal sphere and covers the acquisition and use of several languages by an individual. It deals with an individual’s ability to master, and appropriately use, two or more languages, and includes language-related physical abilities and neurological processes taking place in the brain, in healthy, challenged and gifted individuals. Those researching individual multilingualism are interested in the emotions and attitudes of learners and speakers of multiple languages in relation to their own and others’ languages. Such researchers also study and compare the life trajectories of users of different constellations of languages, and investigate how such individuals benefit from, or are challenged by, the set of languages in their life. The term plurilingualism is sometimes used instead of individual multilingualism, especially in Francophone scholarship and documents of the European Union. The individual aspects of multilingualism are discussed in their own specific lecture (Lecture 5 by John Edwards) and are also dealt with in other lectures in this volume.

The term societal multilingualism refers to the contexts, circumstances, order, manner and routines of use of languages in different kinds of communities, organizations and groups. People are not only aware of, but often regulate their language practices through the way they deal with the language varieties they know, and by introducing additional language varieties into their communal life. Societies have a prescribed or expected linguistic behaviour, associated with the particular position or status of languages in a family, school, nation and country. Language-related events going beyond an established frame are also a matter of interest for sociolinguists, applied linguists and sociologists of language. How multiple language varieties intersect in society, what the status and social opportunities of people are who use particular languages in certain multilingual contexts, what the language policies and practices are and how they change with time – all these issues are within the scope of societal multilingualism (Edwards, 2007). Also, multilingualism may impact on how the language(s) one uses influence how easily one can obtain medical help, publish an article, write a complaint and get a job in a multilingual country. Likewise, such details as whether one has a container in one’s kitchen on which the word ‘bread’ is written in an indigenous or a lesser used language, rather than in an official language of a country, are matters of societal multilingualism.

By societal multilingualism we mean the organized and unorganized language practices with three and more languages and the handling of more than two languages by some or all members of a society, as well as the implications of these practices and this handling for the society and its members. ‘Handling’ involves language policies, attitudes, language behaviour and the assumptions underlying such behaviour in a particular community, all in the context of three and more languages being dealt with.

The existence of societal multilingualism in a country or region does not mean that the country or region in question is peopled by equally multilingual citizens. There are communities and territories where multiple languages coexist side by side. That is, in some countries speakers use their own languages but not so much the other languages of the community; they do not normally know and do not have to know or use all the languages spoken in this territory. When many languages simply coexist in a territory, without the necessity of all of them being used by all the citizens, it can be called proximate multilingualism. Switzerland, with its principle of territoriality, is a good example of proximate multilingualism. Although this country is considered one of the oldest multilingual countries in Europe, its citizens do not need to use all four official languages of the Swiss Confederation: German, French, Italian and Romansch. A single language (e.g. Italian in Ticino, German in Zurich, Glarus, Lucerne, Nidwalden, Obwalden) is recognized as official in most cantons for use in all domains of social communication. Only a few cantons are officially bilingual: Bienne and Freiburg, as well as the federal capital Berne with French and German as official languages. There is also the trilingual canton of Graubünden, where German, Romansh and Italian are official languages. People ...