Bilingualism
Bilingualism refers to the ability to speak and understand two languages proficiently. It encompasses various levels of language proficiency and can be acquired through different means, such as simultaneous exposure to two languages from birth or through formal education. Bilingualism can have cognitive, social, and economic benefits, and it is a common phenomenon in many parts of the world.
4 Key excerpts on "Bilingualism"
- Colin Baker, Wayne E. Wright(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Multilingual Matters(Publisher)
...We consider terminology, the ways individuals use two more languages, bilingual and multilingual ability, degrees of Bilingualism, monolingual versus holistic views of Bilingualism, and communicative competence as a way of conceptualizing language proficiency. An introduction to Bilingualism and multilingualism as a group possession (societal Bilingualism or pluralingualism) is provided in Chapters 3 and 4. Terminology If a person is asked whether they speak two or more languages, the question is ambiguous. A person may be able to speak two languages but may tend to speak only one language in practice. Alternatively, the individual may regularly speak two languages, but competence in one language may be much stronger. Another person may use one language for conversation and one or two others for writing and reading. Yet another may mix their languages in creative ways when communicating with others. An essential distinction is therefore between language ability and language use. This is sometimes referred to as the difference between degree and function. Before discussing the nature of language use and abilities, an awareness of often-used terms and distinctions is needed. For example, apart from language ability there are language achievement, language competence, language performance, language proficiency and language skills. Do they all refer to the same thing, or are there subtle distinctions between the terms? To add to the problem, different authors and researchers sometimes tend to adopt their own specific meanings and distinctions. Some Dimensions of Bilingualism and Multilingualism (1) Ability. Some bilinguals actively speak and write in both languages (productive Bilingualism or competence), others are more passive bilinguals and have receptive Bilingualism (ability to understand or read). For some, an ability in two or more languages is well developed. Others may be moving through the early stages of acquiring a second language as emergent bilinguals...
eBook - ePubIntroducing Second Language Acquisition
Perspectives and Practices
- Kirsten M. Hummel(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
...On the other hand, other specialists are not quite so categorical in requiring full and “native‐like control” in order for one to qualify as “bilingual.” For instance, for the sociolinguist Einar Haugen (1953, p. 7) Bilingualism is: “the point where a speaker can first produce complete meaningful utterances in the other language.” For the Canadian sociolinguist William Mackey (1962, p. 52), Bilingualism is: “the alternate use of two or more languages by the same individual.” He specified (1956, p. 8): “Bilingualism is entirely relative, the point at which a speaker of a second language becomes bilingual is either arbitrary or impossible to determine.” Uriel Weinreich (1953) defined Bilingualism as “the practice of alternately using two languages.” In more recent times, the sociolinguist Li Wei (2007, p. 7) described a bilingual as: “someone with the possession of two languages.” According to the definitions proposed by Haugan, Mackey, Weinreich, and Wei, in addition to Alberto and Walid, we can consider Mila, as well as the other L2 learners who have guided our discussions throughout this book, Steve, Linda, and Xia Mei, as bilinguals. We see then that the person who is considered to be bilingual varies considerably according to the way in which this term is defined. Cartoon 10.1 “Delusion Springs Maternal,” 5/3/2011, by John Crowther. Reprinted here with permission of Carla Romanelli Crowther. All rights reserved. One solution to the definition problem is to propose ways of distinguishing among types and degrees of Bilingualism, as has been done in Table 10.1...
eBook - ePub- François Grosjean, Ping Li(Authors)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
...Chapter 1 Bilingualism: A Short Introduction François Grosjean The words “bilingual” and “Bilingualism” have many different meanings depending on the context they are used in. They can include the knowledge and use of two or more languages, the presentation of information in two languages, the need for two languages, the recognition of two or more languages, and so on. Since this book focuses on the psycholinguistics of bilingual adults and children, we will define Bilingualism, and indeed multilingualism, as the use of two or more languages (or dialects) in everyday life. This chapter has several aims. The first is to introduce readers to basic concepts concerning Bilingualism and bilinguals so as to help them understand more specialized chapters later in the book. Readers bring with them knowledge of language and cognition but they may know less about Bilingualism. Hopefully this chapter will help fill this gap. The second aim is to describe what it is that bilingual participants bring to the studies they take part in. In everyday life, they are “regular bilinguals” with specific language knowledge and language use which they bring to this research as participants. Some of the aspects that will be mentioned are studied specifically or manipulated directly by psycholinguists whilst others simply accompany bilingual participants into the research environment. We need to understand these phenomena so as to be able to make sense of the data that are obtained. A third aim, which is not restricted to this chapter alone, will be to clarify some misconceptions that surround Bilingualism and bilinguals, such as that bilinguals have equal and perfect knowledge of their two or more languages, that they have no accent in any of their languages, that they acquired their languages in childhood, that they are all competent translators, and so on...
eBook - ePub- Carol A. Chapelle(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
...At least one bilingual study, testing the grammatical tense contrast between English and Indonesian (Boroditsky, Ham, & Ramscar, 2002), suggests that bilinguals can switch between two language‐specific modes of thinking and that this mental reset can be triggered by just a modicum of language. Recent studies on the conceptual representation of color similarly point at the flexibility of bilingual cognition by showing that bilinguals' responses in a color discrimination task varies with the usage frequency of either language (e.g., Athanasopoulos, Damjanovic, Krajciova, & Sasaki, 2011). Bilingualism and Intelligence Until well beyond the middle of the 20th century the view prevailed that Bilingualism is detrimental for intelligence and cognitive functioning in general. A study by Peal and Lambert (1962) marked a change from this view to the opinion that, under specific conditions, Bilingualism is in fact beneficial for intelligence and cognition, including some aspects of linguistic competence. In that study 10‐year‐old French–English bilingual and French monolingual children from middle‐class French schools in Canada's Montreal region were administered a number of tests that measured their verbal and nonverbal intelligence. Whereas earlier studies had shown a disadvantage for bilingual children as compared with monolingual peers, the bilingual children in this study performed significantly better than the monolingual children on most tests, both the ones that measured verbal intelligence and those measuring nonverbal intelligence...
