Full Description
Bilingualism: The Basics provides the reader with a state-of-the-art overview of research into individual bilingualism. Very generally, a bilingual individual is someone who has two or more languages embedded in their life. The majority of the world is either bilingual or multilingual. Few people have never had any exposure to another language - true monolingualism is rare! But bilinguals can vary in terms of many dimensions like amount of language use, proficiency levels in their languages, and age of acquisition. This book gets to the heart of how bilinguals differ from one another, but also how they are similar to one another. Its focus is on research-based evidence, so that the reader can understand bilingualism from an up-to-date scientifically informed perspective. Covering topics such as how bilingual children acquire more than one language, how bilingual adults manage two or more languages in their minds, whether earlier is really always better, and even whether bilingualism affords cognitive advantages, it's a must-read book for all students of Bilingualism from Psychology, Language or Linguistics backgrounds.
Contents
Preface. Acknowledgement. Chapter 1: Five basic points about bilingualism. Chapter 2: Multicompetent bilinguals. Chapter 3: Beware of different forms of the Monolingual Bias. Chapter 4: What is a critical period? Chapter 5: Child Bilingualism: Exposure, but not only exposure, modifies proficiency. Chapter 6: Adult bilingualism: Language use, and many other predictor variables, modify proficiency. Chapter 7: Bilingual attrition: A waterfall in a river. Chapter 8: The Bilingual Brain: Bilinguals have a task that monolinguals do not have because bilinguals manage two or more languages in their brain. Chapter 9: Code-switching: "Back and forths" between languages is a sign of proficiency, not inadequacy. Chapter 10: Each bilingual experience is unique.
