Full Description
Which strategies do multilingual learners use when confronted with languages they don't yet know? Which factors are involved in activating prior linguistic knowledge in multilingual learning? This volume offers valuable insights into recent research in multilingualism, crosslinguistic influence and crosslinguistic interaction. Experts in the field examine the role of background languages in multilingual learning. All the chapters point to the heart of the question of what the «multilingual mind» is. Does learning one language actually help you learn another, and if so, why?
This volume looks at languages and scenarios beyond English as a second language - Italian, Gaelic, Dutch and German, amongst others, are covered, as well as instances of third and additional language learning. Research into crosslinguistic influence and crosslinguistic interaction essentially contributes to our understanding of how language learning works when there are three or more languages in contact.
Contents
1. Introduction
Gessica De Angelis (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland);
Ulrike Jessner (University of Innsbruck, Austria); Marijana Kresic (University of Zadar, Croatia)
2. Perceptual Training of Novel Speech Contrasts in L3 Acquisition: The Effect of Multilingual Benefit
Divya Verma Gogoi, James D. Harnsberger and Caroline Wiltshire (University of Florida, USA)
3. The Lexicon-Syntax Interfacein 3L1 acquisition: An Experimental Investigation of the Unaccusative/Unergative Distinction
Megan Devlin, Raffaella Folli and Christina Sevdali (University of Ulster, Ireland)
4. Can a Background Language Alter the Path of Acquisition of Verb Placement in a Multilingual Context? Evidence from a Longitudinal Study
Laura Sánchez (University of Barcelona, Spain)
5. Item-related determinants of cognate guessing in multilinguals
Jan Vanhove and Raphael Berthele (University of Fribourg, Switzerland)
6. Developing Cognitive Strategies through Pluralistic approaches
Rebecca Dahm (Université de Limoges, France)
7. "If you know Amharic you can read this": Emergent literacy in multilingual pre-reading children
Anat Stavans (Beit Berl College and Research Institute for Innovation in Education at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel)
8. Does German help speakers of Dutch to understand written and spoken Danish words? - The role of second language knowledge in decoding an unknown but related language
Femke Swarte, Anja Schüppert and Charlotte Gooskens (University of Groningen, The Netherlands)
9. Is A2 in German better than B2 in French when reading Danish? The role of prior language knowledge when faced with an unknown language
Karolina Mieszkowska and Agnieszka Otwinowska (University of Warsaw, Poland)
10. Do learners transfer from the language they perceive as most closely related to the L3? The role of psychotypology for lexical and grammatical cross-linguistic influence in French L3
Christina Lindqvist (Uppsala University, Sweden)
11. Epilogue
De Angelis, Jessner, Kresic
Bibliography
Index
