ABSTRACT

An Introduction to Bilingualism provides a comprehensive review of the most important aspects of individual and societal bilingualism, examining both theoretcial and practical issues.

At the level of the individual, it addresses such questios as: What is involved in the study of bilingual children? What are the patterns of bilingual language acquisition? In which ways do the language competence and the speech of bilinguals differ from those of monolinguals? Topics that sometimes arouse controversy are explored - such as the question of whether there is a relationship between bilingualsim and a child's cognitive, psychological and social development.

The book is also concerned with multilingualism, that is, bilingualsim as a societal phenomenon. It focuses on such issues as language choice in bilingual and multilingual communities, national identity and the education of bilinguals. The inclusion of several case studies of European linguistic minorities serves to exemplify the topics dealt with at the theoretical level and to illustrate the linguistic complexities found in contemporary Europe.

chapter |10 pages

Introduction

part 1|144 pages

Psycholinguistic Aspects of Bilingualism

chapter 1|20 pages

Individual bilingualism

chapter 2|22 pages

The study of bilingual children

chapter 3|19 pages

Patterns of bilingual language acquisition

chapter 4|20 pages

Aspects of bilingual competence

chapter 5|24 pages

Features of bilingual speech

chapter 7|19 pages

Sociocultural aspects of bilingualism

part II|159 pages

Sociolinguistic Aspects of Bilingualism

chapter 8|18 pages

Societal multilingualism

chapter 10|26 pages

Language and national identity

chapter 11|29 pages

Linguistic minorities

chapter 12|12 pages

Case study I: The Alsatians

chapter 13|29 pages

Case Sudy II: The Catalans