The Mysteries of Bilingualism
Unresolved Issues
1. Edition March 2022
176 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Further versions
Eleven critical issues in the study of bilingualism: Insightful analyses by renowned expert François Grosjean
The majority of people living around the world today are able to speak more than one language, yet many aspects of the nature and experience of bilingualism raise unresolved questions for researchers. Who exactly is bilingual? What is the extent of bilingualism? How do infant bilinguals who acquire two languages at the same time manage to separate them? Does language processing work differently when bilinguals are interacting with monolinguals and with bilinguals? When a speaker changes their language, do they also change aspects of their personality?
In The Mysteries of Bilingualism, eminent scholar François Grosjean provides a comprehensive examination of individual bilingualism that delves into unanswered questions and challenges many of the myths and misconceptions surrounding bilingualism. Through insightful analyses of eleven key questions, this book offers a unique combination of personal reflection, literature review, personal testimony, and case studies to explore these mysteries. Altogether, this text offers:
* Comprehensive explorations of the linguistic aspects of bilingualism, including who is bilingual, describing bilinguals, accented speech, and language loss
* Practical discussions of speech and language processing, including language choice and mixed speech perception and production
* In-depth examinations of personality and culture in relation to bilingualism and biculturalism
Perfect for undergraduate and graduate students of bilingualism, multilingualism, second language acquisition, and applied linguistics, The Mysteries of Bilingualism offers an up-to-date view of the leading research questions in the study of bilingualism today.
Introduction 1
Part I Bilingual Adults and Children 5
1 Who Is Bilingual? 7
Definitions and Their Evolution 8
Describing Bilinguals 11
2 How Many Bilinguals Are There? 18
The Extent of Bilingualism 18
On the Difficulties of Counting People Who Are Bilingual 20
The Proportion of Bilinguals in a Number of Countries 23
Estimating the Percentage of Bilinguals in the World 27
3 Bilingual Infants' Journey to Language Separation 30
Perception Studies 31
Taking Pragmatics into Account 38
A Brief Account of Language Separation 40
Part II Linguistics and Neurolinguistics 43
4 Having an Accent in One of Your Languages 45
General Aspects 45
The Phonetic Characteristics of Accents 46
How Well Is Accented Speech Understood? 48
Factors that Affect the Degree of a Foreign Accent 50
Accent in a Third Language 55
5 Language Loss in Adults and Children 59
Language Loss in Adults 59
Language Loss in Young Children 63
6 Brain Injury and Bilingualism 72
A Personal Testimony 73
Language Impairment and Recovery in Bilingual Aphasia 74
Factors that Account for Impairment and Recovery 78
A Recent Meta-Analysis 81
Language Mixing and Aphasia 82
Part III Language Use and Language Processing 87
7 The Bilingual's Languages in Interaction 89
Choosing the Language of the Interaction 89
What Role for the Other Language? 92
Experimental Work on Language Mixing 94
The Language Mode Concept 97
8 What a Bilingual's Languages Are Used For 102
What Past Research Has Revealed 103
Recent Interest in Bilingual Language Use 104
Measuring Bilingual Language Use 106
Impact of Bilingual Language Use 109
9 Is Language Processing in Bilinguals Selective or Non-selective? 117
Language Perception and Comprehension 118
Spoken Language Production 122
Part IV Biculturalism and Personality 129
10 Bilinguals Who Are also Bicultural 131
Describing Biculturals 131
Becoming Bicultural and the Evolution of Biculturalism over Time 134
Acting Biculturally 137
Bicultural Identity 141
11 Change of Language, Change of Personality? 146
Opinions and Beliefs 147
Pioneering Research on the Question 147
Feeling Different When Using Different Languages 150
Is a Change of Personality Involved When Changing Languages? 152
An Explanation 154
Index 159
--Fred Genesee (2022), Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
"In every respect, this book is a well-timed contribution to bilingualism. It highlights some pending questions about bilingualism, which shed light on future studies to explore the unsettled issues inthis domain."
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--Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching
"The research problems surveyed in this book offer students of bilingualism and second language learning a guide for designing their own research program, one that keeps an eye on the pending questions. Practitioners will be well served by the review of recent work that updates ongoing projects from years past."
--Issues in Applied Linguistics, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp 22 - 29
"... this book should prove valuable for both novice and experienced researchers who are interested in an overall view of bilingualism or in one of the eleven issues that comprise the book."
--System, Volume 111, December 2022, 102947
"François Grosjean's renowned expertise in the world of bilingualism is on display in this welcome addition to the field."
--Linguist List, 34.518, 2023
