Multidisciplinary Perspectives On Multilingualism

Multilingualism is a typical aspect of everyday life for most of the world’s population; it has existed since the beginning of humanity and among individuals of all backgrounds. Nonetheless, it has often been treated as a variant of bilingualism or as a phenomenon unique to individual areas of study. The purpose of this book is to review current knowledge about the acquisition, use and loss of multiple languages using a multidisciplinary perspective, highlighting the common themes and stimulating insights that can emerge when multilingualism is viewed from different but related areas of investigation. The chapters focus on research evidence, showing that multilingualism is a complex phenomenon that involves a myriad of linguistic and extra-linguistic forces and that should be studied in its own right as evidence of human potential and capacity for language. The book is primarily addressed to students and scholars interested in deepening their understanding of the different facets of multilingualism, including the individual and societal circumstances that contribute to it, the cognitive and neural mechanisms that make it possible, and the dynamics involved in the acquisition, use and loss of multiple languages.

Wordplay involving several linguistic codes represents an important modality of ludic language. It is attested in different epochs, communicative situations, genres, and contexts of use. The translation of wordplay, which is generally seen as a challenging enterprise, illustrates another dimension of crossing linguistic borders in wordplay. The third volume of the series The Dynamics of Wordplay unites contributions from different disciplines which study the creative and playful use of elements from different languages and the transfer of ludic language into other linguistic systems. It sheds light on the multi-dimensionality, special linguistic make-up, and specific interactive potential of wordplay at the interface of different languages and cultures. The individual studies collected in this volume will be of interest to scholars from different scientific fields, such as linguistics and literary studies as well as cultural and media studies.

This volume attempts to illuminate Canada’s linguistic diversity by bringing together within one single volume a range of innovative studies which explore Canadian language issues across the political, legislative, social, educational and linguistic horizons. The ten chapters within the volume constitute a mixture of overview survey articles on a particular theme, as well as analyses based on large-scale empirical studies, presenting both qualitative and quantitative findings. The multidisciplinary approach provides complementary insights on a range of key-themes central to the Canadian linguistic context, such as in the case of language politics, language legislation, language education, sociolinguistics, language contact, language variation and change, varieties of French, minority language issues and language standardisation. The languages covered include both English and French, as well as Aboriginal languages.

This collection of scholarly articles is the first to address the challenges of multilingualism from a multidisciplinary perspective. The contributors to this volume examine both the beneficial and the problematic aspects of multilingualism in various dimensions, that is, they address familial, educational, academic, artistic, scientific, historical, professional, and geopolitical challenges.

Canada has become one of the most popular destinations for international students at the higher education level. A number of complex factors and trends, both in Canada and globally, have contributed to the emergence of Canada as a destination for international higher education. However, more research is still needed to better understand the experiences of international students in Canada considering the rapid growth in numbers as well as the social, political, and linguistic singularity of Canada as a destination. Multidisciplinary Perspectives on International Student Experience in Canadian Higher Education is an essential scholarly publication that explores international students' experiences in Canadian colleges and universities. It seeks to explore the various factors, aspects, challenges, and successes that characterize the international student experience in Canadian higher education from the perspective of international students and the academic communities to which they belong. Featuring a wide range of topics such as information literacy, professional development, and experiential learning, this book is ideal for academicians, instructors, researchers, policymakers, curriculum designers, and students.

Written by distinguished legal and linguistic scholars and practitioners from the EU institutions, the contributions in this volume provide multidisciplinary perspectives on the vital role of language and culture as key forces shaping the dynamics of EU law. The broad spectrum of topics sheds light on major Europeanization processes at work: the gradual creation of a neutralized EU legal language with uniform concepts, for example, in the DCFR and CESL, and the emergence of a European legal culture. The main focus is on EU multilingual lawmaking, with special emphasis on problems of legal translation and term formation in the multilingual and multicultural European context, including comparative law aspects and an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of translating from a lingua franca. Of equal importance are issues relating to the multilingual interpretation of EU legislation and case law by the national courts and interpretative techniques of the CJEU, as well as the viability of the autonomy of EU legal concepts and the need for the professionalization of court interpreters Union-wide in response to Directive 2010/64/EU. Offering a good mix of theory and practice, this book is intended for scholars, practitioners and students with a special interest in the legal-linguistic aspects of EU law and their impact on old and new Member States and candidate countries as well.

Multilingualism, including bilingualism, has become internationally important today because of the increasing interdependence between countries, regions and continents, and because of increasing concern with preserving linguistic and cultural diversity. This book is a comprehensive introduction to research on multilingualism. Although psychological aspects predominate, it provides a multidisciplinary perspective on the individual and societal consequences of multilingualism, bringing together insights from linguistics, pedagogy, cognitive neuroscience, sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics. The book underlines the normality of speaking and using more than one language, and serves to dispel many myths and fears in this regard. Besides theoretical issues, it also provides recommendations on how to promote multilingualism in children from a dominant language group, and how to maintain all languages of students from ethnic communities by means of education.