Defining and Assessing Multilingualism

Rethinking multilingual experience through a Systems Framework of Bilingualism

“…Thus, crucial to any classification of world languages, and consequently the experiences of people who speak and comprehend them, are sociocultural forces acting upon individual people when they choose or are compelled, utterance by utterance, to speak one or another language in daily life. Edwards (2012a) outlines no fewer than ten categories of language contact positioned around three distinct axes of variability: first, whether Indigenous, immigrant, or racialized linguistic minorities are only found within a particular region; second, how tightly organized they are within that region, and third, how physically separate they are from the linguistic majority (see also de Bot, 2019;Raviv et al, 2020;Wei, 2011). Accordingly, while the sociolinguistic forces leading to multilingualism in Canada (officially English-French) may bear some similarity to those operative in another officially English-French nation (e.g., Cameroon), there also exist crucial differences that can predict how people produce and comprehend multiple languages in these regions (see Grosjean & Li, 2013;Grosjean, 1982 for prescient attention to such details).…”

Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy to study word production in the brain: A picture-word interference study

“…The second major goal of this study is to compare the neural activities during word production in a second language (L2) with those during production in the native tongue (L1). The study of how our brain deals with such complicated cognitive processes in speakers' second language(s) is of particular importance, given that a large number of the world population speaks more than one language (de Bot, 2019). Unlike first language acquisition with more or less equal attainment of proficiency, L2 learning ends up with a much wider range of proficiency, especially when L2 learning starts after puberty (e.g., Birdsong, 2006Birdsong, , 2018Hartshorne, Tenenbaum, & Pinker, 2018;Hyltenstam, 2018).…”

Multilingual Life in Dementia Care : Crossing Linguistic Boundaries and Cognitive Gap: Navigating Mutual Understanding

“…The first language in the case of a person speaking a minority language, can be the strongest one, and often is more resilient in respect to regression. However, this does not mean that other linguistic skills completely disappear (see de Bot, 2019). The remaining parts of all linguistic skills constitute a unique linguistic resource of a multilingual person living with dementia (see de Bot, 2019).…”

“…However, this does not mean that other linguistic skills completely disappear (see de Bot, 2019). The remaining parts of all linguistic skills constitute a unique linguistic resource of a multilingual person living with dementia (see de Bot, 2019). Although word search is a common symptom in dementia, the patterns of language loss in multilinguals with dementia are diverse (de Bot et al, 2020;cf.…”