Todeva / Cenoz The Multiple Realities of Multilingualism

Personal Narratives and Researchers’ Perspectives
1. Auflage 2009
ISBN: 978-3-11-022448-1
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, Band 3, 314 Seiten

Reihe: Trends in Applied Linguistics [TAL]ISSN

This book is the very first collection of first-person language learning narratives that offers rich introspective data on the various processes and forces shaping the development and maintenance of multiple languages (seven and more) in a single individual. The writers are twelve multilinguals who have been influenced by quite different contextual factors and who have learned a wide range and combination of dialects and languages from both similar and very different linguistic families. The combinations explored in the narratives include some lesser-known languages that come from under-researched areas, such as the African continent, certain parts of Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.

Also unique are two theoretical chapters which analyze the narrative data against the background of language development research findings within several thematic areas: multiple language learning as a complex dynamic system; the influence of bilingualism/multilingualism on the acquisition of additional languages; cross-linguistic influence; and also emotions, motivation, and identity. The aim of this juxtaposition and analysis is to allow a meaningful comparison of the extent to which etic, researcher-generated, and emic, learner-offered perspectives match or diverge, and to identify new questions that the emic data may add to research agendas. The book is an excellent resource not only for researchers but also for teachers as well as for students of language at the graduate and undergraduate level.

Zielgruppe

Researchers of Language Acquisition and Multilingualism, Language

Autoren/Hrsg.

Todeva, Elka

Cenoz, Jasone

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Sprachwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Preface;7
2;Acknowledgements;9
3;Contents;11
4;Chapter 1 Multilingualism: Emic and etic perspectives;13
5;Chapter 2 A long, adventurous road to (im)perfection;45
6;Chapter 3 Multilingualism as a kaleidoscopic experience: The mini universes within;65
7;Chapter 4 My ways to Rome: Routes to multilingualism;87
8;Chapter 5 Incomplete journeys: A quest for multilingualism;105
9;Chapter 6 The joys and pitfalls of multiple language acquisition: The workings of the mind of a simultaneous multilingual;127
10;Chapter 7 A life of learning languages;147
11;Chapter 8 Linguistic cunning: From Burton to babelfish;165
12;Chapter 9 A “new breed” of American?;183
13;Chapter 10 Where art and nature meet;203
14;Chapter 11 A multilingual journey from East to West;221
15;Chapter 12 Roots, branches and seeds;235
16;Chapter 13 Expanding languages, expanding worlds;255
17;Chapter 14 The well and the bucket: The emic and etic perspectives combined;277
18;The contributors;305
19;Author index;309
20;Language index;312

Über Autor(innen)

Elka Todeva, SIT Graduate Institute, Brattleboro, USA. Jasone Cenoz,University of the Basque Country, Spain.