The 25 contributions of this volume represent a selection from the more than 120 papers originally presented at the International Conference on “Multilingual Individuals and Multilingual Societies” (MIMS), held in Hamburg (October 2010) and organized by the Collaborative Research Center “Multilingualism” after twelve years of successful research. It presents a panorama of contemporary research in multilingualism covering three fields of investigation: (1) the simultaneous and successive acquisition of more than one language, including language attrition in multilingual settings, (2) historical aspects of multilingualism and variance, and (3) multilingual communication. The papers cover a vast variety of linguistic phenomena including morphology, syntax, segmental and prosodic phonology as well as discourse production and language use, taking both individual and societal aspects of multilingualism into account. The languages addressed include numerous Romance, Slavic and Germanic varieties as well as Welsh, Hungarian, Turkish, and several South African autochthonous languages.

An exploration of language socialization from very early childhood through to adulthood, not only in often-studied communities in Canada and the United States, but also in Australia, Bolivia, Egypt, India and Slovakia. The global perspective gained by the inclusion of studies of communities representing every inhabited continent provides readers with an indication of the richness of the field as well as a guide for future work.

This book is an introduction to the social and educational aspects of bilingualism. It presents an overview of a broad range of sociolinguistic and political issues surrounding the use of two languages, including code-switching in popular music, advertising, and online social spaces. It offers a well-informed discussion of what it means to study and live with multiple languages in a globalized world and practical advice on raising bilingual children.

This text provides an overview of bi- and multilingualism as a worldwide phenomenon. It features comprehensive discussions of many of the linguistic, social, political, and educational issues found in an increasingly multilingual nation and world. To this end, the book takes the Chicano-Latino community of Southern California, where Spanish-English bilingualism has over a century and a half of history, and presents a detailed case study, thereby situating the community in a much broader social context. Spanish is the second most-widely spoken language in the U.S. after English, yet, for the most part, its speakers form a language minority that essentially lacks the social, political, and educational support necessary to derive the many cognitive, socioeconomic, and educational benefits that proficient bilingualism can provide. The issues facing Spanish-English bilinguals in the Los Angeles area are relevant to nearly every bi- and multilingual community irrespective of nation, language, and/or ethnicity.

This book is the first to propose an integrated approach to the study of bilingual education in minority and majority settings. Contributions from well-known scholars working in eight different countries in Europe and the Americas show that it is possible to bridge the gap between prestigious elite bilingualism and the bilingualism of minority communities and work towards the construction of multilingual spaces.

Arguing against a common sense view of bilingualism as the co-existence of two linguistic systems, this volume develops a critical perspective which approaches bilingualism as a wide variety of sets of sociolinguistic practices connected to the construction of social difference and of social inequality under specific historical conditions.

The papers in this volume have been written by leading scholars in the field of bilingualism and deal with individual bilingualism, societal and educational phenomena, addressing issues such as bilingual usage, acquisition, teaching, and language planning and policy. The volume's major asset lies in its diversity, not only in depth of investigation and in topical variety but also in the range of languages and geographical regions covered. Another important feature of the volume is its multidisciplinary perspective. Among the contributors are linguists, sociologists, psychologists and sociolinguists.

This book explores bilingual community education, specifically the educational spaces shaped and organized by American ethnolinguistic communities for their children in the multilingual city of New York. Employing a rich variety of case studies which highlight the importance of the ethnolinguistic community in bilingual education, this collection examines the various structures that these communities use to educate their children as bilingual Americans. In doing so, it highlights the efforts and activism of these communities and what bilingual community education really means in today's globalized world. The volume offers new understandings of heritage language education, bilingual education, and speech communities for bilingual Americans in the 21st century.

A general introduction to bilingualism, bilingual education, and minority education in the United States, and an ethnographic/discourse analytic study of how one successful dual-language programme challenges mainstream US educational progammes that discriminate against minority students and the languages they speak. Implications for research practice and practice in other school and community contexts are emphasized.