The Handbook of Bilingualism (Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics) - Hardcover

"The 40 contributors - a stellar cast of scholars - address... fundamental issues in 31 chapters dealing with neurological and psychological aspects of bilingualism, societal bilingualism, and case studies of language contact and language policy... All authors define terms, state chapter goals and questions to be addressed, and provide outstanding references. Essential." Choice "In the diverse and complex field of 'bilingualism' this Handbook is a welcome new resource. Combining a presentation of fundamental issues with a wide sampling of offerings by major scholars actively pursuing many areas related to bilingualism, it provides the teacher, student, researcher, or lay reader with a valuable foundation in the field. The Handbook is especially welcome now, as the issues which underlie the collection are exceptionally current." Barbara C. Lust, Cornell University "A comprehensive account of bilingualism from different perspectives complemented by a carefully selected sample of case studies. From the point of view of the star-studded list of contributors, range of topics, and depth of treatment, it is difficult to think of any other study that can be a match for this volume. The book should be compulsory reading for scholars and students in all language-related disciplines." Ayo Bamgbose, University of Ibadan, Nigeria "From case studies of bilingualism in different parts of the globe, to socio-psychological discussions of bilinguals' language repertoires at the societal level, to psycholinguistic and neurocognitive investigations of bilingualism and biliteracy at the level of the individual, this comprehensive, multidisciplinary compendium of state-of-the-art overviews by prominent scholars in the field, ably edited by Bhatia and Ritchie, will be an invaluable resource for students, educators, and researchers of bi- and multilingualism for years to come." Jyotsna Vaid, Texas A M University

In a world in which people are increasingly mobile and ethnically self-aware, questions concerning bilingualism/multilingualism take on increasing importance from both scholarly and practical points of view. Over the last ten years - in which linguistic/ethnic communities that had previously been politically submerged have asserted themselves. These have provided scholars with new opportunities to study the phenomena of individual and societal bilingualism that had been closed to them. At the same time new practical challenges have come up in such areas as language identity and attitudes, language education, language endangerment and loss, and language rights. This volume offers a refreshingly lucid account of these topics. "The Handbook of Bilingualism" provides state-of-the-art treatments of the central issues that arise in consideration of the phenomena of bilingualism, ranging from the representation of the two languages in the bilingual individual's brain to the various forms of bilingual education, including the status of bilingualism in each area of the world.