Multilingualism

1.1 Definition of Multilingualism

Although bilingualism and multilingualism refer to the knowledge and use of two and of more than two languages, respectively, very often the term 'bilingualism' has been used to refer to both concepts, as in the case of Baetens Beardsmore's (1982) definition:

Bilingualism (...) must be able to account for the presence of at least two languages within one and the same speaker, remembering that ability in these two languages may or may not be equal, and the way the two or more languages are used plays a highly significant role. (Baetens Beardsmore, 1982: 3)

Moore and Gajo (2009) distinguish between multilingualism (the study of social contact) and plurilingualism (the study of individuals' repertoires and agency in several languages). In this book I have chosen the term multilingualism to refer to both the social and the individual situation in which two or more languages are known and used by speakers. Plurilingualism is, in turn, considered as one of the characteristics of multilingual individuals, as explained in Section 1.3.

Multilingualism is not something new. It has happened all over the world and at all times in the history of humankind. However, according to Aronin and Singleton (2008: 4), current multilingualism is 'assimilable to politicoeconomic aspects of globalisation, global mobility and "postmodern" modes of thinking', and as such has different characteristics from historical multilingualism. Multilingualism is related to today's 'new linguistic dispensation', that is, to the modern concepts of time, space and identity as a background to language. In relation to time, linguistic communication has been affected by the use of technologies that have made it instantaneous both in its written and oral forms (mobile phones, audio and video communication, computer software, etc.). Space is no longer fixed and its relationship with languages has varied. Mobility culture and the accessibility to modern means of transport have also altered the concept of identity and the idea of belonging to a certain culture and place. In addition, virtual existence in cyberspace has created new identities and new social groups to be part of.

Although it is true that today's way of life, particularly in the West, favours multilingualism, throughout history a large number of people have always been multilingual, that is, they utilised and many still use two or more languages in their everyday lives (Cenoz & Genesee, 1998). Research on multilingualism has unveiled the complexity of linguistic and cultural variation in the multilinguals' use of languages, which may vary over time. The competence of multilinguals in each of the languages they know is no longer the only important aspect of multilingualism. It is also important to learn the status of the languages each person possesses, which may differ according to the situation and place where these languages are used. They can be official or non-official languages, majority or minority languages, international, national, regional or local languages. The use the people make of the language can be individual or social.

Social multilingualism can be explained in relation to historical, political and educational dimensions. The concern for multilingual education in different parts of the world relates to the status of the language in any of the possibilities described above. In countries that went through a long colonial period in their history, such as India or South Africa, one of the major concerns is still the attitude towards the colonial versus the local or regional languages in educational contexts (Bekker, 2003; Ferguson, 2003). Although most of these countries have approved constitutions that declare as official languages several of their own languages along with the colonial language, it is the latter that is normally used in the classroom. The reasons usually given by the education authorities often relate to the great variety of languages used among the pupils (as many as 11 are official in South Africa out of the 25 that are spoken by a significant number of people). However, the underlying reason is often the power relationship between the speakers of those languages (Baetens Beardsmore, 2003). Even though European countries have been colonisers rather than colonies, a similar situation can be found in European regions which had their own language, such as Friesland in the Netherlands, Brittany in France or the Ruthenian region in Slovakia. Nowadays these languages have become mostly secluded within the family and home domain, and the state language has beenadopted in the education system (Hornsby & Agarin, 2012). Some other languages went through a similar situation but social, political and historical events swung in their favour so that a few years ago they began to be incorporated in some way or other into the classroom and the public and administrative domains. This is the case for Welsh in Wales, and Galician, Basque and Catalan in Spain.

In addition to the minority local languages, some countries have received a great number of immigrants who may keep their own language through one or several generations. Sometimes these languages are considered to be problematic for their integration and immigrants are encouraged to use only the national language of the host country with their children, forcing them to become monolingual. In cases where they decide to preserve their mother tongues, their multilingualism is most often reduced to the private domain only. Most countries in Europe, as in many other parts of the world, have received immigrants at some time in their history, especially in the large cities, so this situation needs to be considered when dealing with multilingualism.

Regarding individual multilingualism, the situation is rather different depending on whether the bilingual or multilingual speakers are immersed in a society that shares this multilingualism (social multilingualism) or, on the contrary, they are surrounded by monolinguals or people who speak languages different from the ones spoken by them. A case thoroughly studied, especially from the point of view of psycholinguistics and second language learning, is that of a child with a home language which is different from the social or school language, such as in the case of the immigrants described above (Cots & Nussbaum, 2008; Kasanga, 2008; Lotherington & Eamer, 2008).

On the other hand, looking through the social perspective, a country may be multilingual even when most of the citizens have competence in just one language, such as for example in Switzerland or Canada,...