Cognition and Multilingualism

English summary:

Multilingualism is a reality in South African classrooms. The Constitution of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) and the national language policy recognize language rights and aims at supporting, promoting and developing the official languages. However, despite the advantages of mother tongue education, English is often chosen as language of learning and teaching at the cost of the African official languages. This study proposes the accommodation and promotion of multilingualism through blended learning.

Blended learning refers to the blending of traditional instruction methods, such as face-to-face instruction, with other forms of instruction such as online learning and teaching. Through a discussion of asynchronous and synchronous learning tools it was established that wikis would be used for this study. In terms of blended learning and learning theories the main emphasis in this study is on socio-constructivism as well as communal constructivism.

The empirical research in this study focused on the establishment and testing of a conceptual model for the accommodation and promotion of multilingualism through blended learning in the subject IT. The research took the form of a sequential embedded mixed methods design. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used. A questionnaire was used with IT teachers to investigate the language and blended learning context. This was followed up with qualitative research in the form of interviews aimed at provincial and national experts in terms of the subject IT and e-learning. Based on the literature and these two investigations, a conceptual model was developed. The conceptual model’s effectiveness was tested through a quasi-experimental study. A questionnaire was also completed by the respondents at the schools after the completion of the study. Through the testing of the effectiveness of the conceptual model it was found that multilingualism could successfully be accommodated and promoted through this conceptual model.



Afrikaans summary:

Meertaligheid is ’n werklikheid in Suid-Afrikaanse klaskamers. Die Grondwet van Suid-Afrika (Wet 108 van 1996) en die nasionale taalbeleid erken taalregte en het die ondersteuning, uitbreiding en ontwikkeling van die amptelike tale ten doel. Hierteenoor, ten spyte van die voordele van moedertaalonderwys, word Engels dikwels as taal van onderrig en leer gekies ten koste van die Afrikatale wat amptelike tale is. Hierdie studie stel die akkommodering en uitbreiding van meertaligheid deur gemengde leer voor.

Gemengde leer verwys na die mengsel van tradisionele onderrigmetodes, soos gesig-tot-gesig-onderrig, met ander vorme van onderrig soos aanlynonderrig en -leer. Deur ’n bespreking van asinchrone en sinchrone leertegnologie is bepaal dat wiki’s vir hierdie studie gebruik sal word. Met betrekking tot gemengde leer en leerteorieë was die fokus van hierdie studie op sosio-konstruktivisme sowel as gemeenskapskonstruktivisme.

Die empiriese navorsing van hierdie studie het op die daarstelling en toetsing van ’n konseptuele model vir die akkommodering en uitbreiding van meertaligheid deur gemengde leer in die vak IT gefokus. Die navorsing was in die vorm van ’n sekwensiële, insluitende gemengde metode ontwerp. Beide kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiewe benaderings is gevolg. ’n Vraelys is aan IT-onderwysers gestuur om die konteks in terme van taal en gemengde leer te bepaal. Dit is opgevolg deur kwalitatiewe navorsing in die vorm van onderhoude met die provinsiale en nasionele kenners van die vak IT en e-leer. Op grond van die literatuur en die twee ondersoeke is ’n konseptuele model ontwikkel. Die konseptuele model se effektiwiteit is gemeet deur middel van ’n kwasi-eksperimentele studie. ’n Vraelys is ook deur die respondente by die skole voltooi nadat die studie voltooi is. Daar is, na aanleiding van die toetsing van die effektiwiteit van die konseptuele model, bevind dat meertaligheid suksesvol deur die konseptuele model geakkommodeer en uitgebrei kan word.

This article examines the perceived effectiveness of multilingual upbringing strategies and ways of communication adopted by families where the parents are of two different nationalities. The theoretical introduction presents an overview of the most important issues related to the linguistic development in bi-/multilingual children, debunking common myths and misconceptions surrounding the notions of bi-/multilingualism. The empirical part analyses the results of a survey conducted among parents who raise their children multilingually, looking at the strategies of communication adopted, the perceived effectiveness thereof, and whether the respondents would have changed or improved anything if they had been given a ‘second chance’. The results show that the most frequently implemented method is the one parent-one language approach, whose usefulness the majority assessed positively. Other practical conclusions concerning multilingual upbringing are also drawn.

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Recent studies from the field of neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics suggest that bilinguals and multilinguals are in many ways fundamentally different from monolinguals, a difference that starts with a different cerebral structure for language. This difference will constitute the point of departure for my paper: If multilingual people are intrinsically different from monolingual people, it should follow that multilingual writers must be intrinsically different from monolingual writers. Samuel Beckett's bilingualism was the governing force of much of his writing and has received ample critical attention. Yet this article will examine a hitherto neglected aspect of this topic: the way Beckett's bilingualism may have inflected his writing in the first place. It will call on some of the research in neuro-and psycholinguistics to illuminate Beckett's constant back and forth between English and French and the importance this may have had for his writing as well as to show how Beckett's bilingual background is organically connected to the writing.

Linguistic Typology has been a useful tool for the establishment of a unitary linguistic structure of language as a cognitive construct of the mind with the usage of various typological patterns to build a methodology that enables multilingual language teaching in infant, primary, and secondary education environments. This has occurred by making use of unified typological items, such as word order pattern, verb inflection, comparative morphology, or syntax, among others; permitting young learners to acquire second language(s) parallel to their own mother tongue in a direct manner in multilingual contexts through a unique methodology common to all multiple languages used as target languages, but considering pupils’ native tongue as a solid reference. Such methodology breaks down language into a skeleton young learners approach to regardless of previous knowledge, cultural background, or age. It becomes sustainable at all levels, for all second languages are addressed through their fe...

A very popular field in research on bilingualism and multilingualism is how bilingual and multilingual people perceive and express their feelings and which languages they prefer each time (Pavlenko, 2012). A fascinating issue is that of distancing oneself from an L2-something that has also been discussed in the texts of bilingual writers who have stated that their L2 was for them a less emotionally charged language, in comparison with their L1. Besides, a speaker often uses his L1 to express emotions, since each language can convey distinct emotional meanings according to the interlocutors and the context. Moreover, research on conscious event retrieval and autobiographical memory has also provided evidence for memory and language, as it has been found that memories tend to be more readily available for retrieval in the language in which they first appeared. Bilinguals generally report their memories in more detail and the level of processing during memory retrieval is higher in the language in which the event occurred. The exploration of the effect of multilingualism on memory and emotions is a promising field that can help educators and academics better understand the speakers' abilities and specific attributes.

This paper considers multilingualism from the point of view of language learning and teaching. We discuss the 'monological' thinking in linguistics and in the research of language learning and teaching and argue that the monological stand, more often than not, also ...

Cette contribution cherchera à comprendre l'impact qu'exerce le plurilinguisme d'un écrivain sur sa production littéraire. Pour étudier ce phénomène, les manuscrits des écrivains constituent une voie privilégiée car ils gardent les traces des processus sous-jacents à la production écrite. Plusieurs stratégies d'utilisation des langues par les écrivains (séparation fonctionnelle, mélange, écriture en parallèle…) qui sont observables dans leurs documents de travail seront passées en revue.
Présentation de l'auteur : Olga ANOKHINA est linguiste, chercheur à l'Institut des Textes et Manuscrits Modernes (UMR 8132 CNRS/ENS) et consacre ses recherches à la genèse des oeuvres des écrivains plurilingues. Olga Anokhina s'intéresse également aux aspects cognitifs de la production écrite, du multilinguisme et de la création. Elle a initié et dirigé en 2005-2007 un programme de recherche franco-russe Multilinguisme et genèse des textes. Les résultats de ces recherches ont été publiés en 2012 dans un volume collectif Multilinguisme et créativité littéraire chez Academia Bruylant/Harmattan. Olga Anokhina dirige à l'ITEM l'équipe Multilinguisme, traduction, création.

This study reports two metalinguistic parameters that constitute the schematic control of lateral inhibitory links between translation equivalents within the bilingual lexico-semantic system of Green’s (1998a, 1998b, 2007) inhibitory control (IC) model. Building on Green’s postulation that the bilingual lexico-semantic system is controlled by a hierarchy of schemas under a supervisory attentional system, the bilingual unconsciously filters activated lemmas during fluent spontaneous codeswitching, such that lemmas that are semantico-syntactically versatile or morphosyntactically transparent are likely to reach a threshold of activation first while other lemmas are inhibited. To investigate the issue, we collected code-paired naturalistic and elicited data with a focus on code-switched determiner phrases from 140 Mandarin-English simultaneous bilinguals who were post-secondary students in Singapore. We found that the semanticosyntactic and morpho-syntactic dissimilarities between Mandarin and English activated both filters. As most Mandarin determiners are economical vis-à-vis their English counterparts, their lemmas were selected frequently while English lemmas were largely inhibited. It was also found that our participants preferred English nouns in filling the lexical category for their interpretable feature of number, a feature that is normally absent in Mandarin nouns.

Contact languages are highly needed for individuals communicating with each other in each of the daily activities of life and to ensure vital existence living in multicultural-multilingual cities and states. Foreign languages particularly the native one, should be enabled for all individuals to learn while attending formal education because there it can teach according to the standard norms of all the foreign languages the natives and European languages. Each individual who is born and is developed in a multicultural community should use the same opportunity to develop skills such in a multilingual communication from processing benefit individually with the selection of the country's foreign language as an elective subject. Everything learned in childhood is beneficial for the future. This paper aims to illuminate the development of the languages in Gostivar and their institutionalisation within the educational institutions, where there are Albanians, Turks and Macedonians. Not every language has had the same fate, to be institutionalized on time. Languages in the 21st century are necessary for all individuals, that live in a multicultural social society. In this research were involved 70 students of VIII grade in elementary school, four principals and 30 language teachers, in total 104 surveyed from all communities of the city of Gostivar. All the data were collected, interpreted in tables and graphs were analyzed up to the findings, which reflected the conclusions and the recommendations. However, due to the limitations that our work imposes we will not be able to present all the reflected results.

Linguistic Typology has been a useful tool for the establishment of a unitary linguistic structure of language as a cognitive construct of the mind with the usage of various typological patterns to build a methodology that enables multilingual language teaching in infant, primary, and secondary education environments. This has occurred by making use of unified typological items, such as word order pattern, verb inflection, comparative morphology, or syntax, among others; permitting young learners to acquire second language(s) parallel to their own mother tongue in a direct manner in multilingual contexts through a unique methodology common to all multiple languages used as target languages, but considering pupils' native tongue as a solid reference. Such methodology breaks down language into a skeleton young learners approach to regardless of previous knowledge, cultural background, or age. It becomes sustainable at all levels, for all second languages are addressed through their features related to the native tongue of the learner, leading to a more efficient comprehension and quick, effortless, natural assimilation and acquisition through visual and memory methods, along a plethora of exercises that only act as tools for such process, not as the main source for language learning nor teaching. The methodology does not depend on economic basis, for it may be used traditionally, or with ICTs, in a fluid manner to help natives and migrants banish linguistic barriers when integrating within foreign communities and their educational institutions, as well as helping preserve and ensure the growth of minority languages through the increase of speakers, which may lead to the creation of cultural production of whatever type. This shall indeed reassure the preservation of the (minority) languages while building the knowledge of foreign ones. Although this methodology approaches the teaching of Basque (minority language being one of the oldest in the world) and other European or Asian languages, although expandable to whatever language, it may be adapted to any language.

Contact languages are highly needed for individuals communicating with each other in each of the daily activities of life and to ensure vital existence living in multicultural-multilingual cities and states. Foreign languages particularly the native one, should be enabled for all individuals to learn while attending formal education because there it can teach according to the standard norms of all the foreign languages the natives and European languages. Each individual who is born and is developed in a multicultural community should use the same opportunity to develop skills such in a multilingual communication from processing benefit individually with the selection of the country's foreign language as an elective subject. Everything learned in childhood is beneficial for the future. This paper aims to illuminate the development of the languages in Gostivar and their institutionalisation within the educational institutions, where there are Albanians, Turks and Macedonians. Not ...

"Examines the linguistic relativity principle in relation to the Hupa, Yurok, and Karuk Indians

Despite centuries of intertribal contact, the American Indian peoples of northwestern California have continued to speak a variety of distinct languages. At the same time, they have come to embrace a common way of life based on salmon fishing and shared religious practices. In this thought-provoking re-examination of the hypothesis of linguistic relativity, Sean O’Neill looks closely at the Hupa, Yurok, and Karuk peoples to explore the striking juxtaposition between linguistic diversity and relative cultural uniformity among their communities.

O’Neill examines intertribal contact, multilingualism, storytelling, and historical change among the three tribes, focusing on the traditional culture of the region as it existed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He asks important historical questions at the heart of the linguistic relativity hypothesis: Have the languages in fact grown more similar as a result of contact, multilingualism, and cultural convergence? Or have they instead maintained some of their striking grammatical and semantic differences? Through comparison of the three languages, O’Neill shows that long-term contact among the tribes intensified their linguistic differences, creating unique Hupa, Yurok, and Karuk identities.

If language encapsulates worldview, as the principle of linguistic relativity suggests, then this region’s linguistic diversity is puzzling. Analyzing patterns of linguistic accommodation as seen in the semantics of space and time, grammatical classification, and specialized cultural vocabularies, O’Neill resolves the apparent paradox by assessing long-term effects of contact."