Multilingual Matters A Portrait of the Young in the New Multilingual Spain (Child Language & Child Development)

This book examines the main issues in bilingual and multilingual language acquisition through children and youngsters growing up in today's multicultural Spain, where four official languages and other new languages are used. The studies cover phonetics, grammar and pragmatics, code mixing, parental strategies, bilingual twins, SLI bilingualism, literacy and stay abroad effects, both in natural and formal instruction contexts. Review It is no surprise that a large amount of interesting contemporary work on all aspects of bi-tri-and multilingualism emanates from Spain. A portrait of the young in the new multilingual Spain provides a rich example of this work, covering many aspects, both internal and external, of a multi-faceted phenomenon. Factors taken into account include the context of acquisition linguistic input, the critical mass hypothesis, the role of the classroom personal factors learners with SLI, learners of different ages, the role of literacy and the nature of bilingual linguistic competence: Grosjean's the bilingual is not two monolinguals in one person. From the grammatical point of view this last factor finds an almost ideal testing ground in Spain, with the availability of bilinguals speaking closely-related languages (Spanish and Catalan) and non-related languages (Basque and Spanish), a fact reflected in this book. Finally, and above all, this book is a striking example of the way attitudes to bi-and multilingualism have changed.--Professor Clive Perdue, France Université Paris 8, France This book thus provides important information about different areas and methods in language acquisition studies carried out in Spain and may have international interest. The range of topics and methodological approaches used reflects the diversity and the different existing possibilities of conducting research on language acquisition--Jasone Cenoz, University of the Basque Country "Studies in Second Language Acquisition" This book is rich in facts, ideas, and perspectives. The various chapters together cover just about any aspect of bilingualism or multilingualism, at every level of linguistic description, and in every corner of Spain, drawing on a wide array of theories and methodologies. An enticing read for all those interested in bilingualism in general and in Spain in particular.--Professor Robert DeKeyser, University of Maryland at College Park, USA About the Author Carmen Pérez Vidal received her MA in Applied Linguistics from the University of Reading, UK, and her PhD in English linguistics from the University of Barcelona (Spain). She is Associate Professor in English Linguistics and Language Acquisition at Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain), where she is Vicerector of Languages and coordinator of the ALLENCAM and SALA language acquisition and research projects. Maria Juan-Garau is Associate Professor in English and Vicedean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts at the Universitat de les Illes Balears (Spain), where she currently teaches courses in Applied Linguistics and Language Acquisition research methods. Her research has focused on the acquisition of English as a first and second language. Aurora Bel is Associate Professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain). She currently teaches Language Acquisition and Psycholinguistics. Her interests comprise the acquisition of Spanish and Catalan as first and second languages in multilingual environments, particularly the acquisition of morphosyntax and semantics. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. A Portrait of the Young in the New Multilingual Spain By Carmen Pérez-Vidal, Maria Juan-Garau, Aurora Bel Multilingual Matters Copyright © 2008 Carmen Pérez-Vidal, Maria Juan-Garau, Aurora Bel and the authors of individual chapters All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-84769-023-4 Contents The Contributors, ix, Acknowledgements, xv, Introduction, xvi, Prologue by Miqu