Presentation Title

Author

How does bilingualism work?

Language in the World

Ling Link

• For the next 2 minutes, write down the names of places in the world (e.g., countries, regions, cities) where you know people tend to speak more than one language. Also list the languages they speak, if you know them.
  • After you have made your list, spend a minute talking to your neighbor
  • Compare lists, discuss how you know they use multiple languages, talk about whether you’ve been to those places, and explain anything you know about how language functions in those places

Recall

• All language helps us do stuff in the world
  • That’s what this module is all about!
• Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the ability to use, produce, and perceive language!
  • First Language Acquisition: how an infant acquires his/her first or native language
  • Second Language Acquisition: how children and adults acquire additional languages beyond the first
• No one teaches you language!
  • You are built for it!
  • Kids can do a lot in language before they can do the simplest of activities!
• What about learning more than one language?

Second language acquisition (SLA)

• Remember that we made a distinction between acquisition and learning
  • Acquire = happens to you naturally (like digestion)
  • Learning = someone has to teach you (like tying your shoes)

Second Language Acquisition

Differences in First and Second Language Learning

First-language acquisition involves an initial linguistic experience, while a second language is mastered only by someone who already speaks another language

A first language is usually acquired in a context-rich, home environment

Because of age and social identity, the adaptability and flexibility of learners decreases for 2nd language learners

• Second-language learners ordinarily have metalinguistic awareness that is lacking at least in the early stages of a first language
• Metalinguistic awareness refers to the ability to consciously reflect on how language works
  • Helps in understanding the transfer of linguistic knowledge across languages (e.g., code-switching, translation)
  • Recognition that the potential exists to go beyond the literal meaning and that language offers flexibility (e.g., irony, sarcasm, word play)
  • Understanding that language has a structure that can be manipulated (we can talk about phonological, word, syntactic, and pragmatic awareness)

Q slide

True or false: When you learn a second language, what you already know about how your first language works can be helpful. [True]

Media

https://youtu.be/QKdT5pF6hSQ?si=jvc_P8EfwguyEyuc&t=124

Metalinguistic Awareness

• Metalinguistic awareness = the exercise of the relevant, cognitive control
  • Language users can select the relevant pieces of language to manipulate (cognition) = they can think clearly about how language works
  • Language users can apply the meaning and structure of the manipulated language (analysis) = they can move from thinking to doing!
• For bilinguals, this type of cognitive control is important (and they tend to have higher levels of awareness)
  • It helps make connections between one language and another
  • Can make it easier to learn additional language (that’s why so many people tell me they wish they’d had linguistics before taking a language!)

Bilingualism

• But our question today is not just about second language acquisition!
  • Bilingualism is the ability to use/speak two languages natively/fluently
  • Multilingualism is the ability to use/speak many languages natively/fluently
• We’ll basically use these terms interchangeably
• Bilingual acquisition – children who are regularly exposed to two (or more) languages will naturally acquire fluency in those languages (i.e., people who acquire more than one language in childhood speak more than one language fluently)

Two languages = THE GLOBAL NORM!

• Individual bilingualism – a person’s ability to use two languages
  • This is what happens when, say, you studied a language in school, decided to go abroad, learned the language better, and are now fluent
• Societal bilingualism (or multilingualism) – a society in which two (or more) languages are used regularly
  • Example = anywhere on Earth other than large swaths of the US, UK 

An example of a Multilingual Society

Brussels, Belgium

• Many (all?) bilingual speakers engage in code-switching , or a kind of alternation between languages or dialects
  • If everyone in a particular social group speaks more than one language, code-switching may be the norm for in-group communication
  • Because each language may index particular aspects of one’s identity, the languages may be used independently or together, depending on the social context
  • In addition to knowing two languages, native bilinguals know contexts for using each and the ways in which they may be combined (communicative competence)
  • Code-switching is NOT “broken English” (or any other language) – it is the use of TWO languages SYSTEMATICALLY and is rule-governed

Code-switching

Media

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W48ORvJ7uqM

Q about video

Sarah Phillips’ work is about Korean-English bilinguals in the US and focuses on whether the brain exerts additional cognitive effort when switching between languages. [True]

So, how does it work?

• Brains are wired for language
  • But studies also show that the brain uses a shared mechanism for combining words from one language and for switching between languages = switching is natural!
  • While there are differences in the brains of monolingual and bilingual speakers, how things like cognition and neural plasticity are impacted by one’s language abilities has more to do with how and why they have that status
• Yet monolinguals marvel at those who can manage more than one language
  • Next time, we’ll explore why many monolinguals think learning/acquiring additional languages is hard
  • Hint: it’s not about their brain power!

What’s next?

• No class Wednesday (Singletary closed)
• No class next week (Spring Break)
• No quiz on Friday – check with your TA about how to get help on your Data Collection assignments!
  • These are due FRIDAY!! March 14, 11:59pm
  • No late work, no AI
  • Just follow the instructions!
• Observation notes #4 due FRIDAY!!