Multilingualism across the Lifespan

This innovative collection examines key questions on language diversity and multilingualism running through contemporary debates in psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics. Reinforcing interdisciplinary conversations on these themes, each chapter is co-authored by two different researchers, often those who have not written together before. The combined effect is a volume showcasing unique and dynamic perspectives on such topics as multilingualism across the lifespan, bilingual acquisition, family language policy, language and ageing, language shift, language and identity, and multilingualism and language impairment. The book builds on Elizabeth Lanza's pioneering work on multilingualism across the lifespan, bringing together cutting-edge research exploring multilingualism as an evolving phenomenon at landmarks in individuals', families', and communities' lives. Taken together, the book offers a rich portrait of the different facets of multilingualism as a lived reality for individuals, families, and communities. This ground-breaking volume will be of particular interest to students and scholars in multilingualism, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics.

Unn Røyneland is Professor of Scandinavian Linguistics and Deputy Director of the Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan at the University of Oslo, Norway. Robert Blackwood is Professor of French Sociolinguistics in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Liverpool, UK.

Contents Acknowledgements Preface by Marilyn Martin-Jones Introduction Robert Blackwood and Unn Røyneland Part One - Bilingual acquisition - methodological and theoretical advances 1. Child Language Assessment across Different Multilingual Contexts: Insights and challenges from South and North Hanne Gram Simonsen and Frenette Southwood 2. Developmental Perspectives on Parents' Use of Discourse Strategies with Bilingual Children Annick De Houwer and Janice Nakamura 3. The Role of the Input in the Acquisition of Code-Switching Shannon Phillips and Margaret Deuchar Part Two - Language Practices and Policies in the Family 4. Language Development, Discourse, and Politics: Family language policy foundations and current directions Kendall King and Xiao-Lan Curdt-Christiansen 5. Family Time(s): Migrant temporalities in Family Language Planning in the urban African South Christine Anthonissen and Christopher Stroud 6. From "Civilising Missions" to Indigenous Language Reclamation: Language policy, language shift and maintenance in Australia and Norway Pia Lane and Gillian Wigglesworth Part Three - Bilingual Ageing - Communication and Cognitive Impairments 7. Where have all my languages gone? Aging and the changing multilingual linguistic ecology Ng Bee Chin and Francesco Cavallaro 8. Fostering Storytelling by Persons with Dementia in Multiparty Conversation Jan Svennevig and Heidi Hamilton 9. Assessment challenges in Acquired Aphasia in Multilingual Individuals Monica Norvik and Mira Goral 10. Pathological Language Switching/Mixing and its Relationship to Domain-General Cognitive Control Valantis Fyndanis and Minna Lehtonen Part Four - Concluding Remarks 11. Carving New Spaces in the Study of Individual Multilingualism Across the Lifespan Lourdes Ortega List of Contributors List of Figures List of Tables Index