27.3399, Review: Applied Ling; Lang Acq; Socioling: Hoffmann, Stavans (2015)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-27-3399. Fri Aug 26 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.3399, Review: Applied Ling; Lang Acq; Socioling: Hoffmann, Stavans (2015)

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Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2016 12:11:56
From: Alicia Pousada [alicia.pousada.mejuto at gmail.com]
Subject: Multilingualism

 
Discuss this message:
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/26/26-784.html

AUTHOR: Anat  Stavans
AUTHOR: Charlotte  Hoffmann
TITLE: Multilingualism
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2015

REVIEWER: Alicia Pousada, University of Puerto Rico

Reviews Editor: Helen Aristar-Dry

SUMMARY 

‘Multilingualism’ by Anat Stavans and Charlotte Hoffman is an in-depth
exploration of the coexistence of more than two languages in a speech
community or in the communicative repertoire of an individual. Part 1
(Chapters 1–4) deals with societal multilingualism, and Part 2 (Chapters 5-8)
addresses individual multilingualism, including the educational structures
that allow individuals to become and/or remain multilingual. A very useful
glossary of common terms and an excellent bibliography close the volume. The
book is appropriate for use as a textbook in an advanced graduate course or
seminar, as well as a resource for linguistic researchers of various types
(e.g., sociolinguists, psycholinguists, educational linguists) or language
policymakers seeking a detailed review of the literature in the field. 

Chapter 1 gives a historical account of multilingualism and paints in broad
strokes the linguistic effects of conquest, colonization, literacy, mass
education, and migration. Chapter 2 discusses the terminology used by various
disciplines in their examination of multilingualism. Chapter 3 examines
linguistic minorities in varying language contact settings, considering
language use patterns, language retention, and officialization of language
status in four case studies. Chapter 4 describes the effects of
post-colonialism and globalization upon language spread and outlines three
different types of multilingualism involving English in Africa, Asia, and
Europe. 

Chapter 5 explores general concepts in the study of child and adult bilinguals
and compares them to trilingual cases, taking into consideration frequency and
type of contact, need, attitudes and emotions, age, and manner of acquisition.
Chapter 6 examines language choices made by individuals based on their
knowledge of multiple linguistic systems and how those choices are put to
dynamic use over the span of their lives, depending on their communicative
objectives and the opportunities afforded them. The chapter makes clear the
complexity of the matter and the need for multidisciplinary approaches to
analysis. Chapter 7 delves into the strategies used by multilinguals to
organize their language practices based on their beliefs and cultural
practices within particular contexts, even to the extent of creating family
language policies for their home lives. After considering many individual
cases, the authors question whether multilinguals have multiple identities and
pose the possibility of there being one multifaceted identity. The final
chapter of the book scrutinizes the different educational frameworks that
bolster multilingualism and illustrates how technological advances and
international mobility have led to the crossing of both real and virtual
borders. The authors also emphasize that the construction of cultural bridges
by multilinguals contributes positively to significant shifts in attitudes
regarding cultural pluralism.

EVALUATION

Authors Anat Stavans (Hebrew University in Israel) and Charlotte Hoffmann
(Salford University in the UK) are productive scholars in the field of
multilingualism who bring to the subject the added authority of their personal
experiences as parents of trilingual children. Their goal is to reveal the
multiple variables that govern the development of multilingualism for speakers
around the world. They view multilingualism (specifically, trilingualism) as
distinct from bilingualism and devote considerable time to comparing the two
and showing the differences. They make a convincing case for multidisciplinary
approaches to multilingualism because of issues like migration, education,
personal identity, and globalization. They agree with Lo (1999) that
multilingualism must be approached “not just as a language phenomenon but as a
condition that involves culture, ethnicity and identity at the micro- and
macro-levels of society” (p. 3). Their exhaustive coverage of the burgeoning
scholarly literature makes it clear beyond doubt that there is rapidly growing
interest in multilingualism as a research topic. 

The merits of this book are many, but foremost are its (1) attention to
historical detail, (2) engagement with terminological conflict and evolution,
(3) exposition and further development of typologies and explanatory models,
(4) inclusion of ample case studies and examples, and (5) spotlighting of
areas which still require research. A few of the more striking observations in
each category are briefly indicated below.

1) Attention to historical detail: the authors provide detailed historical
information to back their claim that all the great empires of antiquity (e.g.
Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Egyptian, Roman, Ottoman, Holy Roman, etc.) were
multilingual. Their examination of decolonization and post-colonialism begins
somewhat surprisingly with the medieval Viking invasion and colonization of
Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands, which eventually led to the formal
incorporation of Norway and Sweden under the Danish crown in the 14th century
and later to the independence of Sweden, Norway, and Iceland in the 16th,
19th, and 20th centuries, respectively. It then moves on to the more expected
cases of the decolonization of Asian and African nations and of the Spanish
colonies in Central and South America.

2) Engagement with terminological conflict and evolution: the authors lay out
the often conflicting interpretations of terms like ‘standard language’,
‘official language,’ ‘international language,’ ’lingua franca,’ ‘mother
tongue,’ ‘vernacular,’ ‘linguistic minority’ (both ‘indigenous’ and
‘non-indigenous’), and ‘heritage language’ and point to the need for
interdisciplinary awareness of the varying uses of these terms. In their
detailed discussion of multilingual education and multilingual literacies,
Stavans and Hoffmann lead the reader from the traditional perspective of
literacy as reading and writing to an appreciation of the evolving concepts of
‘new literacies,’ ‘multiple literacies,’ and ‘multiliteracy,’ which view the
employment of different types and modes of knowledge and semiotic systems as
social action and accumulation of cultural capital.

3) Typologies and explanatory models: the authors propose a typology of five
patterns of multilingual organization and substantiate it with detailed
descriptions of specific cases: ‘territorial multilingualism type A’ [Guinea
Bissau], ‘territorial multilingualism type B’ [Singapore], ‘territorial
monolingualism’ [Canada], ‘territorial monolingualism with urban
multilingualism’ [Barcelona], and ‘diglossia’ [German-speaking Switzerland].
They repeatedly stress the dynamic nature of all five patterns depending on
birth rates, tourism, changes in labor practices, redrawing of frontiers, and
political autonomy. 

The special role of English around the world is given careful attention, since
English has been instrumental in making political boundaries shift, creating
new forms of wealth, and popularizing modern notions of what constitutes human
rights. The authors stress that the most common third language in schools
today is English and that there are most likely different optimal ages for L3
introduction, depending on the educational frameworks available in given
societies. Different models for the spread of English are considered, and the
authors point out that while there is a strong social motivation to learn
English, it is the local Englishes that are winning in the outer circle of
Kachru’s 1992 model, and a culturally non-specific, neutral form known as
International English is prevailing in the expanding circle. 

In looking at individual multilingualism, the authors offer an excellent
review of the different models of monolingual and bilingual language
processing (connectionist model, competition model, BIMOLA hypothesis,
M-factor model, etc.) and show how few deal with multilingual language
processing (e.g., Dynamic Model of Multilingualism, Multilinguality Model).
Surprisingly, Stavans (2005) own model of multilingual production is barely
explained. They stress throughout that multilingualism is dynamic, with
different constellations of language features determined by individual and
social forces, and they end up favoring a multilingual continuum perspective.

4) Case studies and examples: case studies from widely disparate corners of
the world are sprinkled throughout the volume. In addition to the cases
already mentioned in this review, the reader is offered a close look at
Quechua and Spanish in Peru, German and Ladin in South Tyrol in Italy, and
Arabic and Russian in Israel. In their explanation of how globalization has
led to new forms of colonialism by industrialized nations (‘neocolonialism’),
Stavans and Hoffmann distinguish three broad sociolinguistic patterns, each
exemplified by particular countries or regions: almost complete adoption of
the colonial language [Latin America], incomplete replacement of the colonial
language [Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia], and partial maintenance of the
colonial language [India, Kenya, Cameroon, Philippines]. In their discussion
of code switching among multilinguals, the authors present and explain in
minute detail the phonological and morphosyntactic features of discourse
samples collected from Croatian-English-German and Hebrew-English-Spanish
trilingual children. Such data are hard to find and would make an admirable
addition to any classroom presentation on code switching, as would the link
they establish between code switching and accommodation theory. 

5) Areas which still require research: the authors observe that there has been
relatively little research on Trilingual First Language Acquisition, which
they characterize as “…not the sum of three free languages, nor the addition
of a third language to a bilingual, but rather…a unique phenomenon with its
own characteristics and features that should be studied in its own right.” (p.
147).

The only shortcomings to the book are its print-dense pages (a bit more white
space, a few more illustrations, and more highlighting of key terms would make
it more user-friendly as a textbook) and its tendency to repeat certain points
over and over (a bit annoying to the more sophisticated reader but perhaps not
such a bad thing in a textbook). 

Overall, the volume is well-written, coherent, and definitely a solid
contribution to the field. It would serve as a useful complement to such
textbooks as Chin & Wigglesworth’s Bilingualism: An advanced resource book
(2007) and the extremely accessible Bilingual: Life and reality by Grosjean
(2010).

REFERENCES 

Chin, N. B., & Wigglesworth, G. (2007). Bilingualism: An advanced resource
book. London, NY: Routledge (Taylor & Francis). 
Grosjean, F. (2010). Bilingual: Life and reality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press. 
Kachru, B. (Ed.). (1992). The other tongue: English across cultures. Urbana /
Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

Lo, A. (1999). Code-switching and unbalanced bilingualism. In J. Dewaele, A.
Housen, & Li Wei (Eds.). Bilingualism: Beyond basic principles (pp.174-188).
Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Stavans, A. (2005). Advantages and benefits of trilingualism. In I. Kupferberg
& E. Olshtain (Eds.). Discourse in education: educational events as a field of
research (pp. 418-449). Tel Aviv: Mofit.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Alicia Pousada received her M. A. and Ph. D. in Educational Linguistics from
the University of Pennsylvania in 1978 and 1984, respectively. Since 1987, she
has taught linguistics in the English Department of the College of Humanities
at the UPR, Río Piedras. Her publications, presentations, teaching, and
research focus on language policy and planning, multilingualism, and teaching
of English as an Auxiliary Language world-wide.





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