32.1228, Review: Applied Linguistics; Sociolinguistics: Filipović (2019)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-32-1228. Wed Apr 07 2021. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 32.1228, Review: Applied Linguistics; Sociolinguistics: Filipović (2019)

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Date: Wed, 07 Apr 2021 17:40:22
From: Rachel Poulin [Rachel.poulin at utexas.edu]
Subject: Bilingualism in Action

 
Discuss this message:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=36635217


Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/31/31-2012.html

AUTHOR: Luna  Filipović
TITLE: Bilingualism in Action
SUBTITLE: Theory and Practice
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2019

REVIEWER: Rachel B Poulin, University of Texas at Austin

SUMMARY

Luna Filipović’s Bilingualism in Action: Theory and Practice details her
framework, Complex Adaptive System Principles (CASP) for Bilingualism,
intended to both analyze and predict bilingual behaviors by taking into
account the interaction of languages within the individual speaker’s mind as
well as language use throughout communities. The author critiques the field of
bilingualism for its tendency to study factors in isolation and conduct myopic
empirical procedures for the sake of experimental simplicity. Furthermore, she
argues for the need to conduct holistic psycholinguistic investigations by
considering a variety of internal (speaker-specific) and external
(context-specific) factors so as to account for the variable individual
differences found throughout the bilingual literature. Filipović undertakes
the daunting question of “why” bilingual speakers do what they do by marrying
classic psycholinguistic questions with sociolinguistic variables. In doing
so, the author puts forth a compelling representation of how bilinguals can be
influenced by their environment and how the interplay between a variety of
factors can lead to the well-documented individual differences observed in the
field. This text, aimed at an academic audience, can also provide valuable
insight to bilinguals hoping to better understand their own language use and
processing, as well as those working within related fields pertaining to
language use such as second language instruction, translation, and
interpretation. 

Chapter 1, “Introduction: The Research Domain of Applied Bilingual Studies”
In Chapter 1, the author focuses on the complexity one faces in defining who
constitutes as a bilingual. This is in large part due to there being varying
linguistic proficiencies, acquisition histories, and language use experiences
that require researchers to consider bilingualism along a continuous spectrum.
This chapter introduces the author’s focus on the “why” of different bilingual
outcomes, and not necessarily the description of bilingual tendencies.
However, as the subtitle of this work indicates, this book is far from purely
theoretical, as illustrated by the provision of typologically diverse examples
that provide vivid narration to the author’s main points. She reiterates her
main goal of providing a unifying framework that incorporates theory with
empirical research, and again, urges researchers to conduct more nuanced
studies. Furthermore, she introduces her goal of discovering how one’s
languages interplay within the bilingual’s mind as well as within the
linguistic community.  

Chapter 2, “Bilingualism Research: What We Know and What We Need to Know” 
In Chapter 2, the author presents what she deems a brief overview of the field
of bilingualism, tying together research from both the sociolinguistic and
psycholinguistic perspectives. Although far from exhaustive, the author covers
an impressive range of relevant topics in both fields including but not
limited to: language proficiency, the critical period hypothesis, differences
in language acquisition histories, language dominance and attrition,
monolingual and bilingual processing differences, the bilingual advantage
debate and bilingual long-term processing and language outcomes. She then
discusses a variety of internal and external factors that lead to different
bilingual outcomes and how language is represented in the bilingual’s mind. By
presenting this vast overview of the literature, she strengthens her argument
that each individual bilingual’s experience is comprised of a rich combination
of factors, and as such, one’s language outputs should be expected to differ
tremendously. 

Chapter 3, “Introducing CASP for Bilingualism”
The author begins unveiling the mechanisms behind her novel framework: the
CASP for Bilingualism processing model. This framework is the authors’
solution to unify distinct disciplines, explain individual differences, and
make predictions for bilingual outcomes. She accomplishes this by taking into
account both internal and external factors that can either be in conflict or
work together in coalitions so as to create these individual outcomes.
Crucially, she also emphasizes how this framework necessitates the conception
that bilingual language use and processing are non-fixed entities, and
instead, retain plasticity dependent on myriad factors (i.e. their
interlocutor, frequency of use, language mode, etc.) as well as the
bi-directional transfer of one’s languages. This discussion is followed by a
brief description of the Five Principles of CASP for Bilingualism: (A Minimize
Learning Effort, (B) Minimize Processing Effort, (C) Maximize Expressive
Power, (D) Maximize Efficiency in Communication, and (E) Maximize Common
Ground. Principles A, B, C, and D guide both monolingual and bilingual
language processing, but bilinguals are set apart based on their ability to
“Maximize Common Ground” (Principle E) between their two languages. This
principle indicates that a bilingual will attempt to lower processing effort
by finding the overlap in one’s multiple languages while simultaneously
ensuring effective language production and processing. The author argues that
this framework, guided by these five principles, can provide the
multifactorial, granular framework currently absent in bilingualism research. 
 

Chapter 4, “Action Time: CASP for Bilingualism at Work” 
Throughout this chapter, the author builds upon the presentation of her CASP
model, by providing an explanation with clear examples for the application of
her framework. Indeed, she begins uncovering the “why” of bilingualism – why
we process and produce language in different ways and the variety of factors
that come into play, dependent on her five main principles. These examples
provide a case study of sorts to uncover why different outcomes in bilingual
processing and ultimately production occur. Furthermore, this chapter
exemplifies how all of these factors come into play in such a way as to
alleviate the processing costs for the speaker, while also prioritizing
successful communication. This chapter underlines how linguistic efficiency
motivates much of what a bilingual speaker does, but that no singular
principle can independently account for a bilingual’s language outcomes;
crucially, language outputs are modulated by the bilingual’s respective
proficiencies, current linguistic mode, and interlocutor, as well as the
formality of the linguistic context.  

Chapter 5, “Bilingual Cognition: Language, Memory and Judgement”
The author investigates how bilinguals recall specific events in comparison to
monolinguals and whether different bilingual experiences impact memory (i.e.
early vs. late acquisition.) Her analysis consists of clear and poignant
examples of how typological linguistic differences impact bilingual memory and
how this can be understood within the framework of CASP for Bilingualism. The
author concludes this chapter by stating that language shapes memory and there
is no simple answer with regard to whether or not bilinguals demonstrate
better memory and judgment as, again, this depends on a variety of factors
including: the pertinent semantic information being conveyed, the typological
differences (i.e. grammatical features that render certain semantic
information more salient), and the individual’s linguistic proficiencies. The
author details a number of studies that highlight how a variety of factors are
at play and result in different outcomes, emphasizing that the CASP for
Bilingualism framework provides a solution to account for the interplay of so
many interacting factors.  

Chapter 6, “Bilinguals in Action as Language Professionals: Specialized
Interpreting and Translating”
Chapter 6 focuses on interpretation in “high-risk communicative context(s)”
(p. 148) such as in courtrooms and police work, as testimonies and
interrogations play a large role in the pursuit of justice. The author attends
to these specific contexts, as both languages are necessarily present and
active within a singular linguistic context. She further details examples of
when failure to capture the minutiae of typological differences in such
bilingual situations could result in undue convictions. The author argues that
interpreters must be professionally trained and not simply heritage speakers
or those having attained high proficiency levels. On the contrary, an
interpreter must be intimately familiar with how the two relevant languages
differ, as these minute dissimilarities can make all the difference in such
high-risk contexts. The greatest takeaway from this chapter is that
interpreters do not “Maximize Common Ground” as they must interpret meaning
that captures the intricacies of the source language which could otherwise be
lost in an effort to sound more natural in the target language. Instead,
interpreters must forego the importance of this principle in order to
accurately convey the semantics of the original message. Thus, we see that
there are competing motivations at play such that although Principle E
(“Maximize Common Ground”) tends to be a strong indicator of bilingual
behaviors in many contexts, Principle D (Maximize efficiency in
Communication), appears to outweigh Principle E in high-risk interpretive
situations.  

Chapter 7, “Conclusions and Future Directions”
The author concludes by arguing that CASP for bilingualism is a necessary
framework as it can explain and predict the vastly different bilingual
outcomes reported in the literature. It becomes evident based on the variety
of examples provided in this text that a bilingual’s immediate linguistic
context, acquisition history, and locale, among other factors, can all
influence one’s bilingual processing and ultimately output. Additionally, the
author convincingly underlines that if researchers continue to examine only
canonical predictive variables such as age of acquisition and proficiency,
then it should come as no surprise when results are not replicated. Indeed,
researchers will continue to arrive at these contradictory results, and the
field will remain fragmented unless we can take into account the entire
constellation of both psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic factors.
Ultimately, by adopting this unifying and holistic framework, the author
argues that we will begin to understand how these factors interact to create
unique bilingual outcomes. She concludes this chapter with a summary of future
work to be conducted in the field, as well as additional ways in which to
apply her CASP for bilingualism framework. 

EVALUATION 

Overall, I found this title to compellingly highlight a way to unify the
subfields of sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics. This is further bolstered
by her intentional avoidance of subfield-specific jargon which often creates
confusion for anyone going beyond the confines of their specific linguistic
subfield. Although perhaps unintentional, I found that this title’s greatest
strength was the overview provided in Chapter 2. Although the author claims
that this chapter is not exhaustive, it is as close to exhaustive as anything
could be when discussing the unification of two bodies of research in the span
of 40 pages. Throughout this chapter, the author somehow touches on an
extensive breadth of critical sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic concepts,
all the while presenting clear and concise examples of bilingual usage that
are the definition of typologically informed. For this reason, I would
recommend this chapter to any graduate student or scholar interested in
learning more about psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and bilingualism.
This provides an excellent jumping-off point with clear explanations of the
most prominent topics within the field. Furthermore, the author generously
outlines copious prompts for unanswered questions in a clear and coherent
manner, making this a wellspring of future research for the aspiring
psycholinguist. 

Regarding the CASP for Bilingualism framework, although clear in its
application of studies reviewed by the author, I question the author’s
assertion of its predictive strength. Due to the holistic nature of this
framework, the outcomes for bilingual output are effectively limitless and
dependent on myriad internal and external factors. As the examples provided in
this work are all subjected to this framework in hindsight, I fail to see how
one might apply this framework in the beginning stages of a psycholinguistic
research project during which precise predictions and hypotheses must be made.
As such, I remain skeptical as to whether this model should be applied in such
instances where concrete predictions are critical. If this framework is indeed
capable of such predictive enterprises, then I would ask that the author
incorporate examples for its predictive strength in the seminal stages of the
research process. Thus, although an important contribution to the field, this
framework’s predictive strength appears to have been overstated. 

Furthermore, Chapters 5 & 6, although effective at demonstrating how this
model can be used to explain output in different contexts, felt tangential and
beyond what should have been the scope of this text. However, both chapters
exemplified the interdisciplinary nature of bilingualism and the breadth of
the impact of the application of this framework. Finally, there were some
surprising gaps in the literature where scholarship such as VanPatten &
Cadierno (1987) were missing in the discussions of overt grammatical
pedagogical interventions in the classroom (p. 180). Evidently, a short text
cannot cover all of the literature in the field, which the author mentions on
multiple occasions. However, it felt lacking based on the influential nature
of their work in the field.   

In conclusion, Bilingualism in Action convincingly argues for the need for
more granular, fine-tuned research that ties together sociolinguistic and
psycholinguistic variables so as to understand the “why” behind individual
differences of bilingual processing and production outcomes. Indeed, this book
made me ruminate on my own bilingual experience, my current usage tendencies,
and the ways in which I convey typological differences when teaching my second
language to Anglophone students. This text would greatly benefit scholars who
wish to subvert their field’s empirical norms and embrace the
interdisciplinary nature of such a unified approach. Finally, this book would
be an excellent addition to any graduate syllabus on bilingualism and would
serve any graduate student seeking direction on her next research topic. 

REFERENCES 

Filipović, L. (2019). Bilingualism in Action. Cambridge University Press.

VanPatten, B., & Cadierno, T. (1993). Explicit instruction and input
processing. Studies in second language acquisition, 15(2), 225-243.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Rachel Poulin is a doctoral student at The University of Texas at Austin. Her
main research interests are bilingualism, psycholinguistics, language
processing, individual differences in bilingualism, cognitive control, and
sociolinguistics. Her dissertation research focuses on how both
psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic factors influence bilinguals’ variable
outcomes in Stroop task performance as a measure of cognitive control.





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