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As there remains a paucity of research into the use of communication strategies in Polish transnational communities, this paper seeks to delineate the code-switching practices of Polish-speaking families residing in Australia. The tripartite framework of Family Language Policy has been applied for the analysis of affordances of code-switching patterns.Based on the data collected through the online questionnaire supplemented with in-depth interviews and observations, a qualitative analysis has been conducted to obtain the sociolinguistic picture of the code-switching practices.The interviews and discussions during the observations were recorded, transcribed verbatim and coded according to the Grounded Theory Approach. The recurrent themes were noted. The existing patterns were conceptualised through the process of constant comparison.The conducted study draws our attention to the fact that Polish speakers in Australia differ from speakers of other heritage languages. Language management efforts through a great exposure to Polish translates to HL proficiency, maintenance and the degree of bilingualism, as well as the rate of code-switching. All joint family and extracurricular activities organised by Saturday schools and cultural centres augment the HL retention despite the constant attempts to code-switch among the young family members.This paper delves into how Polish is maintained as a HL among Polish-speaking immigrants to Australia and their offspring. It explores one of the well-established yet understudied communities that makes up multicultural Australia. It unfolds an account of the dynamics of code-switching, illustrating how its affordances are utilised to foster communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The goal of this special issue is to anchor an understanding of language variation and change in a relatively newly adopted framework for researching 'new speakers' of minoritized languages. Approach: This paper first reviews basic principles of variationist sociolinguistics as they apply to new-speaker contexts before critically engaging with the notion of speakerhood. Conclusions: We frame our discussion of new speakers as mobile bilinguals in contexts of sociolinguistics change. We call into question traditional ideals of speakerhood that have been couched in studies of bilingualism and language variation and change, and we emphasize the need to understand variation as part of the new social conditions that these speakers must navigate. This approach enriches approaches to measuring key factors in bilingualism (e.g. input, peer identity, language dominance), that are better adapted to the sociolinguistic ecologies of new speakers. Originality: This is the first special issue dedicated to the bi-/multilingual repertoires of minoritized language speakers that more readily encapsulates both a new speaker framework and standard principles of language variation and change. This introduction discusses important theoretical and methodological advancements in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: This paper first aims to examine how young Gaelic-English bilinguals in immersion education produce aspects of Gaelic phonology. We second consider the extent to which they acquire aspects of a traditional dialect. Third, we investigate how young new speakers outside of a traditional community negotiate place identity and authenticity. Methodology: Our methodology first consists of quantitative acoustic and auditory phonetic analysis of word list production data, accompanied by mixed effects regression. Second, we employ qualitative analysis of interview data from the same participants. Data and analysis: Data are presented from 22 speakers aged 13–14 in Gaelic Medium Education in Glasgow and 15 speakers aged 13–14 in GME on the Isle of Lewis. For comparison with a traditional dialect, we also include three speakers from Lewis aged 65–80. Our quantitative analysis considers 3,605 tokens in total and the qualitative analysis considers interview data with all speakers. Conclusions: Our findings show that young speakers reproduce traditional aspects of Gaelic phonology, though generally to a lesser extent that older speakers. Young new speakers in Glasgow recognise that they do not speak a traditional dialect of the language. They are beginning to create a new authenticity associated with belonging to Glasgow, which represents a new acquisition setting. Originality: This study is the first to explore acquisition of dialect and phonology among young new speakers of Gaelic. We explore perceptions of dialect and the implications of not coming from a traditional Gaelic-speaking area for the first time in young people. Implications: Revitalisation settings can lead to successful language acquisition but may also contribute to dialect levelling. However, institutional support structures can lead to increased confidence and new place identities emerging in young speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: This paper analyzes the extent to which new speakers are participating in an ongoing phonological change in Diné Bizaad (Navajo). The implications of these patterns are discussed as they relate to theories of new speakers and language change. Methodology design: I apply a variationist methodology to analyze the pronunciation of lateral affricates from speakers representing different generations and language learning contexts. I focus on comparing new speakers, who report acquiring the language primarily through school or in a language program, with their age-equivalent peers. Data and analysis: The data come from interviews recorded with 51 bilingual Diné Bizaad-English participants, ages 18–75. This includes four new speakers. The analysis focuses on variation in the lateral affricates in connected speech samples and an oral translation task. Findings/conclusion: Results reveal that new speakers diverge from other younger participants in their lack of participation in an ongoing change in the affricates. Instead, new speakers more closely resemble middle-aged and older speakers. Originality: This study applies the new speaker framework to an Indigenous North American language, an under-represented sociolinguistic context within the literature. These findings provide a counterexample to the more frequent finding of new speakers linguistically diverging from older, traditional speakers. Significance/implications: These results are interpreted as arising due to literacy practices, language usage networks, and community values. The orthographic representation of the affricates is thought to inhibit sound change. At the same time, due to their more formal language learning background, new speakers have developed a self-monitored speech style oriented toward the prestigious, older speakers. A lack of peer group language usage is thought to prevent the development of linguistically or ideologically distinct new speaker varieties. The confluence of these factors means that instead of constituting agents of language change, new speakers are more similar to older participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This article reviews recent research on how speaking a language that marks gender grammatically might affect thinking, and on the relationship between grammatical gender knowledge of more than one language, and thinking, in both early and emergent bilinguals. Design/methodology/approach: The paper provides a comprehensive review of previous research, as well as an introduction to, and an evaluation of, the articles in this special issue. Findings/conclusions: Several themes emerge in the research on grammatical gender and thinking in bilinguals. First, knowledge of more than one language could reduce the effects of grammatical gender on thinking. Second, these effects may depend on the combination of languages being acquired. Third, researchers are starting to identify other variables that might affect when and how grammatical gender influences thinking, including proficiency and the choice of tasks. Originality: This manuscript synthesises the previously scattered research on grammatical gender and thinking in bilinguals. Significance/implications: This is the first full-length overview paper about the relationship between grammatical gender and thinking in speakers of more than one language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the terms “bicultural” and “bilingual” are often seen together in the same text, there is very little work that attempts to encompass them into one reality, bicultural bilinguals. This paper takes up a number of themes that pertain to bicultural bilinguals, most notably how they are described in the literature, how they become both bilingual and bicultural, and how their languages and cultures wax and wane over time. Other aspects discussed are their linguistic and cultural behaviour as bicultural bilinguals, how they identify themselves both linguistically and culturally, as well as their personality as bicultural bilinguals. An effort is made whenever possible to bridge the gap between the two components that make up bicultural bilinguals – the linguistic and the cultural – and to show how the questions that interest linguists when studying bilinguals can be taken up and adapted by researchers examining cultural issues, and vice versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate how children in the Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu/Saiva faith community in London learn and use Sanskrit alongside Tamil and/or English and other multimodal and embodied resources to communicate with the Divine.The data were collected as part of a 3-year multi-sited collaborative team ethnography documenting how migrant children become literate in faith settings.The data consist of participant observations across religious education classes, the Temple, and the home, and interviews with the key participant child, Chantia, her brother and the Chief priest at the Temple. The analysis focuses on instances in the data where sacred language learning and performance are thematised. In addition, we analyse a digital video recording of Chantia’s daily morning prayers using transvisuals.Learning Sanskrit consists of integrating a limited set of Sanskrit religious texts and practices, such as key religious concepts, mantras, and poetic verses in children’s evolving religious repertoire and is embedded in children’s everyday religious socialisation across contexts. Chantia unites and syncretises a range of conventionalised semiotic resources, including religious texts in Sanskrit to communicate with the Divine and personalise her act of worship.Children’s religious repertoires are learned, deployed, adapted, and expanded differently depending on the affordances of the socio-cultural context. Chantia’s meaning-making process is much more complex than the rigid categorisation of the different modal resources she deploys, forming an integrated system of communication.Our conceptualisation of Sanskrit sacred language learning is anchored on a multilingual and multimodal perspective that does not privilege Sanskrit over other (sacred) languages nor linguistic over non-linguistic resources.Our paper extends current critique of logocentric perspectives in applied and sociolinguistics to the examination of religious repertoires that are often driven by a communication hierarchy positioning sacred languages at the top and other aspects of communication as secondary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an empirical analysis of data from natural Igbo-English bilingual discourse which demonstrates how the two most important manifestations of language contact, namely, codeswitching and borrowing, can be unambiguously and consistently distinguished. The paper focuses on showing how inherently ambiguous lone English-origin nouns and verbs, incorporated into otherwise Igbo discourse, can be assigned language membership, not solely on the basis of their surface appearance as has been the case in the literature, but only by situating the ambiguous forms in the context of the entire system. Using diagnostics such as vowel harmony, inflection, and word order of verbs as well as modification structures of nouns, the paper demonstrates beyond a shadow of doubt that lone English-origin items are distributed among syntactic slots in the same way as native items of Igbo and differ from codeswitches to English which show distinct patterns. The inescapable conclusion is that the lone English-origin nouns and verbs in otherwise Igbo discourse cannot be classified as codeswitches but rather, must be considered to be borrowings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper deals with two compromise strategies: 1) “Embedded Language Islands” and 2) “bare forms” in codeswitching (CS) within the CP (projection of Complementizer). These elements are discussed within the framework of the Matrix Language Frame Model (MLF model), a model explicated in Myers-Scotton (1993) and extended in Myers-Scotton and Jake (1995). While both EL Islands and bare forms are compromise strategies in CS, both are permissible options under the provisions of the MLF model; this paper shows how the MLF model provides an explanatory account for their occurrence. However, more importantly, the analysis of compromise strategies in CS has implications for how linguists should approach 1) differences across languages and 2) the nature of linguistic structure within a language–in particular, what levels of linguistic structure (i.e., lexical vs. S-structure) seem to be the most significant in regard to contributing to grammatical structure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aims and Objectives: Bilinguals have been claimed to develop superior executive functioning compared to monolinguals due to their continuous experience of controlling two languages. Given the developmental trajectory of executive functions, a bilingual advantage could be more pronounced at an advanced age. To gain a clearer understanding, we reviewed the effect of bilingualism executive functions in healthy older adults. Methodology: The present paper systematically examines the methods and the results of 24 studies from 22 articles comparing healthy older monolinguals and bilinguals in at least one domain of executive functions. Data and Analysis: Data of each study were extracted for sample characteristics, country, language background and measures, controlled confounders and task paradigms. Study quality was also calculated for each study. Findings and Conclusions: In general, nine out of the 24 studies fully supported the notion of a bilingual advantage. Four studies showed a bilingual disadvantage. The rest of the studies challenged the existence of a bilingual advantage, as neither full support for bilingual advantages nor bilingual disadvantages were seen in various domains. The available data did not clearly support the widespread notion that bilingualism is related to a general advantage in executive control. However, when looking at the domains of executive functions separately, bilingualism was reliably associated with an advantage in inhibition, especially in two commonly applied tasks: the Stroop test and the Simon task. Originality: This is the first systematic review aimed at exploring the link between bilingualism and executive functions in healthy older adults. Significance/Implications: Heterogeneity in study characteristics and control of confounding variables may partially explain some of the inconsistencies found between studies. Therefore, well-designed studies that measure all core domains of executive functions and consider confounding variables are urgently needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: This paper investigates how children in multilingual and transnational families mobilise their multiple and developing linguistic repertoires creatively to assert their agency in language use and socialisation, and why these acts of agency are conducive to successful maintenance of the so-called "home", "community" or "minority" language. Methodology: Close, qualitative analysis of mealtime multiparty conversations is carried out to examine children's agency in language use and socialisation. Data and analysis: Twelve hours of mealtime conversations within one Arabic and English-speaking multilingual family in the UK were recorded over a period of eight months. The excerpts selected for analysis in this paper illustrate how agency is enacted in interaction. Findings: The data analyses of the family's language practices reveal both their flexible language policy and the importance the family attaches to Arabic. The children in this family are fully aware of the language preferences of their parents and are capable of manipulating that knowledge and asserting their agency through their linguistic choices to achieve their interactional goals. Originality: This paper explores how Arabic is maintained as a minority language by second and third generations of Arabic-speaking immigrants in the UK through close analysis of conversations. Significance: The findings contribute to the current discussions of family language policy and maintenance by demonstrating children's agentive and creative roles in language use and socialisation. Three factors are identified as the reason for the successful language learning, use and maintenance of Arabic: firstly, a family language policy that has a positive multilingual outlook; secondly, family relationship dynamics that connect and bond family members; and thirdly, the children's highly developed ability to understand their parents' language preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: This paper describes the implicit ideologies that undergird a language revival context and addresses the semiotic processes through which ideological dominance is challenged. It demonstrates the role of everyday family interactions in the re-acquisition of a "native" language of one's ethnic identity. Design/methodology/approach: The paper addresses the role of language ideology and family language practices in language revitalization. It is a mixed-methods study interpreting micro-level interactional data within the macro-level context documented by previously collected survey data. Data and analysis: The paper draws upon 15 hours of audio-recorded interactional data from one urban family of ethnic Kazakhs in which the children, who were brought up speaking Russian, are enrolled in a Kazakh-medium pre-school. This in-depth, micro-level interactional study is informed by a large-scale survey indicating that urban, Russian-speaking Kazakhs are undergoing dramatic changes in their language views, use, and proficiency. Findings: The interactional analysis revealed changes in the conceptualization of Kazakh—from the vernacular associated with low prestige and backwardness to the high prestige language of school. Examinations of codeswitching in adult–child interactions showed that re-imagining of Kazakh is accomplished through four mutually reinforcing metalanguaging practices—limiting Kazakh to pedagogic formats, constructing Kazakh as school talk, confining Kazakh to "prior text," and the co-occurrence of a shift to Kazakh with a shift to a meta-communicative frame. Originality: These findings expand our understanding of the discursive processes through which the ideology of revival is created and sustained in day-to-day interactions in the family. The study expands the scholarship on family language policy through its contribution with data from Kazakhstan and its focus on current issues related to post-Soviet experiences. Significance: The study adds to current research in family language policy by providing empirical evidence for conceptualizing the family as a dynamic system in which language policies and identity choices are shaped by parental ideologies and by the broader social and cultural context of family life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: This paper investigates the extent to which current formal models of third language (L3) grammatical acquisition extend to sequential child L3 acquisition. We examine whether heritage speakers learning a foreign language as an early L3 transfer grammatical properties from the heritage language or the dominant second language (L2). Design/Methodology/Approach: We used a sentence repetition task and a picture story retelling task. The tasks focussed on grammatical phenomena that were either different between English and German, that is, verb-second and adverb order, or between English and German, on the one hand, and Turkish, on the other, that is, verb-complement order as well as subject and article realization. Data and Analysis: We tested matched groups of 31 Turkish-German and 31 monolingual German children learning English in grades 3 and 4, and we compared sentence repetitions as well as oral sentence production across different grammatical phenomena using parametric statistics. Findings/Conclusions: In both tasks, the two groups perform indistinguishably from each other, and both groups show selective transfer of grammatical properties from German. These findings suggest L2 transfer from a typologically related language in sequential child L3 acquisition. Originality: This paper breaks new ground by testing the applicability of formal models of adult L3 acquisition of grammar to sequential child L3 learners. It uses aural comprehension and oral production tasks with carefully matched groups of L2 and L3 learners of English to isolate the source of grammatical transfer in L3 acquisition. Significance/Implications: The research advances our understanding of cross-linguistic influence and unravels the dynamics of grammatical transfer in early child multilingualism. It adjudicates between current models of transfer in L3 acquisition in a multiple-methods design, it shows that these models apply to early L3 acquisition of heritage speakers, and it highlights that these models need to be expanded to include factors such as dominance and proficiency in prior languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we propose a new hypothesis for the formal analysis of cross-linguistic influence, the Vulnerability Hypothesis (VH), with the support of data from subject personal pronoun use in Spanish and Catalan in Minorca, and contrast it to the Interface Hypothesis (IH). The VH establishes a categorical–variable continuum of permeability, that is, structures that show variable distributions are permeable while those that exhibit categorical distributions are not. To test the predictions of the VH, Spanish language samples were collected from 12 monolingual Spanish speakers, 11 Spanish-dominant bilinguals, and 12 Catalan-dominant bilinguals, and Catalan language samples from 12 Catalan-dominant speakers. Following a variationist comparative analysis, 4,466 first person singular (1sg) and 1,291 third person singular (3sg) tokens were coded for speech connectivity, verb form ambiguity, and semantic verb type. The language-external variable included in the analysis was language group (Spanish monolinguals, Spanish-dominant bilinguals, Catalan-dominant bilinguals, and Catalan controls). Results indicated that speech connectivity is the highest ranked variable in the Spanish control group (most categorical variable), while ambiguity and verb type are ranked lower, with only ambiguity reaching significance. The VH would, therefore, predict bilinguals would be similar to monolinguals in the most categorical variables, in this case, speech connectivity. This is in contrast to the IH, which would predict bilinguals would exhibit difficulty with the pragmatically driven distributions (e.g. speech connectivity), while they would show no contact effects or lesser effects with distributions at the lexico-semantic interface with syntax (e.g. verb form ambiguity and verb type). The prediction of the VH bears out in our data. Bilinguals do not differ with respect to speech connectivity. Ambiguity, on the other hand, is no longer significant in the bilingual groups and verb type reaches significance with 1sg (and not with 3sg) subjects. These results are discussed, redefining the concepts of convergence and simplification from language contact research to adapt to the variationist analysis used. Simplification is specified as the reduction of lower ranked predicting variables, while convergence is defined as an increase in parallels across languages with respect to the variables that are significant, their effect size (variable ranking), and the direction of effects (constraint ranking). Regarding language group, it was not returned as significant in 1sg data. Thus, the groups did not differ in their rates of overt pronominal expression. Differences, however, emerged across groups in the 3sg data, where bilinguals used significantly more overt pronominal subjects than monolinguals do. This paper contributes to current discussions in the fields of language contact, second language acquisition, and bilingualism, introducing a new hypothesis and contrasting it with the IH. In addition, it contributes to variationist approaches by examining a novel community of bilingual speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse the emotional experiences and positionality of 'new speakers' of Irish, fluent and regular speakers who were not raised with Irish in the historical Irish-speaking heartland known as the Gaeltacht. The role of emotions in facilitating the transition to new speakerhood is considered, as is their influence on the speakers' continued use of Irish and on their positionality in relation to other speakers. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper is based on semi-structured narrative interviews conducted with participants identified as active and competent new speakers of Irish. It is part of a larger European project on the topic of new speakers. Data and Analysis: The sample size is 46 interviews from a database of 100 Irish speakers and was analysed using NVivo qualitative analysis. Findings/Conclusions: Becoming a new speaker of Irish is a deeply emotional process, both before and after the transition, as subjects grapple with additional obstacles to acquisition and use due to the language's minoritised status. The emotions involved in adopting a minoritised language such as Irish appear to be qualitatively different from other languages because of the additional obstacles involved in mastering a language with a weak sociolinguistic profile. Originality: The paper's originality stems from the fact that it is the first systematic study of emotions and positionality among new speakers of Irish and is distinct from existing quantitative studies of language attitudes. An additional innovation is its theoretical framework which aims to guide understanding of emotions and positionality among new speakers of minoritised languages in particular rather than majority languages in general. Significance/Implications: The paper is theoretically significant because existing work on language and emotions has not focused on minoritised languages. Significance attaches to the related finding that the emotional process is not the same for minoritised languages and other more dominant languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The present study investigates whether Korean-English (K-E) bilingual children develop subject auxiliary inversion (SAI) in English wh-questions differently from monolingual English (M-E) speaking children. Specifically, an experimental study was designed to determine whether there is an effect of subject person in their acquisition of SAI in English wh-questions, a factor that had been suggested but not tested as a contributing factor in SAI in a previous study. Design: Twenty-six K-E bilingual and 20 M-E preschool-aged children were recruited for an elicitation study testing the effect of person on the use of SAI in wh-questions in English. The experiment consisted of having children interact with puppets in a guessing game that elicited first, second, and third person object-what questions in English. Data and analysis: Data from the experiment were analyzed through a binomial logistic regression, which accounts for the binary nature of the data (auxiliary inversion: present or absent) and identified which variables contribute significantly to the presence and absence of SAI. Findings/conclusions: Results indicated a significant difference between K-E and M-E groups and a significant main effect for person on SAI for the K-E group. The paper proposes that the [prs] feature is part of the bundle of features that drives the movement of the features in T to C. Originality: The paper contributes evidence for a link between the person feature and SAI, a link that has not been seen before for wh-question research. Significance/implications: The new evidence of a possible link between subject person and auxiliary inversion may open a window to new avenues for wh-question acquisition research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common methodological and conceptual threads are discussed with reference to the approaches adopted in the four papers of this special issue: Goffman’s frame analysis, Bakhtin’s chronotopes, Blommaert’s spatialization of language, and the Scollons’ nexus analysis. The commentary concludes with brief reflections on ‘mobile’ places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: This paper sets out to examine Italian bilingual children' attitudes about Child Language Brokering (CLB), with a focus on the perceived feelings (affective component of attitudes) and benefits (cognitive component of attitudes) related to CLB. The aim is to study the presence of any relationship between the affective and cognitive components of child language brokers' attitudes, since they can affect the outcomes of CLB and their analysis can provide tools to reduce the stressors related to it. Methodology: A survey was carried out among 150 immigrant students attending vocational high schools in the Northern and Central regions of Italy. Demographic and linguistic data were processed by means of a descriptive analysis, while attitudinal scales were processed by means of both descriptive and inferential analysis. Findings: The results will show that the child language brokers who perceive stronger positive feelings about CLB also report stronger attitudes towards the benefits of the practice. Originality: Considering the lack of research examining child language brokers' attitudes in Italy by means of attitude scales, and the lack of attention to the affective and cognitive dimensions of such attitudes, this study addresses this gap by investigating these two dimensions of CLB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This paper investigates the gender assignment strategies employed when genderless Georgian nouns are inserted into gendered Tsova-Tush utterances. We explore the linguistic and extra-linguistic factors motivating the strategies, and compare how these code-switches behave in relation to loans. Design/methodology/approach: Taking a broadly usage-based approach, we collected three types of data: (a) naturalistic corpus data; (b) semi-naturalistic production data from a forced-switch director–matcher (DM) task; and (c) a three-response forced-choice acceptability judgement task (AJT). Data and analysis: The responses from the DM task (n = 12) and AJT acceptability (n = 12) were analysed using descriptive (Chi-square) and inferential (log-linear) statistics. The corpus data are described qualitatively. Findings/conclusions: Both the gender of the Tsova-Tush translation equivalent (TE) and the Georgian phonology of the code-switched noun were significantly related to the response, with the TE being the stronger determinant of the two. Only marginal evidence for a default strategy was found. Production responses were found to be more consistent than comprehension responses, with more frequent lexemes displaying higher inter-participant consistency in production. Originality: Tsova-Tush, an endangered Nakh–Daghestanian language with five genders marked by prefixes, offers much-needed diversification within the code-switching literature concerning grammatical gender. This complexity also raises new questions regarding the notion of default in mixed nominal constructions. Significance/implications: Our findings support the prediction that first language speakers of a gendered language prefer a TE strategy, but contradict a relationship between default strategy and language dominance. Phonological criteria display a stronger role in gender assignment than previously found. Frequency and entrenchment of gender–noun pairings partially explain inter-speaker and inter-stimulus variation and consistency, providing a plausible pathway from code-switches to borrowings. Limitations: An unavoidable limitation is the sample size, reflecting the small speaker population. We strongly advocate for similar research in other language pairs in the Caucasus where gender systems feature prominently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radio, in particular, the popular Asante Twi talk-radio format that emerged in the mid-1990s, provides a unique forum for analyzing the linguistic tensions of contemporary Ghana. Radio is a context where talk and debate are central; since language is foregrounded, anxieties and beliefs about what the use of a particular language indexes socially are thrown into stark relief. This paper draws on conversation analysis, information structure, and ethnography to make sense of the prevalence of intrasentential codeswitching into English in the context of predominantly Twi talk-radio debates. It proposes that switches into English mark new or salient information, and as such function as a pragmatic tool in radio discourse, allowing speakers to negotiate the conversational floor and metapragmatically frame the speech event. It is argued that English’s pragmatic force in this context is drawn from its ability to index a multivalent prestige born of contradictory sites of authority within contemporary Ghanaian life. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aims and objectives/purpose/research question: This paper’s objective is to offer new insights into the effects of language on memory for causation events in a second language (L2) context. The research was driven by the question of whether proficient L2 users acquired L2 thinking-for-speaking-and-remembering strategies along with the relevant expressions for different types of causation (intentional versus non-intentional). Design/methodology/approach: The cognitive domain of causation is an ideal platform for this investigation, since the lexicalisation of causation differs clearly in the two languages under consideration, English and Spanish. Spanish speakers always distinguish between intentional and non-intentional events through the use of different constructions. The English pattern of lexicalisation in this domain often leaves intentionality unspecified. Our methodology involves an experimental elicitation of event verbalisations and recall memory responses to video stimuli by English and Spanish monolinguals and bilinguals. Data and analysis: The analysis has shown that the Spanish monolinguals and first language (L1) Spanish/L2 English speakers always distinguished between intentional and non-intentional events, while the English monolinguals and L1 English/L2 Spanish speakers generally used expressions that were underspecified with regard to intentionality. Findings/conclusions: All populations used their habitual language patterns as an aid to memory. Spanish monolingual had better recall than their English peers. L2 speakers were mainly relying on the L1 in spite of speaking only the L2 during the experiment. Originality: Possible effects of these typological differences between an L1 and an L2 on speaker recall memory have not been investigated before. Significance/implications: The research presented in this paper informs the theoretical assumptions related to the thinking-for-speaking hypothesis by showing empirically that late bilinguals adhere to their L1 patterns as an aid to memory while speaking in their L2. This novel finding contributes to an improved understanding of language processing and language use among late bilinguals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: Many early Spanish-English bilingual speakers in the USA learn Spanish as their first language at home and English in school. This paper seeks to elucidate whether these speakers develop a separate phonological system for English and, if so, the role of primary and secondary cues in the development of the second language (L2) system. Design/methodology/approach: The phonetic realization of the voiceless stops /p/, /t/, /k/ is analyzed among three groups: early Spanish-English bilinguals; L1 English speakers who are late learners of Spanish; and L1 Spanish speakers who are late learners of English. The participants (N = 15) engaged in a reading task and a conversation task in each language during a single recording session. Data and analysis: 1578 tokens of /p/, /t/, /k/ were extracted and analyzed using acoustic software. Voice onset time in milliseconds and center of gravity in Hertz were analyzed, and monofactorial and multifactorial analyses were performed to determine the role of linguistic background. Findings/conclusions: Evidence is found of two phonological systems among early bilingual speakers, with varying degrees of assimilation to the phonological systems of the native speakers of each language. Originality: We argue that early bilinguals construct their L2 system of /p/, /t/, /k/ in English based on the primary cue of voice onset time rather than the secondary cue of center of gravity, as they are accustomed to noticing differences in voice onset time in Spanish and because the center of gravity of /p/, /t/, /k/ in English is more variable than voice onset time, and therefore represents a more variable and less predictable cue for early bilinguals as they construct their L2 system. Significance/implications: This paper contributes to the literature on the construction of phonological systems and to research detailing the speech of early Spanish-English bilinguals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how two Indonesian Muslim families in the United States used digital technology to support their children in learning Qur’anic Arabic in translocal and transnational contexts in which to connect with family, friends, Qur’anic Arabic educators, and voluntary kin (members of a network of people who consider themselves family but have no blood or legal ties).We analyze the family religious language policy (FRLP) of two families to provide descriptive accounts that illustrate why and how families integrated digital technologies into their repertoire of practices for supporting children’s Qur’anic Arabic learning.Data were collected through observations and video/audio recordings of naturalistic interaction, semistructured interviews, and the collection of artifacts over the course of 10 months. We applied Strauss and Corbin’s three-step coding procedures to identify patterns in behavior and belief with regard to children’s sacred language learning, particularly in digital spaces.We found that the families adapted the “traditional” FRLP to the context of migration, integrating digital spaces and practices to create a virtual village to support children’s sacred language learning. These adaptations were intertwined with and contributed to the maintenance of relationships with extended family, voluntary kin, co-religionists, and co-nationals.The study examines FRLP in digital contexts, focusing on the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to create a community for children’s sacred language learning.Sacred language learning is an important part of millions of children’s lives. In focusing on digital spaces, the study contributes to the emerging subfield of applied linguistic research focused on religion and language teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corpus linguists are increasingly interested in applying their methodological tool box to the various areas of multilingualism. This paper gives an overview of corpus resources and presents three case studies on L2 foreign language learning that employ quantitative methods. The goal is to demonstrate that corpus-linguistic approaches further our understanding of many hot topics in learner language research, including appropriate characterizations of the L1 input and/or target norm; the adequate modeling of the intrinsically complex and highly L1-specific nature of learner language; and the increasingly recognized role of individual variation in the acquisition process. The paper closes with a brief discussion of how these methods can and should be applied to other areas of multilingualism research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and hypothesis: The aim of this article is to introduce a case of syntactic borrowing. I test the hypothesis that the uses of volitional forms (optative, imperative, hortative and jussive) in complement clauses of the verbs of wish and in purpose clauses in East Caucasian languages evolve under the influence of Azerbaijanian. Design/methodology/approach and data and analysis: The data of 13 languages are considered in the paper. To prove that shared features are contact-induced, two control languages are included in the sample. Archi belongs to the same genetic group as the languages that use volitionals in subordinate clauses, but is exposed to Azerbaijanian to a lesser extent. Axaxdərə Akhvakh belongs to another group, but has strong contacts with Azerbaijanian due to recent migration. Findings/conclusions: A survey shows that volitionals are used in subordinate clauses most extensively in those languages whose speakers exhibit a high level of bilingualism in Azerbaijanian, and where the contact has been longer. I assume that there is a hierarchy of borrowability of subordinate constructions involving volitionals. Originality: Although the influence of Turkic languages on the languages of the Caucasus in the domain of syntax has been previously discussed, the usage of volitionals in subordinate clauses has not. Significance/implications: It is acknowledged that social factors play an important role in shaping the linguistic consequences of contact. However, evidence of the correspondence between social factors and structural outcomes of language contact is still very scarce. The relevance of two social factors is shown in this paper: the ratio of bilingual speakers and the duration of contact. Limitations: I advance the hypothesis that connects the borrowability of particular constructions to their typological frequency, but the typology of subordinate uses of volitionals is not well enough investigated to make final conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine the role of language dominance in loanword phonology. It is investigated how onset clusters in loanwords are integrated into Turkish by two groups: English- Turkish bilinguals in Turkey and Swedish-Turkish bilinguals in Sweden. It is hypothesised that the bilinguals in Sweden will display significantly higher rates of cluster adoption because Turkish is not the dominant language there. The data were collected through an oral loanword elicitation task, a text recitation task in the second languages and a questionnaire on language proficiency and use. The study had 53 participants (24 in Turkey and 29 in Sweden). The material consisted of 29 loanwords from English and French, and of 50 structurally comparable words in the bilinguals' second languages. The data were analysed auditively by the author and subjected to an interrater reliability test. The results confirmed the hypothesis as the bilinguals in Sweden displayed significantly higher cluster adoption rates. The difference between the groups' medians was 36.5 percentage points. Furthermore, it was shown that in individual speakers the combination of accurate second-language pronunciation, and clearly higher proficiency in the second language (corresponding to the donor language) compared to the L1 (i.e. the recipient language) guaranteed very high cluster adoption rates. This paper provides the first rigorous quantitative proof for the theoretical assumption that accurate pronunciation is not sufficient for structural adoption in loanword phonology but needs to be complemented with sociolinguistic variables. Furthermore, it demonstrates in greater detail than before how societal and individual dominance are connected and through which channels they impact loanword integration. Self-reported relative proficiency in the donor language was shown to be a powerful predictor of the sociolinguistic incentive to adopt and could therefore be used as a quick and reliable alternative to elaborate and time-consuming attitude investigations in loanword phonology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This article reviews recent research on the relationship between language and thinking in bilinguals. Approach: The paper reviews aspects of previous research, and links it to the articles in this special issue. Conclusions: Research on language and cognition in bilinguals requires both depth (in-depth investigations of one area in order to test approaches and methods) and breadth (investigations of a wide range of research areas). It should cover all levels of language and all aspects of cognition, in line with the latest theoretical and methodological developments in relevant disciplines (e.g. using linguistic and non-linguistic tasks, collecting quantitative and qualitative data). Originality and significance: This introduction discusses important theoretical and methodological aspects of recent developments in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we investigate language contact between Haitian Creole and Dominican Spanish. We focus particularly on the acquisition of clitic pronouns (dative and accusative) in relation to their morpho-syntactic properties in the interlanguage of L2 Spanish speakers (Haitians and their bilingual descendants, whose first language is Creole) and we compare them with bilingual speakers of Creole and Spanish (Dominican-Haitians and Arayanos) and monolingual Spanish speakers (Dominicans), residents near the Dominican-Haitian border. Although the acquisition of clitic pronouns of L2 Spanish has been the object of multiple studies (Montrul, 2004; Sánchez, 2004), no study to date has referred to the case of native speakers of a Creole language, in this case of Haitian Creole. In Spanish, clitics can be heads of their own functional categories (AgrOP and AgrIOP) (Franco, 1993; Uriagereka, 1995), while acting as affixes of morphological agreement. For the purposes of this paper, we interviewed (semi) spontaneously, 11 informants, belonging to three groups of border speakers, whom we classified according to the variables of ethnicity and degree of bilingualism: 5 Haitians (Hs), 3 Arayanos (AYs) and 3 Dominicans (Ds); these latter were monolingual non-standard Spanish speakers that formed the control group. According to the results, there are significant differences or cases of divergence between the properties of the participants' grammar that could be due to the properties of their L1. The differences occur fundamentally in speakers of interlanguage, in relation to morphology (i.e. agreement — gender and number), rather than syntax. In the light of these results, it could be argued that Creole speakers with Spanish as an interlanguage do not seem to converge with monolingual speakers in their morpho-syntactic terms of the object pronouns (i.e. clitics), or they simply display an `'incomplete'' grammar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the complex role of ethnicity in the construction of a peer-based social order in preadolescence, and argues that the indexical value of "ethnic" variables is constructed among, rather than simply within, ethnic groups, and hence incorporates concerns that span ethnic boundaries. In Northern California, white Anglo speech is showing a split in /ae/ as it raises before nasals and backs elsewhere, while Chicano speakers commonly back both classes of /ae/. Based on ethnography in two Northern California elementary schools, this paper shows that the Chicano pattern does not simply index ethnicity, but indexes place in the peer-based social order as well, and as such is available to speakers regardless of ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recurrent theme in the literature on trilingual language use is the question of whether there is a specific ‘trilingual competence.’ In this paper we consider this question in the light of codeswitching patterns in two dyadic trilingual conversations between a mother and daughter conducted in (Lebanese) Arabic, French, and English. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of codeswitching in both conversants shows that, despite the fact that both subjects are fluent in all three languages, uses of switching are significantly different for mother and daughter across a number of features, including relative frequency of different switch types, and the incidence of hybrid constructions involving items from two or more languages. The subjects appear to display qualitatively distinct profiles of competence in the trilingual mode. This in turn leads to the conclusion that the facts of trilingual language use are best characterized in terms of ‘multicompetence’ (Cook, 1991). The paper concludes with some further reflections on the uniqueness of trilingual language use (an ‘old chestnut’ in trilingualism research, cf. Klein, 1995). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on an earlier one (Gardner-Chloros & Edwards, 2004), where we pointed to various problems underlying the search for grammatical constraints on codeswitching (CS), these problems being largely derived from the assumption that CS is the sum of two finite and discrete systems which together make up the competence of the bilingual speaker. Here we look more closely at the type of grammatical knowledge involved in intrasentential CS, by examining a widely attested structure in CS, bilingual compound verbs (BCVs). We consider the properties of compound verbs in general, including in monolingual contexts, their significance in the CS literature, notably for the notion of Matrix Language, and their implications for an understanding of bilingual grammars, broadly defined. We conclude that this widespread feature of bilingual speech is more than a convenient frame for inserting foreign words, and should be seen as part of a more general verb-formation process. The types of linguistic knowledge which allow such formations to emerge are based on what Sebba (1998) has called conceptual work, rather than on the simple interaction of two linguistic systems as such. We list a number of factors to be taken into account in trying to identify a CS grammar, within which idiolect, metalinguistic knowledge and community norms are particularly significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns identity, multilingualism, gender and silence. It draws upon poststructuralist discussions on the role of language in the construction of identity, particularly in relation to gender and bilingualism. As gender is socially constructed, negotiated and performed through language, it differs between cultures and involves different relations of power. A bilingual person, specifically, a bilingual woman, can, therefore, construct and perform identity in different ways depending on context and may employ strategies in different ways between contexts, such as in the interplay between speech and silence. Silence as a phenomenon has been viewed in the context of the exercise of power between dominant and subordinate groups, especially in male-female relationships, and the ways in which the oral contributions of the "muted group" are excluded, constrained or devalued. Furthermore, it has been noted that there are different social sanctions between cultures that may silence women in different ways. This discussion explores some of the roles that speech and silence have played in the life of one multilingual person of Asian heritage. In doing so, different scenarios of empowerment through the role of translator and apparent disempowerment documented within a group of female friends are addressed. The paper examines the ways in which individuals may both work within and against cultural expectations in relation to the discursive practice of silence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have argued that the grammatical features spell-out hypothesis (GFSH) (Liceras, Spradlin, Perales, Fernández, & Álvarez, 2003; Spradlin, Liceras & Fernández, 2003a) accounts for the functional-lexical mixing patterns that prevail in the case of Determiner Phrases produced by bilingual (English-Spanish) children. This hypothesis (Liceras, 2002; Spradlin, Liceras & Fernández, 2003b) states that in the process of activating the features of the two grammars, the child, who will rely on the two lexicons, will make codemixing choices which will favor the functional categories containing the largest array of uninterpretable features (Chomsky, 1998, 1999). This implies that in the case of English/Spanish child acquisition data, mixed utterances such as el book (Spanish Determiner + English Noun) will prevail over mixed utterances such as the libro (English Determiner + Spanish Noun). Thus, in the process of acquisition, children pay special attention to the visible morpho-phonological triggers which lead to the activation of abstract formal features.In this paper, we will test this hypothesis by analyzing data containing English/Spanish functional-lexical mixings as well as data from other language pairs. We will argue that early functional-lexical mixings, including word-internal mixings, provide evidence for how children activate the abstract syntactic features of the individual target languages in an emergent grammar. Specifically, we will try to show that: (1) patterns of production are syntactically motivated in that morphemes which spell-out a greater array of abstract features are favored; thus in any given language pair, the "dominant" language—the one that will systematically contribute the functional free morpheme, the Determiner, to a Determiner + Noun pair—will be the language whose Determiner system displays the greater array of uninterpretable features to be checked within the Determiner Phrase; and (2) when the Determiner in the two languages displays a similar array of uninterpretable features within the Determiner phrase, no preference for either is manifested. We will further suggest that bilingual word-internal mixing plays a similar role to monolingual inflectional over-regularizations in that it is the visibility of the uninterpretable features that will inform patterns of production in both cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines a major 17th century German text by the language theorist Justus-Georg Schottelius as an example of codeswitching in writing, an area which has received scant attention since an important study of Luther's bilingual Tischreden 40 years ago (Stolt, 1964). The paper analyzes the extent and types of Latin-German mixing in Schottelius' writing, and argues that, even though written, these are instances of codeswitching, that is, the use of two codes in the same "communicative event." The paper identifies some pragmatic triggers for such codeswitching. It further finds that in Schottelius, embedded language (EL) constituents are always inflected according to the EL system, which appears to violate the System Morpheme Principle and Double Morphology Principle (Myers-Scotton, 1993a). It therefore hypothesizes that inflection according to EL rules need not be blocked, if the EL and ML (matrix language) are typologically close enough for speakers to be aware of morphological equivalence between morphemes in the ML and morphemes with a parallel function in the EL. Finally, it argues that differences between Luther's codeswitching practice (see Stolt, 1964) and that of Schottelius a century later confirm that codeswitching is an inherently unstable practice which must be seen in the context of wider language change and/or language shift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present some results from an experimental study that we have been conducting into the effects of syntactic attrition on the L1 of Greek and Italian speakers who have achieved near-native proficiency in their L2 (English) but still use their L1 on a regular basis. In particular, we test the hypothesis, developed on the basis of assumptions regarding syntactic modularity, that the changes in L1 syntax will be restricted to the interface with the conceptual/intentional cognitive systems. The area of investigation is the domain of grammatical subjects in Greek and Italian. More specifically, we tested the participants on the production and interpretation of null and on subject extraction and subject position in various syntactic contexts. In this paper we report on the results of one of the production tasks (of preverbal and postverbal subjects) and two interpretation tasks. Attrition effects are found in the production of preverbal subjects in the Greek group whereas Italian speakers show attrition effects in the interpretation of overt pronominal subjects. We argue that these results are in the right direction, that is, that semantic features are vulnerable in language attrition whereas syntactic options remain intact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and Objectives: The aim of the present study is to address the reciprocal relationship between L2 attitudes and L2 use in a bilingual setting among teenaged L2 learners. Whereas several scholars suggested that L2 attitudes and L2 use mutually facilitate each other, empirical studies have traditionally assessed the relationship between L2 attitudes and L2 use from one direction. Design/Methodology: We propose a complex model that integrates concepts tied to the larger social context surrounding formal L2 teaching, such as attitudes towards L2 speakers and L2 use outside the school, with concepts that are more closely associated with formal L2 teaching, such as L2 motivation and L2 competence. In addition, acknowledging that peers' opinion is a salient issue for teenagers, we also included L2 related peer norms into the model we propose. Based on earlier research we developed six hypotheses regarding the relationships between the theoretical concepts. Self-report questionnaire data were collected among students in Italian language secondary schools in South Tyrol (N = 315). The questionnaire included items from well-established and validated measurement instruments. We tested the proposed model with non-recursive path modelling. Findings/Conclusions: All the hypotheses were substantiated by the data. We found that both L2 attitudes and L2 related peer norms predicted L2 motivation. In addition, a significant interaction emerged between L2 attitudes and peer norms. L2 motivation predicted L2 competence which in turn predicted L2 use. Finally, the results have provided evidence of a reinforcement process, namely, that L2 use can contribute to positive intergroup attitudes. Originality: To the best of our knowledge, the present paper is the first that utilized non-recursive path modelling in exploring patterns of bilingualism. Significance/Implications: In bilingual settings, L2 use can promote better L2 attitudes. Positive peer norms regarding L2 can counterbalance the effect of negative attitudes on second language acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The connection between language contact and the bilingual speaker goes back to foundational authors in the field of contact linguistics. Yet there is very little work that combines these two levels in a single study. In this paper, we propose a unified approach to language contact by testing the role of cross-language priming (CLP) on contact-induced change at the level of complex noun phrases (NPs). Design/methodology/approach: We conducted three studies with different types of data. In Study 1, we analyse the Romani Morpho-Syntax database to identify word order preferences in Romani dialects from different countries. In Study 2, we examine a corpus of interviews in Romani from Romania. In Study 3, we conduct an experiment to test short-term priming in adjective (ADJ)/noun (N) order from Romanian to Romani and within Romani. Data and analysis: In Study 1, we examine the word order in approximately 3000 NPs from 119 Romani speakers. In Study 2, we analyse a speech corpus of 9400 words from four elderly Romani–Romanian bilinguals. In Study 3, 90 Romani–Romanian bilinguals participated in a priming experiment. We used multinomial mixed-effects logistic regression, Bayesian models and Random Forests to analyse the experimental results. Findings/conclusions: Study 1 shows that Romani speakers from Romania stand out for their frequent use of postnominal ADJs. Study 2 confirms these uses in free speech. Study 3 reveals significant CLP effects, whereby speakers favour the use of determiner (DET)–N–ADJ order in Romani immediately following a noun with a suffixed determiner (NDET)–ADJ sentence read in Romanian. Originality: Our study is the first to demonstrate CLP effects in ADJ/N order. Significance/implications: We illustrate a unified approach to language contact by introducing theoretical and methodological advances from the field of bilingualism into the study of contact-induced change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: Past research has shown that multicultural experience and multilingualism can be positively associated with creativity. However, very few studies have focused simultaneously on all these variables. Our aim is to consider both sets of predictors simultaneously, clarifying whether the impact of these variables on creativity is cumulative or redundant. Design/methodology/approach: The design combines correlational and quasi-experimental approaches. It is also strongly multivariate and includes various measurement methods. Variables of interest were assessed with questionnaires (N = 596) and creativity tasks (N = 174) in laboratory settings. The scope of the study, therefore, is relatively large and encompasses several indicators. Data and analysis: We use multiple regressions with latent and manifest variables. Latent variables were constructed for all sets of key predictors (multilingualism, traveling experience, living abroad experience); predictors were regressed on four types of creativity variables, also latent in most cases (creative potential; creative interests, activities, and achievements; creative performance in a writing task; creative performance on a remote association task). Findings/conclusions: Results shows that both multicultural experience and multilingualism are positively related with various manifestations of creativity. Overall, the results indicate complementary effects of multicultural experience and multilingualism on creativity. The most robust predictors are multilingualism and variables representing deep immersion in foreign countries. Originality: Three features make this study unique: (a) it examines both multilingualism and multiculturalism; (b) the sample population is broader than in most studies, which often focus on migrant populations; and (c) it implements a multimethod operationalization of creativity. Significance/implications: The paper goes beyond received approaches to the link between human diversity and creativity; the analysis is put in relation with other research work that focuses on policy implications for diversity, particularly in the areas of bilingualism and bicultural identity. Implications regarding the connections between creativity, multilingualism, and general executive functioning are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This paper investigates whether sustained immersion in a dominant second-language (L2) environment alters morphological processing strategies compared to those of L1-immersed speakers. Furthermore, we assess the methodological usefulness of a language-mode task in light of the validity of conducting native processing research on L2-immersed speakers. Design/methodology/approach: We use the design and stimuli of a previous long-lag visual lexical decision task conducted with native German speakers in Germany and use this group as a control. Thirty-two native German speakers resident in the UK (>2 years; minimal day-to-day German use) participated in two experimental sessions (one containing a 20-minute conversation task in German). Data and analysis: The data shows clear differences between facilitation patterns of L1 and L2-immersed participants. L2-immersed speakers display decreased sensitivity to subtle morphological differences as well as facilitation in a form condition similar to effects seen in L2 processing. Lexical decisions of pseudowords based on plausibility, however, remain similar. While the pre-experiment language-mode task resulted in overall faster responses, there was no effect on processing patterns. Findings/conclusions: L1 morphological processing is affected by continued exposure to a dominant second language with sensitivity to the internal structure or differences of morphologically complex items decreasing. The attrition group shows certain similarities to L2 morphological processing. Our findings also call for caution in the recruitment of L2-immersed experiment participants. Originality: Research on morphological processing in language attrition is scarce and no previous work has examined complex derived words. The addition of a principled manipulation of the pre-experiment task is also uncommon. Significance/implications: The possible similarity of L1-attrition and L2-learner processing challenges the concept of 'native' processing and the notion of 'nativeness' as a stable property. Further comparison of these populations may lead to a more thorough understanding of the adaptability of our processing system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This paper describes and analyses the speech from the Senegalese migrant community in the city of Pescara (Italy) from a contact-linguistics perspective. The focus is on the phenomena of code-mixing found when the Italian language, that of the host community, is added to the complex repertoire of Wolof/French multilingual speakers. Design/methodology/approach: The patterns of code-mixing and the composition of trilingual speech are presented and discussed following the Muysken grammatical model for classifying features of language-contact discourse. Data and analysis: Primary data have been collected recording spontaneous interactions among a group of first-generation migrants that have lived in Italy for about 10 years and are all speakers of a fluent learner-variety of Italian. Findings/conclusions: It will be shown that insertional and alternational code-mixing patterns are present in both the bilingual (French/Wolof) and the trilingual (Italian/French/Wolof) speech, but with different degrees of variation and distribution. Originality: Besides documenting the trilingual speech framed in a specific yet new migration contact setting, the author considers the role that the two languages of prestige, French and Italian, play within the structural composition of both types of code-mixing, especially with regards to their relationship with Wolof. Significance/implications: The results achieved contribute to the general theory of the grammatical model by reaffirming the properties of the patterns of insertion and alternation, but also by revealing other ambiguous forms of code-mixing that might suggest a future revision of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: By applying the tripartite framework of family language policy, this study seeks to gain insight into heritage language maintenance of Polish families in Melbourne. To this end, an integrative investigation of family language policy encapsulating the heritage language perceptions, practices and management will be employed. Methodology: Based on the data collected through the online questionnaire supplemented with in-depth interviews, quantitative and qualitative analyses have been conducted to obtain a sociolinguistic picture of the convoluted dependencies. Data and analysis: The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and coded according to the grounded theory approach. The recurrent themes were noted. The existing social patterns were conceptualised through the process of constant comparison. The excerpts selected for analysis illustrate how critical have been the informants' beliefs and practices concerning heritage language maintenance. Findings and conclusions: The data analyses of the researched families disclose a wide range of practices where certain discrepancies are observed between declarations and the actual language behaviours. It also emerges that without parents' reinforcement and establishing the heritage language as a default means of communication at home, children suffer from lower productive skills. Originality: This paper delves into how Polish is maintained as a heritage language by the second generation of Polish-speaking immigrants. It explores the Polish community, one of the well-established yet understudied groups that make up multicultural Australia. It unfolds an account of the dynamics of family language policy, illustrating how they are constantly negotiated, contested and formed by parents. Significance/implications: The findings contribute to the ongoing discussion of language policies and heritage language maintenance by demonstrating that the hardship and distress resulting from heritage language acquisition as well as language maintenance are incumbent primarily on family language policy. The researched group is an average-size immigrant community situated in the context with limited institutional support resolving down to Polish Saturday schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children socialize each other linguistically, and this is very likely their only field for practicing certain linguistic skills which are not accepted by adults (although adults may use these skills themselves), such as swearing and codeswitching. The practicing of these skills goes hand in hand with the negotiation of social relations - perhaps including the celebrated difference in dominance among the gender. This paper studies the development of code-choice patterns and codeswitching skills among boys and girls during their grade school years as a phenomenon related to their social relations. The data are group conversations from grade 1 through grade 9. The conversations in the first grades show clearly Turkish-dominant children introducing Danish words, at first school words, later more generally related words and chunks, into their Turkish. Later again Danish utterances which are not chunks, appear, among the girls earlier than among the boys. In the middle grades, quantitative differences in language choice show that boys gradually introduce Danish into their conversations, but maintain a slight majority of Turkish-based contributions throughout the years. Girls use very little Danish until grade 7, and then much more Danish than Turkish. However, by grade 5 the girls perform differently in girls-only groups from what they do in gendermixed groups. The paper discusses this phenomenon as social group marking. Finally, in the older grades, we see the development of language choice as a means of social exclusion among the girls - something which the boys have not developed as a skill yet, or perhaps never will. When we combine these observations we do not see any evidence of boys acquiring dominant language behavior compared to girls. The girls and the boys seem to develop along the same lines, the boys later than the girls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our current models of bilingual memory are essentially accounts of semantic memory whose goal is to explain bilingual lexical access to underlying imagistic and conceptual referents. While this research has included episodic memory, it has focused largely on recall for words, phrases, and sentences in the service of understanding the structure of semantic memory. Building on the four papers in this special issue, this article focuses on larger units of episodic memory (from quotidian events with simple narrative form to complex autobiographical memories) in service of developing a model of bilingual episodic memory. This requires integrating theory and research on how culture-specific narrative traditions inform encoding and retrieval with theory and research on the relation between (monolingual) semantic and episodic memory (Schank, 1982; Schank & Abelson, 1995; Tulving, 2002). Then, taking a cue from memory-based text processing studies in psycholinguistics (McKoon & Ratcliff, 1998), we suggest that as language forms surface in the progressive retrieval of features of an event, they trigger further forms within the same language serving to guide a within-language / within-culture retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has three, related goals. Its main goal is to provide quantitative evidence supporting the claim that in bilingual conversation the unmarked choice can be identified via a frequency-based criterion(cf. Myers-Scotton,1993b). Accordingly, frequency also identifies the marked choice. Second, it shows that not all participants in the same conversation necessarily have the same unmarked choice. Data come from a Malawian family temporarily living in the United States. Both parents and the children engage in codeswitching, but how the two languages are employed and their frequency within the overall codeswitching pattern shows that for the parents, English is marked, while for the children Chicheŵa is marked. Finally, the paper reinforces the argument that people are rational actors in the sense that they perceive selecting one way of speaking over another as a means to optimize their outcomes in interpersonal relationships(cf. Myers-Scotton, 1998; Myers-Scotton & Bolonyai, 2001). When speakers are bilingual and codeswitching is a component of the community, the types of code choices they make in codeswitching conversations become a means of achieving such goals. Specifically, marked choices become self-presentations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Both under-representati on and over-representation of bilingual children exist in different contexts of speech and language therapy(SLT) provision. The research on which this paper is based investigated possible influences on “ misrepresentation ” in England. This paper explores concepts behind measuring the representation of bilingual children in SLT, with relevance to other services, and discusses practicalities.Telephone interviews were conducted with speech and language therapists (SLTs) or their managers in nine SLT departments. In case studies of two SLT departments face-to-face interviews then explored misrepresentation. In different contexts relative numbers of bilingual and monolingual children receiving SLT were compared with a) each other, and b) their proportions in the general population.Findings showed that SLTs' and managers' perceptions of the linguistic composition of caseload and population were unreliable. Interviewees' views on the importance of finding out numbers of children speaking different languages and the barriers to collecting such data are considered. This information can strongly support proposals for a bilingual co-worker which may, in turn, improve bilingual clients' representation. Methodological difficulties in conducting numerical comparisons are described, along with solutions. Comparisons of caseload and population data are recommended in SLT, other services, and to researchers. They illuminate linguistic demography, highlight those missing out and the resulting theorization stimulates practical solutions to misrepresentation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, to present the findings of a study of Bangladeshi women's relations with their children's school in Birmingham, U.K., and the ways in which languages and literacies were regarded at thresholds of power between the minority-culture women and the dominant-culture institution. Second, to consider the insights which the work of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu affords in analyzing the power structures evident in minority-culture parents' access to their children's schooling. The paper develops from a four-year research project which investigated home and school literacies of Bangladeshi children and their families in Birmingham, U.K. As part of the study, the mothers of 18 six-year-old Bangladeshi children were interviewed about their children's learning, their attempts to support this learning, and their communications with the school about this process. The children's teachers were also interviewed, about the role of parents in their children's learning. The home-school literacy process was a site at which the reproduction or renegotiation of power between dominant and minority groups became visible. The analysis makes clear that the Bangladeshi women were marginalized by structures of power which dictated that those with cultural and linguistic capital which was different from that of the majority-culture school were unable to gain access to information about, or support with their children's schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

National belonging is a central facet of modern social identities. In Europe, nation-building often went hand in hand with linguistic nationalism. While the monarchial empires that preceded the modern nation had been multilingual polities (e.g., the Habsburg Empire), nations were founded on the ideology of “One Language, One Nation.” Nations are not only “Imagined Communities,” that is, systems of cultural representation whereby people come to imagine a shared experience of identification with an extended community, but also exclusionary historical and institutional practices to which access is restricted via citizenship. Linguistic restrictions to such access can be found in naturalization language testing, which usually takes place during the naturalization interview and tests the applicant's proficiency in a country's official and/or majority language. In this paper I examine the interrelationship of ideologies of national and linguistic identity and the ways in which they impact upon ideologies of citizenship. I describe current naturalization legislationina number of countries and the ways in which it is based on these ideologies. The paper has a special focus on Germany where naturalization legislation changed on January 1st, 2000. I describe the linguistic tests as they are stipulated by law and as they are conducted in actual practice. Finally, I turn away from the national ideologies behind these language tests to the linguistic ideologies that (mis)inform them. The data for this analysis come mainly from legal texts pertaining to naturalization, but also from newspaper accounts and interviews with naturalization candidates. I will show that the relationship between naturalization and language requirements depends on the different national ideologies that the various countries hold. The paper ends with the conclusion that most of the practices I report on are compatible neither with a contemporary understanding of citizenship nor with recent advances in linguistic research and the study of multilingualism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper is based on bilingual conversations we have collected in two bilingual settings, namely service encounters in Barcelona and ordinary informal conversations among bilingual Rwandese in Belgium. On the basis of these data, the paper raises the question of whether the concept of language is a useful one in accounting for language choice acts among bilingual speakers. Observation of the data reveals that the concept of language can account for bilinguals' language choice acts only partially. This observation is found to be consistent with Gumperz' (1982) argument according to which, in talk, speakers themselves do not necessarily orient to the notion of language, but rather to their “own notion of code.” In the paper, we refer to that speakers' own code as the medium of a bilingual conversation. Therefore, our main argumentis that, for an account of language choice among bilingual speakers, the concept of language need be suspended in favor of that of the medium of a bilingual conversation. In the paper, three connected questions are specifically addressed. How do speakers themselves establish the medium? What versions may the medium take? How can analysts discover the medium? [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]