This collection brings together recent research on the influences between first and additional languages with a focus on the development of multilingual lexicons. Featuring work from an international group of scholars, the volume examines the complex dynamics underpinning vocabulary in second and third languages and the role first languages play within this process. The book is organized around three different facets of research in this area – lexical recognition, processing, and knowledge; the effects of first languages on second language reading and writing, collocations, and translation skills; and, vocabulary testing – drawing on examples from a variety of languages, including European languages, Arabic, and Japanese. Setting the stage for further research on the interplay between first languages and multilingual lexicons, this volume is key reading for students and researchers in applied linguistics, language learning and teaching, bilingualism, second language acquisition, and translation studies.

This collection brings together recent research on the influences between first and additional languages with a focus on the development of multilingual lexicons. Featuring work from an international group of scholars, the volume examines the complex dynamics underpinning vocabulary in second and third languages and the role first languages play within this process. The book is organized around three different facets of research in this area - lexical recognition, processing, and knowledge; the effects of first languages on second language reading and writing, collocations, and translation skills; and, vocabulary testing - drawing on examples from a variety of languages, including European languages, Arabic, and Japanese. Setting the stage for further research on the interplay between first languages and multilingual lexicons, this volume is key reading for students and researchers in applied linguistics, language learning and teaching, bilingualism, second language acquisition, and translation studies.

How are words organized in the bilingual mind? How are they linked to concepts? How do bi- and multilinguals process words in their multiple languages? Contributions to this volume offer up-to-date answers to these questions and provide a detailed introduction to interdisciplinary approaches used to investigate the bilingual lexicon.

This volume is a response both to the increasing interest in multilingual phenomena and lexical issues in language learning. It is of interest to scholars and graduate students interested in bi- and multilingualism, second and multiple language acquisition, language processing and language learning, mental lexicon, applied linguistics, psycho- and neurolinguistics and language teaching. Recent research on third language acquisition and trilingualism has made clear that most multilingual studies actually deal with vocabulary learning or the lexicon. So far books on the mental lexicon have mainly been concerned with two languages in contact. This book is unique because it explores the multilingual lexicon by providing insights from research studies conducted in psycholinguistics, applied linguistics and neurolinguistics. It goes beyond the use of two languages and thus concentrates on a new and developing area in linguistic research. The different perspectives included in this volume provide a link to the mainstream work on the lexicon and vocabulary acquisition and will stimulate further debate in these areas and in the study of multilingualism.

Provides an overview of present trends in the study of adult additive multilingualism from formal, psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives, adding new insights into adult multilingual epistemology. This book includes critical reviews of L3/Ln morphosyntax, phonology, and the lexicon.

The claim that multilanguage acquisition drives advantages in ‘executive function’ is currently an issue of vigorous debate in academic literature. Critics argue that evidence for this advantage has been confounded by unsound or questionable methodological practices, with some investigators abandoning research in this area altogether, indicating either that there is no bilingual advantage or that it is impossible to capture and therefore rule out alternative explanations for group differences. Over the past decade, and against this backdrop, theory has developed from a relatively narrow focus on inhibitory control to incorporate theory of mind, rule-based learning, reactive and proactive control, visuo-spatial memory, and control of verbal interference in speech comprehension. Most recently, authors have claimed that the process of becoming bilingual may also impact on metacognitive abilities. The fundamental issue is whether the limited capacity and goal-directed selectivity of our executive system can somehow be enhanced or otherwise profit from the continuous, intense competition associated with communicating in multilingual environments. However, although this issue has received much attention in academic literature, the question of which cognitive mechanisms are most influenced by the enhanced competition associated with multilingual contexts remains unresolved. Therefore, rather than dismissing this important topic, we advocate a more systematic approach in which the effects of multilinguistic experience are assessed and interpreted across well-defined stages of cognitive development. We encourage a broad, developmentally informed approach to plotting the trajectory of interactions between multi-language learning and cognitive development, using a convergence of neuroimaging and behavioral methods, across the whole lifespan. Moreover, we suggest that the current theoretical framing of the bilingual advantage is simplistic, and this issue may limit attempts to identify specific mechanisms most likely to be modulated by multilingual experience. For example, there is a tendency in academic literature to treat ‘executive function’ as an essentially unitary fronto-parietal system recruited in response to all manner of cognitive demand, yet performance across so called ‘executive function’ tasks is highly variable and intercorrelations are sometimes low. It may be the case that some ‘higher level’ mechanisms of 'executive function' remain relatively unaffected, while others are more sensitive to multilingual experience – and that there may be disadvantages as well as advantages, which themselves may be sensitive to factors such as age. In our view, there is an urgent need to take a more fine-grained approach to this issue, so that the strength and direction of changes in diverse cognitive abilities associated with multilanguage acquisition can be better understood. This book compiles work from psychologists and neuroscientists who actively research whether, how, and the extent to which multilanguage acquisition promotes enhanced cognition or protects against age-related cognitive or neurological deterioration. We hope this collection encourages future efforts to drive theoretical progress well beyond the highly simplistic issue of whether the bilingual cognitive advantage is real or spurious.

The Routledge Handbook of Applied Linguistics serves as an introduction and reference point to key areas in the field of applied linguistics. The five sections of the volume encompass a wide range of topics from a variety of perspectives: applied linguistics in action language learning, language education language, culture and identity perspectives on language in use descriptions of language for applied linguistics. The forty-seven chapters connect knowledge about language to decision-making in the real world. The volume as a whole highlights the role of applied linguistics, which is to make insights drawn from language study relevant to such decision-making. The chapters are written by specialists from around the world. Each one provides an overview of the history of the topic, the main current issues and possible future trajectory. Where appropriate, authors discuss the impact and use of new technology in the area. Suggestions for further reading are provided with every chapter. The Routledge Handbook of Applied Linguistics is an essential purchase for postgraduate students of applied linguistics. Editorial board: Ronald Carter, Guy Cook, Diane Larsen-Freeman and Amy Tsui.

How does a human acquire, comprehend, produce and control multiple languages with just the power of one mind? What are the cognitive consequences of being a bilingual? These are just a few of the intriguing questions at the core of studying bilingualism from psycholinguistic and neurocognitive perspectives. Bringing together some of the world's leading experts in bilingualism, cognitive psychology and language acquisition, The Cambridge Handbook of Bilingual Processing explores these questions by presenting a clear overview of current theories and findings in bilingual processing. This comprehensive handbook is organized around overarching thematic areas including theories and methodologies, acquisition and development, comprehension and representation, production, control, and the cognitive consequences of bilingualism. The handbook serves as an informative overview for researchers interested in cognitive bilingualism and the logic of theoretical and experimental approaches to language science. It also functions as an instrumental source of readings for anyone interested in bilingual processing.

This study examines changes in the first language of people who know a second language. It presents theories and research that investigate the first language of second language users from a variety of perspectives including vocabulary, pragmatics, cognition and syntax.

This open access volume reveals the hidden power of the script we read in and how it shapes and drives our minds, ways of thinking, and cultures. Expanding on the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis (i.e., the idea that language affects the way we think), this volume proposes the “Script Relativity Hypothesis” (i.e., the idea that the script in which we read affects the way we think) by offering a unique perspective on the effect of script (alphabets, morphosyllabaries, or multi-scripts) on our attention, perception, and problem-solving. Once we become literate, fundamental changes occur in our brain circuitry to accommodate the new demand for resources. The powerful effects of literacy have been demonstrated by research on literate versus illiterate individuals, as well as cross-scriptal transfer, indicating that literate brain networks function differently, depending on the script being read. This book identifies the locus of differences between the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans, and between the East and the West, as the neural underpinnings of literacy. To support the “Script Relativity Hypothesis”, it reviews a vast corpus of empirical studies, including anthropological accounts of human civilization, social psychology, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, applied linguistics, second language studies, and cross-cultural communication. It also discusses the impact of reading from screens in the digital age, as well as the impact of bi-script or multi-script use, which is a growing trend around the globe. As a result, our minds, ways of thinking, and cultures are now growing closer together, not farther apart.