This volume takes a different approach by combining several different
approaches to a single research focus. The theme that binds the chapters
together is that they all aim to answer the same basic question, namely: what
is the nature of the relationship between the two languages of bilingual speakers in
bilingual communities? Together, the chapters presented in this volume draw
from the work conducted as part of the programme of the ESRC Centre for
Research on Bilingualism in Theory and Practice (see below), and explore the
relationship between bilinguals’ two languages from different perspectives:
the relationship between the grammatical and semantic features of each lan-
guage in bilingual processing; the relationship between the two languages in
production (in terms of sound, words and grammar); and the concurrent use
of two languages as a pedagogical tool. In doing so, this book integrates a
variety of methodological approaches within three core fields of study
(Linguistics, Psychology and Education), which, together, allow us to build a
more holistic understanding of the phenomena. The more we understand
about various aspects of the relationship between a bilingual’s two systems
from various disciplinary perspectives, using different methodological tools,
the more we understand how the bilingual brain works, and the more we
understand how the two languages of a bilingual co-exist and interact within
a single conversation and in their daily lives, the closer we are to uncovering
one of the most miraculous aspects of the human brain.
Contents of the Book
In this book we bring together expert researchers from a wide variety of
disciplines to explore, chapter by chapter, the relationship between a bilin-
gual’s two languages in bilingual speech, bilingual language development,
bilingual language production, bilingual education and in the bilingual brain.
Each chapter begins with a general introduction to specific issues of interest
within a given sub-field of bilingualism. Each of these issues relates to the
key question under investigation (the relationship between a bilingual’s two
languages), and each chapter offers some new insights into that question,
supported by novel data from Welsh-English, Welsh-German, Welsh-Spanish,
Spanish-English and German-English bilinguals that are accessed via various
methodological approaches.
In the first part – Bilingual Speech – we explore the nature, direction
and extent of interaction between the sound systems of bilinguals. Chapter
1 presents a short overview of recent research conducted by the Speech
Research Group of the ESRC Centre for Research on Bilingualism in Theory
and Practice along three relatively neglected areas of bilingual speech produc-
tion (prosody; articulatory settings; and bidirectional influences in the sound
systems of bilinguals). This chapter then continues with an in-depth illustra-
tion of phonological acquisition in bilingual children. In particular, we
xviii Advances in the Study of Bilingualism