-
Hervé ADAMI (Université de Lorraine)Is the English dominance inevitable?2018, Vol. XXIII-2, pp. 89-103
Multilingualism always existed. All over the world at any era many different languages always co-existed. Pre-national and pre-capitalist societies roughly succeeded in maintaining a balance between these different languages. But the emergence in the XIXth century of nation- states and the XXth century economic globalization shattered this balance. Gradually countries having a single language used by the majority of the population (e.g. Britain, USA, France, Germany) extended their domination over their political allied countries and more generally all over the world by means of colonial empires. English is nowadays viewed as the one language prevailing. Hopefully escaping such a supremacy of English is possible: languages are no natural forces, but tools designed to be used by humans able to master them.
-
Lyanne AHUMADA-EBRATT (Université de Toulouse)Interactions among languages in the multilingual mind: between crosslinguistic influence and attrition2018, Vol. XXIII-2, pp. 15-28
This paper focuses on the interactions between the languages in the multilingual mind with reference to studies on cross-linguistic influence, dominance shift and, particularly, language attrition. We first address first language attrition by providing a brief state of the art with respect to three main questions: why does attrition arise, how does it happen and what kind of structures are mainly concerned by attrition. Psycholinguistic factors influencing interactions with the mental lexicon are specifically discussed in order to explain why some words are more vulnerable to semantic extensions than others. We then describe some main results of studies on second and foreign language attrition with focus on the role of extralinguistic and linguistic factors.
-
Henny BIJLEVELD (Université Libre de Bruxelles)Multiligualism and language disorders: current situation and specific actions with chidren in the Brussels region2018, Vol. XXIII-2, pp. 29-44
The authors discuss the different sorts of multilingualism observed in the city of Brussels. They analyse the multiple ways it can be acquired; the advantages of multilingualism and some of the disadvantages one can read in literature. They propose another angle of the survey of F. Grosjean (in this issue) on the different types ofmultilingualism, and its impact on stuttering in a therapeutic setting. As some caretakers still belief that multilingualism is a probable source of stuttering, the authors analyse those misconceptions and refute them.
-
Hélène BLONDEAU (Floride, Etats-Unis)Language practices in Montréal and Brussels: diversity and linguistic duality2018, Vol. XXIII-2, pp. 73-87
This article on the effect of globalization and superdiversity on language practices in Montreal and Brussels focuses on the sociolinguistic making of two francophone metropolises both affected by language contact resulting from historical development and contemporary migrations. After an overview of the changes in the linguistic market dynamics and a presentation of language planning issues, the article provides an analysis for each metropolis. The language practices are approached from three angles: the speakers’ linguistic repertoire, the description of language use and the analysis of linguistic attitudes and representations. An emphasis is put on the contribution of speakers associated with cultural diversity to the local sociolinguistic dynamics.
-
Thierry FONTENELLE (Centre de Traduction UE (Luxembourg))Translation in European institutions2016, Vol. XXI-1, pp. 53-66
Multilingualism is enshrined in the European treaties. Its implementation, which ensures that European citizens have access to information and legislation produced by the European institutions in their languages, entails the translation of this information by translation services integrated within these institutions. The translation profession has undergone dramatic changes with the advent of computer technology, but new needs require innovative technological means as well as training and organisational strategies to meet these new needs in an environment in which 24 official languages co-exist.
-
Mena LAFKIOUI (Ghent, Belgium)Multilingualism, Multimodality and Identity Construction on French-Based Amazigh (Berber) Websites2013, Vol. XVIII-2, pp. 135-151
This article investigates the vital processes of identity construction (i.e. interactive semiotic processes) on multilingual French-based Amazigh websites. It examines how the Internet as an instrument of globalisation allows people to perform the functions afforded by linguistic resources trans-locally and, accordingly, how it repositions these functions in the interactive (substantive and cognitive) space. The article also discusses the particular relationship between linguistic diversity, language representations and ethnic identity on minority websites through the analysis of the interactants’ online discourse (edited and user texts).
-
Etienne MOREL (Neuchâtel, Suisse)Multilingual communication in texting: code switching as a way of showing membership of a globalized community2013, Vol. XVIII-2, pp. 29-43
This article explores the forms and the functions of code-switching (CS) in written communication with mobile phones. We present the major results emanating from research on CS in the SMS communication, and an analysis of a large corpus of French (Switzerland) text messages. The analysis identifies the texters hybrid language uses, and resorting to a limited number of CS types, typically morphosyntactically non complex, and related to internationalized words or formulae, associated to a limited number of domains which bare ‘cool’ and/or cosmopolitan connotations. These results suggest that CS is a resource by means of which participants display membership in a translinguistic and globalized community.
Multilingualism