Many people use several languages and dialects in their daily lives. What are the current scholarly models for and insights into this stunning capacity of the human mind? The book discusses research into multilingual practices and multiple language learning, from both cognitive and sociolinguistic angles. Discussion focuses on the repertoires of multilinguals and the processes of cross-linguistic influence, transfer and convergence that are typically observed on the levels of linguistic patterns and matter. Multilingualism is here construed as a continuous, multidimensional phenomenon including more or less linguistically similar subsystems evolving on different skill levels depending on multilinguals' needs and affordances. The most important theoretical views that shape the field are discussed and compared, and evidence from different contexts considered: tutored and untutored learning, minority language settings, multimodal repertoires with sign languages and multilingualism fostered by foreign language instruction. Moreover, different types of learners are discussed, from hyperpolyglots via bidialectals to 'ordinary' second language users. The book scrutinizes scholarly insights and debates with respect to their relevance for language policy and instructed language learning.

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Autorentext
Raphael Berthele is Professor in multilingualism at the University of Fribourg. He studied and worked at the Universities of Fribourg, Tübingen, Berkeley, and Berne. He co-founded the Fribourg Institute of Multilingualism in 2008. Currently he directs the MA programmes in Multilingualism studies and in foreign language pedagogy. His research interests cover different areas from cognitive to social aspects of multilingualism. During the last years, he has focused on the empirical investigation of receptive multilingualism, on the acquisition of literacy skills in multilinguals, on spatial reference in bi- and multilinguals, and on individual differences in language learning.