BILINGUALISM & MULTILINGUALISM

Contrary to what is often believed, most of the world populations are bilinguals or
multilinguals. Monolingualism is only the characteristic of a minority of the world people.
According to Stavenhagen (1990), five to eight thousand different ethnic groups reside in
approximately 160 nation states. Moreover, scholars estimate that there are over 5000 distinct
languages spoken in that same small number of nation states. What evident from these figures is
that few nations are either monolingual or mono-ethnic. Each of the world's nations has groups
of individuals living within its borders who use other languages in addition to the national
language to function in their everyday lives.

1. Definition of bilingualism and multilingualism

Bilingualism can be defined as the ability to build understandable utterances in any of the

languages known. When people hear the term bilingual, many of them imagine an individual
who speaks two languages perfectly. For them, someone who is 'truly' bilingual is two native
speakers in one. They imagine that such a person can speak, understand, read, and write in two
languages at the highest levels. For others, the term bilingual means something quite different.
When newly arrived immigrant children entering U.S. schools, for example, are described as
'bilingual children,' the term is often used as a euphemism for 'poor' and 'uneducated'. In this
case, newly arrived immigrant children do not yet function in two languages. They are
monolingual speakers of their first language and not bilingual at all. The term bilingual here is
used to convey a very different set of meanings from what linguists intend. However, in this
case, language learners are also considered bilingual because it is such a rare that a person knows
two languages equally well.

Meanwhile, multilingualism is the ability to use several languages (not perfectly well),
assuming a mutual interaction of languages in the mind of the user, as well as the bulk of
linguistic and cultural experience of the user which add to his/her communicative competence.
Such a way of understanding multilingualism is connected with the notion of plurilingualism,
used in EU documents. Plurilingualism does not mean a perfect command of several languages
but the attempt to use one’s linguistic knowledge and skills to communicate with others in many
different situations. In practice, it means the ability to effectively function in a multinational and
multicultural community thanks to a sensitivity to similarities and differences between languages
and cultures.

2. Types of bilingual and multilingual

Because there are very different kinds of bilinguals and multilinguals, much effort in the
study of bilingualism has gone into developing categories which might make the measurement
and description of these differences possible. The categories used to describe different types of
bilinguals reflect different researchers' interests in focusing on specific aspects of bilingual
ability or experience. These types of bilinguals are divided into several parts as below
a. Compound, Coordinate, and Subordinate Bilinguals
 Compound bilingual has one semantic system but two linguistic codes. It usually
refers to someone whose two languages are learnt at the same time, often in the same
context.
 Coordinate bilingual has two semantic systems and two linguistic codes. It usually
refers to someone whose two languages are learnt in distinctively separate contexts
 Subordinate bilingual indicates that the weaker language is interpreted through the
stronger language
b. Early and Late Bilinguals
 Early bilingual is someone who has acquired two languages early in childhood
(usually received systematic training/learning of a second language before age 6).
 Late bilingual is someone who has become a bilingual later than childhood (after age
12).
c. Balanced and Dominant Bilinguals
 Balanced bilingual is someone whose mastery of two languages is roughly equivalent.
 Dominant bilingual is someone with greater proficiency in one of his or her languages
and uses it significantly more than the other language.
d. Successive, Simultaneous, and Receptive Bilingualism
 Successive bilingualism means that someone learns one language after already
knowing another. This is the situation for all those who become bilingual as adults, as
well as for many who became bilingual earlier in life. It is sometimes also called as
consecutive bilingualism.
 Simultaneous bilingualism means that someone learns two languages as "first
languages". That is, a person who is a simultaneous bilingual goes from speaking no
languages at all directly to speaking two languages. Infants who are exposed to two
languages from birth will become simultaneous bilinguals.
 Receptive bilingualism is being able to understand two languages but express oneself
in only one. This is generally not considered "true" bilingualism but is a fairly
common situation.
e. Additive and Subtractive Bilingual

Additive or subtractive bilingualism is related to the different status associated with the
two languages in a society.

 Additive bilingual is the learning of a second language does not interfere with the
learning of a first language. Both languages are well developed.
 Subtractive bilingual is the learning of a second language interferes with the learning
of a first language. The second language replaces the first language.
f. Elite and Folk Bilingual
 Elite bilingual means that individuals who choose to have a bilingual home, often
in order to enhance social status.
 Folk bilingual means that individuals who develop second language capacity
under circumstances that are not often of their own choosing, and in conditions
where the society does not value their native language.

The usefulness of these labels and categories clearly depends on the specific interest a
researcher has in bilingualism. Meaningful comparisons of bilingual persons cannot generally be
made unless attention is given to the differences and similarities between these individuals in
terms of a number of key dimensions such as age of acquisition of the second language,
circumstances in which the two languages are used, patterns of use of the two languages in the
surrounding community, level of formal education received in each language, and degrees of
proficiency

3. Advantages of bilingual and multilingual

Bilingualism and multilingualism are often perceived and considered as a problem or a

major challenge to individual and/or societal development. In most instances, the only advantage
recognized for the bilingual individual is the ability to use two or more languages. Beyond that,
monolingualism seems more attractive, and monolinguals especially those speaking a language
of wider communication seem quite content with their lot, often adopting a condescending
attitude toward minority native speakers of a mother tongue who in addition have to acquire their
language. Adepts of the ideology of monolingual habitus (one nation, one language) have tended
to consider multilingualism and linguistic diversity as a curse and an obstacle to nation building.
This ideology then has been argued through a compendium of empirical evidence of advantages
of individual bilingualism, societal multilingualism, and linguistic diversity of nations that
emerge from research findings in the last several decades. Following are several advantages of
bilingual and multilingual

a. Economic advantages of bilingualism

It has been asserted that “language is power” and it is an invisible force that can penetrate
visible social and economic boundaries. Being multilingual can be considered as a form of
human capital for it can afford one the opportunity of earning higher income and obtaining
aspiring employment status in any influential society. A research study by Di Paolo and Tansel
shows that in the Turkish labor market, knowledge of Russian and English as foreign languages,
on the average, brings about positive earning differentials for individuals (20 and 10.7%,
respectively). These differentials increase with the level of competence. Knowledge of French
and German is also positively rewarded in the Turkish labor market, although to a lesser extent
(8.4 and 8.2%, respectively). In Williams’ estimation, the use of a second language in the
workplace is associated with positive earning differentials, ranging from 3 to 5% in different
Western European countries.

Since individuals make a society, the higher the number of residents with foreign
language competence in a community, the more benefits that community will get from the
positive attributes and affluence that come with bilingualism and multilingualism. Most of the
advantages of individual bilingualism aggregate to quantifiable economic gains for the individual
and the society or community. That is why some countries like Britain, America, France, and
Holland which are officially monolingual realize the benefits of official bilingual or multilingual
nations by virtue of intense de facto unofficial bilingualism and multilingualism attested within
the nation state. These noted national advantages of multilingualism transition us into the
discussion of the advantages that bilingual and multilingual states get.

b.  Socio-cultural advantages of bilingualism

It is now well accepted that language and culture are inextricably linked because, as
articulated in Chumbow, language is the means by which people who share the same culture
express their belonging to a common or shared cultural experience. Considering the fact that
culture is transmitted and expressed through language, multilinguals are obviously multicultural
individuals who can adapt different cultures more easily. The implication is that they are better
placed to handle cultural shocks than monolinguals. This is closely related to intercultural
competence, summarized by Curtain and Dahlberg who states that “… exposure to a foreign
language serves as a means of helping children to intercultural competence. The awareness of a
global community can be enhanced when children have the opportunity to experience
involvement with another culture through a foreign language.” Here, intercultural competence is
considered as the ability for successful communication with people of other cultures. This ability
can exist already at a young age or be developed and improved, thanks to willpower and
competence. In any case, high intercultural competence in multilingual enables multilingual
individuals to appreciate and accommodate any foreign culture easier than monolinguals.

Cook also supports the socio-cultural advantage by stating that “multilinguals can expand
their personal horizons and — being simultaneously insiders and outsiders — see their own
culture from a new perspective, not available to monoglots, enabling the comparison, contrast,
and understanding of cultural concepts.” Thus, multilinguals can better understand and
appreciate people of other countries, a factor in lessening racism, xenophobia, and intolerance,
since the learning of a new language usually brings with it a revelation of a new culture.

Related to cultural flexibility, one opportune factor for bilinguals is their ability to excel
in conflict resolution tasks. In two experiments, using the Flanker task test, both monolinguals
and bilinguals were asked to perform a flanker test task under two low-monitoring and two high-
monitoring versions of congruent and incongruent trials, respectively. The result was that the
bilinguals had the overall reaction time during the high-monitoring condition in which they
outperformed the monolinguals. This indicates that the bilinguals could more easily affect the
monitoring processes involved in executive control during conflict condition than their
monolingual counterparts.

REFERENCES
Advantages of Bilingualism and Multilingualism: Multidimensional Research Findings.
quoted on April 8, 2019 from https://www.intechopen.com/books/multilingualism-and-
bilingualism/advantages-of-bilingualism-and-multilingualism-multidimensional-research-
findings

Bilingualism & Multilingualism. quoted on April 8, 2019 from

https://www.slideshare.net/cmcgoun/bilingualism-definitions-and-issues?next_slideshow=1

Bilingualism, multilingualism, plurilingualism. quoted on April 8, 2019 from

http://www.ia.uw.edu.pl/en/about-the-institute/structure-of-the-institute/applied-linguistics-
department/research-areas/357-bilingualism-multilingualism-plurilingualism

Multilingualism. quoted on April 8, 2019 from

https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/multilingualism