This chapter lays the foundational framework for the relation between language, culture, and identity. Through an analogy, it illuminates the developmental parallels between heritage language and the rhizomatic growth of bamboo. Introducing the method of serial narrative ethnography, it underscores the significance of narrative knowing across the lifespan as a means for scientific understanding and the power of multiple stories through voices. It also presents an outline of the book.

The introductory chapter breaks down the main features of what a focus on language policy in action entails. I discuss what recent reconceptualisations of ‘language’ mean for how we understand language policy, arguing in particular for a need to focus on how the exercise of authority in language alters the balance of power in discourse. Language policy is presented as a form of sociocultural practice and broken down into five broad actions: constructing, debating, interpreting, enforcing, resisting. The foundations of the critical approach of the book are also presented.

In this introductory chapter, an invitation is provided to begin a journey into the intricacies of Black Caribbean immigrant literacies through the use of Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, as exceptional Black imaginaries already inscribed in the world. Through the adept depiction of racialization and transracialization steeped in the Black experience in the US as juxtaposed against the notion of Black immigrants as a ‘model minority,’ the necessity for examining race in relation to the languaging and semiotizing of Black Caribbean immigrants is outlined. Presenting a brief overview of the emerging global project focused on racialized language, this chapter lays the groundwork for the painting of a compelling portrait of the holistic literacies of Black Caribbean immigrant youth. By signaling the attention to an ultimate positioning of flourishing as a necessary imperative for and alternative to rethinking literacies based on ‘success,’ the chapter concludes with a focus on solidarity between Black Caribbean and other populations as a key impetus for this work.

Generative phonologists share the goal of modeling the internalized grammars that allow members of a linguistic community to produce and understand utterances they have not previously encountered. But while most generativists assume that the internalized grammar maps lexical to surface representations, they may disagree on the nature of that mapping, the makeup of the mental representations of phonological structure, and the role of universal well-formedness constraints in grammar. This chapter surveys analyses of data from multilinguals, foreign language learners, and loanword adapters within different generative models, exploring both strengths and limitations of competing approaches. Issues addressed include the role of phonological vs. phonetic structure, the relationship between the production grammar and the perception grammar, and the role of putative innate learning biases vs. factors such as input frequency and perceptual salience.

This introductory chapter situates the book within the field of comparative politics, noting its distinction from debates that focused on the language planning process, on social mobilization to secure language rights, or on linguistic justice. Instead, it highlights state traditions that produce language regimes, which themselves have a powerful influence on language policy choices. The introduction provides two diagrams that frame the theoretical conception and identifies how each chapter contribution deepens and refines the framework.

In order to set the scene for this volume, I begin the chapter with a narrative of my experience on the day when I got promoted to a professor at a Japanese university by combining my professional experience to the ideologies of native-speakerism and trans-speakerism. I also include the overall background of the study through providing the aims of the research, explicating the significance of the current inquiry, and outlining the core ideas of this book: native-speakerism and trans-speakerism. In other words, this chapter delineates how these two influential ideologies in language education come together in this book and makes a case for why the present inquiry is a fertile endeavor to make. The chapter concludes with a brief description of the structure and content of the volume.

The pro-Brexit campaign leading up to the 2016 referendum in the UK and in its aftermath was accompanied and driven by a narrative that was hostile to immigration and its cultural implications. Language played a role, with Leave campaigners criticising the presence of multiple languages in UK society and government agencies embarking on an 'English first' campaign that linked community languages to lack of integration and social incoherence. At the same time some arguments in support of foreign language learning embraced the Brexit narrative claiming that language skills will help post-Brexit Britain gain global influence. The chapter surveys different strands of UK language policy and concludes with an assessment of latest Census figures on language pointing to the increase in multilingualism.

A current prominent translingualism strand in sociolinguistics has started paying increasing attention to linguistic ‘playfulness’. When language users are involved with translingual practices, they may often be identified through the ‘playfulness’ of their interactions and dialogues (commonly a euphemism for creativity, innovativeness and fluidity), where one’s repertoire is deeply connected with forms of playful exchange to create alternative linguistic lives and identities. Yet, this extensive spectacle of ‘playfulness’ seems to dwell more on conviviality than potential ‘precarity’, overlooking the fact that precarity has arguably always been a condition of human life and norm for most language users, who are deeply embedded in local economies of uncertainty, marginalisation and vulnerabilities. In this chapter, we aim to re-visit two key notions that are core to translingual experiences: ‘precariousness’ and ‘playfulness’. The key implication of this chapter, therefore, is that the next generation of sociolinguists needs to focus more on the precarity of the translingualism trend, not just the playfulness. The two concepts need to be treated with caution, so as not to assume that we understand too easily what is ‘precarious’ or ‘playful’ for whom. In so doing, we re-navigate the jubilant scenes of ‘playfulness’ and move towards the centrality of ‘precariousness’.

The author’s interest in bilinguals and bilingualism was triggered by his own bilingualism. He started on his journey in languages and cultures at the age of eight in English schools, first in Switzerland and then in England. During those ten years, he often reflected on what it means to use two or more languages in everyday life. This led him to do a Master’s thesis on bilingualism at the Sorbonne with Dounia Fourescot-Barnett. He wanted to find out about the topic and, indirectly, better understand what he was going through linguistically. A few years later, after having moved to the United States, he surveyed the field for his first book on bilingualism, Life with Two Languages. The book was organized from the macro to the micro level in six chapters: “Bilingualism in the World,” “Bilingualism in the United States,” “Bilingualism in Society,” “The Bilingual Child,” “The Bilingual Person,” and “Bilingual Speech and Language.” The book was one of the first-generation books on bilingualism that surveyed the field as it stood at the time. It was at that time that the author met Einar Haugen who befriended him and encouraged him to undertake research in the field.

In this chapter, we consider different definitions of bilingualism, underscoring the reality that there are various aspects which should be taken into account when investigating bilingualism, particularly when designing studies and choosing participants. Bilingualism is a complex construct and should be viewed on a continuum. Crucially, many key details about bilinguals’ backgrounds need to be reported in studies to make results comparable and clearly linkable to the specific study sample. Relative proficiency level seems to be the most influential factor, but it is by no means the only factor relevant for studying bilingualism. Rather, individual differences and their variability, dynamically related dimensions and their interaction over time, speech environment and their changes, language use habits, socioeconomic background, and so on have been reported to influence language processing and even brain function to some extent.

Being bilingual is a common experience for many people. In this chapter we define what is bilingualism according to the most recent research evidence in linguistics and neurolinguistics. A general overview of the different stages of bilingualism across the lifespan and the terminology are presented together with preliminary insight on the properties and capacities of the bilingual brain. Findings reported in the chapter include the role of minority languages, such as local and regional languages spoken by small communities, and their crucial role for sustaining bilingualism globally.

More than half of the world’s population is bilingual. However, ‘bilingual’ can mean different things with respect to individuals’ linguistic competence, ranging from two native competences to basic communicative abilities. Uncertainties about the nature of the attainable linguistic knowledge in both languages leads to negative attitudes towards child bilingualism. Parents might therefore decide against bilingualism. This can contribute to the decline of minority languages. An example is Occitan. It is therefore crucial to disentangle facts and myths concerning risks and benefits of child bilingualism. Since these are well-studied issues, the search for facts can draw on resarch results that provide solid knowledge about the linguistic knowledge and skills of young bilinguals. The focus lies on the acquisition of grammatical knowledge and the ability to use it in communication. The goal is to provide information allowing parents to make informed choices when deciding on whether to raise children bilingually. All recommendations are based on research findings, some of which are summarized in the following chapters. These are organized in such a way as to allow readers to focus on the aspects that are most relevant to them.