Beyond Words has been an introduction to psycholinguistics, the study of language and the mind. This field merges linguistics and psychology, as its name suggests, but it’s much more complicated than that. Psycholinguistics is a multidisciplinary science that also combines insights from philosophy, cognitive science, and neuroscience, among other areas. To get more granular, there are the branches of study that fall under the umbrella of this field, including first language acquisition, second language acquisition, language comprehension and production, and what happens when this all goes wrong. At first, it is baffling to fathom how so many different branches could possibly belong to a single field. However, as the story unfolded it revealed how these pieces all fit together to help us understand the ways that we learn, use, and lose language.

Now in its second edition, this handbook is a current overview of second language (L2) research, providing state-of-the-art synopses of recent developments in each subarea of the field and bringing together contributions by emerging scholars and experts in second language acquisition (SLA). Since the first edition, broad sociopolitical movements, alternative views of bilingualism, emergence of global markets, vast expansion of electronic resources, the development of social media and the availability of big data have transformed the discipline, and this edition has been thoroughly updated to address these changes. It is divided into six main parts: Part I situates SLA in terms of research and practice; Part II explores individual cognitive, age-related and neurolinguistic similarities and differences; Part III outlines external, sociocultural and interactive factors; Part IV presents profiles of bilinguals who take differing paths of acquisition; Part V describes interlanguage properties; and Part VI comprises clear models of L2 development.

An introduction to pragmatics, covering deixis, direct and indirect speech, speech acts, performative verbs, Gricean principles of conversation, and presupposition.

An overview of written language, the origins of writing in the West and in East Asia, and a survey of writing system types. Covers the difference between written and spoken language, the origins and evolution of writing systems (Western and East Asian), and types of writing systems - including morphographic character-based writing and phonographic systems (abjad, alphabetic, abugida, and syllabary).

A survey of the use of language in digital venues, and the effects of online communication upon language over the past thirty-forty years. Covers the rise of computers as commucative devices, email, texting, emojis, and internet memes.

The study of conversational interaction among second language (L2) learners and their interlocutors has been central to the study of second language acquisition since the beginning of the 1980s. Numerous studies have shown the facilitative role of interaction for L2 acquisition and several factors that influence the process have been identified and investigated in depth. The main aim of this chapter is to provide the reader with updated information on three particular areas in which research has grown in the past decade, namely the mediating role of individual differences in the process of interaction, interaction in technology-mediated environments and child interaction in low-input (foreign language) contexts. The first two topics are of general interest for the cognitive-interactionist framework, while the third focuses on an underresearched population about which basically no studies were published in the previous decade. The major findings in those three areas will be highlighted and lines for further research identified.

The role that a first language (L1) may play in second language (L2) acquisition has influenced the development of the field and our understanding of the nature of language knowledge and use. In this chapter, we review the historical evolution of views on the role of the L1, then turn to recent research on the role of the L1 in the linguistic subfields of phonology, the lexicon, morphosyntax and syntax. Areas of current importance also include the role of age in L2 acquisition related to the role of the L1 and the role of the L1 in signed and new-modality L2 acquisition. Evidence from recent decades represents a trend toward more emphasis on abstract than on surface characteristics of the L1 playing a role in L2 acquisition. Research reviewed in this chapter points to a nuanced picture regarding the role of L1/L2 similarities and differences in L2 acquisition and also reveals that the role of the L1 does not appear to be the same at every point in development, at every level of proficiency, or with every combination of languages.

Since the publication of the first edition of the Cambridge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, broad sociopolitical movements, alternative views of bilingualism, emergence of global markets, vast expansion of electronic resources, the development of social media and the availability of big data have transformed the discipline. Recent research has contributed substantial new evidence to deepen our understanding of the acquisition of a second language (L2) and its relationship to other developmental profiles, necessitating a reconsideration of the topics to be covered in a second edition. The new edition of the handbook updates earlier topics by including the latest research, in order to provide a comprehensive and current overview that represents the state of the field of second language acquisition (SLA).

The purpose of this chapter is to better understand the challenges preliterate adults have to deal with in simultaneously learning a new, additional language and learning to read and write in that very language. The chapter gives an overview of the most important research findings on the effect of literacy on cognition and L2 learning, on adult L2 literacy acquisition and L2 literacy teaching of LESLLA learners. Research reveals that literacy triggers the development of several metalinguistic and information processing skills that often are taken for granted in mainstream SLA theories. Research on beginning reading and writing clearly indicates that literacy is not acquired spontaneously. It requires explicit and stepwise attention for the relationship between written signs and the phonological constituents of the language, because unlike a beginning reader in L1 a LESLLA learner cannot build upon already existing semantic and sound representations of words, nor, like a literate L2 learner, upon L1 literacy skills and multiple strategies. Research on teaching reveals that L2 literacy teaching and empowering LESLLA learners is an enduring task that requires careful attention for code-learning, vocabulary and adult-oriented, motivating and relevant content.

Roughly half of the world’s population are bilingual, that is, around four billion people. Worldwide, language learning is on the rise, driven by factors such as immigration, globalization, and an increased awareness of the value of learning another language. In this chapter we explain how we learn languages in addition to our mother tongue, that is, the language we grew up speaking from early childhood. How is learning a second language different to learning a first? What are some of the challenges people face when learning another language? We explore issues around translation, and the creative inventions of sci-fi like the babel fish and the Tardis, versus the capabilities and limitations of AI. We take a look at unique cases of true (and fake) polyglot savants, and we revisit those who suddenly speak with another accent, or even in an entirely different language. We also see what science says about the considerable cognitive and social benefits of learning a new language.

Learners of a new language must acquire a new inventory of sound contrasts, new restrictions on where sounds may occur and new prosodic structures. The challenges facing researchers are to understand the characteristics of L2 speech and to explain how and why those characteristics arise. This chapter provides an overview of research on how speakers acquire the sound system of a new language, focusing on three major issues: (i) the extent to which L2 sound patterns are influenced by transfer from the first language and/or by linguistic universals; (ii) the level of representation (lexical, phonemic, phonetic, featural) at which L2 acquisition occurs; and (iii) the relationship between the perception and production of the sound system of a new language. These questions are explored with reference to the acquisition of segmental contrasts, restrictions on the occurrence of consonants in different syllabic positions and prosodic structures (tone, pitch accent, stress, and intonation). The chapter concludes with a discussion of recent advances in methodology and in grammar modeling, and outlines directions for future study.