Chapter 20 investigates the longstanding and controversial topic of the indefinite reading of so-called wh-words in Korean. The chapter reviews arguments regarding their historical development, typological observation, grammatical properties, and processing strategies.

Psychosocial factors strongly influence language learning and reading achievement for children. Evidence indicates a strong positive relationship between attitudes toward reading in the first (L1) and second or third languages (L2/L3) and subsequent reading achievement among multilinguals. Many studies of children learning to read demonstrate direct positive relationships between intrinsic motivation and reading achievement. Other studies have found that extrinsic motivation is the motivational facet that most predicts achievement. Researchers have begun to consider how the relationship between reading attitudes in one language might affect reading motivation and outcomes for another language. In this chapter we examine relevant theoretical frameworks of motivation and psychosocial factors that influence language learning and reading. Next, we present state-of-the-field findings regarding psychosocial factors related to reading achievement among multilingual children. We discuss how to reconcile contradictory findings and consider which features of language and context may be salient for predicting relationships. Finally, we make recommendations for future research and consider pedagogical implications.

The linguistic input parents provide to their children is crucial to the development of multilingualism. This chapter focuses on multilingualism in families where children either receive input in two or more home languages that are different from the environment language(s) or grow up in a bilingual community and have at least one additional home language. The chapter discusses quantity and quality of parental input as well as challenges in measurement. It reviews aspects of parental input, drawing upon Spolsky’s (2009) interrelated components of family language policy (FLP) – language ideologies, language management, and language practices. Parental attitudes, beliefs, and language ideologies impact on motivation and goal-setting in relation to the input they provide to their children. Language management is addressed through an examination of models of multilingual upbringing and parental input strategies. The implementation of FLP is reflected in actual language practices within the family. These are considered not only from the parental perspective but also from the children’s reactions to their parents’ input, as child agency plays a substantial role in the eventual success of parents’ strategies and practices.

The Cambridge Handbook of Childhood Multilingualism provides a state-of-the art view of the intra- and interdisciplinarity in linguistics, psychology, sociology, and education through a kaleidoscope of languages, countries, scholars, and cultures. The volume provides: (1) understanding that for most children multilingualism is the linguistic reality in which they grow; (2) an analysis of the effect of languages flowing from different sources, at different times and in different forms, on the uniqueness of child multilingualism processing beyond mono/bilingualism; (3) insights into diversity in the socialization of multilingual children; (4) elaboration of the triangulation of childhood, parenthood, and schooling as natural multilingualism-cultivating conditions motivated by internal and external forces; (5) an integrative approach to multilingual children’s development where the child at the center is cradled by multilingualism and languages, and (6) a focus on multilingualism as a capacity independent from mono/bilingualism. The different language typologies, in different countries and different continents, gathered in this volume tease out what is universal to childhood multilingualism as an agent of “new linguistic realities.”

Chapter 9 explores prosodic structure as an integral component of linguistic structure. Prosodic structure specifies how phonological constituents are to be grouped to form larger units within a given utterance; this is known as their delimitative function. Prosodic structure also helps determine which of phonological constituents are produced with prominence relative to the other constituents; this is known as its culminative function. These functions entail strengthening of segmental realization (prosodic strengthening), often leading to linguistic enhancement of syntagmatic and paradigmatic contrast. Theories of the phonetics-prosody interface assume that phonetic realization of the spoken utterance is fine-tuned according to prosodic structure. In turn, crucial aspects of phonetic realization signal higher-order prosodic structure for listeners.

This chapter discusses the possible cognitive and socio-cognitive benefits children may enjoy due to multilingualism. We argue that children acquire advanced communication skills through everyday engagement in multilingual interaction with their family members and surroundings from the earliest stages of development. We outline the major findings on the nature of multilingual language development, parental input, and parent–child interactions in multilingual families to understand the context in which multilingual children may acquire their assumed advanced abilities in communication. We provide an extensive overview of current research scrutinizing the abilities multilingual children develop in the earliest years of life. This review covers cases of multilingual first language acquisition, which refers to the acquisition of two or more languages from before the age of 3, a cut-off age used to distinguish between simultaneous and successive development of multiple languages. The review draws on studies from both bilingual and multilingual (trilingual) first language acquisition, as many of the studies of bilingual children preceded those of multilingual children and can give meaningful insight into multilingual development.

The relationship between early multilingual learning and metalinguistic awareness is a particularly intriguing one. Not surprisingly, research into the effects of multilingualism on children’s linguistic development and awareness of language has attracted a lot of attention over the past years and decades as studies have found both positive effects of multilingualism on the development of metalinguistic awareness, and also facilitative effects of metalinguistic awareness on language learning. In the recent literature, metalinguistic awareness has been linked to important qualitative changes in the language and learning processes of multilinguals.

Chapter 28 draws on findings from conversation analysis, pragmatics, and interactional linguistics studies of Korean language, to offer an overview of L1 Korean speakers’ routinized procedures and practices for turn-taking and repair organization, both of which are tied to the grammatical structures and pragmatic features of Korean. The discussion of each practice touches on pedagogical implications for L2 contexts, drawing on a number of recent empirical studies that have documented L2 interactional development processes.

This chapter focuses on one of the most remarkable characteristics of bilinguals, namely their ability to effortlessly switch between two languages, and to combine grammar rules and words from each in one sentence. It offers a summary of what we know about the ways in which bilingual children code-switch and how this skill develops over time. Attention is paid to the variability in the patterns found in data sets from typologically different languages and social contexts. Analyses are also offered of the relationship between code-switching and language proficiency or language dominance. Differences or similarities with respect to switching among bilingual and trilingual children are discussed as well. Particular attention is given to the difficult issue of the (lack of) separation of grammars in code-switching, and to what extent code-switching patterns found among children differ from those of adults. Finally, there is a focus on the impact of code-switching on cognitive control. The chapter finishes with a summary of the key points and an outlook towards the future.

Chapter 24 examines the topic of language and gender in the context of Korean studies. Korean is well-known for its highly sophisticated honorifics and other resources that index hierarchy, formality, personal closeness, etc. Korean speakers “perform” gender using politeness distinctions as a primary resource. Studying how gender is performed requires the examination of language and gender in local contexts as they are indexed and constructed. This chapter also looks at the relative frequency of men’s use of formal language such as caney “you”, yey “yes”, and the supnita style, in comparison to women. The result of this is that women may feel like “interlopers” in prestigious professions where formal language is the norm. On the other hand, as Korea is rapidly moving away from a hierarchical society and toward a more egalitarian one, informal language, including caki “you”, ney “yes”, the eyo style, and other patterns associated with women, is becoming preferred over formal language to some extent across genders. This is especially evident among the younger generation.

Studies of social cohesion and childhood multilingualism in South Africa are important because of the confluence of social space and race in apartheid South Africa. A sociology of language approach is followed where the social spaces and structures in society are brought in relation to the multilingual repertoires of early childhood multilinguals. A main finding is that there is a paucity of research that describes the multilingual repertoires of early childhood multilinguals in South Africa; there is a need for longitudinal studies. Findings from adjacent fields indicate that there is widespread early childhood multilingualism in South Africa and that multilingualism is related to social cohesion in different ways. First, White South Africans see the addition of an African language to their repertoires as a way to foster social cohesion. Second, children of the developing Black middle class are exposed increasingly to spaces where populations are more integrated and where English is paramount. Finally, all studies reviewed in the chapter indicate a severe gap between the multilingual experiences of childhood multilinguals in South Africa and monolingual experiences in school where they are either taught in the home language or in English.

The linguistic landscape (LL) is powerful for young children. They react react to the LL and benefit from (attractive) signs for early literacy or language learning. They create signs and bring their out-of-(pre-)school experiences into the educational space. Finally, they actively engage with the LL and discover the symbolic function of signage and ideologies of language and language use. This chapter on LL in school starts with an overview of the development of linguistic landscape research in general. This is followed by a presentation of studies on landscapes inside and outside schools and on pedagogical and didactic activities that draw on the potentialities of signage. With this, the chapter showcases major results of linguistic landscape research in the field of early schooling and draws on a variety of theoretical and methodological groundings of this research.

Multilingualism is not only limited to people or communities using multiple spoken languages, and complex linguistic diversity of signing communities is often seen among signers. This chapter focuses on the special type of multilingualism of children who are acquiring both sign language(s) and spoken language(s) from their linguistic environment, also referred to as bimodal multilingualism. As sign languages and spoken languages are partly produced and received in two different modalities (visual-gestural and vocal-auditory), the multilingualism of these children involves two different modalities. This chapter discusses the bimodal multilingualism of hearing and deaf children who are acquiring both sign and spoken languages. The chapter describes the multifaceted linguistic landscape and environment of bimodal multilingual children, the access of bimodal multilingual children to different languages, and the use of different languages in a variety of social contexts. Additionally, the chapter illustrates the process of bimodal multilingual language acquisition and challenges to maintain the acquired language abilities as heritage language users, as well as the attainments and usage of hybrid linguistic resources.