So far, we have been concerned mainly with the bilingual individual, from a number of different points of view and scientific disciplines: bilingual development (Chapters 3 to 5), neuropsychology (Chapter 6), information processing (Chapter 7), cultural and ethnolinguistic identity (Chapter 8), and intercultural communication (Chapter 9). At the points in the two preceding chapters when intergroup relations were mentioned, it was as an interpersonal process in which individuals interact with each other as members of different ethnolinguistic groups. In the present chapter we examine the role of language in intergroup relations at the societal level, when different languages and cultures are in contact.

This chapter differs from the earlier chapters in a number of respects. Having addressed the problems of the bilingual speaker as an individual and in his interpersonal relations, we now consider relations between ethnolinguistic groups. Thus we move from a micro- to a macro-level of analysis and to disciplines which are concerned with socio-structural factors, like, among others, sociology, sociolinguistics and the sociology of language. Because these disciplines deal with a multiplicity of factors and multidimensional phenomena, it is difficult to control all these factors. As a result, theories are thin on the ground and what pass for models are often mere typologies and taxonomies which are more descriptive than predictive; their methodologies include the measures of societal bilingualism reviewed in Section 2.2.3. But social and cultural phenomena have also a psychological reality, and the intergroup and interpersonal levels are the only two poles of the social-interaction dimension.

Languages in contact, that is bilingualism at the societal level and bilinguality, its counterpart at the individual level, are an integral part of human behaviour. With globalisation and increasing population movements due to immigration and greater geographical and social mobility, and with the spread of education, contacts between cultures and individuals are constantly growing. While bilingual individuals already outnumber monolinguals, it can be expected that this trend will continue in the twenty-first century.

In this book we attempt to present the state of the art on the principal issues of bilingualism and languages in contact. Our approach is multidisciplinary insofar as we study the various phenomena at different levels of analysis: we analyse languages in contact first in the language behaviour of the individual, next in interpersonal relations, and finally at the societal level where we consider the role of language in intergroup relations. A better understanding of languages in contact calls not only for a multidisciplinary approach but for an interdisciplinary integration of these diverse disciplines (Blanc & Hamers, 1987). One of the major problems of an interdisciplinary approach is the integration of the macro- and the microlevels of analysis. Because of the great methodological and theoretical difficulties, very few scholars have attempted it, and even fewer succeeded. If at times our discussions lack an interdisciplinary scope, it is because the state of the art does not allow it yet.

Each level of analysis requires specific disciplinary approaches: psychological at the individual level, social psychological at the interpersonal level, and sociological at the intergroup level. These disciplines are brought together when the different levels of analysis meet.

This second edition is an updated, revised and restructured version of the first edition originally published in 1989. All chapters have been altered. We have deleted two chapters: the one on second language acquisition has now been omitted because the explosion in the amount of research necessitates a book on its own; however, we have retained some important aspects, integrating these into other chapters; for example, the social psychological processes at work in second language acquisition are discussed in Section 8.5 and communication strategies in second language learning in Section 9.2.2.3. The other deleted chapter is that on interpretation. We believe that the field is more relevant to cognitive psychology but has little to do with bilingual processing.

Owing to the rapid changes in the theoretical approaches and the increase in experiments and studies in the field, a number of chapters have been split up. Former Chapter 1 has been split into two chapters: Chapters 1 and 2. In addition to the definitions of bilingualism, the new Chapter 1 presents theoretical guiding principles which we follow throughout the book. The new Chapter 2 deals with the dimensions and measurement of bilinguality and bilingualism. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 are concerned with bilingual development and its consequences and in Chapter 5 we propose a social cognitive interactional model of bilingual development. Chapters 6 and 7 review the state of the art in the neuropsychology of bilinguality and the bilingual's information processing. Social psychological and interpersonal aspects are treated in Chapters 8 and 9, while Chapter 10 looks at societal bilingualism. Finally, Chapter 11 is concerned with language planning in education and with bilingual education.

In this chapter first we define the relevant dimensions of bilinguality and bilingualism on the basis of the empirical evidence available in these fields. In the second part we enumerate the main different measures developed in order to try to quantify the relevant concepts.

DIMENSIONS OF BILINGUALITY AND BILINGUALISM

When qualifiers are used to describe bilingualism or bilinguality, they generally focus on one single dimension of these phenomena which are thereby viewed from a particular angle. If we use some of the classifications put forward by researchers it is because they seem to us to be relevant to the dimension under study; however, we must not lose sight of the fact that bilinguality and bilingualism are multidimensional phenomena which must be investigated as such. In the past, failure to take into account simultaneously other dimensions in addition to linguistic ones has all too often led to incomplete or erroneous interpretations of these phenomena.

Dimensions of bilinguality

In Chapter 1 we made a distinction between bilingualism and bilinguality. We view bilinguality as the psychological state of an individual who has access to more than one linguistic code as a means of social communication. This access is multidimensional as it varies along a number of psychological and sociological dimensions. We have found the following dimensions relevant:

1. (1) relative competence;

2. (2) cognitive organisation;

3. (3) age of acquisition;

4. (4) exogeneity;

5. (5) social cultural status; and

6. (6) cultural identity.

In the preceding chapters we have discussed the bilingual individual's language development and behaviour. We have insisted all along that the roots of this behaviour are to be found in social interactions which occur in social networks; both are embedded in broader social structures, such as groups, classes, etc. In the present chapter we analyse, from a social psychological perspective, the relationships between the individual and the sociocultural group or groups around him when two or more languages are in contact.

More specifically we focus on the following: the relationship between language and culture (Section 8.1); the development of ethnolinguistic identity (Section 8.2); bilinguality and ethnolinguistic identity (Section 8.3); bilinguality, perceptions and attitudes (Section 8.4) and the social psychological aspects of L2 acquisition (Section 8.5).

The bilingual's development and behaviour cannot be considered independently from society, its structure and its cultural dimension. It must be borne in mind that the development of language, and hence of bilinguality, is part and parcel of the socialisation process through which a child becomes a member of a given social group (see Section 4.1.1). The psychological mechanisms which result from this process should therefore be analysed within the framework of society and of the cultures in which they develop.

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

All definitions of culture agree that language is an important part of culture. There is a consensus that culture is a complex entity which comprises a set of symbolic systems, including knowledge, norms, values, beliefs, language, art and customs, as well as habits and skills learned by individuals as members of a given society.

In Chapter 5 we argued that language is stored at the conceptual level, in the form of propositional representations related to the general characteristics of language and independent from the specificity of a given language. Theories of information processing must explain how verbal information is transformed into propositional representations, how one has access to them, how information is stored at the different levels of processing and what the links are between propositional and verbal processes; they must also account for the bilingual's specific behaviour, particularly for the psychological mechanisms which enable him to function alternately in one or the other language while having an extended control on the possible interference. It must equally explain behaviour unique to the bilingual, such as code-switching, code-mixing (discussed in Section 9.3) or the bilingual's capacity to translate. Thus a model of the bilingual's processing must explain at what level of representation the two languages are interconnected and must be informative about the existing relationship between the bilingual's two codes for every mechanism relevant to language processing.

In the present chapter we discuss how the bilingual organises, stores and has access to his two languages and propose theoretical frameworks for language representation and processing, which we consider as two separate but interrelated psycholinguistic mechanisms (Section 7.1). We propose a general model of bilingual processing congruent with our approach to language processing (Section 7.2). Finally we discuss briefly the bilingual's non-verbal behaviour and personality (Section 7.3).

LANGUAGE STORING AND PROCESSING IN BILINGUALS

Psycholinguistic research on bilinguals deals essentially with the relationship between the bilingual's two linguistic codes and several psychological mechanisms involved in language organisation and processing.

In the present chapter we propose a theoretical approach to bilingual development which is in line with the general guidelines on language behaviour presented in Section 1.2 and takes into account the many dimensions of bilinguality (Section 2.1). As we view bilingual development as a particular case of language development we must first present a general approach to language development. Generally speaking, language development is dependent upon a number of prerequisites, including socialisation processes, the development of the functions for which language will be used, and the existence of language-behaviour models in the child's environment.

PROCESSES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

As explained in our guidelines in Section 1.2 there is a constant interaction between the dynamics of language behaviour at the societal level and language behaviour at the individual level. The child must internalise the language behaviour present in his environment, that is, the language behaviour used in the interpersonal interactions with the significant others in his social network. The child achieves this as follows:

1. (1) Through the process of language socialisation the child internalises the different forms and functions of language.

2. (2) There is a constant and complex mapping process between forms and functions.

3. (3) Mapping processes are particularly important in the development of language as a tool for social interaction and for cognitive functioning.

4. (4) The internalisation of forms and functions enables the child to develop social psychological processes which enable him to develop his own social identity.

5. (5) Internalisation also permits the use of language as a cognitive tool; furthermore, it plays a constructive role in the growth of cognitive processes.

The relation between bilinguality and cognitive development must be viewed in the wider framework of the relationship between language and thought in contemporary theories of behaviour. Furthermore, important empirical studies in the latter part of the twentieth century point to the relevance of the sociocultural context for the cognitive development of bilingual children. In the present chapter we discuss first the state of the art on the relationship between bilinguality and cognitive development; moreover, we insist on the role played by the sociocultural context in this development. If we adopt the theoretical stand that language development and cognitive growth are intimately connected, then we must determine how relevant bilingual development is for intellectual growth and account for the empirical evidence concerning the cognitive development of the bilingual child. In other words, if, besides the fact that they master two languages, bilinguals are different from monolinguals, how and to what extent are they different? And how does it affect their cognitive development? Although in the present chapter we review the empirical evidence on the cognitive consequences of becoming bilingual, we start by discussing some general theoretical views on language development which can lead to a better understanding of this relationship. The relationship between bilinguality and cognitive processes is further discussed in Chapter 5.

BILINGUALITY AND COGNITION

Whether one considers that language plays an important role in the development of thought or whether both are seen as developing independently of each other will influence the extent to which bilinguality is considered as a relevant factor for the development of cognitive processes.

The aim of this book is to review critically the state of the art in the field of languages in contact. By ‘languages in contact’ we mean ‘the use of two or more codes in interpersonal and intergroup relations as well as the psychological state of an individual who uses more than one language’. We distinguish between bilingualism and bilinguality. The concept of bilingualism refers to the state of a linguistic community in which two languages are in contact with the result that two codes can be used in the same interaction and that a number of individuals are bilingual (societal bilingualism); but it also includes the concept of bilinguality (or individual bilingualism). Bilinguality is the psychological state of an individual who has access to more than one linguistic code as a means of social communication; the degree of access will vary along a number of dimensions which are psychological, cognitive, psycholinguistic, social psychological, social, sociological, sociolinguistic, sociocultural and linguistic (Hamers, 1981).

DEFINITIONS

The concept of bilingualism seems at first sight to be non-problematical. According to Webster's dictionary (1961) bilingual is defined as ‘having or using two languages especially as spoken with the fluency characteristic of a native speaker; a person using two languages especially habitually and with control like that of a native speaker’ and bilingualism as ‘the constant oral use of two languages’. In the popular view, being bilingual equals being able to speak two languages perfectly; this is also the approach of Bloomfield (1935: 56), who defines bilingualism as ‘the native-like control of two languages’.

In this book we have critically but constructively reviewed the state of the art regarding languages in contact (bilingualism), from individual bilingualism (or bilinguality) to societal bilingualism. We began by examining traditional and current definitions of bilingualism, none of which was found to be adequate. They all show one or more of three main weaknesses. First, they are unidimensional: they describe the bilingual in terms of one dimension, such as language competence, ignoring other equally important aspects. Second, they fail to take into account the different levels of analysis, from individual to societal. Finally, they are not based on a general theory of language behaviour.

To remedy these failings we proposed a multidimensional theoretical model of language behaviour (Figure 1.1), which we also apply to bilingual behaviour and which guides us throughout the book. According to this model language processing operates at different levels of organisation which are embedded in one another, from micro- to macro-levels: these are the individual networks, the interpersonal networks, the social networks and the social structures. These levels are not independent of one another but are in dynamic interaction. Within and between these levels there are complex mappings of the forms of language behaviour onto the functions they are supposed to serve. It should be stressed that the social and the psychological dimensions are found at every level simultaneously, in the sense that any speaker is at one and the same time an individual, a member of social networks and groups, and part of the whole society. These different levels of language processing require different types of analysis at the individual, interpersonal and societal levels.

In this chapter we review at some length the present state of the art in the study of the linguistic development in native bilingual speakers (Section 3.1); we further draw attention to linguistic development in consecutive bilinguality (Section 3.2); Section 3.3 describes the specificities of the sign/aural bilingual; in Section 3.4 we discuss how the evidence on bilingual development argues in favour of or against the sensitive-age hypothesis. We finally describe the different cases of attrition in bilinguality (Section 3.5). In the conclusion we discuss how bilingual development can be explained by a more general model of bilingual processing. We do not intend to give detailed linguistic descriptions of the bilingual child's production but rather to give a comprehensive overview of the psycholinguistic factors which can explain bilingual development.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, such as psychologists, linguists, neurologists and educators, have paid attention to the development of bilinguality; and at the end of the century there has been a research explosion on the subject. During the first half of the century two types of studies were prominent: (1) carefully documented child biographies, such as those by Ronjat (1913) and Leopold (1939–49), and (2) comparative psychometric studies of school tests obtained from bilingual and monolingual children. Whereas the first biographies pointed to a harmonious development of the bilingual child, the early psychometric studies indicated a developmental delay in bilingual children as compared with monolingual peers. This apparent contradiction and the so-called negative consequences of bilinguality are discussed in Chapter 4.