Multilinguals are ...?

By Madalena Cruz-Ferreira

Multilinguals, those of us who use more than one language in everyday life, are... gifted semilinguals who are dominant in no mother tongue, for example? Apparently so, judging by the ways people keep talking about them. This is the first book that discusses, in light-hearted lay terms, the reasons behind the beliefs and myths about multilinguals that allow you to fill the blank in its title with almost any label and get away with it. Drawing on solid academic research, the book provides keys to the origin and endurance of the many intriguing names that multilinguals have been called, starting with the master-key to them all. The conclusion is that any oddities assigned to multilinguals are due to the language that is used to talk about them, not to multilingual behaviour itself. The book is abundantly illustrated and includes many cartoons. It is written for the general public, families, teachers, policy-makers, clinicians, and anyone who ever wondered about multilingualism, but is targeted exclusively at multilingual or monolingual readers (of English).

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1099245184
• ISBN13: 9781099245183
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 98 Pages
• Weight: 0.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.1" x 9.2"