Читать книгу The Mysteries of Bilingualism. Unresolved Issues онлайн

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The question of language dominance is also something to examine in a person’s language history. One should be careful not to assume that a first language or “mother tongue” is automatically the dominant language. People’s personal language history may show quite different bilingual configurations at different moments in time. Thus, Grosjean (2010) describes how his dominance has changed four times over a stretch of some fifty years, with two periods, both some ten years long, where the second language was his dominant language.

Finally, information is needed on how people became bicultural, if that is the case. Did it happen in the family when they were young children, or when they came into contact with a second culture in school, or when, as adolescents, already anchored in a culture, they pursued their studies in another culture, or even when they emigrated as adults? And information on the evolution of their biculturalism over their lifespan will also be required.