Mysteries of Bilingualism

Eleven critical issues in the study of bilingualism: Insightful analyses by renowned expert François Grosjean

The majority of people living around the world today are able to speak more than one language, yet many aspects of the nature and experience of bilingualism raise unresolved questions for researchers. Who exactly is bilingual? What is the extent of bilingualism? How do infant bilinguals who acquire two languages at the same time manage to separate them?  Does language processing work differently when bilinguals are interacting with monolinguals and with bilinguals? When a speaker changes their language, do they also change aspects of their personality?

In The Mysteries of Bilingualism, eminent scholar François Grosjean provides a comprehensive examination of individual bilingualism that delves into unanswered questions and challenges many of the myths and misconceptions surrounding bilingualism. Through insightful analyses of eleven key questions, this book offers a unique combination of personal reflection, literature review, personal testimony, and case studies to explore these mysteries. Altogether, this text offers:

• Comprehensive explorations of the linguistic aspects of bilingualism, including who is bilingual, describing bilinguals, accented speech, and language loss
• Practical discussions of speech and language processing, including language choice and mixed speech perception and production
• In-depth examinations of personality and culture in relation to bilingualism and biculturalism

Perfect for undergraduate and graduate students of bilingualism, multilingualism, second language acquisition, and applied linguistics, The Mysteries of Bilingualism offers an up-to-date view of the leading research questions in the study of bilingualism today.

François Grosjean is Professor Emeritus at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He is the author or co-author of many books on bilingualism, including The Psycholinguistics of Bilingualism (Wiley Blackwell, 2012; with Ping Li) and The Listening Bilingual: Speech Perception, Comprehension and Bilingualism (Wiley Blackwell, 2018; with Krista Byers-Heinlein). He is also the founder of the popular Psychology Today blog "Life as a Bilingual".