Bilingualism

This subject examines the phenomenon of bi/multilingualism from both individual and societal perspectives. It enables students to understand the language choices made by speakers in bilingual and multilingual settings, the role of language contact in language change, the relationship between language and cognition and the psychological and societal factors influencing language acquisition, language maintenance, and language loss. It also considers educational and political issues associated with bilingualism, and familiarises students with a range of institutional models whereby citizens can be encouraged to successfully learn and use two or more languages in their daily lives.