Natalia: my book Three is a Crowd?, reporting the linguistic, cognitive and social development, from birth, of three trilingual children, may be of relevance to you. Parts of it are available online at:

http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781853598388

On the issue of ‘split’ identity applying to multilinguals only, my blogpost ‘Split identities, and other ugly words’ and the references I quote there might also have something for you:

http://beingmultilingual.blogspot.com/2012/01/split-identities-and-other-ugly-words.html

All my best for your research

Madalena

Mainz, Germany

Dear Kudriavtseva,

It strikes me that your "natural bilingual" might be subject to some "split" identity, if we assume that language and associated habits and practices are indicate a given culture, or articulate the culture of the speaker. On the other hand, "identity" strikes me as a more variable term than "culture" or "language." I think we have to ask what may be meant by "identity." If identity of speakers comes with a language, and different languages need express different cultures, then a natural speaker of two languages would seem to be split. But I think this inference ties identity too closely to natural language and neglects individual variations within cultural groups.

There is an old joke among linguists which answers the question about the difference between a language and a dialect. The answer goes that two people speak the same language, if and only if they can understand one another and they have an army and navy in common.  The point is that nations want to have their own languages, or traditionally so, and will assimilate even mutually incomprehensible dialects, if that suits the purpose, though classifying even comprehensible speech to another language, depending on where the borders happens to fall at a given time. 

I think the point for present purposes is to expect some considerable variation of "identity" within self-identified language groups. There may, then, be various sorts of clusters of differing identities within such groups. Knowing more than one language from childhood may involve a tendency toward location within one or another particular sub-groups of the otherwise distinct language groups, but I would not expect this to be totally automatic or without exception. 

I don't think, in the end that the case of people with two languages from childhood differs essentially from the broader case of bilinguals who acquire a second language later in life. The native bilingual may still identify more with one language rather than the other, or with various associated subgroups. (Why do people so often speak of their "mother tongue" and not their "father tongue"?) Indeed, people with very long experience of two languages, insofar as the languages differ significantly, may be better aware of implicit conflicts and avoid engagement with those elements which separate. That may even constitute a distinctive identity, until and unless the person feels forced to make a choice.

Another old joke is that the Americans and the British are "two great peoples divided by a common language." The differences, however, may be so slight as to long go unnoticed by outsiders. Language no doubt contributes to identity (perhaps I should say "felt identity") but It seems clear that people speaking substantially the same language(s) may or may not share the same identity. 

H.G. Callaway

Dear Callaway,

Thank you for this opinion of yours, but the question was about the existence of linguistic empirical or experimental research.

Mainz, Germany

Dear Kudriavtseva,

Thank you for your engaging question.

Of course, philosophical perspectives cannot replace empirical research, in fact they ultimately depends on it. But I think that clarification of the concept of "identity" may be needed for sensible empirical studies to proceed along the lines you suggest; otherwise, the very object of study may be so unclear as the cloud the results. On the other hand, given sufficient clarification, empirical research may then proceed productively.  Its a matter of thinking through possible variations in the hypothesis, before committing to extensive empirical study. You might, of course, allow the definition of identity to remain imprecise, or subjective, and left to the respondent, but this strikes me as less interesting. Too cloudy, since short term commitments may easily shift under duress.  

It may be, that as you've cast your question, it is excessively political. But it is a very engaging line of thought.

Consider what Mr. Putin might say, if he were also a "natural bilingual" (Russian-Ukrainian). Do you think this would make any difference to his felt identity? I recall that Khrushchev was Ukrainian. He made a gift of the Crimean peninsula to Ukraine, but he ruled from Moscow.  

H.G. Callaway

Mainz, Germany

Dear Kudriavtseva,

Looking around, with your question in mind, I came across the following, on-line reports of interesting recent work on bilingual cognition :

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/05/08/0956797615574699.abstract

http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2015/05/11/children-exposed-multiple-languages-may-be-better-natural-communicators

I hope these may be helpful to your project. I'm afraid they may not help with "identity."

H.G. Callaway

Dear Callaway,

thank you for your interest in what so far has been more an intuition than a project. Of course, you are right to say that the concept of 'identity' must be clarified in the first place. Today many people in Ukraine use this word, and I'm sure everyone has their own understanding of what it is supposed to mean.

What Mr. Putin would say, if he were a Russian-Ukrainian bilingual, is left for us to guess, but it would definitely be something different from what he is saying now.

Thank you for the links you provided! They will certainly be of some use.

Natalia

Hello,

I would recommend to look at the following sources:

Michèle Koven "Selves in Two Languages: Bilinguals' Verbal Enactments of Identity in French and Portuguese"

Anita Pavlenko (ed.) (2006) Bilingual minds: Emotional experience, expression, and representation.

Their work suggest that some bilinguals may perceive the world differently and feel differently when switching languages. It was found for French-Portuguese bilinguals, languages from the same Romance family. It may happen for bilinguals in Slavic languages.

Good luck for your research!

Ioulia

Dear Ioulia,

thank you very much for the sources you advise. It seems a good step to start with!

Natalia

Hi Natalia:

No particular theoretical perspectives would give us satisfactory answers.  However, living in a multilingual society (Indonesia), where I grew up with "bilingualism" (formal: Indonesian (then,  English, Dutch and Germany as  foreign languages), and informal: Malay, several Chinese "dialects" and even some Javanese), typologically speaking, they are very different languages,  I did not feel that I have had a two or several mental world (which some scholars attempted to argue that it occurred).  Acquisition of those languages just happened naturally.

Good luck.

Dear Natalia, There is a lot of research on language and identity in general and bilingualism and identity in particular, grounded in literatures from social psychology in general (e.g. Tajfel 1982; Erickson 1968; Mead 1964) and social psychology in particular (Allard & Landry 1994; Bourhis & Landry 2008; Lambert 1990). My group has several papers (two attached here).

In response to your question about 'split personality', we prefer to talk about multiple identities which bilinguals manipulate as a function of setting, interlocutor and topic (Fishman; Hymes). 

Joel

Dear Joel,

thank you very much for these useful tips!

Natalia: my book Three is a Crowd?, reporting the linguistic, cognitive and social development, from birth, of three trilingual children, may be of relevance to you. Parts of it are available online at:

http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781853598388

On the issue of ‘split’ identity applying to multilinguals only, my blogpost ‘Split identities, and other ugly words’ and the references I quote there might also have something for you:

http://beingmultilingual.blogspot.com/2012/01/split-identities-and-other-ugly-words.html

All my best for your research

Madalena

If you need an interviewee, contact me. I grew up to be bilingual in German and English, one-parent-one-language method. People have commented on different facettes of my personality coming out depending on the language I'm speaking. 

[email protected]

Dear Madalena,

Your comments sound very much like what I'm looking for. Thank you very much for the links! I will certainly follow your advice.

Natalia

Dear Daniel,

thank you very much for your readiness to act as an interviewee! I've just started investigating the issue of bilingualism from this point, and as soon as I'm ready with my questions, I will contact you.

Natalia

Hello,

There is an article which has just been published by J.M. Dewaele on the subject. It is available on his page of ResearchGate:

Jean-Marc Dewaele Why do so many bi- and multilinguals feel different when switching languages? Article in International Journal of Multilingualism · May 2015DOI: 10.1080/14790718.2015.1040406

Dear Ioulia,

thank you very much for the information. It will certainly be useful!

Natalia

Hello Anthony,

thank you very much for the tip! Frankly speaking, I haven't thought  about it in this respect yet. It will be a valuable new vantage-point.

Sincerely,

Natalia

I'm just preparing a paper for the international conference of Germanists' Associations in Shanghai on the issue "Leben mit multiplen Identitäten" - life with multiple identities, based on some case studies. If you are interested in it, write me an e-mail: [email protected] later (end of September or October)

Dear Antonie,

thatnk you for the information! I'm certainly interested and will be grateful for more details.

Natalia

My chapter would be also helpful for you

Chapter Central Language Hypothesis in the Decision-Making Process