Historicity and hetero-glossia in languages is the key theme in this thought. Heteroglossia is a key theme pioneered by Mikhail Bakhtin, the famous Russian formalist. As we live in a global village kind of a society, I am thinking about the language dexterity of polyglots. How does the age and historicity of native languages determine the linguistic openness and phonetic adaptability of polyglots when they derive their linguistic consciousness and nativity from a relatively young language.
Hi Gokul,
First of all we can say that the native language can influence the verbal intelligence of a polyglot in many ways. Perhaps the most notable areas would be the syntax and the finite verbal system in the speech of the polyglot. The native language could and usually would appear as a substratum of in the speech of the speaker affecting the word order and the usage of the elements of the tense / aspect / mood system.
I wonder if the dynamic is very different if there is more than one native language from the beginning? Does bilingualism or trilingualism from the very beginning further enhance linguistic openess and phinetic adaptability? Furthermore, what if two or more native languages are in a different modality? So a spoken language and a signed language?
Hello Sara, Can we take the example of decolonized nations in south east Asia such as Singapore, Malaysia or even some regions of India for that matter. We can see excellent scenarios for multilingualism between English, Tamil, Chinese ( even multiple variants of Chinese) and another primordial language. How do you evaluate such a situation?
I'm afraid I don't know, but it is a very interesting question :-)
Meanwhile my recent research has been on the navigation of multiple minority space by Deaf individuals from ethnolinguistic minority communities in their family context. I am interested in plural identity and the conflict that this causes and also the way in which signed languages require different skills and coordination as they are in a different modality. I am particularly interested in Deaf Welsh identity. There are some excellent studies regarding plural identity in other ethnolinguistic groups, including the brilliantly titled: On being Deaf and Being other things: young Asian people negotiating identities.
Sorry, I appear to have gone off topic somewhat - though some of the issues may cross over.
Dera Lourdes, is it possible to learne your native language if you don't mind offcourse?
Its use might be positive or negative. Some researchers claim that using native language is generally positive, whilst other researchers, from different L1 backgrounds, reveal that even thinking in first language should be prohibited whilst learning a second language. Therefore, the use of L1 is still a point of debate. However, differences between the learners' L1 and L2 may possibly make the acquisition process of the second language more complex and problematic.... Therefore, the verbal intelligence of a polyglot can be highly influenced by the native language. This can be clearly seen in the syntactical structures, i.e. word order, tense, sentence structure....
The proximity of the native language to the second language is a important issue that should not be disregarded. If the native language belongs to a different phillum from the second language there is a greater possibility that it's influence will be more visible in the second language. However if they both belong to the same phillum the proportion of visibilty might fall as there would be a difference at a lesser degree between the two.
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