Trilingualism is a relatively new research field, which has often been studied within the framework established for bilingualism. Although there are overlaps, researchers have consistently pointed out that the dynamics in trilingualism pose greater variations than in bilingualism with an effect on language maintenance. However, the precise nature of this process is still unclear. The aim of this thesis is to examine and describe trilingual families' language practices, with a view to adding to the understanding of the sociocultural and linguistic factors that influence parents whether or not to use their native languages with their children. This study, based on a multi-step survey, was conducted in three phases. First an exploratory pilot study was carried out by interviewing five parents of trilingual families, which helped to develop the interview schedule. The second phase focused on semistructured interviews of parents in 35 trilingual families living in England, before moving to Germany to conduct the third phase by interviewing the parents of a further 35 families. The participants were encouraged to comment on their own language and cultural practices with their children at home and in the wider community. It was found that influences on parents' language choices with their children were multifactorial. Trilingual families in which each parent spoke one different native language other than the community language were highly motivated in England (77%) and Germany (82%) to pass on their native languages and the associated cultural values to their children. This was partly related to the effectiveness of the OPOl (One Parent One language) and the support from grandparents. In contrast, parents who spoke two or more native languages tended to use only one of them with their children partly because the OPOl was impractical or the beginning of school made it harder to use their additional native languages. Finally, multilingual schools in Germany were usually chosen for English only, even if it was not a native language for the parents. Thus, the research findings underscore the complexity of the relationship between linguistic and sociocultural factors that influence trilingual families' language practices.

This longitudinal study focuses on the language production of two siblings, aged 6 and 9 at the beginning of the data collection period, who have been brought up in a bilingual family in New York. The parents of the two girls are native speakers of German and Spanish, respectively, and English for them is the language of education and the larger community. The study specifically examines the phenomenon of code switching, or transitioning between languages, either within one sentence or within one speech situation. I examine the extent to which these switches are caused by deficiencies in vocabulary in a specific language, and seek to identify other possible causes for such transitions. The data collected mainly through recording and transcription of the children's speech within the family home allowed me to identify a number of sociopragmatic functions most commonly fulfilled by producing mixed utterances, such as referring to a specific person, including or excluding someone from the conversation, changing the interlocutor or the topic or explaining or insisting on a certain idea. Lexical need was also an important cause of code switching, although it did not prevail over the other categories. The distribution in the amount and function of code switches turned out to be in a dynamic state, with both quantitative and qualitative changes observed throughout the study period. The age difference between the children and the relationship between the younger and elder sibling were additional factors which influenced their language choice. I conclude that code switching, especially in the case of child speech, should be considered a fluid and multifaceted phenomenon which represents the speaker's role in the conversation and reflects multiple social and pragmatic functions; while elements of two (or more) languages are often combined for purely lexical reasons, this is only one aspect of trilingual code switching, which allows the speaker, consciously or not, to explore the three languages as ways of establishing his or her personality and looking at reality both within and outside the means of each particular language.

Yes / This study examined whether the proposed bilingual advantage in inhibitory control and working memory can be extended to a trilingual advantage, and assessed any age-related effects on a continuum in young adults to older adults. Trilinguals, bilinguals and monolinguals’ performance on the Simon task and a numerical version of the N-back task was compared. On the Simon task, there was no language group difference observed, although the data show an age-related decline in inhibitory control only in trilinguals, but not in bilinguals or monolinguals. No clear language group differences were observed between trilinguals and bilinguals on the N-back task, however an overall trilingual and bilingual disadvantage, compared to monolinguals, was observed. Together the results suggest that managing two or three languages, compared to just one, may have a negative impact on inhibitory control and working memory performance. Importantly, they highlight the need to control for a possible confounding effect of including trilinguals/multilinguals in bilingual cohorts and to ensure that participants in monolingual cohorts speak only one language.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study investigates the acquisition of vocabulary and passive constructions by 11 four-year-old children simultaneously acquiring South African English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa in low socio-economic status areas in South Africa, with specific focus on the role that input plays in this process. Input is measured in terms of quantity of exposure (at the time of testing and cumulatively over time) and in terms of quality (as determined by the proficiency levels of the speaker(s) providing the input). Results revealed a significant positive correlation between input and proficiency levels in the case of all three the trilinguals’ languages. The interaction between these variables seems to be narrower at lower levels of input, and the effect of reduced quantity of exposure stronger in the case of lexical development than in grammatical development. The proficiency levels of the early developing trilinguals are furthermore compared to those of 10 age-matched monolingual controls for each language. Trilinguals are found to be monolingual-like in their lexical development in the language to which, on average, they have been exposed most over time, i.e. isiXhosa. Thus, as previously found for bilingual development, necessarily reduced quantity of exposure does not hinder lexical development in the input dominant language. Whilst the trilinguals lag behind monolinguals significantly in terms of lexical development in their languages of less exposure, no developmental delay is found in their acquisition of the passive, regardless of the language of testing. This is despite their lower lexical proficiency in English and Afrikaans and their lesser amount of exposure to all three their languages. Although the passive is considered a typically later-developing construction type across languages, research has shown it to be acquired earlier in Bantu languages (of which isiXhosa is an example) than in Germanic languages such as English and Dutch (from which Afrikaans stems). Consequently, the fact that the trilinguals do not exhibit delay in their acquisition of the passive, despite sometimes drastically reduced levels of input, is interpreted as evidence of cross-linguistic bootstrapping: trilinguals seem to be transferring their knowledge of the passive in isiXhosa to English and Afrikaans, enabling the earlier acquisition of this construction in the latter two languages. The study is the first on the trilingual acquisition of English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa by young children, and will hopefully encourage additional research on multilingual language acquisition within the African context. / AFRIKKANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie ondersoek die verwerwing van woordeskat en passiefkonstruksies deur 11 vierjarige kinders wat in lae sosio-ekonomiese areas in Suid-Afrika gelyktydig Suid-Afrikaanse Engels, Afrikaans en isiXhosa verwerf. Die fokus van die studie is op die rol van toevoer in hierdie spesifieke verwerwingsproses. Toevoer word gemeet in terme van hoeveelheid blootstelling (ten tyde van toetsing en kumulatief oor tyd heen) en in terme van kwaliteit (soos bepaal deur die vaardigheidsvlakke van die persone wat die toevoer verskaf). Die resultate toon ’n beduidende positiewe verhouding tussen toevoer en vaardigheidsvlakke in geval van al drie die drietalige kinders se tale. Die interaksie tussen hierdie veranderlikes blyk nouer te wees by laer vlakke van toevoer, en die effek van afname in hoeveelheid toevoer sterker in geval van leksikale teenoor grammatikale ontwikkeling. Die vaardigheidsvlakke van die jong ontwikkelende drietalige kinders is verder ook vergelyk met, in die geval van elkeen van die afsonderlike tale, díé van 10 eentalige sprekers van soortgelyke ouderdom. Die drietalige kinders vertoon soos eentaliges in terme van leksikale ontwikkeling in die taal waaraan hulle gemiddeld die meeste blootgestel is oor tyd heen, d.i. isiXhosa. Dus, soos vantevore bevind vir tweetalige ontwikkeling, vertraag noodwendig verminderde hoeveelhede toevoer nie leksikale ontwikkeling in die toevoer-dominante taal nie. Alhoewel die drietaliges in geval van hulle tale van minder blootstelling beduidend stadiger leksikale ontwikkeling toon as die eentaliges, is daar geen blyke van vertraagde ontwikkeling in terme van hulle verwerwing van die passief nie, ongeag die taal van toetsing ̶ dít ten spyte van hulle laer leksikale vaardigheidsvlakke in Engels en Afrikaans en verminderde toevoer in al drie tale. Die passief word oor tale heen beskou as ’n tipies laat-ontwikkelende konstruksietipe, maar navorsing het bewys dat dit tog vroeër verwerf word in Bantoetale (waarvan isiXhosa ’n voorbeeld is) as in Germaanse tale soos Engels en Nederlands (die taal waarin Afrikaans sy oorsprong het). Die feit dat die drietaliges nie vertraagde ontwikkeling toon in hulle verwerwing van die passief nie, ten spyte van soms drasties verminderde toevoer, word gevolglik beskou as bewyse van kruis-linguistiese ondersteuning (“bootstrapping”): die drietaliges blyk hulle kennis van die passief in isiXhosa oor te dra na Engels en Afrikaans, wat sodoende die verwerwing van hierdie konstruksie in laasgenoemde twee tale bespoedig. Die studie is die eerste oor die drietalige verwerwing van Engels, Afrikaans en isiXhosa deur jong kinders, en die hoop is dat dit sal lei tot verdere navorsing oor veeltalige taalverwerwing binne die Afrika-konteks.

Cette recherche cherche à confirmer notre hypothèse sur les écarts entre les statuts constitutionnels des langues seychelloises (créole, anglais et français) et leurs usages dans la pratique. Elle présente la répartition des fonctions, des rôles et des usages linguistiques dans les institutions clés selon leur status et corpus d'après le modèle de Chaudenson (2004). Elle étudie les relations entre les attitudes, représentations et comportements linguistiques des locuteurs et analyse les lignes d'intervention en termes d'aménagement linguistiques et de décisions glottopolitiques. Cette thèse offre une documentation exhaustive sur l'histoire des politiques linguistiques seychelloises de l'époque coloniale jusqu'à nos jours. Pour vérifier notre hypothèse, nous avons mené 4 enquêtes (entretiens et questionnaires) impliquant une population de 689 personnes comprenant des hauts fonctionnaires, des enseignants et des élèves. Les résultats des enquêtes confirment que les pratiques des locuteurs ne sont pas en conformité avec la loi constitutionnelle relative aux langues. Ils montrent que le trilinguisme seychellois entraîne une triglossie hiérarchisée à différents degrés où chaque langue trouve son « créneau » en fonction des situations d'usages, des représentations et des compétences des locuteurs. Enfin, cette recherche montre que le trilinguisme seychellois reflète un modèle harmonieux où coexiste une complémentarité des fonctions des langues. / This research sets out to test the hypothesis on the disparity between the constitutional status of the languages of the Seychelles (Creole, English and French) and their usage. lt shows the distribution of languages in key institutions in relation to Chaudenson's description of status and corpus (2004). lt examines the relationship between linguistic attitudes and representations and behaviour and analyses strategies related to language management and glottopolitical decisions. This thesis presents an exhaustive documentation on the history of linguistic policies in Seychelles from colonial times to the present. To support our hypothesis, 4 surveys (interviews and questionnaires) were conducted with a sample population of 689 persons comprising high ranking government officiais, teachers and students. Results from these surveys show that the speakers' pratices are not in line with the Constitutional lawwith regards to languages. They illustrate that the Seychelles trilingual context involves a stratified triglossia at different levels whereby each language finds its « slot » in relation to contextual usage, representations and speakers' competence. Finally, this research suggests that Seychelles' trilingualism exists in an harmonious way where a complementarity of language functions is the norm.

Bilinguals have been posited to have, compared to monolinguals, enhanced cognitive control, consequently exhibiting greater cognitive reserve, which is thought to subsequently delay the onset of clinical expression of dementia. Based on recent evidence suggesting that the more languages one manages the greater cognitive reserve, and that trilinguals undergo greater exercise in language control than bilinguals, this thesis investigated the effects of trilingualism and ageing on cognitive control, in young adults to older adults. As the thesis investigated the novel field of trilingualism and cognitive control, task complexity, the age of second and third language acquisition, language use, and physical and cognitive activity were also, importantly, assessed, as these are possible influencing factors in test performance. The participants completed several cognitive tasks; namely the Simon task, the Inhibition of return task, the Stroop task (inhibition) and the N-back task (working memory). The novel discovery of a trilingual (and bilingual) disadvantage was observed, which could explain some previous inconsistent findings in the bilingualism literature, where trilingualism may influence bilinguals’ test performance, as trilinguals and multilinguals are often mixed in with the bilingual group. Furthermore, the results suggest that second language acquisition and language use does not consistently predict performance in trilinguals (and bilinguals), nor does cognitive activity, although physical activity may modulate language group differences. Importantly, the results from this novel investigation of the effects of trilingualism and ageing on cognitive control suggest that trilingualism (and bilingualism) can, in some cases, be detrimental to cognitive control.

The English language has a great influence on Swedish culture. Swedish students learn English in school, listen to music in English and watch movies where English is spoken. As the importance of English increases the number of students who already speak a second language also increases. Therefore, the objective of this essay is to compare bilingual and trilingual students in their English acquisition and establish which differences that can be found between these two groups of students. The results showed that even if the students media consumption did not differ, the bilingual students were exposed to English in a greater degree. Even though the bilingual students were exposed to English to a greater degree, the bilingual and trilingual students showed similar results in the English subject. The results also showed that the trilingual students who were exposed to English in the same extent as the bilingual students showed better results in the English subject.

Bilinguals have been posited to have, compared to monolinguals, enhanced cognitive control, consequently exhibiting greater cognitive reserve, which is thought to subsequently delay the onset of clinical expression of dementia. Based on recent evidence suggesting that the more languages one manages the greater cognitive reserve, and that trilinguals undergo greater exercise in language control than bilinguals, this thesis investigated the effects of trilingualism and ageing on cognitive control, in young adults to older adults. As the thesis investigated the novel field of trilingualism and cognitive control, task complexity, the age of second and third language acquisition, language use, and physical and cognitive activity were also, importantly, assessed, as these are possible influencing factors in test performance. The participants completed several cognitive tasks; namely the Simon task, the Inhibition of return task, the Stroop task (inhibition) and the N-back task (working memory). The novel discovery of a trilingual (and bilingual) disadvantage was observed, which could explain some previous inconsistent findings in the bilingualism literature, where trilingualism may influence bilinguals’ test performance, as trilinguals and multilinguals are often mixed in with the bilingual group. Furthermore, the results suggest that second language acquisition and language use does not consistently predict performance in trilinguals (and bilinguals), nor does cognitive activity, although physical activity may modulate language group differences. Importantly, the results from this novel investigation of the effects of trilingualism and ageing on cognitive control suggest that trilingualism (and bilingualism) can, in some cases, be detrimental to cognitive control.

<p>U ovom istraživanju cilj je da na osnovu lične percepcije fenomena individualne vi&scaron;ejezičnosti kod studenata i studentkinja Filozofskog fakulteta, Univerziteta u Novom Sadu, ispitam njihove stavove prema vlastitoj dvo- i vi&scaron;ejezičnosti i utvrdim da li se, u kojoj meri i na koji način odvijaju međujezički uticaji u procesu učenja trećeg jezika.<br />U Vojvodini je u službenoj upotrebi srpski jezik i ćirilično pismo, mađarski, slovački, hrvatski, rumunski i rusinski jezik i njihova pisma (Statut AP Vojvodine (&bdquo;Službeni list APV&rdquo; br.17/09)) u skladu sa zakonom i pokrajinskom skup&scaron;tinskom odlukom, a na Filozofskom fakultetu u Novom Sadu postoji duga tradicija istraživanja dvo- i vi&scaron;ejezičnosti u odnosu na jezik većinskog naroda (Mike&scaron; 1961, 1964, 1965, 1991; 1998; Mike&scaron; i Vlahović 1966; 1967; Mike&scaron; i Savić 1972, 1973, 1974; Genc 1973, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1991; Međe&scaron;i 2009; Tir 2002; Horakova 2002; Puja-Badesku 2009).<br />Korpus empirijskih podataka čine dve grupe odgovora: odgovori dvojezičnih studenata (26) i studentkinja (74) prve godine Filozofskog fakulteta u Novom Sadu &scaron;kolske 2011/12. godine (prosečna starost 21;8 godina) za koje su dobijeni podaci pomoću upitnika i odgovori dve trojezične alumnistkinje istog fakulteta (44 godine) za koje su dobijeni podaci audio zapisom njihovih ličnih ispovesti (životnih priča).<br />Upitnik ima sledeće celine: o maternjem jeziku, drugom i trećem jeziku, kao i međujezičkim uticajima; a audio zapisom su zabeleženi odgovori na slična pitanja u polustrukturiranom intervjuu. Prikupljeni podaci su analizirani na osnovu kombinacije mađarskog kao ugro-finskog i slovenskih (srpski/hrvatski, rusinski, slovački, ukrajinski, poljski, ruski), germanskih (nemački, engleski) i romanskih (rumunski, francuski, italijanski, &scaron;panski) kao idoevropskih jezika.<br />Dobijeni rezultati potvrđuju rezultate savremenih istraživanja dvo- i vi&scaron;ejezičnosti i pokazuju sledeće: bez obzira na tipolo&scaron;ke karakteristike jezika dvojezičnost efikasno utiče na usvajanje trećeg jezika (Ringbom 1987; Cenoz 2001; Jessner 2007; Gibbons 2009), &scaron;to je u ovom istraživanju dokumentovano za kombinacije jezika: mađarski kao ugro-finski i slovenski (srpski/hrvatski, rusinski, slovački, ukrajinski, poljski, ruski), germanski (nemački, engleski) i romanski (rumunski, francuski, italijanski, &scaron;panski) kao idoevropski jezici; drugi jezik ima veći uticaj na učenje trećeg jezika od prvonaučenog ili usvojenog jezika (Williams and Hammarberg 1998; Bardel and Falk 2007), ukoliko je kompetencija na visokom nivou, a izloženost drugom jeziku česta i dugotrajna i ukoliko su drugi i treći jezik tipolo&scaron;ki slični; transfer jezičkog znanja sprovodi se na nesvesnom nivou i to če&scaron;će u neformalnim, nego u formalnim situacijama, kao &scaron;to je potvrđeno i u drugim istraživanjima (Hoffmann 2007); komunikativna strategija opisivanja se če&scaron;će primenjuje u procesu stvaranja iskaza na trećem jeziku od strategije pravljenja hibridnih varijanti; kvalitativna analiza odgovora iz životnih priča potvrđuje osnovne rezultate dobijene na osnovu odgovora studenata i studentkinja i otkriva niz nijansi koje nije moguće dobiti upitnikom, a koje se odnose na kontekst, lična iskustva i sposobnosti da se metajezičke sposobnosti stave u funkciju učenja jezika.<br />Iako je trojezičnost po svemu sudeći budućnost civilizacijskog toka i obrazovnog sistema, možda čak i od pred&scaron;kolskog uzrasta, o ovom fenomenu ima jo&scaron; uvek malo literature. Na bazi rezultata dobijenih u ovom istraživanju, iako njihova pouzdanost nije apsolutna, jer zavise od ličnog procenjivanja fenomena, moguće je nanovo razmotriti postojeće teorije i ponovo opisati metalingvističke sposobnosti kada su u pitanju jezici koji nisu srodni u odnosu na jezike koji su srodni kada je u pitanju trojezičnost u Vojvodini.</p> / <p>The aim of this study is to investigate<br />attitudes towards personal bilingualism and<br />multilingualism and to determine if there is a<br />cross-linguistic influence in the third<br />language acquisition process, how and how<br />often it occurs, according to a personal<br />perception of the phenomenon of the<br />individual multilingualism among students at<br />the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi<br />Sad.<br />In Vojvodina, the officially used languages<br />are: Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak, Croatian,<br />Romanian and Ruthenian (AP of Vojvodina<br />Statute (&bdquo;Službeni list APV&rdquo; br.17/09)). At<br />the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad<br />bilingualism, multilingualism and the<br />majority language has been traditionally<br />studied since its foundation (Mike&scaron; 1961,<br />1964, 1965, 1991; 1998; Mike&scaron; i Vlahović<br />1966; 1967; Mike&scaron; i Savić 1972, 1973, 1974;<br />Genc 1973, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1991; Međe&scaron;i<br />2009; Tir 2002; Horakova 2002; Puja-<br />Badesku 2009).<br />The empirical data include two groups of<br />answers: answers that the first year (2011/12)<br />bilingual female (74) and male (26) students<br />(mean age 21;8) gave to questions about their<br />mother tongue, second and third language and<br />cross-linguistic influence in a questionnaire<br />and answers that the trilingual alumni of the same faculty (44 years old) gave in their oral</p><p>history.<br />The questionnaire includes questions about<br />mother tongue, second and third language, as<br />well as about cross-linguistic influences. The<br />questions in the semi-structured interview for<br />the oral history are about the same topics. The<br />obtained data are analyzed according to the<br />combination of Hungarian as Finno-Ugric<br />language and Slavic (Serbian/Croatian,<br />Ruthenian, Slovak, Ukrainian, Polish,<br />Russian), Germanic (German, English) and<br />Romance languages (Romanian, French,<br />Italian, Spanish) as Indo-European languages.<br />The obtained results confirm the<br />contemporary findings in bilingualism and<br />multilingualism research and show the<br />following: bilingualism has a positive<br />influence on third language acquisition<br />regardless of their typological characteristics<br />(Cenoz 2001; Jessner 2007) and in this<br />research it is confirmed for combination of<br />languages: Hungarian as Finno-Ugric<br />language and Slavic (Serbian/Croatian,<br />Ruthenian, Slovak, Ukrainian, Polish,<br />Russian), Germanic (German, English) and<br />Romance languages (Romanian, French,<br />Italian, Spanish) as Indo-European languages;<br />the second language has a greater influence<br />on the third language acquisition process than the first one (Williams and Hammarberg</p><p>1998; Bardel and Falk 2007), if the<br />competence is on the high level, the second<br />language exposure frequent and long, and if<br />the second and the third language are<br />typologically similar; the linguistic<br />knowledge is transferred subconsciously,<br />more often in informal than in formal<br />situations, as it is confirmed in other studies<br />(Hoffmann 2007); description as a<br />communicational strategy is more often used<br />than creation of hybrid forms; qualitative<br />analysis of the obtained answers in oral<br />histories confirm results obtained by the<br />questionnaire, but it also reveals various<br />nuances that cannot be found using<br />questionnaire, about the context, personal<br />experiences and abilities to use metalinguistic<br />awareness in the language learning process.<br />In spite of the fact that trilingualism is the<br />future in the civilization evolution and in the<br />educational system, even starting at the<br />preschool level, there is not enough literature<br />about the phenomenon. According to the<br />results obtained in this research, although<br />they are not absolutely reliable, since they<br />depend on a personal judgment of the<br />phenomenon, it is possible to redefine<br />existing theories and to describe<br />metalinguistic abilities again when</p>

This research is a case study which sought to investigate the educational implication of code switching in a multilingual school in Matatiele. Since the dawn of democracy in South Africa, the language policy has sought to promote multilingualism and also honours the cultural diversity existing in this country. It is against this background that the study was conducted. The present study also sought to investigate the occurrences and nature of code switching in the classroom context. In South Africa, the Language in Education Policy prescribes that English as Language of Learning and Teaching be practiced from Grade 4 upwards, alongside home languages. At school, it seems that teachers are not empowered regarding the approach towards code switching. The study investigates whether the use of code switching in a classroom context is in line with the Language in Education Policy. It also looks at the implications of trilingual instruction (which is the use of three languages) in content subjects in the classroom. Functions of code switching were examined as well. This empirical research study used qualitative research methods. Qualitative research provided the study with insight into code switching in the educational context. This study encompassed specific techniques for collecting data, mainly observations. Notes were also of some assistance and were jotted down while observation was underway to supplement what could not be captured by the video, such as emotion and feelings. The study concluded that code switching plays a significant role in an English as Second Language (ESL) classroom context. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M. A. (Linguistics)