Bilingualism Across the Lifespan: Aspects of Acquisition, Maturity, and Loss

In this broad overview of current theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of bilingualism, the contributors examine the dynamics of bilingual language processing over time from the perspectives of neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics. This multidisciplinary approach is fundamental to an understanding of how the bilingual's two (or more) language systems interact with each other and with other higher cognitive systems, neurological substrates, and social systems. Contributors examine the nature of bilingualism during various phases of the life cycle and in various health/pathology conditions. Topics range from code separation in the young bilingual child, across various types of language pathologies in adult bilinguals, to language choice problems in dementia.