**1. Introduction**

Multilingualism is a complex phenomenon, alive and always. Today, the importance of multilingualism has gone beyond its private local roles to have a much broader global importance It is one of the most essential social practices in the world. The term multilingualism is used here to denote the use of three or more languages and distinguishes, in the case of bilingualism, the use of two languages. From this perspective, bilingualism is considered as a particular of multilingualism rather than the other way around.

The answer to the question "What is multilingualism?" is not as straightforward as it appears at first glance. Decades have passed with intense debates over what

type of person a bilingual is. The narratives of various multilingual communities differ in their definitions and depictions. Researchers' core understandings of what multilingualism is often differ due to their diverse backgrounds and views.

Multilingualism was documented in ancient Greece, Egypt, and Rome, and included languages such as Hebrew, Aramaic, Egyptian, Lycian, Greek, and Latin. This is demonstrated by the iconic Rosetta stone. 'Multilingualism is the presence of numerous languages in one country, community, or city,' 'Multilingualism is the use of three or more languages,' and 'Multilingualism is the ability to speak several languages,' according to the definitions. Multilingualism is often recognised as a "natural state of humankind" in this last sense [1]. Furthermore, neuroscientists explore multilingualism in the context of how people who speak multiple languages organise their brains.

The aforementioned accounts are sufficient for a general understanding of multilingualism's various dimensions. Despite this, there has yet to be a straightforward, short, and universally applicable solution to the question "What is multilingualism?" This talk will demonstrate why we should not expect one. Rather, it will introduce the reader to the various forms, manifestations, and key characteristics of multilingualism. It will go over the fundamental terminology and concepts of multilingualism, introduce the fundamentals that have been established in the field thus far, mention some theories and concepts that have been proposed and used for the study of multilingualism, and provide an update on recent developments.

Multilingualism refers to the presence of more than one "variety of language" in a geographical area, whether large or small, i.e. the mode of speaking of a social group, whether formally recognised as a language or not; individuals in such an area may be monolingual, speaking only their own variety.

### **2. Attitudes to multilingualism**

Multilingualism is often unnoticeable. Even in major multilingual cities, a huge number of languages are mostly spoken in the home or community (the private sphere) and only come out in public on rare occasions. Then it may become an integral part of many people's urban experience, including those from other language groups. In various ways, persons are practically unwittingly exposed to multilingualism in their daily lives. The most common example is commercial - for example, a local business managed by members of various language communities (Bengali, Turkish, Kurdish, Chinese, Polish, and Italian) but serves the entire community.

The image of multilingualism is as different as the realities of multilingualism. There is a strong desire in many areas to regard multilingual identity as a sign of global vitality, something to be proud of. For example, the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands promotes itself as a "multilingual hotspot," where people speak more languages than anyplace else in Europe, and the municipal administration promotes this as a good thing and an indication of a better way of life. Melbourne defines itself as a richly cosmopolitan city with residents from more than 140 nationalities, whose history, economy, and current identity are all intertwined with migration.

This concept is powerfully defined in Melbourne's city centre's Sandridge Bridge development, which depicts the history of all the nations and individuals who have influenced the city's (and state's) contemporary character. Cities from Johannesburg to Kuala Lumpur are proud of their multilingual assets – 'Kuala Lumpur is an ethnically diverse city with well-educated, multicultural, multilingual residents.' However, the importance of English in this equation is also emphasised: 'Even if the official language is Bahasa Malay, most people speak good English.' All schools require students to take English as a subject.'

#### *Multilingualism and Personal Health Benefits: Connecting the Dots DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99855*

Many towns today claim to encourage multilingualism as a beneficial factor in a globalised society, which is undeniably relevant. Other areas, mainly newcomers to the globalised table, are not regarded multilingual by its residents in the same way that more traditionally diverse cities like London, New York, Mumbai, or Melbourne are. People living there may see this as practically accidental, if not transient, despite the fact that people may cover multiple languages. Individual residents may also hold a different viewpoint than the city government.

For many people, London, the most iconic example of a European cosmopolis, is the quintessential bustling, cosmopolitan, creative metropolis of over 200 languages. It is the location in which one's wish to reside, and linguistic diversity plays a role in that decision. However, some people find the environment unpleasant because there are so many languages spoken on the train that one's feel "a little strange." Multilingualism, on the other hand, is a part of their new and broader identity for others, as David Block's book Multilingual identities in a global city: London stories demonstrates. 'And sometimes I think to myself, Oh my God, she's so cruel… and it's because I'm used to the English way of communicating, and when I go back to France, I think to myself, "They're so rude," because they never say "sorry.""I believe that combining English and Bengali makes me truly me.' One's get completely absorbed in another person once he/she communicate with a new language', [2].

## **2.1 Linguistic processing in multilinguals**

#### *2.1.1 Parallel use of languages*

In multilingual communication (with or without a translation or interpreter), utterances are frequently received in a language other than the one in which interpreters are created, therefore language processing in various mental and cognitive phases becomes a multilingual procedure in and of itself. In terms of psycholinguistics, reception and production are not two polar opposites in the sense of a "bottom-up" versus "top-down" method. The possible receivability of linguistic forms, as well as the producibility of linguistic forms, is relevant here, since it is linked to the transient nature of the communicative act and the interactant's co-construction of it [3].

A logical possibility for the structure of a bilingual mind is that it is made up of two independently represented language systems that are accessed differently depending on the situation: A fluent French-English bilingual ordering coffee in a Parisian café has no need to think about how to phrase the request in English, while a Cantonese-English bilingual studying psychology in Boston has no need to recast the subject in Chinese. Despite this, extensive research suggests that the bilingual mind is not organised in this way. Fluent bilinguals, on the other hand, demonstrate some activation of both languages and some interaction between them at all times, even in situations where only one of the languages is used.

Psycholinguistic studies show the influence of the currently unused language fo cross-language priming (in which a word in one language facilitates retrieval of a semantically related word in the other language) and lexical decision (in which participants decide whether a string of letters is a legal word in one of the languages), according to Beauvillain, and Grainger [4], Crystal [5] and De Groot and Kroll [6].

More evidence comes through Patient studies demonstrating incursions from the irrelevant language or improper language switches, cited in Fabbro et al. [7], as well as imaging studies showing non-target language participation while conducting a linguistic task in the targeted language according to, Martin et al. [8]. Marian et al. [9], used eye-tracking technology to find that English-Russian bilinguals performing an English task in which they had to choose the named picture from four alternatives were distracted by a picture whose name shared phonology with

Russian, despite the fact that there was no connection to the meaning of the target picture and no contextual cues indicating that Russian was related.

The most likely mechanism for understanding the effects of bilingualism on both language and nonlinguistic processing is parallel use of languages or what so called, Joint activation. Joint activation causes an attention hurdle in linguistic processing that does not present in monolinguals. Besides, constraint on register, collocation, and synonymy, the bilingual speaker need to choose the appropriate language from a pool of competing choices.

"Vocal planning," "stages of the action process," and other elements of the production are examples. (Like the differences in written and spoken processing of word order, complicated sentence structures, and so on, the monitoring process for reading and writing requires separate linguistic planning processes.) Prior knowledge is addressed to the perceived (linguistic) forms in an ongoing interpretation of the words said by the speaker during the process of receiving a message. Understanding, establishing a hearer plan, and post-history are all important aspects of reception. Participants must follow the specific processing processes for discourse or text in both production and reception for a cross-section. (For a cross-cultural German-Japanese study employing this conceptual framework, see [10]).

There are changes in how information is processed in verbal communication depending on the language constellation: eralisations that are nearly difficult to get from an abstract comparison of language systems [11]. Recent research into the impact that a dominant language (global English) can have on other languages via translation processes has revealed that changes in the use of particular types of connectives are causing incipient changes in indigenous information dissemination [12]. Interpreters must be able to use language-specific hearer and speaker techniques. A reciprocal accommodation to the variety utilised by the interactant(s) leads to a mental process of accommodation in regard to the language during multilingual conversation (cf. articles in [13]).

A studies by Blumenfeld, and Marian [14] have found a link between inhibition and ability in verbal and nonverbal tasks by demonstrating a link between Stroop task performance and competing word selection.
