**3. Psycholinguistic perspectives on bilingualism**

Psycholinguistics perspectives of bilingualism have been an important aspect of studies in bilingualism recently, two of which are elucidated here below.

#### **3.1. Phonetic category formation in bilingual children**

How do bilingual children come to distinguish phonetic details of the two linguistic systems they are internalizing in the language acquisition process? The central issue in this respect is, since bilingual children may acquire (learn) the two languages sequentially (L1 first then L2) or simultaneously (L1… L2 concurrently, at the same time), do these two modes of bilingualism exhibit similar or different characteristic features with respect to phonetic category formation? This preoccupation embodies the concern with whether bilingual children develop and speak the two languages from two separate systems (*ab initio*) or from one system that gets differentiated subsequently, into two identifiable systems? If the later, when do the systems differentiate and do the languages interact in the process of acquiring the characteristic features? If so, is the direction of interaction predictable, and so on? (This problematic may also involve issues of psychological reality). The research is driven by a summary of key empirical studies with evidence of the observed facts of the development of phonetic categories by bilingual children (both sequential and simultaneous cases of bilingualism). It is undertaken within the theoretical framework of phonetic categories of bilinguals; that is, the speech learning model (SML) for adult bilinguals [24] and the linguistic system model (LSM) for bilingual children [25]. The results lead to the proposal of "*The Development Model of Phonetic Category Formation,"* which is an integrated explanatory model of the findings of current research in the discipline. The model is to the effect that *detailed phonetic categories do not form across-the-board and bilingual children may invoke multi-dimensional representations of phonetic categorie*s. It goes further than the SML and the LSM to state that *phonetic category formation continues to evolve during the developmental process rather than emerge all at once in both simultaneous and sequential bilingual children*.

construed identities, two or more "selves"; the use of one language (Arabic) "primes," and conjures the "self" corresponding to the Arabic language, which then responds psychologically, behaviorally, and culturally in an appropriate acceptable manner for the Arabic culture and heritage. The use of English primes behavior appropriate and acceptable to the American culture (to some extent). It is thus established that not only does bilingualism imply biculturalism the different cultures of bilingualism can be primed from the individual and seen

Introductory Chapter: Relevance of Bilingualism and Multilingualism in a Multilingual World

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.77083

9

In this age of knowledge economy, driven by information and communication technology, bilingualism in issues of **information retrieval (IR)** and **access to information (AI)** is crucial,

Research in the area of CLIR has focused on issues, methods, and technologies of how to retrieve information on one subject from two or more languages and databases with a query in one language. The issue studied here involves the examination and evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of a system of retrieval of bilingual information in English and Spanish based on semi-discrete decomposition (SDD), when the query is made in Spanish. To do so effectively, four case studies that exhibit the performance of the use of the latent semantic indexing (LSI) via SDD method for CLIR are undertaken, and the results are compared with those obtained by applying the LSI via singular value decomposition (SVD) method. This is undertaken thanks to a solid database built using the *fusion strategy* in combining documents from the Bible (Gospels) in Spanish and English. The evaluation of the innovative SDD method (LSI via SDD) shows a significantly higher performance with respect to the SVD Method. It evidences the true impact of the SDD, the ability to obtain good results, with the

This deals with the challenge of accessing and retrieving information from several languages with a focus on diachronic access and retrieval (retrieving information from different chronological stages of the same language (e.g., Old English, Middle English, and Modern English). Using Mongolian as an example, an experiment is set up to devise mechanisms of access to information from various stages of Mongolian; mechanisms that can be generalized. This is based on a series of measured and ordered actions: Computerized analysis of historical documents, extraction of key markers of periods and geographical information such as personal and place names with the support of a vector machine, creation of digital bases on the various stages of the language with the extracted material, encoding process of relevant information, and development of a web-based prototype system for utilizing digital editions of

through the use of each of the languages [26, 27].

**4.1. Cross-language information retrieval (CLIR)**

**4. Bilingualism, access to and retrieval of information**

especially with respect to storage and retrieval of information from databases.

advantages of a higher speed and very low cost **in terms of storage space.**

**4.2. Cross-lingual and cross-chronological access to information**

#### **3.2. Bilingualism and self-perception**

Linguists, anthropologist, and sociolinguists have long known that language is inextricably linked to culture and is indeed an element of culture *par excellence*. Every language encodes culture and cultural values. Thus, in the process of language acquisition, bilinguals internalize the values, norms, and concepts, including role expectations and attitudes of the culture expressed by each of the languages, they are mastering. Consequently, there is a symbiosis of language, identity and culture in the temple of the mind. How do the various cultural norms and values coexist in the bilingual, who has internalized several languages and their cultures and how can these cultures be retrieved? It is now axiomatic that *language can prime a culture,* meaning that language can activate culture in the mind, the culture with which the language is associated in the symbiosis within the mind [26]. What is the relationship between language, as the vehicle of a person's culture, and self-assessment of one's capabilities (i.e., selfefficacy) via conventional self-report measures? This is revealed in the study of bilingualism and culture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), where the key languages used to prime culture (Arabic and English) pertain to cultural orientations, whose key dimensions stand in opposition to one another. Arabic represents a vertical-collectivistic culture (with high uncertainty avoidance), which places premium on such values as modesty, humility, community spirit, interdependent member of the collectivity, and so on. In contrast, English represents a vertical-individualistic culture with low uncertainty avoidance (e.g., USA), which places premium on individual values of assertiveness, independence, individual achievements, and so on. The results show that bilinguals (or multilinguals) possess two (or more) culturally construed identities, two or more "selves"; the use of one language (Arabic) "primes," and conjures the "self" corresponding to the Arabic language, which then responds psychologically, behaviorally, and culturally in an appropriate acceptable manner for the Arabic culture and heritage. The use of English primes behavior appropriate and acceptable to the American culture (to some extent). It is thus established that not only does bilingualism imply biculturalism the different cultures of bilingualism can be primed from the individual and seen through the use of each of the languages [26, 27].
