Although verbal expressions of caused motion, such as push and pull, have been extensively studied within linguistics, semantic dimensions beyond path and manner of motion have received less attention. This pilot study aims to identify such dimensions involved in the expression of caused motion in German, focusing on observable properties of pushing and pulling events that determine the selection of verbs to describe events of caused motion. Using 3D graphical modeling, participants were presented with video clips of a computer-animated agent moving a barrel, thereby allowing for a systematic manipulation of properties and hence dimensions. We investigated four dimensions to assess their impact on verb selection: (i) angle of contact, (ii) movement of the agent relative to the barrel, (iii) the agent’s orientation/facing, and (iv) the force employed. Cluster and principal component analyses were conducted on the collected linguistic data. Verbs were represented by five-dimensional vectors capturing correlations with the cosine and sine of the angle, and marginal probabilities in conditions of instantaneous movement, forward facing, and heavy force. Our findings indicate that conceptually distinguishable verb clusters are primarily defined by the movement feature – that is, whether the agent moves together with the barrel or not – and the cosine of the angle. Contrary to theoretical predictions, little evidence was found supporting the categorization of verbs based on the force applied to the barrel. These results suggest that the movement and position of the agent relative to the moved object are key determinants in the production of verbal descriptions of caused motion events.

This study presents a corpus-based typological analysis of complementation. Complementation is typically used to frame a nutterance, thought, desire, or immediate perception. However, many alternative constructions are available to express similar meanings, such as nominalization, adverbial clauses, the verbal complex, and parataxis. This study examines multilingual corpora of 14 languages, and explores how frequently languages use complementation vis-à-vis alternative strategies. We show that half the languages investigated prefer complementation, while others favor parataxis or adverbial clauses over complementation. These results suggest that languages can be classified in terms of the extent to which they favor hierarchical or paratactic structures to frame propositions, and that this correlates with the stylistic features of the given languages.

Our team’s long-term project investigating social cognition in a range of languages is based on a corpus typology approach. We use a set of annotation schemata to code particular instances of language use that we see as indicating some aspect of social cognition. We then compare the amounts and types of instances by language or task participant. Much careful consideration went into designing annotation schema to look at various domains of social cognition. This set of guidelines describes our eight coding schemata so that our results are interpretable and to make our scientific process open. The guidelines should also provide enough information for people who are not part of the project to code their own language data.

Sweden is often commended for the inclusion of home languages in the formal education system: both mother tongue instruction (where a pupil's home language is taught as an optional school subject) and study guidance (where a pupil is given content support in their home language or prior language of schooling) are offered. Still, while many national educational policies are supportive of multilingualism, their enactment on the ground is often problematic. The attitudes and beliefs of teacher educators, in-service teachers, and pre-service teachers are crucial here, yet few studies have investigated how these key actors in Sweden perceive their encounters with linguistic diversity. Furthermore, an understanding of the similarities and differences in the perspectives across these three cohorts is lacking. We have analysed interviews with five teacher educators, five in-service teachers, and eight pre-service teachers concerning their attitudes and beliefs on multilingualism. These interviews reveal orientations towards language and language use in teacher education and primary schools. Specifically, language is seen both as a problem and as a resource. Our results uncover tensions in the expressed attitudes and beliefs about multilingualism, as well as about multilingual pre-service teachers in teacher education and multilingual pupils in the Swedish school.

本研究探討移居澳洲的臺灣家庭於假期讓子女回臺接受正規教育，在不同教育制度之間轉換對子女的語言能力和身分認同所產生的影響。本研究以問卷調查旅澳具臺灣背景的家庭家中語言使用情形及維持華語學習環境的原因，再透過訪談形式了解父母對於子女華語教育的看法，探討子女在臺灣澳洲兩地往返過程中的身分認同情形。雖只有母親願意代表受訪，研究結果可見父母輩對於故鄉語言文化和教育理念的執着，也觀察到子女在兩種文化和語言之間自我身分認同的逐漸轉變。父母輩堅持讓子女接收兩種教育制度，其目標不僅為提升子女的華語語言能力，也希望提高子女對臺灣的身分認同。但訪談的結果也發現，子女已經逐步產生個人認同，與父母輩的感受不一致。本文透過探討臺灣家庭往返臺灣與澳洲兩邊教育制度的經驗，希望提供家長和語言教育工作者關於華語學習，來自身分認同觀點的些許建議。

This study investigated the impact of sojourning activity on children in terms of language development and identity awareness for families with Taiwanese background who migrated to Australia and sent their children back to Taiwan to receive formal education during school holidays. The study conducted a survey to explore language usage in the families and the reasons to maintain a bilingual learning environment for Chinese. The study then interviewed the parents about the Chinese language education of the children and explored the social identity of the children during the journey between Taiwan and Australia. Although only mothers were willing to be interviewed, the results showed that parents themselves were persistent in their nostalgia and educational philosophy, but that children gradually changed their self-identity between the two cultures and languages. The goals of the parents with this sojourning activity were not only to improve their children’s Chinese language skills but also to increase and foster children’s identification with Taiwan. However, the results of the interviews revealed that the children had gradually developed their own personal identity, which differed from the one their parents aimed to achieve. By exploring the experiences of Taiwanese families traveling between educational systems to and from Taiwan and Australia, this study aims to provide parents and language educators with some suggestions on foreign language learning from a social identity perspective.

This study investigates the transnational experiences of young Taiwanese-background children living in Australia, who sojourn to their parents’ homeland during the school holidays to improve their linguistic and cultural skills, as reported by their mothers. Although this appears to be a frequent practice in the Taiwanese diaspora, showcasing the agency of this community, little research has systematically investigated this practice, and in particular its impact on the children and their families. Data for this study were obtained through online questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with mothers who engage in this practice, to gather information on family histories and participants’ backgrounds, family language policies, and parents’ perceptions of children's experiences and challenges. The data show that parents aim to enhance their children's proficiency levels in the home language as well as their Taiwanese identity. Children, however, take an agentive role with regard to identity choices, so parents’ aims are not always fulfilled. Sojourning is presented as a clear example not only of enacted family language policy, but also as an explicit management practice, positioning the Taiwanese diaspora within both their new as well as their old homeland.

Second language (L2) aptitude has been broadly defined as the rate and ease of initially acquiring a second language. Historically, L2 aptitude has been understood as a stable trait that predetermined L2 achievement, regardless of individual learners’ efforts to acquire an L2. This traditional view of L2 aptitude as fixed and stable has led to it being a relatively neglected area of research within second language acquisition (SLA) studies. The little research that was in fact conducted was diagnostic in nature, and mostly used tests such as the Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) to select potentially gifted L2 learners. Given that six decades have passed since the publication of the MLAT, now is a good time to revisit the literature and investigate whether L2 aptitude continues to be viewed as an individual difference of little interest to SLA research. While summative literature reviews of L2 aptitude research have been written, few systematic reviews exist. This article conducts a systematic quantitative literature review (SQLR) to provide a principled, comprehensive and reproducible synthesis of research into L2 aptitude published over the last 60 years (1959–2019). In this SQLR, close to one hundred journal articles and PhD dissertations were examined to discern generalisations and limitations in the field. This SQLR identifies a shift in the rationale for L2 aptitude testing, in which a diagnostic focus has been replaced by an explanatory perspective. Furthermore, our article points to a renewed interest in L2 aptitude research, which has come to be characterised by a more nuanced and sophisticated understanding of the concept and its components.

While Australia is a highly linguistically diverse country, its educational policy is strongly dominated by a monolingual mindset, and thus languages other than English find little institutional support. A few selected languages, considered of vital importance to the country, are taught as foreign languages, but there is little provision for home or foreign languages at the preschool level.

Using Chua and Baldauf’s (Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning. Routledge, New York, 2011) model of language policy and planning as the analytical framework, the chapter explores formal and non-formal activities to foster the development of languages in young children at preschool level. These initiatives range from macro-level planning, targeting mostly English-speaking children acquiring a small number of languages, to micro-level planning, aimed at supporting home language maintenance and development. Micro-level initiatives can be parent-initiated, e.g., playgroups for diverse languages, family day care in the relevant languages, or sojourning to the parents’ home countries, or include more formal programs, usually developed and run by communities, such as supplementary schooling (e.g., community language schools).

The chapter shows that, despite a societal monolingual orientation, communities can be creative in developing initiatives. Not every community is active in pursuing language maintenance, however, and the overview suggests that some languages are better placed for intergenerational transmission than others.

Even a cursory look at conference programs and proceedings reveals a burgeoning interest in the field of social and affective factors in home language maintenance and development. To date, however, research on this topic has been published in piecemeal fashion, subsumed under the more general umbrella of ‘bilingualism’. Within bilingualism research, there has been an extensive exploration of linguistic and psycholinguistic perspectives on the one hand, and educational practices and outcomes on the other. In comparison, social and affective factors – which lead people to either maintain or shift the language – have been under-researched.

This is the first volume that brings together the different strands in research on social and affective factors in home language maintenance and development, ranging from the micro-level (family language policies and practices), to the meso-level (community initiatives) and the macro-level (mainstream educational policies and their implementation). The volume showcases a wide distribution across contexts and populations explored. Contributors from around the world represent different research paradigms and perspectives, providing a rounded overview of the state-of-the-art in this flourishing field.