Linguistic Measures and Outcomes in (Child) Multilingualism

The book provides an extensive look at tools to assess language competence in child and adult multilingualism, as well as at the acquisition of particular grammatical phenomena, paying special attention to the Romance languages (Spanish, French, Italian, Catalan) as majority or heritage languages. The book explores numerous methodological possibilities to determine multilinguals' proficiency in their different L1s, such as receptive vocabulary measures, spontaneous language production and (parental) background questionnaires. The book also looks at multilinguals' development of Romance (non-)mainstream languages by examining a wide range of language assessment methods and the language-external factors that might contribute to a multilingual’s linguistic competence. It provides new insights on the acquisition of Romance languages in several contexts: (i) as heritage languages in non-Romance speaking countries in Europe; (ii) as majority languages in monolingual and bilingual regions; and (iii) as school languages in bilingual education programs in Germany. The book contributes to a better understanding of multilinguals' language development, proficiency and dominance, starting in preschool, and particularly for language combinations with (at least) one Romance language. This book is intended for linguists with a special interest in Romance languages, school educators, teachers, and researchers in the field of heritage and majority languages.