UNEXPECTED DISADVANTAGES OF A SIMULTANEOUS QUADRILINGUAL UPBRINGING, A CASE STUDY
JEROME DUMETZ, ANNA VISHNYAKOVA, VALÉRIA DUMETZ-VISHNYAKOVA, ALEXANDRA DUMETZ-VISHNYAKOVA
Abstract:
At the crossroad between linguistics and cross-cultural communication, multilingualism is frequently presented through its most positive perspective. However, if the long-term benefits outrun the disadvantages, frustration is often the dominant feeling among the speakers during their early years. Based upon meticulous observations and careful collection of examples in a multilingual family, this article is a case study of the difficulties encountered by polyglots growing up with four simultaneous languages: Russian, French, Czech, and English. Using the research framework usually developed for the study of bilingualism, the article reviews not only the psychological and cognitive difficulties encountered by tetraglots, but also the social and linguistic drawbacks they are confronted with. It also examines common multilingual strategies such as code-switching, words creation and language mixing. It concludes that the linguistic development of tetraglots does not differ much from bilingual ones, except for the elongated period before acquiring production speech. Quadrilingual children tend to speak later than not only monolingual children, but also bilingual ones.
Keywords:
Multilingualism, tetralingual, tetraglot, quadri-lingual, code switching, borrowings, cognitive development
DOI: 10.52950/TE.2021.9.1.001
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APA citation:
JEROME DUMETZ, ANNA VISHNYAKOVA, VALÉRIA DUMETZ-VISHNYAKOVA, ALEXANDRA DUMETZ-VISHNYAKOVA (2021). Unexpected Disadvantages of a Simultaneous Quadrilingual Upbringing, a Case Study. International Journal of Teaching and Education, Vol. IX(1), pp. 1-12. , DOI: 10.52950/TE.2021.9.1.001
Data:
Received: 16 Jan 2021
Revised: 6 Mar 2021
Accepted: 6 Apr 2021
Published: 20 Apr 2021
Copyright © 2021, Jerome Dumetz et al, jerome.f.dumetz@gmail.com