Mehrsprachigkeit: individuelle, gesellschaftliche und institutionelle Aspekte. Einblicke in die aktuelle Forschung
Multilingualism: Individual, Societal and Institutional Aspects. Insights into the Current Research)

Summary/Abstract: The present contribution is based on the understanding that the cultural phenomenon of multilingualism plays an increasing role in everyday life as well as in scientific discourse, particularly in today’s mostly global and interconnected world. In this regard, this paper offers a systematic overview on modeling, structures, phenomena, and manifestations of multilingualism based on current scientific literature, equally investigating individual, societal, and institutional aspects. Among others, it became apparent that the current transition towards poststructuralism within the humanities and social sciences – including linguistics – has also influenced research on multilingualism: by questioning the traditional understanding of culturally (and politically) defined language borders and rejecting or at least relativizing the notion of language(s) as systems defined separately, concepts like translanguaging and superdiversity gain importance. As part of this shift in perspective, multicompetence appears as an alternative concept to multilingualism. The term “multicompetence” was then further extended to also address the structures of knowledge of more than one language in a bilingual brain as well as, later, sociolinguistic aspects. The term arose out of the criticism that “multilingualism” – with its components “multiple” and “language” – suggests the existence of clearly distinct languages. It remains questionable though if the alternative term “multicompetence” offers an optimal solution as its lexical structure equally suggests multiple different and clearly distinct competences. Finally, the paper records the overall value of multilingualism on all levels: modern research shows that multilingualism does not just offer cognitive and academic advantages but also has important social and cultural effects.

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