The aim of the present study is twofold. One, we will show that Talmy's (1985, 1991, 2000) motion typology that groups Russian and English together as satellite-framed languages may be justified on linguistic grounds but is inadequate from a psycholinguistic point of view. Two, we will argue that the shortcomings of the typology may account…

We examined first language (L1) naming of common household objects in three groups of Russian-English bilinguals: early, childhood and late bilinguals. Their naming patterns were compared with those of native speakers of Russian and English, in order to detect possible second language (L2) English influence on L1 Russian naming patterns. We…

The main purpose of the present paper is to draw attention to contexts where two conceptions of linguistic rights--the rights of languages and the rights of speakers--come into conflict. To illustrate such conflict, I will examine justifications of language laws adopted in two post-Soviet countries, Latvia and Ukraine. I will begin with an…

This study examines the motion lexicon in narratives elicited from Russian-English bilinguals. Lexical choices made by the participants are compared to those made by native speakers of Russian and English in narratives elicited by the same stimuli. The analysis of bilinguals' narratives shows that lexicalization of motion is not subject to L2…

The purpose of this paper is to draw on recent studies of bilingualism and emotions to argue for three types of modifications to the current models of the bilingual lexicon. The first modification involves word categories: I will show that emotion words need to be considered as a separate class of words in the mental lexicon, represented and…

I would like to begin by thanking the editors of the journal, and in particular Carmen Silva-Corvalan, for inviting such a wonderful group of commentators, united in their commitment to spirited yet courteous academic debate and diverse in their academic allegiances, theories, and methodologies. I also thank the commentators for the kindness and…

In the past decade, language memoirs, linguistic autobiographies, and learners' journals and diaries have become a popular means of data collection in applied linguistics. It is not always clear however how one should go about analyzing these data. The aim of this paper is to offer a critical review of analytical frameworks applied to second…

This article presents a case study of a police interrogation of a nonnative speaker (NNS) of English. I show that the high linguistic and conceptual complexity of police cautions, such as the Miranda warnings, complicates understanding of these texts even by NNSs of English with a high level of interactional competence. I argue that the U.S.…

Introduces this special issue of the journal, which focuses on negotiation of identities in multilingual contexts. The articles discuss various aspects of negotiation of identities by linguistic minority speakers. (Author/VWL)

Argues that in the study of bilingualism, conceptual representations should be treated as related but not equivalent to word meanings, as knowledge-based, dynamic and language- and culture-specific. (Author/VWL)

The author reacts to peer commentaries written in response to an article she published on new approaches to concepts in bilingual memory. Clarifies that the focus of her main argument is not the merits of distinguishing between the conceptual and semantic levels of representation in bilingualism. (Author/VWL)

Argues that current approaches to modeling of concepts in bilingual memory privilege word representation at the expense of concept representation. Identifies four problems with the study of concepts in bilingual memory. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the relationship between languages and selves in adult bicultural bilinguals who learned their second language (L2) post puberty and became writers and scholars in this language. Autobiographic narratives are used to identify and examine subsequent stages of L2 learning. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the relationship between bilingualism and gender within a feminist poststructuralist framework. Suggests that all language contact phenomena, including bilingualism, acquire different meanings in different contexts and can be linked to gender only indirectly. (Author/VWL)

Synthesizes work on research concerned with the influence of a second language on speaker's first language competence in late bilingualism. Research in the areas of phonology, morphosyntax, lexis, semantics, pragmatics, rhetoric, and conceptual representations suggests that borrowing, convergence, shift, restructuring, and loss result from the…