WP260 What do we mean by multilingual? Linguistic repertoires

Instead of seeing multilingualism as a plurality of ?named languages?, this sociolinguistics briefing note argues that we should approach it as a repertoire of styles and linguistic resources, tuned to particular communicative settings and spheres of life, developed over the course of a person?s biographical experience. Superdiversity makes the relationships between language and identity more unpredictable, but there are still socio-linguistic structures that guide the ways we talk.
This sociolinguistics briefing derives from the Sociolinguistics For Education Seminar on ‘Multilingual classrooms: Challenges & opportunities’, organised by the Hub for Education & Linguistic Diversity, King?s College London.