Rezension: HERDINA, PHILIP & JESSNER, ULRIKE (2002) A Dynamic Model of Multilingualism. Perspectives of Change in Psycholinguistics

This is a book whose time has come. A Dynamic Model of Multilingualism (DMM henceforth) by Herdina and Jessner sets for itself several ambitious purposes: to provide a new model and a new set of concepts for the interpretation of psycholinguistic phenomena observed in speakers of more than one language; to provide a convincing and useful model or metaphor which should enable us to think about a multitude of seemingly contradictory and confusing phenomena related to multilingualism in a more coherent and cogent way; to determine the relations among various factors within the language systems, and to make predictions concerning the typical development of these variables; to provide an innovative theoretical framework in which it is possible to ask meaningful questions concerning multilingual development and obtain more satisfactory answers to the plethora of questions surrounding multilingualism as a psycholinguistic phenomenon with sociolinguistic consequences.