Multilingualism and Wellbeing
1st Edition
Published on 25. May 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-1-032-53542-5 (ISBN)
Description
Multilingualism and Wellbeing is an innovative text that combines sociolinguistic, psychological, and philosophical approaches to explore multilingualism as a source of wellbeing. It challenges the 'monolingual bias' and the common assumption that multilingualism is solely driven by utilitarian, formal, or identity-based motivations.
Across nineteen carefully edited chapters, contributors illustrate the enduring vitality of multilingualism across the globe through personal and empirical accounts, investigating diverse motivations behind its persistence. Authors present compelling evidence for multilingualism's positive impact on a person's sense of mental, social, and cultural wellbeing. With a distinctive global reach, this volume showcases multilingual experiences from regions including West Africa, the Netherlands, Georgia, Japan, and Indonesia, while also examining governmental policies that promote multilingualism - despite the practical challenges involved - offering a nuanced and balanced perspective.
This ground-breaking work is essential reading for advanced students and researchers in multilingualism, language acquisition, language learning, and applied linguistics, as well as for those in related fields of sociology, psychology, and philosophy.
Across nineteen carefully edited chapters, contributors illustrate the enduring vitality of multilingualism across the globe through personal and empirical accounts, investigating diverse motivations behind its persistence. Authors present compelling evidence for multilingualism's positive impact on a person's sense of mental, social, and cultural wellbeing. With a distinctive global reach, this volume showcases multilingual experiences from regions including West Africa, the Netherlands, Georgia, Japan, and Indonesia, while also examining governmental policies that promote multilingualism - despite the practical challenges involved - offering a nuanced and balanced perspective.
This ground-breaking work is essential reading for advanced students and researchers in multilingualism, language acquisition, language learning, and applied linguistics, as well as for those in related fields of sociology, psychology, and philosophy.
Reviews / Votes
'The volume Multilingualism and Wellbeing, edited by Dick Smakman, Jemima Anderson, and Gladys Ansah, offers a refreshing new outlook on multilingualism by focusing on its psychological and emotional impact, and by positively associating it with the well-being of multilingual speakers. It provides a new perspective in the study of multilingualism, moving beyond the well-trodden paths of research into language choice, identity construction, power, and functionality. This is definitely a book I would like students in my Sociolinguistics class to read.'Nadia Shalaby, Professor of Linguistics, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
'This book is a ground-breaking contribution to multilingualism research, moving beyond questions of social identity and towards the felt experience of language. Multilingualism, the authors argue, is essential for the well-being of speakers and is thus closely linked to affect. The message is as simple as it is important: multilingualism makes us happy and brings us pleasure.'
Ana Deumert, Professor of Linguistics, University of Cape Town, South Africa
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Postgraduate and Undergraduate
Illustrations
7 s/w Zeichnungen, 4 s/w Photographien bzw. Rasterbilder, 11 s/w Abbildungen
12 Line drawings, black and white; 4 Halftones, black and white; 16 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 233 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
480 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-032-53542-5 (9781032535425)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Dick Smakman | Jemima Asabea Anderson | Gladys Nyarko Ansah
Multilingualism and Wellbeing
E-Book
05/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€55.49
Available for download
Dick Smakman | Jemima Asabea Anderson | Gladys Nyarko Ansah
Multilingualism and Wellbeing
Book
05/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€201.50
Shipment within 10-20 days
Dick Smakman | Jemima Asabea Anderson | Gladys Nyarko Ansah
Multilingualism and Wellbeing
E-Book
05/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€55.49
Available for download
Persons
Dick Smakman works as a Sociolinguist for Leiden University, the Netherlands. This is his third co- edited volume, in which special attention is given to contributions on lesser- known sociolinguistic contexts, particularly those outside the Anglo- Western realm. The first two volumes in this series were Globalising Sociolinguistics: Challenging and Expanding Theory (Smakman & Heinrich, Routledge, 2015) and Urban Sociolinguistics: The City as a Linguistic Process and Experience (Smakman & Heinrich, Routledge, 2018).
Jemima Asabea Anderson is a Sociolinguist at the Department of English, University of Ghana, Legon.
Gladys Nyarko Ansah works as Associate Professor with the Department of English, University of Ghana. She is a cognitive/applied linguist with many research interests including the sociolinguistics of multilingualism. She co-authored a chapter on "A sociolinguistic mosaic of West Africa: challenges and prospects" in Smakman and Heinrich's 2015 book Globalising Sociolinguistics: Challenges and Expanding Theory.
Jemima Asabea Anderson is a Sociolinguist at the Department of English, University of Ghana, Legon.
Gladys Nyarko Ansah works as Associate Professor with the Department of English, University of Ghana. She is a cognitive/applied linguist with many research interests including the sociolinguistics of multilingualism. She co-authored a chapter on "A sociolinguistic mosaic of West Africa: challenges and prospects" in Smakman and Heinrich's 2015 book Globalising Sociolinguistics: Challenges and Expanding Theory.
Content
Part I: 1. Wellbeing and Multilingualism 2. Multilingualism and Happiness 3. The Wellbeing of Being Multilingual in Bulgaria Part II: 4. Multilingualism in Ghana's Healthcare: A Neglected Barrier 5. Multilingualism: Happiness and Wellbeing in South-Western Nigeria and Greater Accra, Ghana 6. Multilingualism and Wellbeing: Reflections from Ghana 7. Multilingualism as a Tool for Destressing: Evidence from Northern Ghana Part III: 8. The Impact of State Language Knowledge on Georgian Ethnic Minority Student's Wellbeing 9. Conceptualization of Wellbeing: Kuleana 'Responsibility', Revitalization, and Reclamation of the Hawaiian language 10. Multilingualism and Social Wellbeing: The Sierra Leone 'Wan Pot': The Official, the Lingua Franca and the Indigenous 11. The Language Chameleon: Between Happiness and Worries about Being Bilingual in Catalonia Part IV: 12. Linguistic wellbeing in Multi-ethnic The Hague 13. Rethinking Migrants' Wellbeing in Germany through a Multilingual Lens 14. Multilingualism and Economic Wellbeing of Female Migrants in Accra 15. Verfremdung Part V: 16. Sweet Sounds of Melancholy: Brabantish as a Language of Culture 17. Multilingualism and Wellbeing in Japan: The Case of Yomitan Village in Okinawa 18. The Relation between Degree of Multilingualism and Experiences of Wellbeing in Catalonia 19. Multilingualism and Wellbeing in Timor-Leste