Narrative Development in a Multilingual Context

In this volume, the results of a number of empirical studies of the development of narrative construction within a multilingual context are presented and discussed. It is explored what operating principles underlie the process of narrative production in L1 and L2. Developmental relations between form and function will be studied across a broad range of functional categories, such as temporality, perspective, connectivity, and narrative coherence. Moreover, a variety of language contact situations is considered with broad variation in the typological distances between the languages in order to enable cross-linguistic comparison. The analysis of learner data in various cross-linguistic settings may thus offer new information on the role of the structural properties of unrelated languages on the process of narrative acquisition. In the present volume, an attempt is also made to find out how transfer from one language to the other is facilitated. Finally, the effects of input on narrative construction in children’s first and second language are examined in several studies.

Janet G. van Hell, University of Nijmegen, in International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 6(5), 2003:
Verhoeven and Strömqvist’s purpose to open up new perspectives in the study of narrative development in a multilingual context is certainly accomplished in their book. Their volume is a highly valuable, rich, and thoughtful collection of inspiring empirical studies, and the work captured in this volume will be an excellent point of reference for future investigations of the development of text production, including narrative discourse, in multilingual contexts.