The study of language within different domains of human activity has been well-investigated in monolingual individuals, as indicated by current advances in the language sciences. With the majority of the world’s population being bilingual or multilingual, knowing and using more than one language is considered an advantage both for an individual and for the society, especially now with the ever-increasing intensity and complexity of global communication.

The objective of this Focal Point proposal is to bring together faculty and graduate students across campus to engage in a more integrated and multidisciplinary way with the complex nature of the bilingual mind, bilingual behavior, and bilingual societies. This Focal Point initiative will allow us to initiate a year-long sequence of organized meetings and discussions culminating in a symposium. The results of these collaborative engagements will allow the group to advance new research methods and paradigms for the study of bilingualism, new assessment tools, and new technologies.