WHO ARE WE?

Večjezičnost velja is one of the 18 branches of the Bilingualism Matters network, founded in 2008 by Antonella Sorace. It brings together researchers, educators, parents, librarians, children, pupils and students to share knowledge about multilingualism between generations, different professions and fields. In this way, multilingualism is promoted locally and globally. Most importantly, access to reliable information enables different stakeholders to make informed political, professional or personal decisions about multilingualism and language learning - decisions based on facts rather than prejudices, misconceptions or superficial interpretations of scientific research.

WHAT DO WE DO?

We support multilingual individuals, families and communities by researching, answering questions and ensuring that our research findings come alive among people: We disseminate them through talks, websites and videos, materials and workshops for children and adults.

WHY US?

The Slovenian branch of Bilingualism Matters Network includes researchers from the Center for Cognitive Linguistics at the College of Nova Gorica. You too can participate in this project! We invite everyone interested in multilingualism to join us in our important task. Together we will network schools, associations and organizations and support parents, children, teachers, politicians and business people in their quest for multilingualism.

WHAT IS MULTILINGUALISM?

Every one of us is bilingual. You don't believe it? Surely you know at least a few words in one of the many foreign languages. Maybe a greeting, maybe the numbers to ten, maybe a name for a dish, or - heaven forbid - a swear word. Does that make you bilingual already? Not exactly, but it’s a start! After all, in addition to your native dialect, you're also proficient in the standard version of your native language - and studies show that the cognitive benefits of multiple dialects are comparable to the benefits of mastering multiple languages.

Penka is the director of the Slovenian branch Bilingualism Matters. She researches how the meaning of words varies according to speech acts and how the use of one language affects another in multilingual speakers.

penka.stateva@ung.si

Penka Stateva

Arthur focuses on how the multilingual brain works and discovers the benefits of owning multiple languages. He specialises in psycholinguistics, multilingualism and syntax and uses theoretical and experimental approaches to research them.

arthur.stepanov@ung.si

Arthur Stepanov

Matic helps shape research on multilingualism, maintains the website, and organizes both popular and scholarly lectures and workshops on multilingualism.

matic.pavlic@pef.uni-lj.si

Matic Pavlič

Alessandra contributes to designing and carrying out research on multilingualism, she also collaborates in the teaching activities. She's interested in the multilingual processing of the interplay of speech properties and pragmatics.

alessandra.zappoli@ung.si

Alessandra Zappoli

Sara investigates multilingualism with a focus on its cognitive benefits and on the aspects of discourse processing. She has experience with administering behavioral tests to bilingual children as well as adults. She also contributes to the dissemination of research results in the community.

sara.andreetta@ung.si

Sara Andreetta

Greta is interested in cognitive aspects related to second language acquisition and in the pragmatic advantages of bilinguals. Her main research field is experimental pragmatics and she carried out a variety of experiments with multiple techniques. She is also involved in teaching and participated in several international conferences presenting data on bilingualism.

greta.mazzaggio@ung.si

Greta Mazzaggio

Our connections

Edinburgh Headquarters (Scotland)
Chicago (USA)
East of England (England)
Gasteiz(Basque Country, Spain)
Granada (Spain)
Hong Kong (China)
Konstanz (Germany)
Krakow (Poland)
London (UK)
Milan (Italy)
Nantes (France)
Netherlands
Penn State (USA)

Numerous branches participate in the international project Bilingualism Matters. Visit them by clicking on the links on the left and right. We also maintain a joint website, which you can reach here

Poznań (Poland)
Ramat Gan (Israel)
Reading (England)
Rijeka (Croatia)
Rutgers (USA)
Siena (Italy)
South Carolina (USA)
Thessaloniki (Greece)
Trento (Italy)
Tromsø (Norway)
Trondheim (Norway)
Tübingen (Germany)
Waterloo (Canada)

Through scientific research, we contribute to language policy formulation and raise the value and awareness of multilingualism among language policy makers, health and education professionals, academics and the general public. We work with many established partners and individuals.

OUR PROJECTS

We are currently participating in two ARRS projects:

(1) Language Transfer project of Pragmatic Elements: Speakers of Slovene in a Multilingual Environment, led by Penka Stateva (2020-2023) and funded by ARRS.

(2) Acquisition of a minority language in a multilingual context, led by Arthur Stepanov (2021-2024) and funded by ARRS.

The work of our branch "Večjezičnost velja" has been supported by two grants so far. From 2014 to 2019, members of our team participated in the Atheme project led by Arthur Stepanov and funded by Seventh Framework Program from European Union for research, technological development and demonstration projects under grant number 613465 (https: //www.atheme.eu/#top).

Linguistic transfer

The goal of this project is to explore the negative transfer in the pragmatic domain in multilingual populations, and identify the aspects of pragmatic knowledge which are relevant for cross-linguistic influence. We will benefit from the obvious recent advances that both domains, experimental pragmatics and bilingual acquisition, have made and pave the road for exploring other pragmatic phenomena in light of language variation and acquisition.

Sentence comprehension in Slovenian-speaking adults

Development of a standardized test of the sentence comprehension ability in Slovenian-speaking adults

Intergenerational transmission of minority language

The aim of the project is to take important first steps towards understanding the process of acquisition and use of a minority language, focusing in particular on the process of intergenerational transmission of minority Slovenian in a multilingual context, in the Italian region Friuli Venezia Giulia.

Events

Medjezikovne domine - delavnice za otroke

Danes 'že vsak otrok' zna vsaj nekaj besed v tujem jeziku – in včasih to zadostuje. Vsekakor pa je to povsem dovolj, da se nam vsak otrok lahko pridruži pri jezikovnih delavnicah na temo dvojezičnosti. Igrajmo se igro medjezikovne domine!

Medjezikovni spomin – delavnice za otroke

Koliko različnih jezikov obstaja? Kako se ljudje lahko razumejo med sabo, če ne govorijo istega jezika? Zakaj so si nekatere besede v različnih jezikih tako podobne? Vse otroke vabimo, da se nam pridružijo pri jezikovnih delavnicah na temo dvojezičnosti. Igrajmo se igro medjezikovni spomin in sestavimo dvojezični slovar!

Pošta(rji) – dvojezične delavnice za otroke

Nič neobičajnega ni, da se otroci zanimajo za različne države sveta, njihova glavna mesta in zastave. Ponosni smo nanje, če so splošno razgledani. Dodajmo k temu znanju še poznavanje jezikovnih družin. Preoblečimo se v poštarje in skušajmo pravilno raznesti pošto s pozdravi v jezikih iz celega sveta!

Večjezičnost velja v zgodnjem otroštvu

Starši verjamejo, da so jezikovne urice in glasbena šola nekaj dobrega za njihove otroke. Mar ni tako, da glasbeniki bolje govorijo tuje jezike? Sedaj je to znanstveno dokazano: raziskovalci iz Centra za kognitivne znanosti jezika so ugotovili, da otroci, ki hodijo v glasbeno šolo, in otroci, ki so večjezični, bolj natančno zaznavajo strukturo jezika, ki ga ne poznajo! Več o tem pa na našem predavanju …

Večjezičnost velja v vzgoji in izobraževanju

Poučujete otroke v glasbeni šoli ali morda na jezikovnih uricah? Ali vas zanima, kakšen je vpliv teh dejavnosti na njihove možgane in njihove miselne zmožnosti? Udeležite se strokovnega predavanja o dvojezičnosti v organizaciji Centra za kognitivne znanosti jezika Univerze v Novi Gorici.

Večjezičnost velja v družini

Ali vaš otrok gleda risanke v italijanščini in kupi kruh na italijanski ali slovenski strani? Ali ne veste, če je dobro, da vaša mama z vašim otrokom govori v svojem maternem jeziku? Bo zato zmeden? Mu bo šlo slabo v šoli? Brez skrbi, od več jezikov ne boli glava. Udeležite se strokovnega predavanja o dvojezičnosti v organizaciji Centra za kognitivne znanosti jezika Univerze v Novi Gorici – in preženite dvome ali predsodke do večjezičnosti v vaši družini.

Blog:

You can follow our thoughts on language, language acquisition, and bilingualism here. Science could be dry if it was not presented in an accessible and entertaining way. Use our posts in class or during a presentation - but you can also just browse the blog and have fun. If you have come across an interesting anecdote about multilingualism yourself and have a knack for writing and/or photographing it, please send us your text and/or image so we can publish it.

The origin of language

Although there are a large number of theories, we have to admit that we don't even know why and when language evolved (maybe that's why there are so many theories). Linguists are inclined to believe that human language arose out of a web of circumstances. To the ancient people who used it, however, it apparently gave a great advantage at once.

Newborn - linguistic genius

It's probably not too surprising that a baby recognizes its mother's voice while it's still in the womb. Linguists have found that it also recognizes its mother's speech. The strange thing, though, is that it distinguishes it from other languages based on linguistic analysis - not on the sound of the voice!

Sosedov že govori – naš pa še ne

There is almost no child who does not speak or learn his or her mother tongue. So why does our toddler's language development always cause us so much worry and headaches?

Zakaj šimpanzi ne govorijo?

Poleg človeka samega, se tudi druga živa bitja se sporazumevajo nejezikovno, zato si oglejmo nekaj načinov sporazumevanja, ki jih najdemo v živalskem svetu. Tako bomo lažje ocenili, kako izjemen je način sporazumevanja z jezikom.

Zapleti pri usvajanju jezika

Usvajanje maternega oziroma prvega jezika se zaključi v puberteti, zato otrok za ta proces nima neomejeno časa. Obstaja tako imenovano kritično obdobje ali okno priložnosti, v katerem otrok jezik lahko usvoji. Kaj če gre kaj narobe?

Jezikovno in nejezikovno sporazumevanje

Ko razpravljamo in modrujemo o jeziku, ga navadno povezujemo ali s sporazumevanjem ali mišljenja – ali z obojim. Res je, da je zmožnost jezika povezana z zmožnostjo mišljenja in sporazumevanja, vendar pa vsako od teh treh zmožnosti omogoča ločen in samostojen možganski sistem.

Library

The library contains scientific and popular articles that we have published in various Slovenian and foreign journals. We consider it important to make the data on which our findings are based accessible: you can check whether they are not just subjective beliefs, but scientifically based opinions and recommendations. You are cordially invited to read them!

Pragmatic abilities in bilinguals

The experimental literature on bilinguals' pragmatic abilities is rather sparse. The only study that examined adult second language (L2) learners (Slabakova, 2010) found an increase in pragmatic responses in this population compared to monolinguals.

The modal cycle

One of the possible ways of expressing possibility in affirmative sentences in Slovenian is with a modal adverb that combines with a finite verb. Under negation, a modal auxiliary must be used instead of the modal adverb. The pattern with a modal adverb that combines with a finite verb is a peculiarity among Slavic languages as well as European languages.

Children's early bilingualism

This study investigated whether early bilingualism and early musical training positively influence the ability to discriminate between prosodic patterns corresponding to different syntactic structures in otherwise phonetically identical sentences in an unknown language.

role of working memory

Previous research established that young children are sensitive to prosodic cues discriminating between syntactic structures of otherwise similarly sounding sentences in a language unknown to them. In this study, we explore the role of working memory that children might deploy for the purpose of the sentence-level prosodic discrimination.

naslov predolg

This study investigates the processing of long-distance syntactic dependencies by native speakers of Slovenian (L1) who are advanced learners of Italian as a second language (L2), compared with monolingual Italian speakers.