ABSTRACT
This chapter explores issues of language and narrative through the experience of bilinguals which have been neglected within the family therapy and systemic fields. It discusses some of the research literature and highlights some of the important issues. The chapter discusses implications for clinical work and highlights some crucial issues for the future. While the constitutive aspect of language received relatively little attention until recently within family therapy, an area even less considered within the field has been the impact of living life in two different languages. The forces towards language extinction he lists include genocide, forced assimilation, and bombardment by the electronic media. Research into bilingualism seems to have concentrated on its acquisition, language 'choice' and its effects. Some research questions have concerned developmental and neurological aspects of second language acquisition.
