Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book highlights the link between theory and data in their focus on advancing the field of bilingual research. It provides an overview of basic and expanded methods in use in the area of bilingual research. The book focuses on creativity and the cognitive/developmental aspects of being and becoming a bilingual speaker and thinker. It also focuses on the social and sociocultural aspects of bilingualism and the pragmatics of bilingual language usage. The book aims to serve as a primer for the basic definitions of grammar, while also interweaving aspects of emerging bilingualism within its review of the extant literature in this field. It examines code-switching within the vein of how it serves to facilitate the socio-pragmatic functions of language, the development of bilingual competence, the formation of identity roles for the bilingual speaker, and psycholinguistic studies in the domain of bilingualism.