ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship between multilingualism and superdiversity. It begins with a review of how linguistic diversity has been conceptualised and asks the question: in what way has the world become linguistically superdiverse? It then explores the implications of the ‘mobility turn’ in social sciences for the sociolinguistics of superdiversity. A number of key concepts, such as hybridity, Thirdspace, contact zone and sociolinguistic scales, that have been applied in the existing literature on linguistic diversity and multilingualism are reviewed, and the notion of post-multilingualism and the challenges post-multilingualism presents are discussed. The third section focuses on the methodological issues associated with studying linguistic diversity in the post-multilingualism era. In particular, it discusses the Translanguaging perspective and Moment Analysis that promise to offer new insights into the complex relationships between enhanced mobilities of various kinds, including the physical and the social, and everyday multilingual practices.
