INTRODUCTION

The research in recent years on language acquisition by multilinguals has clearly shown that not only the first language, but also languages acquired after the first tend to become activated when the learner attempts to learn an additional language. Studies reported so far with different combinations of languages and different types of learners display a variation as to the extent and ways in which learners draw on previously acquired languages – L1 and L2 – when performing in a new language. These prior languages will here be subsumed under the term background languages. A great deal of the discussion has come to concern the various factors which condition the activation of different background languages, and the question which languages are apt to get involved in the use of the current target language. (For an overview of these issues, see for example the contributions in Cenoz, Hufeisen and Jessner 2001.)

In the earlier study reported in Chapter 2 above, the roles which the respective background languages play in the acquisition and use of a third language were investigated. That case study was carried out by Sarah Williams (SW) and the present writer (BH) and was based on longitudinal data from SW's spoken performance as an adult L3 learner. Among other things, it showed a clear division between the roles of the first and the second language, which could be related to SW's linguistic background and the acquisitional setting.