Dominant Language Constellations: towards online computer-assisted modelling

ABSTRACT

In today’s globalised world, a single named language such as English, Norwegian or Spanish, no matter how ‘big’ it is, rarely satisfies all the needs of communication, cooperation, education or any other area of human life. Neither is the entire language repertoire plausible for everyday use, simply because it is impossible to use too many languages daily. Instead, people normally use a certain group of their vehicle languages, which is known as their Dominant Language Constellation (DLC). The DLC approach enables holistic and simultaneously true-to-life factual research of today's language practices. Multilinguals' individual and group DLCs are progressively studied qualitatively and quantitatively. In addition, visualisation methods, including DLC-maps and playdough models, are employed. However, no computer-assisted tool for the visualisation and analysis of DLCs has been suggested. In this article, we briefly refer to models of multilingualism, present the advantages and methods of DLC modelling and describe a pilot study with computer-assisted DLC modelling that enables design and analysis of individual and group DLCs for researchers and practitioners. Our aim is to define a generic computer-produced model that represents language practices and may include the state of an individual's multilingual knowledge and skills.

KEYWORDS:

• Multilingualism
• Dominant Language Constellation (DLC)
• language teaching
• l
• language policy
• scientific model
• DLC modelling

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).