A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

318 multilingual
the same set of features, e.g. /d/ v. /f/. The opposition between /t/ and /d/,
however, is bilateral, because these are the only units in the system which are
alveolar/plosive, and they are differentiated by the single feature of voicing.
multilingual (adj./n.) A term used in sociolinguistics to refer (as an adjective)
to a speech community which makes use of two or more languages, and then
(as an adjective or noun) to the individual speakers who have this ability; it
contrasts with monolingual. Multilingualism (or plurilingualism) in this sense
may subsume bilingualism (see bilingual), but it is often contrasted with it (i.e.
a community or individual in command of more than two languages). A further
distinction is sometimes made between a multilingualism which is internal to
a speech community (i.e. for routine domestic communicative purposes), and
one which is external to it (i.e. an additional language being used to facilitate
communication with other nations, as in the use of a lingua franca). Sociolinguistic
studies have emphasized both the frequency and complexity of the
phenomenon: on the one hand, there are very few speech communities which
are totally monolingual (because of the existence of linguistic minority groups
within their boundaries); on the other hand, the multilingual abilities demonstrated
are of several levels of proficiency, and raise different kinds of political,
educational and social problems, depending on the numbers, social standing and
national feeling of the groups concerned.
multilinked (adj.) see linking (2)
multiple wh-question
see whmultiplex
network
multiply ambiguous
multisyllabic (adj.)
multi-valued feature
see network
see ambiguity
see polysyllable
see binary feature
murmur (n.)
mutate (v.)
see breathy
see mutation
mutation (n.) A term used in linguistics, especially in historical linguistics,
to refer to the change in a sound’s quality owing to the influence of
sounds in adjacent morphemes or words. For example, in the period when
Old English was developing, the influence of an /i/ vowel in certain circumstances
caused other vowels to mutate in the direction of the close vowel, e.g.
*foti became feet. The term is also occasionally used in synchronic contexts,
as in the mutation of various initial consonants in Welsh after certain words,
e.g. pen ‘head’ ⇒ fy mhen ‘my head’.
mutual bleeding
see bleeding