It was a privilege to be asked to write a foreword to this book, Multilingual Interaction and Dementia. The opportunity motivated me to reflect on the intersection of multilingualism and sociolinguistics and the implications on a framework for dementia. My suggestion is that research into ageing, dementia and other late life issues will have a larger impact if it is able to illuminate other research areas.

Description of the Book and Comments

It was enlightening to read about the empirical projects reported in this book. These projects were carried out primarily to address specific issues about dementia as viewed through a multilingual lens. This book is intellectually enriching because of the varying theoretical frameworks that undergird the research and form the basis of the book chapters. These theories range from conversational analysis to accommodation theory and ethnomethodology. The multilingual shift in dementia research reflects an increasing interest and awareness of the importance of multilingualism in a number of disciplines, including second language acquisition (SLA).

The concept of multilingualism undoubtedly warrants a short analysis and exposition due to the centrality of the multilingualism theme in this book, possible implications on other research areas, and the fact that this book is appropriately published by Multilingual Matters. As the authors and editors correctly point out, interest in multilingualism is a critique of a ‘monolingual mindset’, a mindset that wrongly permeates both popular and academic research given that the world is predominantly multilingual. As I have argued together with Pennycook and others, even though the idea of multilingualism as an analytical framework is relatively recent, multilingualism as a sociolinguistic phenomenon can be traced back into history, having preceded European colonialism in Africa.

Given that the monolingual mindset yields great power and influence in the literature, areas such as code-switching require a sociolinguistic explanation. Some studies in the book that briefly discuss code-switching additionally draw attention to how difficult this practice is to define.