Features of Bilingualism in the Era of Globalization: Theoretical Aspect

Abstract

The problems of language contacts acquire a new perspective view in the period of Globalization, which is dictated by the influence of extra linguistic factors: demographic parameters, the social structure of society, cultural and linguistic features. Despite the numerous publications on this issue, still there is no single terminological apparatus on the analyzed problem in modern Linguistics. Due to the fact that this phenomenon has not been sufficiently studied, it is necessary to determine the dominant types of bilingualism and multilingualism in the conditions of intercultural interaction, as well as to identify factors affecting the degree of a bilingual in a multilingual environment adaptation process. The purpose of the research work is to determine the specifics of bilingualism phenomenon in the context of globalization and to identify its key characteristics. The research work has proved that English, representing a means of global communication and adapting to the conditions of recipient languages and cultures, acquires new characteristic features. Interference processes lead to linguistic transformations at the phonetic, lexical and grammatical levels of recipient languages. It is revealed that interference processes affect the lexical structure to a greater extent, which is manifested in the highly productive functioning of borrowings from the English language. The results of the research work have a new theoretical direction in the study of bilingualism problems in multicultural society.