The impact of bilingualism on the use of native languages

Abstract EN

This article is an investigation on the impact of bilingualism on the use of a native language.

It studies the influence of bilingualism on the use of native language focusing on the cultural, economic and political aspects which in turn widely enhances the use of a second language within a society.

This involves understanding, not only of the specific impact of the second language on the native language, but also the various reasons that have led locals in certain regions or members of particular communities to use a second language.

This article highlights this complicated issue experienced throughout the 20th and the 21st centuries focusing on political, economic and cultural aspects that took place during the (1) the colonial era, (2) after the Second World War, (3) during the Cold War and lastly the collapse of the Eastern Bloc.