multilingualism

n. the sociolinguistic situation in which several languages are used within the same community, usually resulting from geographical, economic, political, or militaristic interactions. Typically, the various languages differ in status and serve different social functions. See diglossia.

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Psychology term of the day

January 5th 2025

common region

a recently introduced gestalt principle of organization, stating that objects sharing a common bounded region of space appear to belong together and tend to be perceived as a distinct group. For example, animals in a fenced-in enclosure are more likely to be seen as a group than are the same distribution of animals arrayed in open space. Also called law of common region; principle of common region. [proposed in 1992 by U.S. psychologist Stephen E. Palmer (1948– )]