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INTRODUCTION
meaning multiple languages assume in her minimalistic literary production.
More specifically she deals with the often unconscious multilingual processes
which come into play while writing and their (sometimes unpredictable) con¬
sequences—such as any potential political but also historical and cultural
implications.
The chapter by the Elephant-Zookeeper Irén Lovasz, Multimodal Code¬
switching in my World Music Art, shares a few examples of her singing per¬
formances and recordings with multiethnic bands and/or singing in different
languages. We could define some of them as individual code-switching by
languages and melodies. There are examples of her nonverbal singing and
cultural code-switching as well. Singing with multiethnic bands, in fact, is or
could be regarded as multi-personal code-switching. Lovasz also introduces
a case of ethnomusicology when a melody appears as the matrix language, and
the embedded languages are Moravian and Hungarian. As concluding remarks,
she suggests a few questions for further studies about applying CS terminol¬
ogy of multimodal code-switching for the special features of artistic commu¬
nication in folk music and world music.
In her contribution, Tzveta Sofronieva explores her multiverse—inspired
literary production. As a powerful metaphor used by Sofronieva to describe
her multilingualism, the idea of multiverse conveys endless strategies which
could inspire a poet. “Multiverse” indeed reflects the possibility to tap into
endless sources as well as to mirror the complexity of Anthropocene aesthet¬
ics. Indeed, in her poems Sofronieva employs not only different languages and
linguistic contributions but also uses mathematical and, more widely, scien¬
tific sources. Her multilingual verses therefore inevitably contribute to expand
the notion of multilingualism itself.
One of the most multilingual authors, Sabira Stahlberg, another Elephant¬
Zookeeper, has been interviewed by the comparative research scholar Mari¬
anna Deganutti. In the interview, Deganutti tries to break through Stahlberg’s
sophisticated multilingual cosmos starting from an investigation of her mul¬
tilingual and multicultural origins. This condition, which is often the case of
minority and borderland writers, for one example, influences writers in spe¬
cific ways. For instance, for multilingual writers by birth, the choice of language
assumes a relevance which it does not have for writers who acquired other
languages later on in their lives (for instance, migrant or exiled authors).
Stahlberg also explains the way she employs her huge linguistic repertoire,
which is exemplified in her essay on code-switching with lost languages that
follows the interview. Following desert/ed trails of ancient and modern lan¬
guages and writing systems, the multilingual author, who is also a language
nomad and researcher, embarks on a literary—scholarly journey in the Heart
of Eurasia. Paths and traces of unknown, forgotten and lost languages, scripts
and codes are discovered; existing knowledge and understanding of their
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