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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) consequences—such as any potential political but also historical and cultural implications. The chapter by the Elephant-Zookeeper Irén Lovasz, Multimodal Codeswitching in my World Music Art, shares a few examples of her singing performances 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 terminology of multimodal code-switching for the special features of artistic communication 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 aesthetics. Indeed, in her poems Sofronieva employs not only different languages and linguistic contributions but also uses mathematical and, more widely, scientific sources. Her multilingual verses therefore inevitably contribute to expand the notion of multilingualism itself. One of the most multilingual authors, Sabira Stahlberg, another ElephantZookeeper, has been interviewed by the comparative research scholar Marianna Deganutti. In the interview, Deganutti tries to break through Stahlberg’s sophisticated multilingual cosmos starting from an investigation of her multilingual and multicultural origins. This condition, which is often the case of minority and borderland writers, for one example, influences writers in specific 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 languages 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 + 17 »
