THIS PAPER (WHICH WAS PREPARED FOR A SYMPOSIUM ON "THE STUDY OF PERSONALITY" AT RICE UNIVERSITY, HOUSTON, NOVEMBER, 1966) REVIEWS THE ADVANCES MADE BY INTERDISCIPLINARY LINGUISTIC RESEARCH INTO THE EFFECTS OF EARLY BILINGUALISM. USING THE SAUSSUREAN MODEL OF THE LINGUISTIC SIGN, A DISTINCTION IS MADE BETWEEN "COORDINATE" AND "COMPOUND" BILINGUALS. COMPOUND BILINGUALISM TENDS TO RESULT WHEN THE TWO LANGUAGES ARE ACQUIRED IN A SPEECH COMMUNITY OFFERING THE CHILD EQUAL AND SIMULTANEOUS EXPOSURE TO THE TWO LANGUAGES AND WHERE THE SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TWO LANGUAGES ARE MINIMALLY DIFFERENTIATED. THE MORE TYPICAL BILINGUAL SITUATION IS ONE IN WHICH ONE OF THE LANGUAGES IS SOCIOLOGICALLY DOMINANT AND IN WHICH THE SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE TWO LANGUAGES ARE DIFFERENT. WHEN BILINGUALS ARE STUDIED IN CONTEXTS WHERE THEIR BILINGUAL OR BICULTURAL BACKGROUND DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY ASSIGN THEM LOWER STATUS WITHIN A MONOLINGUAL COMMUNITY, IT CAN BE SHOWN "THAT BILINGUALISM IS ASSOCIATED WITH AND MAY IN FACT BE FACILITATIVE OF SIGNIFICANTLY SUPERIOR PERFORMANCES ON BOTH VERBAL AND NON-VERBAL INTELLIGENCE TESTS." CASES OF BILINGUAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY CAN BE TRACED TO A "CRISIS IN SOCIAL AND PERSONAL IDENTITY ENGENDERED BY ANTAGONISTIC ACCULTURATIVE PRESSURES DIRECTED ON A BICULTURAL COMMUNITY BY A SOCIOLOGICALLY DOMINANT MONOLINGUAL SOCIETY." APPENDED TO THIS PAPER IS A SIX-PAGE BIBLIOGRAPHY ON BILINGUALISM. (JD)