A thought or two about Bilingualism

It is my opinion that every reference to bilingualism must take into account the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, according to which language shapes thought.  According to this hypothesis, not only does language shape thought, it actually fully and totally dictates the complex system of concepts, ideas, thoughts and terms which constitute out perception of the world we live in.  The world is as we perceive it, and we perceive it through words.  A person is therefore bound to filter the world through the range grammatical and lexical Units available in the language or languages, with which he's familiar.  

Assuming even partial correctness of this hypothesis (which I personally do) there still remains the question of whether the attachment or rather submission of thought to language should be considered in positive or negative eyes.  

Bilingualism within the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis can only be regarded as a positive, highly beneficial property.  The familiarity with and access to more and completing units of language allows for a more elaborate intuitive understanding of the world.  In theory, a person mastering two languages would also master two separate perceptual worlds, possibly cultural worlds, which combine together in his mind to provide a broader spectrum of thought.  In plain words, knowing the term 'home', for instance, in two languages should according to Sapir-Whorf provide a broader understanding of its sense.   In reality, bilingualism may also manifest itself in other, less rigid ways, which again in plain words, could mean that the term 'home' would have a rich connotational meaning in one of the languages, but nothing other than its dictionary definition in the other.  This off course can still be considered more beneficial than knowing only one of the two.

A representing example of a less rigid bilingualism may be that of Russian-Hebrew bilingualism among the youngest generation of Russian immigrant descendants, who have been born, raised and educated solely in Israel, but still maintain both languages.  On the surface these young people, seem to have both Hebrew and Russian as their native languages.  Scratching the surface would immediately reveal how wrong this impression is.  Russian and Hebrew have been acquired in different settings.  The language of choice is usually context dependent, code switching is abounding, and there may be deep gaps in literate capabilities between the two languages.  No one would claim that the members of this group are not bilingual, but they are bilingual in a way, which suggest a kind of only partial conceptual overlap between the two languages, rather than the existence of some completely unified perceptual world.

Like almost every discussion involving the Sapir-Hypothesis, this one too, ends with the conclusion it is a theoretical framework, which has to be regarded as an ideal and non realistic model.