Code-switching and Children

Abstract

Code-switching is the use of elements from more than one language, dialect, or variety in a single utterance (intra-sentential code-switching) or across utterances in a conversation (inter-sentential code-switching). It is a characteristic behavior of bilinguals/multilinguals in multilingual contexts that has fascinated scholars across disciplines. There are three broad approaches to studying code-switching: (1) a sociolinguistic or ethnographic approach, which focuses on the social and cultural parameters that motivate or inhibit the use of more than one language in social interaction; (2) a psycholinguistic approach, which addresses the cognitive processes underlying the acquisition, production, and perception of using more than one language; and (3) a linguistic approach, which focuses on the contact between languages at different structural levels. Methodologies employed to study code-switching may vary considerably. Sociolinguistic or ethnographic approaches target the use of languages in their natural contexts while psycholinguistic approaches focus on more controlled situations for the collection of data for analysis, particularly in the laboratory. Research on code-switching in adults is quite extensive in relation to what is found for children. The role of code-switching in the child’s development of more than one language has received considerable attention since the 1990s. While language contact in young multilingual children’s development was originally construed by developmental psycholinguists as a sign of the child’s lack of language differentiation, a stage to be overcome, current work underscores the interplay between social, cognitive, and linguistic factors in language acquisition. In this vein, researchers investigate the multilingual child’s development of more than one language not only through what the child says, but also giving attention to the input the child receives and the experiences they have with each of their languages, and how this may impact the child’s development and use of the languages. Children are socialized into the language use norms of their communities, whether these communities are bilingual, multilingual, or even monolingual. The child learns to code-switch appropriately, or refrain from code-switching when deemed necessary, in the home, the school, and throughout society. Research has clearly shown that code-switching is indeed a resource for the multilingual child.