Book notice: Code-switching in Bilingual Children

[Harold Schiffman]

Code-switching in Bilingual Children
Series Title: Studies in Theoretical Psycholinguistics
2007 Springer, http://www.springer.com

Book URL: http://www.springer.com/978-1-4020-5783-0

Author: Katja F. Cantone

Abstract:

*New approach: mixing in young bilinguals is the same as code-switching in
adults
*Empirical evidence that only grammars of the two languages constrain
code-switching
*Role of functional categories in mixed utterances is reanalyzed and
developed
*Mixed utterances help to shed light on issues in linguistics theory

The goal of this volume is to prove that mixed utterances in young
bilinguals can be analyzed in the same way as adult code-switching.
Analyzing a rich corpus of spontaneous child data, the author provides
detailed empirical evidence for latest minimalist assumptions on the
architecture of mind and confirms that code-switching is only constrained by
the two grammars of the languages involved. The data show that the quantity
of mixing in children depends on an individual choice rather than on
language development, language dominance, or other factors.

Besides critically reviewing the literature on language mixing in children
and adults, this work offers a thorough grammatical analysis of the
code-switching data of five Italian/German children. The book provides new
insights not only in the field of code-switching and of language mixing in
young bilinguals, but also in issues concerning general questions on
linguistic theory which are difficult to be answered with monolingual data.
http://linguistlist.org/issues/18/18-1691.html

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