Spanish-English code-switching among low-fluency bilinguals: Towards an expanded typology

Authors

  • John M. Lipski Pennsylvania State University Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v8i1.23

Keywords:

CODE-SWITCHING, CONGRUENT LEXICALIZATION, LOW-FLUENCY BILINGUALISM, HERITAGE LANGUAGE SPEAKERS, SECOND-LANGUAGE SPEAKERS, TYPOLOGICAL DISTANCE

Abstract

Spanish-English code-switching in the United States is not confined to the speech of fluent bilinguals, although the latter group exhibits the greatest consistency of structural patterns as well as the highest likelihood of conscious and voluntary control over language switching. Among less fluent bilinguals (including heritage speakers of Spanish as well as foreign language students producing the second language under duress) incursions from English may depart significantly from structural patterns characterizing fluent bilinguals, and may represent involuntary and/or unconscious insertion of English elements, ranging from tags such as you know and I mean to larger discourse chunks. The present study compares data from a cluster of low-fluency Spanish heritage speakers and a group of fluent bilingual Spanish-English code-switchers in the United States, and proposes that the notion of congruent lexicalization (e.g. as proposed by Muysken, 2000) be expanded to include ‘ragged’ and possibly involuntary code-mixing among semi fluent bilinguals.

Author Biography

  • John M. Lipski, Pennsylvania State University
    John Lipski is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Spanish and Linguistics at the Pennsylvania State University. His research interests include language contact, the linguistic consequences of the African diaspora in Spanish America, the Spanish language in the United States, and models of bilingualism and creolization. His research is based on extensive fieldwork in Spain, Africa, the United States, the Philippines, and all nations of Latin America. His most recent books include El habla de los Congos de Panamá; Varieties of Spanish in the United States; Afro-Bolivian Spanish; A history of Afro-Hispanic language; El español de América.

Published

2014-07-21

How to Cite

Lipski, J. M. (2014). Spanish-English code-switching among low-fluency bilinguals: Towards an expanded typology. Sociolinguistic Studies, 8(1), 23-55. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v8i1.23