The Acquisition of Bilingualism: A Code-Switching Approach. Working Papers in Sociolinguistics, No. 39

Research was conducted to examine the language acquisition of a Mexican-American child who has been brought up in a linguistic environment where code-switching between Spanish and English is the dominant style of speaking. In addition, the relation of code- switching to the acquisition of bilinguali...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author Huerta, Ana
Format Report
LanguageEnglish
Published Southwest Educational Development Laboratory 01.12.1977
Subjects
Biculturalism
Bilingualism
Child Development
Child Language
Code Switching (Language)
Discourse Analysis
English
Language Acquisition
Language Research
Mexican Americans
Preschool Children
Psycholinguistics
Social Influences
Sociolinguistics
Spanish
Verbal Development
Vocabulary Development
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Summary:Research was conducted to examine the language acquisition of a Mexican-American child who has been brought up in a linguistic environment where code-switching between Spanish and English is the dominant style of speaking. In addition, the relation of code- switching to the acquisition of bilingualism is analyzed. The speech of the subject, a two-year-old boy in a middle class bilingual family, was recorded and analyzed for nine months. Observations concerning the child's speech habits and linguistic repertoire were also considered in the analysis. Documentation is provided on the structure and rules of code-switching. It is concluded that code-switching appears not to be detrimental to the development of bilingualism, but, on the contrary, seems to be one approach to the simultaneous acquisition and maintenance of two languages. (AMH)