Social and Conversational Aspects of Code-Switching

This chapter examines the social and conversational attributes of code-switching, the alternating use of two or more languages within the same conversation. Bilinguals most often switch languages in ordinary conversations when they are in the company of other bilinguals. Code-switching is perhaps the most obvious indication of one&s;s bilingual abilities, since very few bilinguals keep their two languages completely separate. But people often have negative attitudes toward code-switching and think that it indicates language incompetence. This chapter shows that code-switching is a communicative option available to the bilingual speaker in much the same way that switching between styles or dialects is an option for the monolingual speaker. It describes how bilinguals use code-switching as a resource to communicate their meanings and why insisting on strictly separating two languages is counterproductive. This chapter also explores more holistic ways of looking at bilingual performance, including translanguaging and code-meshing, that move beyond rigid boundaries between languages.