"I can speak German - und Deutsch" : the development and use of code-switching among simultaneous and successive English-German bilingual children

The present dissertation is a case-study on English-German bilingual children. It analyses the development and use of code-switching among simultaneous and successive bilingual pre-school children. <br>The first part provides the theoretical background: basic concepts about bilingualism and bilingual language acquisition, followed by an introduction to various approaches to the study of code-switching. After a brief overview over its history, code-switching is identified as one out of several language contact phenomena. The introduction to the grammatical approach helps understand the formal properties of code-switching, whereas the neuro- and psycholinguistic approaches offer findings on storage, the production and perception, as well as the interaction of the languages in the brain of a bilingual speaker. More relevant for the present analysis are the sociolinguistic approach, accounting for the underlying motivations for code choice, and the pragmatic approach in which a local interpretation of a speaker's individual and spontaneous code choice is taken into account. One of the few attempts to combine different approaches is the Matrix Language-Frame model, which is shortly introduced at the end of the first chapter. <br>The second chapter is concerned with code-switching in case-studies on bilingual children. The studies are split into three groups: studies on simultaneous language learners, on successive language learners and on children growing up in bilingual communities. The selection of the studies was based on the criteria of whether the studies were concerned with code-switching at all and whether speech samples were provided that could be further analysed for the purpose of the present study. Whereas some studies point out the use of specific code-switching functions, only two propose a developmental sequence for the acquisition of different functions: McClure and Wentz's sequence as well as results of the DUFDE project are presented at the end of the second chapter. <br>In chapter three, the present case-study on code-switching behaviour among bilingual children is introduced. Basic information about the data collection and data analysis is provided. The main part of this chapter is the introduction of the eighteen participants. Their personal background, their bilingual language development, the individual recording sessions and each participant's code-switching behaviour are described. <br>Chapter four summarises and evaluates the data presented in the previous chapter. The mixing and code-switching behaviour of the informants is analysed in relation to the time and manner of their second language acquisition, their age, specific settings, the input conditions, their degree of bilingualism, and their gender and sibling constellation. With regard to mixing, the most important finding is that all informants used mixed utterances. The manner of L2 acquisition, the input conditions and the setting seemed to have the biggest influence on mixing behaviour. Neither time of L2 acquisition nor gender seemed to influence mixing behaviour significantly. Code-switching occurrences were split into three categories for the analysis: situational, skill-related and stylistic code-switching. Situational code-switching is very common and occurs frequently in the data of every single informant. Skill-related code-switching also occurs with every informant. Stylistic switching occurs less often but is still used by all but two informants. Language balance, age, sibling constellation and input conditions seem to influence code-switching behaviour. The manner of L2 acquisition, the setting and the gender do not seem to be influential. Next to frequency, the order of occurrence of different code-switching functions is central to the analysis. Acquisition sequences of switching functions are first compared among simultaneous and successive bilingual speakers, where no major differences were found. These sequences are then further compared with those proposed in the literature. It is shown that the sequences for both groups resemble those proposed in the relevant literature. In comparison to the model of McClure and Wentz, though, a major difference is shown with regard to the ages at which specific code-switching functions occurred as well as with regard to the frequency of occurrence of specific functions. <br>The analysis and discussion of the present data ends with the proposition of a sequence for the acquisition of different code-switching functions, integrating former models as well as the present case-study. Children start by using code-switching for songs. This is followed by situational code-switching and various skill-related functions of code-switching. Mode-shifts occur before more skill-related and other stylistic functions. Several stylistic functions are very rare and occur as last step in the acquisition process. <br>It is demonstrated that code-switching is a common phenomenon of language use among bilingual speakers. Even among very young bilingual children many different functions of code-switching are frequently used.

Author dc:creator

• Albrecht, Esther

Contributors dc:contributor

• Halford, Brigitte

• Erwerbssequenz Sprachwechsel
• bilingual children
• code-switching
• language development
• acquisition sequence

Repository record source_url

https://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/1783

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:freidok.uni-freiburg.de:1783