Challenging Basic Assumptions in Code-Switching Research: New Linguistic, Sociolinguistic and Psycholinguistic Evidence

Dear Colleagues,  

The aim of this Special Issue is to bring together evidence from research studies on code-switching (CS), which is the alternation and mixing of languages as practiced on a daily basis by bilinguals throughout the world. Accounting for this behavior is challenging for linguists interested in the ways in which the grammars and lexicons of two languages co-operate in one sentence. While it is clear that CS is not a free-for-all—in that any combination of words and morphemes in a sentence is equally likely—there are counter examples to all the constraints and principles that have been formulated so far. One of the reasons for the challenges that researchers face when working on grammatical constraints is the variability in CS patterns, which is linked to sociocultural variables as well as to processing (Muysken, 2000). In addition, neuroscientific approaches focusing on brain reactions to CS in real time reveal the neurophysiological correlates of CS (Ruigendijk, Hentschel, and Zeller, 2016; Van Hell, Fernandez, Kootstra, Litcofsky, and Ting, 2018), but still face the problem of explaining the variability in processing patterns, which arguably is linked to grammatical and sociocultural variables. Sociolinguists are interested in the connection between sociocultural identities and CS, but still concede that grammatical constellations and psycholinguistic processes influence what is socially preferred.  Basic assumptions in linguistic research on CS, e.g., in terms of constraints, can be overridden by sociocultural and psycholinguistic factors; in a similar vein, psycholinguistic assumptions, e.g., in terms of higher processing costs for CS, can be overridden by linguistic and sociocultural factors. 

As Deuchar (2020) has pointed out, we still know relatively little about the role of external and internal factors as well as community norms in CS. The current SI aims to shed new light on variability in CS patterns, and further develop the themes addressed in a previous Languages Special Issue, edited by Kašćelan and Deuchar (2020). It also builds on insights obtained from experimental research into CS, as presented in the SI on methodologies for intrasentential CS research in Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, edited by Munarriz-Ibarrola, Couto, and Wyngaerd (2018), as well as the Article Collection in Frontiers in Psychology on Behavioral and Neurophysiological Approaches to Code-Switching and Language Switching, edited by Treffers-Daller, Ruigendijk, and Hofweber (2021).

Specifically, the current SI aims to bring together research which focuses on disentangling the relative contribution of linguistic, sociocultural, and psycholinguistic factors that explain the variability we find. To illustrate this point, we currently do not know if asymmetries in insertional CS in a particular community, i.e., nouns from language A being allowed as insertions in utterances from language B but not vice versa, are due (a) to grammatical differences between the two languages; (b) to the fact that language A is the socioculturally dominant language; (c) to limitations in bilinguals’ ability to inhibit lexical items from language A during processing; or (d) to a combination of these variables. While it is very challenging to take into account information from different fields of research in the study of CS, we think that it is only possible to make progress in our understanding of the variability of CS patterns if we bring together insights from a range of research areas, such as linguistics, sociolinguistics, clinical linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neuroscience, and investigate CS variability in different sociocultural constellations, with typologically different languages and with different types of multilingualism and proficiency levels, as well as across the lifespan and in atypical populations (e.g., patients with dementia or aphasia).

Key questions for the SI are:

• How can insights from linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics and neuroscience inform theory building aimed at explaining variability in CS patterns?
• How can experimental methods shed new light on the CS patterns in different communities?
• To what extent does CS in closely related languages differ from CS in typologically distinct languages?
• How can evidence about CS in lesser studied language pairs help develop our understanding of CS patterns worldwide?
• How do CS patterns relate to language proficiency? Which forms of CS require high language proficiency in both languages?
• How do CS patterns develop in children, and how stable are they over bilinguals’ lifespans?
• How can insights from speech and language therapy contribute to our understanding of CS? To what extent does CS in atypical populations (e.g., bilinguals with a language impairment, aphasia or dementia) differ from CS in typical bilinguals?
• How can we distinguish CS from borrowing? Can phonetic analyses of CS help to distinguish these phenomena? Do single word ad hoc switches, in particular switches of function words, exist, or are single word insertions always borrowings?
• How can studies on bilingualism and cognition inform processing accounts of CS?

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest editors (Email: [email protected]) or to Languages Editorial Office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

Dr. Julia Hofweber
Dr. Jan Patrick Zeller
Prof. Jeanine Treffers-Daller
Guest Editors

Tentative completion schedule

Abstract submission deadline: 10th October 2021

Notification of abstract acceptance: 31st October 2021

Full manuscript deadline: 31st March 2022

References

Deuchar, M. (2020). Code-Switching in Linguistics: A Position Paper. Languages, 5(22). doi:doi:10.3390/languages5020022

Kašćelan, D., & Deuchar, M. (2020). Introducing the Special Issue: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Code-Switching. Languages, 6(1), 19. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/languages6010019

Munarriz-Ibarrola, A., Couto, M. d. C. P., & Wyngaerd, E. V. (2018). Methodologies for intra-sentential code-switching research. Linguistic Approaches to bilingualism, 8(1), 1-4.

Muysken, P. (2000). Bilingual speech: A typology of code-mixing (Vol. 11): Cambridge University Press.

Ruigendijk, E., Hentschel, G., & Zeller, J. P. (2016). How L2-learners’ brains react to code-switches: An ERP study with Russian learners of German. Second Language Research, 32(2), 197-223.

Treffers-Daller, J., Ruigendijk, E., & Hofweber, J. (2021). Behavioral and Neurophysiological Approaches to Code-Switching and Language Switching. In J. Treffers-Daller, E. Ruigendijk, & J. Hofweber (Eds.). doi:doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.660695

Van Hell, J. G., Fernandez, C. B., Kootstra, G. J., Litcofsky, K. A., & Ting, C. Y. (2018). Electrophysiological and experimental-behavioral approaches to the study of intra-sentential code-switching. Linguistic Approaches to bilingualism, 8(1), 134-161.

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• code-switching
• language switching
• sociolinguistics
• language impairment
• bilingual aphasia
• bilingualism across the life span
• child language
• neuroscience
• multilingualism
• cognitive control
• executive functions