Code-switching and transfer: An exploration of similarities and differences

Treffers-Daller, Jeanine

Abstract

This chapter contributes to our understanding of the ways in which code-switching (the use of more than one language in discourse) differs from transfer (the influence of one language on another). There is considerable confusion about the terminology in the field of language contact, and the major contribution of this chapter is to critically evaluate recent findings from the field of language contact, second language acquisition and psycholinguistics in order to clarify the concepts that are used in each discipline. In addition, I investigate the similarities and differences between the phenomena under study and how each can be differentiated from convergence (the achievement of greater structural similarity in a given aspect of the grammar of two or more languages). In the conclusion I argue that intralingual processes such as analogical change in theories of language change or overgeneralization in L1 or L2 development as the counterpart of transfer among monolinguals.

• Publication Date: Mar 5, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 8, 2019
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 58-74
• Series Title: Cambridge Handbooks in Language and Linguistics
• Book Title: The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Code-switching
• ISBN: 9780521875912
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/997903
• Publisher URL: http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521875912
• Additional Information: Additional Information : © Cambridge University Press 2009. This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. This is a single-authored piece (100%).