Margaret Deuchar

The development of research on code-switching during the last 75 years

 In this paper I will trace the evolution of research in code-switching during the last 75 years. I will show how the work of a series of scholars has allowed us to understand not only what code-switching is, but also how its use can vary from community to community.   We shall see how our current understanding has developed from pioneering early work on the notions of the speech community and linguistic repertoire, as well as on initial and subsequent attempts to formulate ‘rules’ of code-switching.  We shall explore how a particularly influential structural approach based on the Matrix Language Frame model (Myers-Scotton 2002) has been developed to provide a method of describing the contrasting community norms prevalent in specific bilingual communities. I shall argue that these norms will be transmitted to the next generation in the form of linguistic input to be acquired by children.