Aspects of code-switching : for a Spanish-English bilingual child

Abstract: This essay has analyzed under what circumstances a Spanish-English bilingual child code-switches and if there are any differences between the languages when it occurs. The essay will examine in more detail if the switching involves any particular word class and if the code-switching develops or change over time. This essay defines bilingualism and code-switching, explaining what they mean and how they emerge. These aspects of bilingualism give the reader a wider view of the subject and these aspects also explain how these terms relate to one and another. The data that has been used for this essay is taken from a child language corpus called CHILDES, which can be found on the Internet. The data has been used to carry out a study on this bilingual child at the age of one year and three months up to the age of two years and six months. This is therefore called a longitudinal study because it follows a child over a long period. The purpose of this study was to see which word classes that the girl code-switched to in both her languages. The results will show the use of different word classes at different ages and the percentage of code-switching in both languages. The results shows that the child code-switched during all conversations in Spanish, but she did not code-switch during all the English conversations, which implies that English is the dominant language for the girl.     Keywords: code-switching, bilingualism, CHILDES, longitudinal study,