"SOME CONSTRAINTS ON ENGLISH-SPANISH CODE-SWITCHING"

Resumen

WHAT IS CODE-SWITCHINO? Tsuzaki describes code-switching as "the alternate use of two languages-or the introduction of a completely unassimilated word from one languaje into another." This practice then is that of the bilingual. True bilingualism, as defined by Roger Thompson, is "the ability to alternate between two or more speech variteties,"

Bilingualism, it itself, offers so many possibilities for investigation that one must restrict oneself to specific areas of study. Comparatively little research has been done on language switching (code-switching), and it seemed feasible to investigate further this neglected area of linguistics. However, a detailed study would require much more time and, perhaps, a team effort of several investigators doing the field work. As a class project, the gathering of data for such a study could be divided into three main areas of investigation; lexical, syntactical and phonological. The work of the first phase of inves tigation would be to analyze the structural of elements and that of the second phase an analysis of its sociostructural features, such as area, situation, ages and sex of speakers.