Code-Switching and Style Shifting

Spanglish: Interpreting and Code-switching Brick: Style shifting Do you often have to translate or interpret for family members? How do you feel about doing it? Does interpreting/ translating come naturally to you? How about code-switching? Do you code-switch (switch between two languages)? When? With whom? How do you view code- switching? Positively? Negatively? Something else? Why? Do you shift between styles (e.g., academic language, slang, religious language, etc.) within a single language? When? With whom? Does style shifting feel natural for you? How do you view style shifting? Positively? Negatively? Something else? Why?

What does it mean to have multiple linguistic competencies? Multilingual To be proficient in more than one language Example: someone who speaks English and Spanish Multidialectal To be proficient in more than one dialect or variety of the same language Example: someone who speaks Standard American English and Chicano English Even people who speak only one language and only one dialect have multiple styles or ways of speaking

Multiple linguistic competencies continued Style shifting Switching between two or more styles or dialects in different contexts Diglossia Switching between two or more languages in different contexts Code-switching Switching between two or more languages in the same context or sentence

Evidence from Research and Principles from Linguistics Tell Us… More than half of the world’s population is bilingual or multilingual. Bilingualism provides some protection from cognitive diseases like Alzheimer’s. Bilingual children often outperform monolingual children in cognitive tasks and social problem solving. Children who are proficient in their heritage language often have higher self-esteem, more solid family relationships, and are less likely to drop out of high school. 

Evidence from Research and Linguistic Principles Tell Us… Only fluent bilinguals truly code-switch.  Spanglish is a rule-governed system that has great expressive potential and that is used by many fluent bilinguals for a complex set of reasons. Not all bilinguals (even very fluent bilinguals) can translate or interpret easily because this is a skill that has to be cultivated, and not an automatic part of bilingualism.