Patterns of Code Switching in Children

Abstract

Two types of code switching have been recognized by most researchers: Intra-sentential code switching used for switches within sentences, and inter-sentential code switching for switches between sentences (Schmitt, 2004). India being a country with a rich merge of different languages, essentially most children across the country are exposed to two or more languages. Depending on the socioeconomic status and geographical location, children can be either sequential or simultaneous bilinguals or multi-linguals. Since inter-sentential and intra-sentential patterns of code switching are used by proficient adult speakers, it is necessary to see if the same patterns are seen in children also. 8 children, 4 males and 4 females within the age range of 14-16 years participated in the study. They were instructed to describe a picture, depicting a farm, in two languages Kannada and English separately. The result revealed that code switching to English was present in all the participants (13 %), while speaking in Kannada. All the participants showed only intra-sentential switch. The location of the switch was on semantic structures, namely concrete nouns and action words. It was concluded that the patterns of code switching in the studied children were not similar to previous accounts on children and adults from other linguistic backgrounds