Spanish/English Codeswitching in a Written Corpus: (27 Studies in Bilingualism)

Spanish/English codeswitching in published work represents a claim to the right to participate in the marketplace on a bilingual and not just monolingual basis. This book offers a syntactic and sociolinguistic analysis of the codeswitching in a corpus of thirty texts: novels and short stories published in the United States by twenty-four authors between 1970-2000. An application of the Matrix Language Frame model shows that written codeswitching follows for the most part the same syntactic patterns as its spoken counterpart. The reasons why some written codeswitching is considered to be artificial or inauthentic are examined. An overview of written codeswitching research is given, including titles of many texts in addition to the corpus that contain codeswitching between diverse languages. The book concludes with a look at how codeswitching is used by writers to attain their objectives, and what the implications may be for the relative positions of Spanish, English, and Spanish/English codeswitching in the United States.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction; 2. 1. Codeswitching: Form and function; 3. 2. The texts: From single word switches to every other phrase; 4. 3. A grammatical and discourse function analysis; 5. 4. Written codeswitching and codeswitching in nonprint media; 6. 5. Written codeswitching: Writers, readers, and speakers; 7. 5. A sociolinguistic mirror; 8. 6. The costs of codeswitching; 9. References; 10. Appendices; 11. Index of names; 12. Index of subjects

Review :
The appearance of Spanish/English Codeswitching in a Written Corpus is a welcome contribution to the still limited body of research on codeswitching in published writing. [the book] has much to offer. The author makes several new contributions to the field. First, she is the first to my knowledge who applies Myers-Scotton's Matrix Language Frame Model to written language. Furthermore, she offers a wealth of examples drawn from an assortment of fiction writers. Finally, she conducts an exhaustive analysis of the data, including an interesting examination of the metalinguistic references in the corpus. There is no doubt that students and researchers interested in codeswitching will want this book on their shelves. This book provides a wealth of information on written CS that is unparalleled in any other source, just because of that it's worth reading it, but the manner in which it is done and the stimulating last chapters in which the author puts forward a series of observations and ideas that are really worth further thought. This excellent empirical study of code switching in written texts does much to dispel some long-held opinions about an infrequently studied phenomenon. References, information on corpus texts and non-corpus texts, appendices, and indexes of names and subjects complement this book. Overall, the book makes for stimulating and interesting read[ing] and gives a good insight into current issues and aspects of Spanish-English codeswitching in a written corpus. This book is notable for its comprehensive approach to the study of written codeswitching. Drawing on literary texts, it provides new ammunition for efforts to dispel repressive myths that codeswitching is a symptom of cognitive deficiency, linguistic deprivation, or sloth and is, therefore, an inadequate vehicle of articulateness. For ESL teachers, bilingual educators, and researchers in SLA, the book provides useful information about the syntactic features and discourse functions of so-called Spanglish and an opportunity to reflect on the role of written codeswitching in developing bilingual literacy skills and additive bilingualism.