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Code-Switching or Code-Mixing? Tiwi Children’s Use of Language Resources in a Multilingual Environment

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Language Practices of Indigenous Children and Youth

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Minority Languages and Communities ((PSMLC))

Abstract

This chapter analyses the language used by children on the Tiwi Islands with reference to current theories around bilingualism and code-switching. The Tiwi Islands (northern Australia) are a complex linguistic area with Modern Tiwi, English and Kriol, an English-lexified creole, being commonly spoken. At the preschool stage of the children’s linguistic development, none of these languages appears to be a dominant matrix language as described by Myers-Scotton and Jake (Linguistics 33, 981–1024, 1995; International Journal of Bilingualism 4(1), 1–8, 2000). We argue that children can do more than just code-switch and instead utilise a basic, fairly uniform grammar alongside a repertoire of language-specific features which they draw upon freely. Such versatility is particularly useful in shaping language for an audience which itself has differing abilities in each of the languages.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The -im ending is a Kriol suffix, usually analysed as a marker of transitivity. See discussion in section “Verbal Suffix -im” below.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Intersect Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Aidan Wilson

  2. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Peter Hurst & Gillian Wigglesworth

Authors
  1. Aidan Wilson
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  2. Peter Hurst
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  3. Gillian Wigglesworth
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Gillian Wigglesworth

  2. Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    Jane Simpson

  3. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Jill Vaughan

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Wilson, A., Hurst, P., Wigglesworth, G. (2018). Code-Switching or Code-Mixing? Tiwi Children’s Use of Language Resources in a Multilingual Environment. In: Wigglesworth, G., Simpson, J., Vaughan, J. (eds) Language Practices of Indigenous Children and Youth. Palgrave Studies in Minority Languages and Communities. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60120-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60120-9_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-60119-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-60120-9

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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