The Role of Discursive Information in Analyzing Multilingual Practices

International audienceTwo broad lines of research have developed on code alternation or code-switching. One line focuses on structural issues related mostly to intra-sentential code-mixing and is based in formal syntactic and psycholinguistic approaches to language. The other line of research focuses on identifying the types of code-switching patterns, their social functions and meanings and the social motivations for code-switching. It applies methods of discourse and conversation analysis. Despite similar goals, these lines of investigation have proceeded separately without much cross-fertilization. The aim of this paper is to critically examine the main tenets of these approaches in the light of data from one contact setting involving related languages and to highlight ways in which the two approaches might complement each other. It argues that since code-switching is an important meaning making resource, analysis of its functions should precede analysis of structural issues as the latter impact on the structure of code-switching practice