ERIC Number: ED212162
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1981
Pages: 20
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
A Topological Model of Bilingual Intercalation Behavior.
Attinasi, John; And Others
This paper reviews issues and analyses in bilingual switching, or intercalation, and offers a topological model to represent the activity of code switching, sometimes under the same environmental conditions and with the same interlocutors. The topological notion of catastrophe is proposed as a means to model the various factors that influence code switching. This model was chosen because it is a means of explaining mathematically how discontinuities can occur as the result of continuously changing causes. Using this theory, a case might be made that under some conditions the same external circumstances may yield an utterance or constituent switch from one language, and soon thereafter the same kind of switch occurs from the other language. The work described here deals with the analysis of microscopic units (morphemes, phonemes, suprasegmentals) and macroscopic units (gestures, exchanges, entire speeches and conversational events). It invites further research, some developing a computer simulation of bilingual intercalation activity based on the input and output variables identified, and some engaging in empirical work to see if the input and output variables identified are operative in the real world. (Author/AMH)
Descriptors: Bilingualism, Classification, Code Switching (Language), Language Research, Language Variation, Mathematical Models, Sociolinguistics, Speech Communication
Not available separately. See FL 012 738.
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Information Analyses
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Inst. of Education (ED), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Eastern Michigan Univ., Ypsilanti.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Published as part of the Ethnoperspectives Project. For volumes 1 and 2 of that project, see ED 200 005 and 203 663. For related documents, see FL 012 738 and FL 012 740-769.