Language Patterns Associated With Multiple Social Factors and Abrupt Language Shift

Linguistic patterns of code-switching and other language mixing are shown to pattern in steps or stages suggesting that a community can shift from the use of one language to using another language in abrupt rather than gradual stages. Spanish does not begin to show convergence (be influenced grammatically by English) until fewer than 70% of the utterances are monolingual Spanish. For speakers showing fewer than 40% monolingual Spanish utterances, English is more frequently used than Spanish, and therefore, English sentences show more convergence (are more influenced by Spanish grammatical structure). These two threshold points (70% and 40% monolingual first language utterances) can be used to predict when convergence starts and when a language shift is underway. Three steps or stages are indicated by the threshold points. In Stage 1, there is mostly monolingual Spanish with some code-switching. In Stage 2, there are larger frequencies of code-switching. Spanish with English grammatical patterns and English with Spanish grammatical patterns are more frequent in Stage 2. In Stage 3, code-switching continues as well as English with Spanish grammatical patterns. Monolingual English is, however, the dominant language type in Stage 3, contrasting with Spanish as the dominant language type in both Stages 1 and 2. The data thus show that both code-switching and grammatical convergence can be seen as mechanisms of language shift and change from dominance in one language to another. Those who use more monolingual English and who codeswitch more and converge more, in Stages 2 and 3, are more likely to be in one or more of the following social categories: younger age, female, higher socioeconomic status, more time spent in the U.S. and in U.S. schools, more reported preference for and use of English. Those who use more monolingual Spanish and who codeswitch and converge less, in Stage 1, are more likely to be in one or more of the following social categories: older age, male, lower socioeconomic status, less time spent in the U.S. and in U.S. schools, less reported preference for and use of English. While Mexicans as a group codeswitch more than non-Mexicans, and non-Mexicans converge more than Mexicans, it is the younger Mexicans who do most of the code-switching and younger non-Mexicans who do most of the converging.