Variable Yo Expression in New Mexico : English Influence ?

Poplack (1993: 255) defines code-switching as the juxtaposition of multi-word sequences, each of which is internally consistent with the grammatical patterns of its respective language. Thus, in code-switching, the patterns of each language are maintained, as bilinguals switch between— not ‘mix’—their two languages (cf. Haugen 1950). Some, however, have claimed that codeswitching can have an effect on the grammar of each language. In this view code-switching promotes convergence, or structural similarity due to language contact (e.g., Gumperz & Wilson 1971: 165). For example, according to Backus (2005: 334) “code-switching function[s] to model syntactic patterns which are then subsequently imitated in the base language”.