Intersentential codeswitching

Intersentential (or inter-sentential) codeswitching refers to a type of codeswitching: the alternation in a single discourse between two languages, where the switching occurs after a sentence in the first language has been completed and the next sentence starts with a new language (e.g. Appel & Muysken 1987:118).

Example

The following example shows intersentential switching from Turkish to Dutch (Backus (1992:91)):

• Niye ora-ya gönder-iyor-lar? Arm man
• why there-DAT send-PROG-3PL poor man
• 'Why are the sending him there? the poor man'

Synonyms

• extra-sentential codeswitching (Poplack 1980:602)

References

• Appel, R. & Muysken, Pieter. 1987. Language Contact and bilingualism. London: Edward Arnold.
• Backus, A. 1992. Patterns of Language Mixing: A Study of Turkish-Dutch Bilingualism. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
• Poplack, Shana. 1980. Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in Spanish Y TERMINO EN ESPANOL: toward a typology of code-switching. Linguistics 18:581-618.