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Description:
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Talk in Two Languages focuses on language alternation, presumably the most
common aspect of linguistic behaviour among bilingual speakers. Joseph
Gafaranga's starting point is that, at the theoretical level, language
alternation in the same conversation is impossible in principle. He argues
that the key question for research is how bilinguals actually manage to use
two languages in the same conversation despite this theoretical
impossibility. Drawing on Ethnomethodology, the issue is conceptualised as
that of order in talk in two languages. From this basis he proposes a
critical reading of current approaches to language alternation, both
grammatical and socio-functional, as accounts of this essential problem of
order. He also offers extended case studies which show how the ideas,
concepts and methodologies surveyed can be used to address specific issues
of order in bilingual conversation, how identified weaknesses might be
overcome and how future work might proceed.
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