Question

Consider the following morphological break-up of pfeifing produced by a simultaneous bilingual child. What phenomenon does this example indicate?

• A. Code-mixing arising out of social bilingualism
• B. Code-switching based on context of the conversation
• C. Understanding both languages as part of a single 'system'
• D. Mixed language arising out of pedagogical preferences

Hint:

In early bilingual development, children may merge rules of both languages. This supports the idea of a single developing system rather than two separate grammars.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Distinguish code-mixing vs. code-switching
- Code-mixing refers to inserting elements of one language into another at word or phrase level (e.g., Hinglish).
- Code-switching refers to shifting between languages based on context, discourse, or social setting.

Step 2: Analyze the example
Here, the child uses the German stem pfeife and attaches the English progressive morpheme -ing, creating the hybrid form pfeifing. This is not simple code-switching (contextual) or social code-mixing, but rather indicates that the child sees both languages as one integrated system of morphology.

Step 3: Theoretical support
In bilingual acquisition studies, simultaneous bilingual children often blend grammatical rules from both languages, suggesting a unitary linguistic system hypothesis. \[ \boxed{\text{Answer: Understanding both languages as part of a single 'system' (C)}} \]