Resumen de Usage-Based Theory and Bilingualism
Decades of research on bilingualism have shown that the behaviors and phenomena are best understood within the context of how people and communities use their languages. This chapter examines the ways that speakers alternate between two languages and the linguistic patterns that are affected. It summarizes some of the most important findings to come out of usage-based studies of bilingualism, and also examines the current state of the field, and raises questions about work that is yet to be done. According to exemplar theory, individuals organize and later acquire linguistic units based on exemplars, meaning that similarities across words in different languages may have an effect on variation in pronunciation. Careful analysis of bilingual code-switching data rejects the notions, showing that language mixing is a highly complex, systematic practice in which highly competent bilingual speakers engage.
