One of the most common phenomena of language use among bilingual speakers is language alternation. Yet, from a theoretical perspective, it is impossible in principle both grammatically and socio-functionally. Therefore, a crucial question is how to account for its actual possibility despite this theoretical impossibility. Drawing on Ethnomethodology, this problem is described as that of order in talk in two languages. The book offers a critical reading of current approaches to language alternation as accounts of this essential problem of order.

One of the most common phenomena of language use among bilingual speakers is language alternation. Theoretically this is impossible, both grammatically and socio-functionally. Drawing on Ethnomethodology this book addresses the crucial question of how to account for its actual possibility, and offers a critical reading of current approaches.

If you have you ever overheard a conversation between two people who share more than one language you'll have noticed that they do not always stick to one language. Instead they constantly move from one language to the other in a seemingly random fashion. Why do they do it? Is it because they are unable to stick to one language? Is it that they are too lazy to do so? Here, as everywhere else, appearances are misleading. Speaking of bilingualism, everybody, linguist or not, seems to have an opinion about it either as a good or a bad thing, either as an advantage or as a disadvantage. Exactly what practical advantages are there in being bilingual? What do bilingual speakers do with their two or more languages in interaction with other bilinguals? This book investigates these and other related questions about the practical usefulness of bilingualism.

Foregrounds the practical usefulness of bilingualism, with specific reference to talk organisation Research on bilingualism and on code-switching in particular has traditionally been geared towards rehabilitating bilingualism and bilingual language use. From being seen as a sign of lack of competence, code-switching is now seen as a sign of high competence in the languages involved. However, this rehabilitation of bilingualism raises an entirely new problem: Where to from here? How can the study of bilingualism continue to be interesting and relevant?In order to overcome the challenges the discipline faces as a result of its own success, here Joseph Gafaranga argues, the notion of bilingualism itself must be redefined. Bilingualism must be seen as consisting of diverse interactional practices and investigated as such. This book details the rehabilitation effort which has been undertaken to get us where we are today, proposes a methodology which can be used in moving forward and illustrates it with three case studies, all the while inviting other researchers to contribute to this new research direction. Key Features Demonstrates empirically how bilingualism can be thought of as a resource, drawing on data from a variety of sociolinguistic contextsExamines specific aspects of conversational organisation (such as turn-taking, sequence organisation, repair organisation) where language choice is used as a resourceInvestigates the role of language choice in bilingual conversation against the backdrop of clearly set out theoretical backgrounds