Spanish and English in Small Town and Rural America: Language Contact Leading to Language Shift

This book examines Spanish English bilingual patterns in a small town and rural Northeast Georgia community of Hispanics recently immigrated from Mexico and other areas of Latin America. Speech data from naturally-occurring conversations by 56 children and adults of both sexes are analyzed within Myers-Scotton’s Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model. Eight language patterns are identified, including monolingual Spanish and English turns, codeswitched turns, and turns showing convergence (morphe...