Bilingual children may choose to reply to utterances in one language with another language. This behavior, which we call interspeaker code-switching, reportedly varies in frequency across children yet the sources of such variation are not well understood. While its use has been linked to variation in proficiency both concurrently and longitudinally, quantitative analyses of this relationship are limited. Here we measure frequency of interspeaker code-switching in a new population, French–English bilinguals in France (ages 5–8), using parental report and relate it to children’s self-reported language attitudes and perceptions of dominance, English receptive and expressive vocabulary, and sentence repetition ability. These children use interspeaker code-switching infrequently and nearly exclusively in the direction of French. Use is predicted by children’s expressive lexical and grammatical proficiency but not their attitudes toward English and French and exhibits only a marginally significant relationship with self-reported dominance. It shows a closer relationship with proficiency than other more well studied experience variables such as current exposure and output, especially for children with lesser English use. These results support a strong link between interspeaker code-switching and proficiency but not for children’s attitudes in a context where they are generally favorable.

中文翻译：

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学龄双语者的语际语码转换使用及其与情感因素和语言能力的关系

双语儿童可能会选择用另一种语言回答一种语言的话语。这种行为，我们称之为语间语码转换，据报道在儿童中的频率不同，但这种变化的来源尚不清楚。虽然它的使用与同时和纵向的熟练程度变化有关，但对这种关系的定量分析是有限的。在这里，我们使用父母报告测量了新人群（法国的法语 - 英语双语者（5-8 岁））中说话者语码转换的频率，并将其与儿童自我报告的语言态度和对支配地位的感知、英语接受和表达词汇联系起来，和句子重复能力。这些孩子很少使用语者间语码转换，而且几乎完全是在法语的方向上。使用是由儿童的表达词汇和语法能力来预测的，而不是他们对英语和法语的态度，并且与自我报告的优势仅表现出轻微的显着关系。它与熟练程度的关系比其他更深入研究的经验变量（例如当前接触和输出）更紧密，尤其是对于英语使用较少的儿童。这些结果支持语者间语码转换和熟练程度之间的密切联系，但不支持儿童在普遍有利的情况下的态度。它与熟练程度的关系比其他更深入研究的经验变量（例如当前接触和输出）更紧密，尤其是对于英语使用较少的儿童。这些结果支持语者间语码转换和熟练程度之间的密切联系，但不支持儿童在普遍有利的情况下的态度。它与熟练程度的关系比其他更深入研究的经验变量（例如当前接触和输出）更紧密，尤其是对于英语使用较少的儿童。这些结果支持语者间语码转换和熟练程度之间的密切联系，但不支持儿童在普遍有利的情况下的态度。