The Sociolinguistic Aspect of Children’s Language Code-Switching in Communication

Abstract

Today, the mixing of Kazakh, Russian, and English language elements in children’s speech reflects the linguistic situation in the country and illustrates the developmental characteristics of contemporary Kazakh in a multilingual environment. Considering that today’s children will become the future speakers of the Kazakh language, addressing this issue must begin now. The first step involves identifying the causes of language code-switching and predicting its potential consequences. Children’s code-switching mirrors the trilingual nature of Kazakhstan’s linguistic landscape. Frequent exposure to Russian-language media, parents’ efforts to immerse children in English through digital content, various courses, and kindergartens offering English-language instruction contribute to active code-switching. As a result, children increasingly alternate between languages, which may lead to cognitive delays caused by mixed-language influence, the emergence of specific psycholinguistic features, and, in the long term, uncertainty regarding the future state of the Kazakh language within a mixed linguistic environment.

This article analyzes the language code-switching patterns of children aged 3–5 during the production of communicative texts. By examining the social and psycholinguistic foundations of code-switching, the study characterizes the internal (cognitive) and external (social and environmental) factors influencing children’s language development. The article presents the results of semi-structured interviews with 15 mothers of children aged 3-5. The findings indicate that, within the current linguistic context of Kazakhstan, code-switching at early developmental stages is a natural phenomenon shaped by the multilingual environment itself.

Keywords: code-switching, linguistic environment, communication, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics.