Multilingual play: Children's code-switching, role play, and agency in Dominica, West Indies.

The article discusses language behavior among Dominican children. In Dominica, rural adults forbid children from speaking Patwa (a French-lexicon creole) in favor of acquiring English (the official language), contributing to a rapid language shift in most villages. However, adults value Patwa for a range of expressive functions and frequently code-switch around and to children. Children increasingly use English but employ Patwa for some functions during peer play when away from adults. Critically, they draw on their verbal resources and physically embodied social action to create imaginary play spaces both organized by and appropriate for Patwa. A growing body of literature on peer interactions in multilingual settings illustrates that adolescents and school-age children use code-switching for a variety of functions, such as structuring play, games, and other activities, negotiating meanings and rights, and asserting their shifting identities and allegiances. Children in Dominica also engage in complex code-switching practices between English and Patwa in their role play with peers. Their language choice in role enactment illustrates their emerging sensitivity to the ways in which these contrasting languages index particular social identities, places, and activities