ABSTRACT
This chapter has three related goals. First we show that how language pairs behave in code-switching provides evidence for certain types of salient congruence between languages. The analysis assumes the matrix language frame model (MLF model) for code-switching and provides elaborations and extensions of this model (Myers-Scotton, 1993a). Second, based on this evidence, we make proposals about the nature and organization of language production. Third, while the chapter focuses its discussion on production, proposals in this area imply details of a model of language competence. Many language production models include three levels; these are the conceptual, functional, and positional levels. At the conceptual level, intentions are “bundled” into semantic and pragmatic features associated with lexemes. At the functional level, morphosyntactic directions encoding the predicate-argument structure are activated. At the positional level, lexemes are realized in a surface structure. Our proposals deal largely with the first two levels and relate specifically to producing bilingual language. However, we argue that the same organization of language production holds for monolingual discourse.
