ABSTRACT
This chapter refers to the native bilingual or the proficient bilingual as one who is relatively and evenly dominant in both languages, has actively used both languages since infancy and sustained exposure to both languages, and appears to have high verbal fluency. It briefly sketches about some of the pioneering work on the social dimensions of code switching before looking more closely at the literature on its grammatical aspects. There are three words commonly used to refer to the language: Nahuatl, Mexicano, and Aztec. In some indigenous communities, the preference for the term Mexicano is related to a desire to sustain the memory that Mexico belonged to the speakers of Mexicano. The chapter presents the other counter-examples from the Spanish-Nahuatl corpus and discusses the model a bit further with respect to code switching at pronominal boundaries. The chapter also addresses the historical and genetic relationships between the two languages before reviewing the linguistic literature relevant to each.
