Based on data from Kurdish-German pre-school bilingual children in Austria, this empirical study aims at giving an analysis of factors that constrain child code-switching. Children can exercise power relations or negotiate identity with their parents through choice of language and can manage language choices and rights-and-obligations balances.

Baban Mohamed studied English Language and Literature at the University of Sulaimania (Kurdistan Region of Iraq) and English Studies (General/Applied Linguistics) at the University of Salzburg (Austria). His research interests are in the areas of bilingual acquisition, child code-switching and sociolinguistics.

Contents: Language acquisition and bilingualism – Monolingual vs. bilingual acquisition – Balanced bilingualism – Semilingualism – Code-switching – Types of code-switching – Constraints on code-switching – Myers-Scotton: Matrix Language Frame Model – Functional factors on code-switching – Kurdish immigrant community – Phrasal structure in Kurdish – Pro-drop/Null-subject parameter – Kurdish-German intrasentential code-switching – Home language – Markedness model.