The term ‘code-mixing’ is a fluid one that overlaps with ‘code-switching’ and ‘mixed code’ (see Code-switching: Overview; Intertwined Languages), but can be distinguished from them in some ways.

borrowing does not presuppose mastery of the code being borrowed from—one can use the word perestroika without knowing Russian. Prototypically, code-mixing does presuppose the mastery of the codes being mixed.

Sometimes frequent mixing may become the norm; Myers-cotton (1993) calls this an unmarked variety. In such a case a mixed code may well stabilize

Such codes may even have names that are often derogatory: e.g., Tex-Mex for code-mixing between English and Spanish in Texas.

code-mixing leans more towards the metaphorical function or solidarity functions as when speaker and listener are both familiar with more than code and may interchange them for special effect. The very act of mixing codes signals allegiance to a particular relationship, or local set of values.

code-switching leans towards the transactional, the situational, or the pragmatic

code-mixing the breaks between the codes are somewhat blurred,

the breaks between the two codes being switched are more or less discernible

prototypically code-switching is relatively ‘clean’ while mixing is relatively ‘ragged.’

This soon turned out to be an impossible task, and as a consequence no clear set of defined terms uniformly used by all authors can be found in this book.

a person may speak in a mixed code A-B to a friend, but only use A with parents and only B with a schoolmaster

it is popularly believed that switching is a result of incompetence

code-switching between languages and between dialects serves similar stylistic and social purposes,

Proficient bilinguals or bidialectals who switch codes consciously or unconsciously achieve particular social, political, or rhetorical effects.

Code switching is a communicative skill

weekend’ having become established in the French lexicon, and Arabic having no equivalent, this speaker inserts ‘weekend’ into an Arabic sentence and then continues in French

the mixed code serves to identify its users as people who, for various reasons, do not feel part of the communities most strongly associated with either of contributing languages

Te digo que este dedo has been bothering me so much

he soon switches to Swahili, the locally recognized language of trade.

He replied in Friulian, attempting to redefine it as a public social occasion

She addressed him in German, the language of the home

German was for use between spouses in the home; Friulian with neighbors in informal settings such as the market and the tavern; and Italian for more formal interactions centered on church, school and the workplace and also for use in the presence of strangers

In diglossic speech communities (see Diglossia) the functional distribution of codes is publicly acknowledged and institutionally supported.

switching from one to another in order to shift the balance of power during a conversation,

Early work (in the 1950s and 1960s) focused on the functional distribution of codes in speech communities

Of interest to psycholinguists are questions of how the brain stores, distinguishes between, and selects various codes

Conversation analysts examine switches of all types that occur within a conversatio

Code-switching of all kinds is of interest to sociolinguists,

Disagreement arises on classificatory criteria such as length of the juxtaposed utterances (whole discourses at one end of the spectrum, to single words containing morphemes from two languages, at the other); density of switches

there is still no consensus.

the term ‘code-switching’ refers to the juxtaposition of elements from two (or more) languages or dialect

Code switching is a communicative skill, which speakers use as a verbal strategy in much the same way that skillful writers switch styles in a short story.

diglossic and situational code-switching are often regarded as necessary manifestations of bilingualism, and are valued as part of a speaker's communicative competence, conversational switching is often overtly stigmatized

The mixed code can serve as an indicator of group identity.

An argument took place between husband and wife in the tavern, a public but informal setting where the normal code choice would be Friulian

In many bidialectal, bilingual, or multilingual speech communities distinctions among occasions and codes are not primarily hierarchical: the codes may be perceived as different but be equally valued, and similarly the situations may be differentiated on grounds other than prestige

Early work (in the 1950s and 1960s) focused on the functional distribution of codes in speech communities

however, little agreement among scholars on either the semantic scope of the term as they use it, or the nature of distinctions to be drawn between it and other, related terms such as diglossia, code shifting, code mixing, style shifting, borrowing

In diglossic speech communities (see Diglossia) the functional distribution of codes is publicly acknowledged and institutionally supported

Code-switching of all kinds is of interest to sociolinguists, while particular types are of interest to other disciplines. Switches involving longer elements such as whole discourses indicate something about societal patterns and are thus of interest to sociologists and anthropologists

Disagreement arises on classificatory criteria such as length of the juxtaposed utterances (whole discourses at one end of the spectrum, to single words containing morphemes from two languages, at the other); density of switches in a given spoken or written text; whether the switch in question is an individual and unusual one or an instance of a type that is common in the speech community; the presence or absence of social significance in the switch and, where the switch is significant, the nature of that significance; consciousness on the part of the speaker that elements from two codes are being used

the term ‘code-switching’ refers to the juxtaposition of elements from two (or more) languages or dialects