Abstract

Language-difference detections—the manifestation of word alternation within and between sentences, code-switching, and code-mixing—are governed by many external factors in the different stages of a bilingual child’s development. Recent studies have shown that sensory and brain mechanisms in unborn babies are developed to the point where they are capable of hearing their parents speaking. This paper examines whether the developing child computes and differentiates the two languages; how the child copes with the alternation between the two languages concurrently; and what, if any, the effects are on the child’s cognitive development. It also investigates how code-switching occurs with Albanian-English bilingual children up to the age of four years and eleven months old and its effect on children’s cognitive development, particularly regarding attention span, thinking, understanding, listening, and memory. This paper demonstrates that a child’s social network in both languages plays a key role in language proficiency as opposed to delays with language acquisition, challenging some theories to eliminate confusion and the negative connotations of by-products of bilingualism in young children. Through the bibliographic methodology, this research gives a thorough understanding of code-switching, and through quantitative and qualitative research, provides a comprehensive understanding on how the code-switching is applied, and reasons that govern such switching between languages in one discourse. The paper gives positivity to the negative connotations that historical research studies posited in terms of bilinguals’ cognitive development and redirects the understanding of bilingual children with a better analytical approach to situations in general, highlighting linguistic awareness.