Hickey, TinaTinaHickey2013-10-232013-10-23Blackwell2009-11-04Journal of Sociolinguisticshttp://hdl.handle.net/10197/4792An increase in code-switching is one of the signs that a minority language is coming under pressure from a majority language. This study examines the extent and nature of code-switching among a key group of adult native speakers of Irish -Leaders in Irish-medium preschools. Data were collected from 10 women (aged 30-50) as they interacted with preschool children (aged 3-5) years in naíonraí (Irish-medium preschools) in Irish-speaking communities. The frequency of intrasentential code-switching varied among the Leaders: 7 had intrasentential code-switching in less than 7% of their utterances, while 2 were above 15%. However, they showed similarities in the code-switched elements: 78% of the Leaders' intrasentential switches came from a limited set of English discourse markers. The trajectory of change is considered from code-switched items, tononce borrowings, to recurrent and widespread borrowings which co-exist with the Irish forms, to loan words that may show signs of replacing the Irish form.enThis is the author's version of the following article: Hickey, T. (2009), Code-switching and borrowing in Irish. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 13: 670–688 which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2009.00429.xBilingualMinority languagesLanguage contactDiscourse markersIndigenous languagesJournal Article13567068810.1111/j.1467-9841.2009.00429.x2013-10-02https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ie/