Worldwide Trend Analysis of Psycholinguistic Research on Code Switching Using Bibliometrix R-tool

Abstract

The study of bilingualism and multilingualism has gained increasing prominence in the context of globalization. As a result, research on code switching has garnered growing attention, leading to a substantial number of published papers in recent decades. To gain insights into the current status and potential trends of psycholinguistic research on code switching, this study conducted a bibliometric analysis of 1,293 articles focusing on code switching from 1968 to 2022. The analysis was performed using bibliometrix, a bibliometric software package in R. The results of the analysis indicated that code switching between English and other languages, the role of inhibition ability, and the processing mechanisms of highly proficient bilinguals were prominent hot topics in the field of code-switching research. Additionally, the processing of grammatical gender, bilingual language production, and plurilingualism were identified as potential emerging research trends. By presenting a macroscopic landscape of research on code switching, this study aims to provide readers with a comprehensive overview and serve as a beneficial reference for researchers in this field.