The present study investigates the suprasegmental reflexes of code-switching, considering both language context (i.e., language mode) and language dominance.

To this end, an experimental oral production paradigm was administered to 14 Spanish-English bilinguals, comparing code-switched to non-switched productions and varying both context (monolingual or bilingual) and response language (dominant or non-dominant).

Productions were analyzed for two suprasegmental features: pitch height and stressed vowel duration.

Results indicate a significant effect of code-switching on suprasegmental production, with code-switched tokens produced with overall greater pitch movement and duration relative to non-switched tokens. These effects, however, were modulated by both language context and language dominance.

Given the relation of prosody to cognitive factors, this novel approach to the suprasegmental features of code-switching, specifically considering language dominance and context, provides a unique opportunity to further the understanding of the underlying language switching process.

These findings are addressed within a theoretical framework of predictability and hyper-articulation, and it is suggested that the suprasegmental realizations of code-switched tokens correspond to a degree of contextually driven predictability.