A review of recent studies addressed the functional uses of code mixing across cultures. Expressions of code mixing (CM) are not random; in fact, a number of functions of code mixing can easily be delineated, for example, the concept of "modernization.""Modernization" is viewed with respect to how bilingual code mixers perceive themselves, how they would like to be perceived, how they are actually perceived, and why they often resort to code mixing when interacting with other bilinguals with whom they share the same linguistic repertoire of codes. The first section of the paper provides a cross-cultural account for code mixing as a mark of "modernization." Several cases are drawn from studies of code mixing in various bilingual communities which show that code mixing is functionally-oriented. Section II attempts to construct the functional uses of and attitudes toward code mixing. Attitudes toward code mixing have until recently been generally negative. Nonetheless, code mixing has imposed itself as a norm for language use in every bilingual community. Section III briefly discusses the impact of code mixing on the linguistic structure of the languages involved, with particular emphasis on the vernacular. The final section discusses cases of code mixing and language change of Lingala and French in Zaire; Swahili and English in Tanzania; Spanish/Navajo and English in the United States; and Tamil/Hindi and English in India. Code mixing can bring about innovations into the structure of one or the other of the languages code-mixed. (CB)