Volume 16, Issue 2
GBP
Buy:£15.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

The current study investigates DP-internal adjectives in Spanish/English code-switching (CS). Specifically, we analyze two concomitant phenomena that have been previously investigated; namely, the distributional frequency and placement of adjectives in mixed determiner phrases (DPs). A total of 1680 DPs (477 monolingual Spanish and 1203 Spanish/English DPs), extracted from sociolinguistic interviews with 62 consultants from Northern Belize, were quantitatively examined. This paper is the first of its kind to examine adjectives in the innovative Spanish/English CS variety of Northern Belize, an understudied context where bilingual CS has thrived among younger generations. The distributional and statistical analyses revealed that the avoidance of Spanish attributive adjectives and overt gender marking is a distinguishing characteristic of mixed DPs but not monolingual Spanish DPs, a finding that supports Otheguy and Lapidus’ (2003) adaptive simplification hypothesis. In terms of adjective placement, both the Matrix Language Frame model and the Minimalist approach to CS were able to account for mixed noun-adjective DPs, with the exception of a few cases that could only be predicted by the former model. The present analysis highlights the pivotal role that simplification and convergence play in code-switchers’ optimization of linguistic resources in bi/multilingual discourse.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/sic.00034.bal
2019-08-27
2024-03-28
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Aguirre, Adalberto
    1976 “Acceptability judgements of code-switching phrases by Chicanos: some preliminary findings.” ERIC Document ED 129 122. Springfield, VA.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Balam, Osmer
    2013 “Overt Language Attitudes and Linguistic Identities among Multilingual Speakers in Northern Belize.” Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics6 (2): 247–277. 10.1515/shll‑2013‑1150
    https://doi.org/10.1515/shll-2013-1150 [Google Scholar]
  3. 2014 “Notes on the History and Morphosyntactic Characteristics of Spanish in Northern Belize.” Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics35: 79–94.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. 2015 “Code-switching and linguistic evolution: The case of ‘Hacer + V’ in Orange Walk, Northern Belize.” Lengua y Migración7: 83–109.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. 2016a “Mixed Verbs in Contact Spanish: Patterns of Use among Emergent and Dynamic Bi/multilinguals.” Languages1: 3. 10.3390/languages1010003
    https://doi.org/10.3390/languages1010003 [Google Scholar]
  6. 2016b “Semantic Categories and Gender Assignment in Contact Spanish: Type of Code-switching and its Relevance to Linguistic Outcomes.” Journal of Language Contact9 (3): 405–435. 10.1163/19552629‑00903001
    https://doi.org/10.1163/19552629-00903001 [Google Scholar]
  7. 2016c Language Use, Language Change and Innovation in Northern Belize Contact Spanish. Doctoral dissertation. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
  8. Balam, Osmer , Ana de Prada Pérez , and Dámaris Mayans
    2014 “A Congruence Approach to the Study of Bilingual Compound Verbs in Northern Belize Contact Spanish.” Spanish in Context11: 243–265. 10.1075/sic.11.2.05bal
    https://doi.org/10.1075/sic.11.2.05bal [Google Scholar]
  9. Balam, Osmer , and Ana de Prada Pérez
    2017 Attitudes toward Spanish and Code-Switching in Belize: Stigmatization and Innovation in the Spanish Classroom. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education16 (1): 17–31. 10.1080/15348458.2016.1260455
    https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2016.1260455 [Google Scholar]
  10. Blokzijl, Jeffrey , Margaret Deuchar , and María del Carmen Parafita Couto
    2017 “Determiner Asymmetry in Mixed Nominal Constructions in Data from Miami and Nicaragua.” Languages2: 20. 10.3390/languages2040020
    https://doi.org/10.3390/languages2040020 [Google Scholar]
  11. Bhatia, Tej K. , and William Ritchie
    2016 “Multilingual language mixing, optimization and creativity.” Languages1: 1–14. 10.3390/languages1010006
    https://doi.org/10.3390/languages1010006 [Google Scholar]
  12. Bullock, Barbara , and Almeida Jacqueline Toribio
    2004 “Introduction: Convergence as an emergent property in bilingual speech.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition7: 91–93. 10.1017/S1366728904001506
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728904001506 [Google Scholar]
  13. Cantone, Katja Francesca , and Jeff MacSwan
    2009 “The syntax of DP-internal codeswitching.” InMultidisciplinary Approaches to Codeswitching, ed. by Ludmila Isurin , Donald Winford , and Kees de Bot , 243–278. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. 10.1075/sibil.41.14can
    https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.41.14can [Google Scholar]
  14. Chan, Brian Hock Shing
    2003Aspects of the syntax, the pragmatics, and the production of code-switching. New York: Peter Lang.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Chomsky, Noam
    1995The Minimalist Program. Cambridge, MA: The M.I.T. Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Cinque, Guglielmo
    2005 “Deriving Greenberg’s Universal 20 and its Exceptions.” Linguistic Inquiry36: 315–332. 10.1162/0024389054396917
    https://doi.org/10.1162/0024389054396917 [Google Scholar]
  17. Demonte, Violeta
    2008 “Meaning-form correlations and adjective position in Spanish.” InAdjectives and Adverbs: Syntax, Semantics, and Discourse, ed. by Louise McNally and Christopher Kennedy , 71–100. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Gardner-Chloros, Penelope
    2009Code-switching. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511609787
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511609787 [Google Scholar]
  19. Gardner-Chloros, Penelope , and Malcolm Edwards
    2004 “Assumption behind grammatical approaches to code-switching: When the blueprint is a red herring.” Transactions of the Philological Society102: 103–129. 10.1111/j.0079‑1636.2004.00131.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0079-1636.2004.00131.x [Google Scholar]
  20. Herring, Jon R. , Margaret Deuchar , María del Carmen Parafita Couto , and Monica M. Quintanilla
    2010 “I saw the madre: evaluating predictions about codeswitched determiner-noun sequences using Spanish-English and Welsh-English data.” International Journal of Bilingualism13: 557.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Jake, Janice , Carol Myers-Scotton , and Steven Gross
    2002 “Making a minimalist approach to codeswitching work: Adding the Matrix Language.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition5: 69–91. 10.1017/S1366728902000147
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728902000147 [Google Scholar]
  22. Klein-Andreu, Flora
    1983 “Grammar in Style: Spanish Adjective Placement.” InDiscourse perspectives on Syntax, ed. by Flora Klein-Andreu , 143–179. New York: Academic Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Lakshmanan, Usha , Osmer Balam , and Tej K. Bhatia
    2016 “Introducing the Special Issue: Mixed Verbs and Linguistic Creativity in Bi/Multilingual Communities.” Languages1: 9. 10.3390/languages1010009
    https://doi.org/10.3390/languages1010009 [Google Scholar]
  24. MacSwan, Jeff
    1999A minimalist approach to intrasentential code switching. New York, NY: Garland Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. 2005 “Codeswitching and generative grammar: A critique of the MLF model and some remarks on: modified minimalism.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition8: 1–22. 10.1017/S1366728904002068
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728904002068 [Google Scholar]
  26. 2017 “A Multilingual Perspective on Translanguaging.” American Educational Research Journal54: 167–201. 10.3102/0002831216683935
    https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831216683935 [Google Scholar]
  27. Montes-Alcalá, Cecilia , and Naomi Lapidus Shin
    2011 “Las keys vs. el key: Feminine gender assignment in mixed-language texts.” Spanish in Context8: 119–143. 10.1075/sic.8.1.06mon
    https://doi.org/10.1075/sic.8.1.06mon [Google Scholar]
  28. Muysken, Pieter
    2013 “Language contact outcomes as the result of bilingual optimization strategies.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition16: 714. 10.1017/S1366728912000727
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728912000727 [Google Scholar]
  29. Myers-Scotton, Carol
    1993Duelling languages: Grammatical structure in code-switching. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. 2002Contact Linguistics: Bilingual Encounters and Grammatical Outcomes. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198299530.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198299530.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  31. Myers-Scotton, Carol , and Janice Jake
    2013 “Nonfinite verbs and negotiating bilingualism in code-switching: implications for a language production model.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition17: 511–525. 10.1017/S1366728913000758
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728913000758 [Google Scholar]
  32. Otheguy, Ricardo , and Naomi Lapidus
    2003 “An Adaptive Approach to Noun Gender in New York contact Spanish.” InA Romance Perspective on Language Knowledge and Use, ed. by Rafael Nuñez-Cedeno , Luis López , and Richard Cameron , 209–229. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. 10.1075/cilt.238.17oth
    https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.238.17oth [Google Scholar]
  33. Otheguy, Ricardo , Ofelia Garcia , and Wallis Reid
    2015 “Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing named languages: A perspective from linguistics.” Applied Linguistics Review6: 281–307. 10.1515/applirev‑2015‑0014
    https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2015-0014 [Google Scholar]
  34. Pablos, Leticia , María del Carmen Parafita Couto , Bastien Boutonnet , Amy de Jong , Marlou Perquin , Annelies de Haan , and Niels O. Schiller
    2018 “Adjective-Noun Order in Papiamento-Dutch code-switching.” Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism. doi:  10.1075/lab.17036.pab
    https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.17036.pab [Google Scholar]
  35. Parafita Couto, María del Carmen , Margaret Deuchar , and Marika Fusser
    2015 “How do Welsh-English bilinguals deal with conflict? Adjective-noun order resolution.” InCode-switching at the crossroads between structural and sociolinguistic perspective, ed. by Gerald Stell and Kofi Yakpo , 65–84. Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Parafita Couto, María del Carmen , and Marianne Gullberg
    2017 “Code-switching within the noun phrase: Evidence from Three Corpora.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. doi:  10.1177/1367006917729543
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006917729543 [Google Scholar]
  37. Parafita Couto, María del Carmen , Bastien Boutonnet , Noriko Hoshino , Peredur Davies , Margaret Deuchar , and Guillaume Thierry
    2017 “Testing Alternative Theoretical Accounts of Code-Switching using Event-Related Potentials: A Pilot Study on Welsh-English.” InBilingualism and minority languages in Europe: Current trends and developments, ed. by Fraser Lauchlan and María del Carmen Parafita Couto , 242–256. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Pfaff, Carol W.
    1979 “Constraints on language mixing: Intrasentential code-switching and borrowing in Spanish/English.” Language55: 296–316. 10.2307/412586
    https://doi.org/10.2307/412586 [Google Scholar]
  39. Poplack, Shana
    1980 “Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in English y termino en español: Toward a Typology of Code-switching.” Linguistics18: 581–618. 10.1515/ling.1980.18.7‑8.581
    https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.1980.18.7-8.581 [Google Scholar]
  40. 2018Borrowing: Loanwords in the Speech Community and in the Grammar. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Sebba, Mark
    1998 “A congruence approach to the syntax of code-switching.” International Journal of Bilingualism2: 1–19. 10.1177/136700699800200101
    https://doi.org/10.1177/136700699800200101 [Google Scholar]
  42. Scrivner, Olga , and Manuel Díaz-Campos
    2016 “Language Variation Suite: A theoretical and methodological contribution for linguistic data analysis.” Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America1: 1–15. 10.3765/plsa.v1i0.3734
    https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v1i0.3734 [Google Scholar]
  43. Sobin, Nicholas J.
    1984 “On Code-switching inside NP.” Applied Psycholinguistics5: 293–303. 10.1017/S0142716400005191
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716400005191 [Google Scholar]
  44. Stadthagen-González, Hans , María del Carmen Parafita Couto , Alejandro Párraga , and Markus Damian
    2017 “Testing alternative theoretical accounts of code-switching: Insights from comparative judgments of adjective-noun order.” International Journal of Bilingualism. doi:  10.1177/1367006917728390
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006917728390 [Google Scholar]
  45. Stammers, Jonathan , and Margaret Deuchar
    2012 “Testing the nonce borrowing hypothesis: counter-evidence from English-origin verbs in Welsh.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition15: 630–643. 10.1017/S1366728911000381
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728911000381 [Google Scholar]
  46. Timm, Leonora
    1975 “Spanish-English code-switching: el porque y how-not-to.” Romance Philology28: 473–482.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Treffers-Daller, Jeanine
    1994Mixing two languages: French-Dutch Contact in a Comparative Perspective. Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110882230
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110882230 [Google Scholar]
  48. Vanden Wyngaerd, Emma
    2016 “The adjective in Dutch-French codeswitching: Word order and agreement.” International Journal of Bilingualism. doi:  10.1177/1367006916632302
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006916632302 [Google Scholar]
  49. Wentz, Jim , and Erica McClure
    1976 “Ellipsis in bilingual discourse.” InPapers from the twelfth regional meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society12: 656–665. Chicago, IL: Chicago Linguistic Society.
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1075/sic.00034.bal
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/sic.00034.bal
Loading

Data & Media loading...

Keyword(s): adjectives; convergence; Northern Belize; Spanish/English CS

Most Cited