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Chapter 2. Gender assignment in mixed noun phrases: State of the art
Abstract
Gender as a morphosyntactic feature is arguably “an endlessly fascinating linguistic category” (Corbett 2014: 1). One may even say it is among “the most puzzling of the grammatical categories” (Corbett 1991: 1) that has raised probing questions from various theoretical and applied perspectives. Most languages display semantic and/or formal gender systems with various degrees of opacity and complexity, and even closely related languages present distinct differences, creating difficulties for second language learners. The first three chapters of this volume present critical reviews in three different areas – gender assignment in mixed noun phrases, subtle gentle biases and the gender acquisition in child and adult heritage speakers of Spanish – while the next six chapters present new empirical evidence in the acquisition of gender by bilingual children, adult L2/L3 learners and heritage speakers of various languages such as Italian, German, Dutch or Mandarin-Italian.
... Previous research on gender in code-switched constructions has reported variation in how gender assignment strategies are reflected in speakers' production and evaluation of code-switched constructions. This reported variation can be attributed, in part, to a large number of linguistic and extralinguistic factors diverging between studies (e.g., language pair, order of acquisition of the languages), and to non-systematic variability in methodological tools (Bellamy and Parafita Couto 2022). Unveiling the regularities that govern code-switched speech requires both (i) comparisons across communities and language pairs (Deuchar 2020;Lipski 2019;Parafita Couto, Greidanus Romaneli, and Bellamy in press) and (ii) the use of complementary methods (Gullberg, Indefrey, and Muysken 2009;Toribio 2018;Munarriz-Ibarrola, Parafita Couto, and Vanden Wyngaerd 2018). ...
This study focuses on unveiling the strategies involved in gender assignment in codeswitching between two gendered languages: Dutch (common/neuter gender) and Portuguese (masculine/feminine gender). We draw on naturalistic speech ( n = 32 speakers), elicited production ( n = 35) as well as intuitional data ( n = 57) from Dutch/Portuguese bilinguals stemming from three communities in Paraná, Southern Brazil, aiming to disentangle the relative roles of linguistic and extralinguistic factors on gender assignment. In unilingual Dutch, we find that Dutch/Portuguese bilinguals overgeneralize common determiners and adjectives to neuter nouns, similarly to other Dutch bilinguals outside the Netherlands (Clyne 1977; Clyne and Pauwels 2013 ; Folmer 1991 ; Giesbers 1997 ). In codeswitched constructions, however, speakers assign common and masculine gender as defaults, in line with the prediction that speakers of language pairs with no gender values in common prefer gender defaulting in mixed constructions ( Klassen 2016 ). While extralinguistic factors such as age and relative use of the languages shaped unilingual Dutch production, the patterns during codeswitching were conventionalized across the speaker sample.
[Dutch below]
A frequent phenomenon in the speech of bilinguals is code-switching, the use of multiple languages in one conversation, or even within a single sentence. Code-switching researchers are interested in the compromises that bilinguals make to embed elements from one language into the structure of the other. Nouns, for instance, that are embedded in the structure of a language with grammatical gender, have to be classified into gender categories. This study describes the structure of code-switching, in particular the rules for assigning gender to code-switched nouns, in nineteenth-century Dutch, which still clearly distinguished three gender categories. In order to study this, we analysed code-switching in the novel Max Havelaar by Multatuli, who used a wide variety of Indonesian words and phrases, as well as Latin, French, German, and English lexical elements. The results show that insertions are the most common type of code-switching in Max Havelaar, and that gender assignment is guided by three factors, depending on the language of origin: the gender of the noun in the language of origin, the translation equivalent, and phonological cues.
Een veelvuldig voorkomend fenomeen bij tweetaligen is codeswitching, het gebruik van meerdere talen in één gesprek, of zelfs in één zin. Codeswitchingonderzoekers zijn geïnteresseerd in de compromissen die tweetaligen sluiten om elementen uit de ene taal in de structuur van een andere taal in te bedden. Zo moeten gecodeswitchte nomina die in de structuur van een taal met grammaticaal geslacht worden ingebed bij een geslachtscategorie worden ingedeeld. In dit onderzoek beschrijven we de structuur van codeswitching, in het bijzonder de regels voor de toewijzing van grammaticaal geslacht aan gecodeswitchte nomina, in het Nederlands van de negentiende
eeuw, dat nog duidelijk drie geslachtscategorieën onderscheidde. Om dat te onderzoeken, hebben we de codeswitching in Multatuli’s Max Havelaar geanalyseerd, waarin een breed scala aan woorden en zinssneden uit het Indonesisch wordt gebruikt, naast Latijnse, Franse, Duitse en Engelse lexicale elementen. De resultaten laten zien dat in Max Havelaar vooral insertionele codeswitching voorkomt, en dat bij het toewijzen van grammaticaal geslacht drie factoren een rol spelen, afhankelijk van de herkomsttaal: het geslacht in de taal van origine, het vertaalequivalent, en fonologische aanwijzingen.
One characteristic of multilingual speakers is that in everyday life, they may integrate elements from their languages in the same sentence or discourse, a practice known as code-switching. This paper examines code-switching at the interfaces, in particular as related to information structure. Despite the fact that a core question of modern linguistic theory is how syntactic and information-structural theories interact in accounting for licensing of different grammatical phenomena, there has been relatively little literature on code-switching and information structure. In this paper, we provide an overview of the available literature on code-switching across different language combinations, focusing in particular on subject pronoun–verb switches, ellipsis, light verbs, topic/focus particles, and code-switching between sign languages. We argue that the study of the interplay between information structure and code-switching sheds light on our understanding of multilingual grammars and language competence more generally. In this regard, we discuss theoretical and methodological considerations to guide future studies.
Drawing on naturally-occurring bilingual speech from a well-defined codeswitching community in Southern Arizona, this study examined the influence of semantic gender (a.k.a. biological gender), analogical gender, and other-language phonemic cues in modulating gender assignment in Spanish–English codeswitched speech. Thirty-four Spanish–English early bilinguals completed a forced-choice elicitation task involving two codeswitching environments: Spanish determiner–English noun switches (Task 1) and English–Spanish switched copula constructions (Task 2). The results revealed that for human-denoting nouns, bilinguals assigned grammatical gender based on the presupposed sex of a noun's referent in both syntactic environments tested. As for inanimate nouns, bilinguals were more likely to assign masculine over feminine gender to such nouns in determiner–noun switches, but not in switched copula constructions. Other-language phonemic cues did not influence the assignment mechanism. A methodological implication is that the study replicated the codeswitching patterns observed in naturally-occurring bilingual speech from the same bilingual community.
Gender as a morphosyntactic feature is arguably “an endlessly fascinating linguistic category” (Corbett 2014: 1). One may even say it is among “the most puzzling of the grammatical categories” (Corbett 1991: 1) that has raised probing questions from various theoretical and applied perspectives. Most languages display semantic and/or formal gender systems with various degrees of opacity and complexity, and even closely related languages present distinct differences, creating difficulties for second language learners. The first three chapters of this volume present critical reviews in three different areas – gender assignment in mixed noun phrases, subtle gentle biases and the gender acquisition in child and adult heritage speakers of Spanish – while the next six chapters present new empirical evidence in the acquisition of gender by bilingual children, adult L2/L3 learners and heritage speakers of various languages such as Italian, German, Dutch or Mandarin-Italian.
Here, we used event-related potentials to test the predictions of two prominent accounts of code-switching in bilinguals: The Matrix Language Framework (MLF; Myers-Scotton, 1993) and an application of the Minimalist Programme (MP; Cantone and MacSwan, 2009). We focused on the relative order of the noun with respect to the adjective in mixed Welsh–English nominal constructions given the clear contrast between pre- and post-nominal adjective position between Welsh and English. MP would predict that the language of the adjective should determine felicitous word order (i.e., English adjectives should appear pre-nominally and Welsh adjectives post-nominally). In contrast, MLF contends that it is the language of the finite verb inflexion rather than that of a particular word that governs felicitous word order. To assess the predictions of the two models, we constructed sentences featuring a code-switch between the adjective and the noun, that complied with either English or Welsh word-order. Highly proficient Welsh–English bilinguals made semantic acceptability judgements upon reading the last word of sentences which could violate MP assumptions, MLF assumptions, both assumptions, or neither. Behaviourally, MP violations had no significant effect, whereas MLF violations induced an average drop of 11% in acceptability judgements. Neurophysiologically, MP violations elicited a significant Left Anterior Negativity (LAN) modulation, whereas MLF violations modulated both P600 and LAN mean amplitudes. In addition, there was a significant interaction between MP and MLF status in the P600 range: When MP was violated, MLF status did not matter, and when MP criteria were met, MLF violations resulted in a P600 modulation. This interaction possibly reflects a general preference for noun over adjective insertions, and may provide support for MLF over MP at a global sentence processing level. Model predictions also manifested differently in each of the matrix languages (MLs): When the ML was Welsh, MP and MLF violations elicited greater P600 mean amplitudes than MP and MLF adherences, however, this pattern was not observed when the ML was English. We discuss methodological considerations relating to the neuroscientific study of code-switching, and the extent to which our results shed light on adjective-noun code-switching beyond findings from production and experimental-behavioural studies.
Gender has been extensively studied in Spanish heritage speakers. However, lexical frequency effects have yet to be explored in depth. This study aimed to uncover the extent to which lexical frequency affects the acquisition of gender assignment and gender agreement and to account for possible factors behind heritage language variability. Thirty-nine English-dominant heritage speakers of Spanish completed a lexical knowledge screening task (Multilingual Naming Test (MiNT)) along with an elicited production task (EPT), a forced choice task (FCT), and a self-rating lexical frequency task (SRLFT). Heritage speakers performed more successfully with high-frequency lexical items in both the EPT and the FCT, which examined their acquisition of gender assignment and gender agreement, respectively. Noun canonicity also affected their performance in both tasks. However, heritage speakers presented differences between tasks—we found an overextension of the masculine as well as productive vocabulary knowledge effects in the EPT, whereas the FCT showed an overextension of the feminine and no productive vocabulary knowledge effects. We suggest that lexical frequency, determined by the SRLFT, and productive vocabulary knowledge, as measured by the MiNT, account for the variability in the acquisition of gender assignment but not on gender agreement, supporting previous claims that production is more challenging than comprehension for bilinguals.
We examined gender assignment patterns in the speech of Spanish/English bilingual children, paying particular attention to the influence of three gender assignment strategies (i.e., analogical gender, masculine default gender, phonological gender) that have been proposed to constrain the gender assignment process in Spanish/English bilingual speech. Our analysis was based on monolingual Spanish nominals (n = 1,774), which served as a comparative baseline, and Spanish/English mixed nominal constructions (n = 220) extracted from oral narratives produced by 40 child bilinguals of different grade levels (2nd graders vs. 5th graders) and instructional programs (English immersion vs. two-way bilingual) from Miami Dade, Florida. The narratives, available in the CHILDES database (MacWhinney 2000), were collected by Pearson (2002). Results revealed that in Spanish nominal constructions, children across both instructional programs and grade levels evinced native-like acquisition of grammatical gender. In mixed nominals, children overwhelmingly assigned the masculine gender to English nouns. Notably, irrespective of schooling background, simultaneous Spanish/English bilingual children used the masculine default gender strategy when assigning gender to English nouns with feminine translation equivalents. This suggests that from age seven, simultaneous Spanish/English child bilingual acquisition of grammatical gender is characterized by a predisposition towards the employment of the masculine default gender strategy in bilingual speech.
This paper provides a critical review of the state of the art in code-switching research being conducted in linguistics. Three issues of theoretical and practical importance are explored: (a) code-switching vs. borrowing; (b) grammaticality; and (c) variability vs. uniformity, and I take a position on all three issues. Regarding switching vs. borrowing, I argue that not all lone other-language items are borrowings once more subtle measures of integration are used. I defend the use of empirical data to compare competing theoretical frameworks of grammaticality, and I exemplify quantitative research on variability in code-switching, showing that it also reveals uniformity and the possible influence of community norms. I conclude that more research is needed on a range of bilingual communities in order to determine the relative contribution of individual factors, processing and community norms to the variability and uniformity of code-switching.
Previous studies have observed different gender assignment strategies for English nouns in Spanish-English code-switching (CS). However, these studies have not investigated the role of noun gender canonicity of the Spanish equivalent, they have only examined participants in bilingual speaker mode, and most studies have not explored the role of bilingual language experience. The current study compares gender assignment by heritage speakers of Spanish in a monolingual speaker mode and a bilingual speaker mode, considering the role of noun gender canonicity and CS experience. Results revealed a language mode effect, where participants used significantly more masculine determiners with the same feminine nouns in the CS session than those in the Spanish monolingual session where they used a feminine determiner. Further evidence of a language mode effect was found in the effect of noun canonicity and bilingual language experience. Noun canonicity was only significant in the Spanish monolingual session, where participants used significantly more masculine determiners with non-canonical nouns. Bilingual language experience was only significant in the CS session, where regular codeswitchers used more masculine default determiners than infrequent codeswitchers and non-codeswitchers, while in Spanish-only, all these groups behaved similarly.
Codeswitching is a powerful phenomenon to explore how the properties of the two language systems interact in the bilingual mind. This study focuses on this language contact situation by analyzing eye-tracking data recorded from a group of L1 Spanish – L2 English bilinguals. More specifically, and given that Spanish-English bilingual communities have been shown to exhibit an overwhelming tendency to produce determiner-noun switches (la window / the ventana), we formally explore the directionality of the switch and the type of implicit gender agreement mechanism in the case of Spanish determiner switches (la/el window // el/la book). Our results show that Spanish determiner switches as well as gender non-congruent Spanish determiner switches take significantly longer to process. We interpret these results in the light of formal proposals on gender representation and of previous empirical studies and argue that the strength of grammatical gender in the participants’ L1 determines the switching processing costs.
Research on grammatical gender processing has generally assumed that grammatical gender can be treated as a uniform construct, resulting in a body of literature in which different gender classes are collapsed into single analysis. The present work reviews linguistic, psycholinguistic, and neurolinguistic research on grammatical gender from different methodologies and across different profiles of Spanish speakers. Specifically, we examine distributional asymmetries between masculine and feminine grammatical gender, the resulting biases in gender assignment, and the consequences of these assignment strategies on gender expectancy and processing. We discuss the implications of the findings for the design of future gender processing studies and, more broadly, for our understanding of the potential differences in the processing reflexes of grammatical gender classes within and across languages.
This paper explores borrowing of nouns between two unrelated Australian languages with a long history of contact: Mudburra, a language with no grammatical gender, and Jingulu, which has four genders and super-classing. Unusually, this case involves extensive borrowing in both directions, resulting in the languages sharing 65% of their nouns. This bi-directional borrowing of nouns allows us to simultaneously examine the behaviour of gender where (i) nouns from a language with no gender have transferred into a language with a gender system, and (ii) nouns from a language with gender have transferred into a language with no gender system. Previous work in this area has been interested in the how nouns are categorised in scenario (i) (Deuchar et al., 2014; Jake et al., 2002; Liceras et al., 2008; Parafita Couto et al., 2015; Poplack et al., 1982), and whether there is any evidence for the development of a gender system in the recipient language in scenario (ii) (Aikhenvald, 2003; Corbett, 1991; Heath, 1978; Matras & Sakel, 2007; Seifart, 2012; Stolz, 2009; Stolz, 2012). We show that Mudburra nouns borrowed into Jingulu are assigned gender on the basis of their semantics, with gender superclassing effects and morpho-phonological massaging. Some of the borrowings into Mudburra, on the other hand, demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of Jingulu morpho-syntax which speaks to a high degree of bilingualism between Mudburra and Jingulu over an extended period.
Grammatical gender agreement has been well addressed in language comprehension but less so in language production. The present article discusses the arguments derived from the most prominent language production models on the representation and processing of the grammatical gender of nouns in language production and then reviews recent empirical studies that provide some answers to these arguments.
In Papiamento-Dutch bilingual speech, the nominal construction is a potential 'conflict site' if there is an adjective from one language and a noun from the other. Adjective position is pre-nominal in Dutch (cf. rode wijn 'red wine') but post-nominal in Papiamento (cf. biña kòrá 'wine red'). We test predictions concerning the mechanisms underpinning word order in noun-adjective switches derived from three accounts: (i) the adjective determines word order (Cantone & MacSwan, 2009), (ii) the matrix language determines word order (Myers-Scotton, 1993, 2002), and (iii) either order is possible (Di Sciullo, 2014). An analysis of spontaneous Papiamento-Dutch code-switching production (Parafita Couto & Gullberg, 2017) could not distinguish between these predictions. We used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to measure online comprehension of code-switched utterances. We discuss how our results inform the three theoretical accounts and we relate them to syntactic coactivation and the production-comprehension link.
Purepecha has no grammatical gender, whereas Spanish has a binary masculine–feminine system. In this paper we investigate how early sequential Purepecha–Spanish bilinguals assign gender to Purepecha nouns inserted into an otherwise Spanish utterance, using a director-matcher production task and an online forced-choice acceptability judgement task. The results of the production task indicate a strong preference for masculine gender, irrespective of the gender of the noun’s translation equivalent, the so-called “masculine default” option. Participants in the comprehension task were influenced by the orthography of the Purepecha noun in the -a ending condition, leading them to assign feminine gender agreement to nouns that are masculine in Spanish, but preferred the masculine default strategy again in the -i/-u ending condition. The absence of the “analogical criterion” in both tasks contrasts with the results of some previous studies, underlining the need for more comparable data in terms of task type. Our results also highlight how task type can influence the choices speakers make, in this context, in terms of the choice of grammatical gender agreement strategy. Task type should therefore be carefully controlled in future studies.
Variation in the ways by which an individual processes codeswitched language may reveal fundamental dynamics of the language system that are otherwise obscured under unilingual conditions. Despite this, an important aspect that has been largely neglected in the field is the role of the bilingual experience in language processing. Drawing on corpus-driven and experimental research, the corpus-to-cognition approach to codeswitching integrates field- and laboratory-based work to examine how the bilingual experience may influence language processing. In this review, we elaborate on the best practices for investigating codeswitching, with converging evidence from different methodologies across different bilingual populations.
This paper focuses on the factors influencing the language of determiners in nominal constructions in two sets of bilingual data: Spanish/English from Miami and Spanish/English creole from Nicaragua. Previous studies (Liceras et al. 2008; Moro Quintanilla 2014) have argued that Spanish determiners are preferred in mixed nominal constructions because of their grammaticised nature. However, those studies did not take the matrix language into account, even though Herring et al. (2010) found that the language of the determiner matched the matrix language. Therefore, we hypothesise that the matrix language is the main influence on the language of the determiner in both mixed and unmixed nominal constructions. The results are consistent with our hypothesis that the matrix language of the clause provides the language of the determiner in mixed and unmixed Determiner Phrases (DPs). Once the matrix language is controlled for, the Miami data show a greater tendency for Spanish determiners to appear in mixed DPs than English determiners. However, in the Nicaragua data, we found only mixed DPs with an English creole determiner. This suggests that bilingual communities do not always follow the same pattern, and that social rather than grammatical factors may be at play. We conclude that while the language of the determiner is influenced by clause-internal structure, that of its noun complement and the matrix language itself depends on extralinguistic considerations.
Objectives/research questions
We used two types of acceptability judgments to experimentally test the predictions of two theoretical models of code-switching regarding the surface realization of the determiner in nominal constructions: lexicalist approaches within the Minimalist Program (MP) versus the Bilingual NP Hypothesis within the Matrix Language Frame Model (MLF).
Methodology
Two separate groups of 40 early Spanish-English bilinguals evaluated the acceptability of sentences with code-switches between the determiner and the noun that reflected the predictions of the MP model, the MLF, of both or none. The first group rated them on a Likert scale, while the second group performed a two-alternative forced-choice acceptability task (2AFC).
Data and analysis
Ratings from the Likert ratings were subjected to an analysis of variance while results from the 2AFC were analyzed using Thurstone’s Law of Comparative Judgment.
Conclusions
Both experiments yielded converging evidence supporting the predictions of the MLF. Results from the 2AFC provided a more detailed picture that suggests also a (smaller) contribution of the language of the determiner.
Originality
This is the first study to use acceptability judgments to directly contrast the predictions of these major theoretical models regarding switches between determiner and noun. An additional novelty is the use of the 2AFC and Thurstone’s Law of Comparative Judgment, which yielded a more detailed picture than the more commonly used Likert-scale ratings.
Implications
Our results provide further support for Eppler, Luescher, and Deuchar’s recent claim that we can only advance our understanding of grammaticality in code-switching if we combine the insights of the different frameworks rather than considering them in isolation.
Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This study aims to improve our
understanding of common switching patterns by examining determiner–noun–adjective complexes
in code-switching (CS) in three language pairs (Welsh–English, Spanish–English and Papiamento–
Dutch). The languages differ in gender and noun–adjective word order in the noun phrase (NP):
(a) Spanish, Welsh, and Dutch have gender; English and Papiamento do not; (b) Spanish, Welsh,
and Papiamento prefer post-nominal adjectives; Dutch and English, prenominal ones. We test
predictions on determiner language and adjective order derived from generativist accounts and
the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) approach.
Design/methodology/approach: We draw on three publicly available spoken corpora. For the
purposes of these analyses, we re-coded all three datasets identically. From the three re-coded
corpora we extracted all monolingual and mixed simplex NPs (DetN) and complex NPs with
determiners (determiner–adjective–noun (DetAN/NA)). We then examined the surrounding
clause for each to determine the matrix language based on the finite verb.
Data and analysis: We analysed the data using a linear regression model in R statistical software
to examine the distribution of languages across word class and word order in the corpora.
Findings/conclusions: Overall, the generativist predictions are borne out regarding adjective
positions but not determiners and the MLF accounts for more of the data. We explore extralinguistic
explanations for the patterns observed.
Originality: The current study has provided new empirical data on nominal CS from language
pairs not previously considered.
Significance/implications: This study has revealed robust patterns across three corpora and
taken a step towards disentangling two theoretical accounts. Overall, the findings highlight the
importance of comparing multiple language pairs using similar coding.
This study examines bilinguals’ gender use strategies in code-switched agreement (i.e. the moon is bonita) and concord (i.e. la moon) structures. Thirty-five L1 Spanish-L2 English adult bilinguals and 43 L1 English-L2 Spanish adults with an intermediate (N=18) or advanced (N=25) level of proficiency in Spanish completed an acceptability judgment task in which they rated code-switched Adjectival Predicates and DPs. The results show that only the L1 Spanish-L2 English bilinguals prefer the Adj (in the case of agreement) or the D (in the case of concord) to be marked for the gender of the Spanish translation equivalent of the English N, but that all groups rate agreement structures higher than concord structures. Both of these findings corroborate previous work on intrasentential code-switching, however, this is the first study to offer an account for the contrast in processing difficulty between agreement and concord structures. We argue that this difference can be explained in terms of the way in which the features are valued in agreement and in concord. Under the double-feature valuation mechanism (Liceras et al., 2008) in agreement both features are valued in a single direction, while in concord the features are valued in two different directions. It is this unidirectionality of the feature valuation mechanism in agreement that makes code-switched agreement structures such as Adjectival Predicates easier to process.
This article argues that 2-alternative forced choice tasks and Thurstone’s law of comparative judgments (Thurstone, 1927) are well suited to investigate code-switching competence by means of acceptability judgments. We compare this method with commonly used Likert scale judgments and find that the 2-alternative forced choice task provides granular details that remain invisible in a Likert scale experiment. In order to compare and contrast both methods, we examined the syntactic phenomenon usually referred to as the Adjacency Condition (AC) (apud Stowell, 1981), which imposes a condition of adjacency between verb and object. Our interest in the AC comes from the fact that it is a subtle feature of English grammar which is absent in Spanish, and this provides an excellent springboard to create minimal code-switched pairs that allow us to formulate a clear research question that can be tested using both methods.
This volume provides a sample of the most recent studies on Spanish-English codeswitching both in the Caribbean and among bilinguals in the United States. In thirteen chapters, it brings together the work of leading scholars representing diverse disciplinary perspectives within linguistics, including psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, theoretical linguistics, and applied linguistics, as well as various methodological approaches, such as the collection of naturalistic oral and written data, the use of reading comprehension tasks, the elicitation of acceptability judgments, and computational methods. The volume surpasses the limits of different fields in order to enable a rich characterization of the cognitive, linguistic, and socio-pragmatic factors that affect codeswitching, therefore, leading interested students, professors, and researchers to a better understanding of the regularities governing Spanish-English codeswitches, the representation and processing of codeswitches in the bilingual brain, the interaction between bilinguals’ languages and their mutual influence during linguistic expression.
The present study examines two aspects of determiner phrases (DPs) that have been previously investigated in Spanish/English code-switching; namely, the openness of semantic domains to non-native nouns and gender assignment in monolingual versus code-switched speech. The quantitative analysis of naturalistic, oral production data from 62 native speakers of Northern Belizean Spanish revealed both similarities and notable differences vis-à-vis previous findings for varieties of Spanish/English code-switching in the U.S. Hispanophone context. Semantic domains that favoured non-native nouns in Spanish/English DPs included academia, technology, work/money-related terms, abstract concepts, linguistics/language terms and everyday items. In relation to gender assignation, assignment patterns in monolingual DPs were canonical whereas an overwhelming preference for the masculine default gender was attested in mixed DPs. Biological gender was not found to be deterministic in switched DPs. The analysis highlights the important role that type of code-switching has on contact outcomes in bi/multilingual communities, as speech patterns are reflective of the status and resourcefulness that code-switching is afforded at a societal and idiolectal level.
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Even though more than half the world's population is bilingual, the study of bilinguals has lagged behind that of monolinguals. With this book, which draws on twenty-five years of the author's research, François Grosjean contributes significantly to redressing the balance. The volume covers four areas of research: the definition and characterization of the bilingual person, the perception and production of spoken language by bilinguals, the sign-oral bilingualism of the Deaf, and methodological and conceptual issues in research on bilingualism. While the author takes a largely psycholinguistic approach, his acute linguistic and sociolinguistic awareness is evident throughout and especially so in his reflections on what it means to be bilingual and bicultural. The book also defends increased co-operation among researchers in connecting fields such as the language sciences and the neurosciences.
This chapter takes a critical approach to what we know about the role of the input in multilingual development in early childhood. We include a historical background on competing theoretical approaches to language acquisition in which we argue that usage-based approaches gained traction through the attention paid to input in multilingual acquisition studies. However, in reviewing such studies we draw attention to the limitations of their focus on parental rather than community input. We also draw attention to the need to go beyond the binary distinction of simultaneous and successive acquisition and take into account more fully the child’s age of acquisition in relation to the development of specific areas of language. We review the findings on the link between code-switching or mixing in the input and child productions, pointing out the range of different methodological approaches in identifying mixing. We advocate a more child-centred approach in which the morphosyntactic frame of the child’s utterance is taken into account, and illustrate this with our own study. Finally we argue that future studies should include full ethnographic information about the community setting in which multilingual acquisition takes place.
Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions
This paper investigates the gender assignment strategies employed when genderless Georgian nouns are inserted into gendered Tsova-Tush utterances. We explore the linguistic and extra-linguistic factors motivating the strategies, and compare how these code-switches behave in relation to loans.
Design/methodology/approach
Taking a broadly usage-based approach, we collected three types of data: (a) naturalistic corpus data; (b) semi-naturalistic production data from a forced-switch director–matcher (DM) task; and (c) a three-response forced-choice acceptability judgement task (AJT).
Data and analysis
The responses from the DM task ( n = 12) and AJT acceptability ( n = 12) were analysed using descriptive (Chi-square) and inferential (log-linear) statistics. The corpus data are described qualitatively.
Findings/conclusions
Both the gender of the Tsova-Tush translation equivalent (TE) and the Georgian phonology of the code-switched noun were significantly related to the response, with the TE being the stronger determinant of the two. Only marginal evidence for a default strategy was found. Production responses were found to be more consistent than comprehension responses, with more frequent lexemes displaying higher inter-participant consistency in production.
Originality
Tsova-Tush, an endangered Nakh–Daghestanian language with five genders marked by prefixes, offers much-needed diversification within the code-switching literature concerning grammatical gender. This complexity also raises new questions regarding the notion of default in mixed nominal constructions.
Significance/implications
Our findings support the prediction that first language speakers of a gendered language prefer a TE strategy, but contradict a relationship between default strategy and language dominance. Phonological criteria display a stronger role in gender assignment than previously found. Frequency and entrenchment of gender–noun pairings partially explain inter-speaker and inter-stimulus variation and consistency, providing a plausible pathway from code-switches to borrowings.
Limitations
An unavoidable limitation is the sample size, reflecting the small speaker population. We strongly advocate for similar research in other language pairs in the Caucasus where gender systems feature prominently.
This paper investigates the strategies involved in gender assignment in Spanish-Basque mixed Determiner Phrases (DPs) with a gendered Spanish determiner ( el M / la F ) and a Basque ungendered noun. Previous studies on Spanish-Basque mixed DPs have revealed conflicting results regarding the determining factor affecting gender assignment, namely, phonological ending vs. analogical gender. We designed a forced-switch elicitation task in order to elicit mixed DPs with a Spanish determiner and a Basque noun (controlled for both phonological vs. analogical cues). Thirty highly proficient Spanish-Basque bilinguals with different profiles and sociolinguistic backgrounds participated in the study. Three cues were significant in the selection of the Spanish M/F determiner: the analogical gender and two phonological cues, the word ending and the root ending of the Basque noun. Further statistical analyses revealed participants’ L1 as a strong factor in the variability attested: bilinguals with Spanish as (one of) their L1(s) rely predominantly on the analogical criterion, whereas speakers with only Basque as L1 follow mainly the phonological criterion. Overall, this study provides an explanation for the previous conflicting results and highlights the fact that bilinguals may use different strategies depending on their bilingual profile and the morpho-phonological properties of the languages in contact.
Cambridge Core - Cognitive Linguistics - Bilingual Grammar - by Luis López
This volume compiles eight original chapters dedicated to different topics within bilingual grammar and processing with special focus on code-switching. Three main features unify the contributions to this volume. First, they focus on making a contribution to our understanding of the human language within a coherent theoretical framework; second, they understand that a complete theory of the human language needs to include data from bilinguals’ I-languages; and third, they are committed to obtaining reliable data following experimental protocols.
This volume compiles eight original chapters dedicated to different topics within bilingual grammar and processing with special focus on code-switching. Three main features unify the contributions to this volume. First, they focus on making a contribution to our understanding of the human language within a coherent theoretical framework; second, they understand that a complete theory of the human language needs to include data from bilinguals’ I-languages; and third, they are committed to obtaining reliable data following experimental protocols.
Bi hizkuntzatako elementu lexikoak edota gramatikalak hizketaldi bereantxertatzeari hainbat izen eman zaizkio literaturan. Ingelesez code-switching (CS) eta code-mixing (CM) esan izan zaio: azkeneko horrek, CMk,nahasketa kutsua dauka eta CSk, aldiz, txandakatzeari gehiago egiten dioerreferentzia. Euskaraz ere hainbat deitura hartu izan ditu fenomeno honek.Kode-alternantzia (Amonarriz 2008, Ezeizabarrena 2014), hizkuntza-lerratzea;(Epelde & Oyharçabal 2013), kode-trukaketa (Rotaetxe 1999), zein kode-aldaketa(Aurrekoetxea & Unamuno 2011). Elebidunak diren gizarteetan oso ohikoaeta zabaldua den fenomenoa da, hizkuntza-ukipenaren ondoriozko fenomenobat baitugu.Lan honetan sintagma barruko KA aztertuko da eta euskara-gaztelaniaDeterminatzaile Sintagma (DS) nahasiei erreparatuko zaie, batez ere hizketaldikohizkuntza nagusia gaztelania denean euskarazko DS nahasiak txertatzeari.
The current volume contains a selection from papers presented at the 45th meeting of the Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL 45), which took place from May 6 to 9, 2015 at the University of Campinas, Brazil. A volume of selected papers, such as this one, will ultimately be successful contingent upon the success of the event itself, which proved a strong commitment to theoretical and empirical rigor to the studies in Romance linguistics. All the chapters in this volume are high-quality papers on the state-of-the-art in linguistic research into Romance languages. The studies offer a variety of topics on the syntax, phonology, semantics-pragmatics, L2 acquisition and contact situations of Romance languages (Peninsular and American Spanish; European, Brazilian and African Portuguese; French; Italian), Romance dialects (Borgomanerese) and Romance-based creoles (Palenquero).
Theoretically significant work on the grammar of codeswitching by the leading researchers in the field.
Codeswitching is the alternate use of two or more languages among bilingual interlocutors. It is distinct from borrowing, which involves the phonological and morphological integration of a word from one language into another. Codeswitching involves the mixing of phonologically distinctive elements into a single utterance: Mi hermano bought some ice cream. This volume examines the grammatical properties of languages mixed in this way, focusing on cases of language mixing within a sentence. It considers the grammar of codeswitching from a variety of perspectives, offering a collection of theoretically significant work by the leading researchers in the field.
Each contribution investigates a particular grammatical phenomenon as it relates to bilingual codeswitching data, mostly from a Minimalist perspective. The contributors first offer detailed grammatical accounts of codeswitching, then consider phonological and morphological issues that arise from the question of whether codeswitching is permitted within words. Contributors additionally investigate the semantics and syntax of codeswitching and psycholinguistic issues in bilingual language processing. The data analyzed include codeswitching in Spanish-English, Korean-English, German-Spanish, Hindi-English, and Amerindian languages.
ContributorsShoba Bandi-Rao, Rakesh M. Bhatt, Sonia Colina, Marcel den Dikken, Anna Maria Di Sciullo, Daniel L. Finer, Kay E. González-Vilbazo, Sílvia Milian Hita, Jeff MacSwan, Pieter Muysken, Monica Moro Quintanilla, Erin O'Rourke, Ana Teresa Pérez-Leroux, Edward P. Stabler Jr., Gretchen Sunderman, Almeida Jacqueline Toribio
We report three experiments on two groups of Spanish–English bilinguals who differed in codeswitching experience (codeswitchers and non-codeswitchers) to examine how different production choices predict comprehension difficulty. Experiment 1 examined the processing of gender congruent and gender incon-gruent determiner-noun switches in sentential contexts using event-related potentials. While codeswitchers demonstrated N400 sensitivity to congruency manipulations, non-codeswitchers showed a modulation of early frontal EEG activity to switching, regardless of switch type. Experiment 2 validated the translation-equivalent target words compared in Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, the bilinguals who participated in Experiment 1 completed a task that elicited naturally-produced codeswitched speech. Codeswitchers switched more often than non-codeswitchers, and their switches robustly reflected the conditions that were more easily processed in Experiment 1. Together, the results indicate the comprehension system becomes optimally attuned to variation in the input, and demonstrate that switching costs depend on the type of codeswitch and bilinguals' language experience.
Lardiere (1998a, 1998b) and Prévost and White (2000b) have proposed that adult second language (L2) learners can in principle acquire native-like syntactic representations of the L2 and that the commonly observed differences between native speakers (NSs) and nonnative speakers (NNSs) are due to the malfunctioning of the morphological module of the grammar or of its interface with the syntactic module. Indeed, they reject the idea that such differences arise as the result of a deficit in the syntax. However, the model of grammar which underlies this proposal is as yet far from clear. To test the strength of the claim it is important to examine closely the assumed interactions between lexicon, syntax and morphology.This article is a modest attempt to begin this process of scrutiny. Once detail is added to the proposal it becomes clear that theoretical and empirical problems arise. Moreover, some new data collected from a near-native speaker of Spanish bring the empirical problems into sharper focus. It will be concluded that existing evidence against a deficit in the syntax is not compelling.
This volume provides a sample of the most recent studies on Spanish-English codeswitching both in the Caribbean and among bilinguals in the United States. In thirteen chapters, it brings together the work of leading scholars representing diverse disciplinary perspectives within linguistics, including psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, theoretical linguistics, and applied linguistics, as well as various methodological approaches, such as the collection of naturalistic oral and written data, the use of reading comprehension tasks, the elicitation of acceptability judgments, and computational methods. The volume surpasses the limits of different fields in order to enable a rich characterization of the cognitive, linguistic, and socio-pragmatic factors that affect codeswitching, therefore, leading interested students, professors, and researchers to a better understanding of the regularities governing Spanish-English codeswitches, the representation and processing of codeswitches in the bilingual brain, the interaction between bilinguals’ languages and their mutual influence during linguistic expression.
This collection of articles highlights a selection of on-going research projects. Phonological, morphological, and syntactic issues are addressed by international experts on Maltese. The diachronic development of Maltese, its age-long contact with Italo-Romance, and the present diglossic situation with co-official English are the topics of a variety of contributions to this volume. The repercussions that the promotion of Maltese to the status of official working language of the EU has on the Maltese lexicon are discussed. A project on the sociolinguistics of non-native Maltese-English is presented. The problems posed by the creation of electronic resources for Maltese are equally focused upon. The papers amply demonstrate that Maltese Linguistics can stand on its own outside the traditional field of Oriental Studies.
This book contains 12 papers contributed by leading scholars in the field of language development, studying variants of the languages which originated on the Iberian peninsula. The contributors examine language development in both typically-developing and language-impaired populations who are learning language in diverse learning conditions, including language contact, as well as monolingual and bilingual Spanish, Catalan, Galician and Euskera. This expansion and diversification of the database for studying language development is important because it creates new opportunities for testing theoretical claims. Our contributors reconsider theoretical claims relating to the purported adult-like nature of young children’s grammars. While some conclude, for example, that children in Mexico possess very adult-like semantic-pragmatic competence in the domain of the pragmatic implicatures associated with existential quantifiers, others conclude that, in particular sociolinguistic registers of Chilean Spanish, children are late to develop adult-like competence in plural marking. Taken together, the contents of the volume illustrate how the linguistic diversity found in the distinct learning conditions in which language develops offers a wealth of opportunities to further our understanding of linguistic and non-linguistic cognitive development.
Using code-switching as a tool to illustrate how language experience modulates comprehension, the visual world paradigm was employed to examine the extent to which gender-marked Spanish determiners facilitate upcoming target nouns in a group of Spanish-English bilingual code-switchers. The first experiment tested target Spanish nouns embedded in a carrier phrase (Experiment 1b) and included a control Spanish monolingual group (Experiment 1a). The second set of experiments included critical trials in which participants heard code-switches from Spanish determiners into English nouns (e.g., la house) either in a fixed carrier phrase (Experiment 2a) or in variable and complex sentences (Experiment 2b). Across the experiments, bilinguals revealed an asymmetric gender effect in processing, showing facilitation only for feminine target items. These results reflect the asymmetric use of gender in the production of code-switched speech. The extension of the asymmetric effect into Spanish (Experiment 1b) underscores the permeability between language modes in bilingual code-switchers.
