Code-switching within the noun phrase: Evidence from three corpora

• Published in: The international journal of bilingualism : cross-disciplinary, cross-linguistic studies of language behavior Vol. 23; no. 2; pp. 695 - 714
• Main Authors: Parafita Couto, Maria Carmen, Gullberg, Marianne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.04.2019; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Adjectives; bilingualism; Code switching; Coding; corpus linguistics; Determiners; Dutch language; English language; General Language Studies and Linguistics; Humaniora och konst; Humanities; Jämförande språkvetenskap och allmän lingvistik; Language; Languages and Literature; Monolingualism; Noun phrases; Nouns; Papiamentu; Software; Spanish language; Språk och litteratur; Welsh language; Word order; English; Papiamento; code-switching; noun phrases; corpora; Bilingualism; Spanish; Welsh; Dutch
• DOI: 10.1177/1367006917729543
• ISSN: 1367-0069

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 extra-linguistic 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.