Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Deriving Word Order in Code-switching

Cuny Graduate School University Center, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

This study investigates the linguistic nature of code-switching (CS), the concurrent use of more than one language in bilingual conversational speech. Patterns of CS are not random but systematic, which suggests the possibility that CS is constrained by grammatical principles that underlie human language. This research will investigate CS across languages that have different canonical orders of object (O) and verb (V). CS data show that not only can a switch occur across languages with different canonical word orders, such as an OV language like Korean and a VO language like English, but the internal order of a code-switched constituent may also vary, exhibiting either order of the two languages involved in CS. This project tests the hypothesis that OV-VO variation in CS is due to properties of particular verbs but also the meaning of the resulting phrase after the verb has combined with an object. The project will test the predictions of such a theory against Korean-English and Japanese-English bilingual speakers' introspective judgments of CS patterns presented to them in the form of a questionnaire. CS has been extensively studied, yet there has been no single satisfactory account to explain the diverse, yet systematic, word order patterns found in various language pairs. By offering a unified linguistic account of certain word order variations in CS, this research contributes to an understanding of variation in bilingual speech and how it is regulated. The results of the study will also bear on several current proposals in theoretical syntax. Applying these proposals to bilingual speech is an innovative way to evaluate them. Lastly, this study will have a broader impact on various social and educational aspects. CS is often stigmatized and work on CS will help reduce such negative perceptions. This study will promote CS as a legitimate language form of bilinguals, which is subject to the same universal principles that govern monolingual speech.