A minimalist approach to intrasentential code switching / Jeff MacSwan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

MacSwan, Jeff, 1961-

Series:

Outstanding dissertations in linguistics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Code switching (Linguistics).

Minimalist theory (Linguistics).

Education, Bilingual.

Spanish language--Syntax.

Spanish language.

Nahuatl language--Syntax.

Nahuatl language.

Physical Description:

xxvi, 305 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Garland Pub., 1999.

Summary:

Argues that if the underlying linguistic competence of code switchers -- people who switch back and forth between languages, dialects, or levels of formality -- is the same as that of monolinguals for the languages they use, then code switching should not be stigmatized in schools. Also contends that a better understanding of the practice and of bilingualism in general would have a positive impact on educational policy, teaching, and curriculum. The 1998 dissertation for the University of California at Los Angeles has been corrected and slightly revised.

Contents:

1 Rationale 3

1.1 Schooling, Propaganda, and Social Class 5

1.2 Prescriptivism and the Status of Languages 7

1.3 Code Switching and the Ideology of "Cognitive Deficits" 10

1.3.1 "Semilingualism" and Linguistic Competence 10

1.3.2 The Threshold Hypothesis and Language Proficiency 15

1.4 The Ann Arbor Decision, Code Switching, and Language Education 19

1.5 Bilingualism and Placement in Special Education 20

2.1 What is Bilingual Proficiency? 29

2.1.2 Critical Period Effects and Language Proficiency 31

2.1.3 Identifying Proficient Bilinguals 36

2.2 Code Switching 37

2.2.1 Social Aspects of Code Switching 37

2.2.2 Grammatical Aspects of Code Switching 40

2.2.2.1 Poplack's (1980, 1981) approach 40

2.2.2.2 Joshi's (1985) approach 42

2.2.2.3 Di Sciullo, Muysken and Singh's (1986) approach 43

2.2.2.4 Mahootian's (1993) approach 44

2.2.2.5 Belazi, Rubin and Tor ibio's (1994) approach 48

2.2.2.6 Speech-planning approaches 50

2.2.2.7 Summary of basic findings in code switching corpora 52

2.3 Language Contact Phenomena 55

2.3.1 Borrowings and Calques 55

2.3.2 Creoles and Pidgins 59

2.4 The Theory of Syntax 62

2.4.1 Some Advantages of Formalism in the Study of Grammar 62

2.4.2 Generative Grammar Before the Minimalist Program 64

2.4.3 The Minimalist Program 66

2.5 Nahuatl and Spanish 70

2.5.1 Genetic and Typological Relationships 70

2.5.2 The Spanish Language 73

2.5.3 The Nahuatl Language 73

2.5.3.1 Varieties of Nahuatl 77

2.5.3.2 Nahuatl Courses and Linguistic Studies 80

2.5.3.3 Nahuatl Orthography 81

2.6 Spanish and Nahuatl in Central Mexico 82

2.6.1 The Aztecs and Hernan Cortes 82

2.6.2 Spanish and Nahuatl in Contemporary Mexico 86

3 Research Design 97

3.1 Research Questions 97

3.2 Consultants 98

3.2.1 Selection Criteria for Target Language Population 98

3.2.2 Description of Consultants 98

3.3 Data Collection Procedures 101

3.3.1 Naturalistic Observations 101

3.3.2 Sentence Judgment Tasks 103

3.3.3 Conventions and Abbreviations Used for Presentation of Data 104

3.4 How the Research Questions Will be Addressed 106

4 Spanish-Nahuatl Code Switching: Basic Findings 109

4.1 Data Obtained Through Elicited Judgments 109

4.1.1 Conjunctions and because 110

4.1.2 That-Complement 111

4.1.3 Other Embedded Clauses 113

4.1.4 Negation 118

4.1.5 Quantifiers and Nonreferential Quantified NPs 120

4.1.6 Demonstratives 124

4.1.7 Determiners 125

4.1.8 Nahuatl in and Spanish Nouns 126

4.1.9 Modification Structures 127

4.1.10 Switches Involving Subject and Object Pronouns 128

4.1.11 Switches Involving Clitics 131

4.1.12 Switches Involving a Bound Morpheme 132

4.1.13 Other Findings 134

4.2 Data Obtained in the Naturalistic Observation 135

4.2.1 Intersentential Switches 135

4.2.2 Conjunctions 135

4.2.3 Modification Structures 136

4.2.4 Nouns 137

4.2.5 Verbs 139

4.2.6 Prepositions 139

4.2.7 C-Elements 140

4.2.8 D-Elements 141

4.2.9 Negation 141

4.2.10 Word-Internal Instances of Code Switching 141

4.2.11 Adverbs 142

4.2.12 Interjections 142

4.2.13 Inventory of Spanish Borrowings in the Naturalistic Data 143

5 A Minimalist Approach to Code Switching 145

5.1 Code Switching on Minimalist Assumptions 145

5.2 The Spanish-Nahuatl Corpus 151

5.2.1 The Spanish-Nahuatl Corpus on Other Theories 151

5.2.2 An Analysis of the Data 156

5.2.2.1 Pronouns and Agreement Morphemes 156

5.2.2.2 Clitics and Agreement Morphemes 171

5.2.2.3 Embedded Clauses 179

5.2.2.4 Duratives 190

5.2.2.5 Negatives 196

5.2.2.6 Gender Features in DPs and Modification Structures 199

5.2.3 Preliminary Conclusions 206

5.3 Other Corpora and Some Prospects for Further Research 207

5.3.1.1 Conjunctions and that (Table 1, (1)-(2)) 208

5.3.1.2 Embedded Verbs (Table 1, (3a)-(3d)) 211

5.3.1.3 Negation (Table 1, (3e)) 215

5.3.1.4 D-Matter (Table 1, (4)) 216

5.3.1.5 Modification Structures (Table 1, (5)) 217

5.3.1.6 Pronouns and Clitics (Table 1, (6)) 219

5.3.1.7 Morphological Switches (Table 1, (7)) 221

5.3.1.8 Code Switching and Basic Word Orders 225

5.4 Some General Conclusions 230

6 Some Implications for Educational Research and Practice 247

6.1 Policy: Tacit Tracking and Code Switching 248

6.2 Curriculum 252

6.2.1 Revising the Threshold Hypothesis 252

6.2.2 Language Arts and Linguistic Inquiry 255

6.3 Teaching: Bilingual Instruction and Code Switching 257

6.4 Bilingualism and Assessment 261

6.5 Bilingualism, Cognition and Mental Architecture 265.

Notes:

A revision of the author's thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Los Angeles, 1998.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 271-295) and index.

ISBN:

0815332742

OCLC:

40395605