Bilingualism in the community : code-switching and grammars in contact / Rena Torres Cacoullos, Pennsylvania State University, Catherine Travis, Australian National University.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Torres Cacoullos, Rena, author.

Travis, Catherine E., 1968- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Code switching (Linguistics).

Grammar, Comparative and general.

Bilingualism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 240 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Summary:

Does the use of two languages by bilinguals inevitably bring about grammatical change? Does switching between languages serve as a catalyst in such change? It is widely held that linguistic code-switching inherently promotes grammatical convergence - languages becoming more similar to each other through contact; evidence for this, however, remains elusive. A model of how to study language contact scientifically, Bilingualism in the Community highlights variation patterns in speech, using a new bilingual corpus of English and Spanish spontaneously produced by the same speakers. Putting forward quantitative diagnostics of grammatical similarity, it shows how bilinguals' two languages differ from each other, aligning with their respective monolingual benchmarks. The authors argue that grammatical change through contact is far from a foregone conclusion in bilingual communities, where speakers are adept at keeping their languages together, yet separate. The book is compelling reading for anyone interested in bilingualism and its importance in society.

Contents:

Language contact through the lens of variation

The community basis of bilingual phenomena

Good data: Capturing language use

Characterizing the bilingual speaker

Subject pronoun expression: Reconsidering the constraints

Cross-language comparisons: Foundations for assessing contact-induced change

Assessing change and continuity

The most intimate contact: The bilinguals' two languages

Code-switching without convergence

Code-switching and priming

Bilingualism in its linguistic and social context.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 26 Feb 2018).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-108-24495-5

1-108-23525-5

1-108-24667-2