grammatical constraints and motivations for - University of the ...

• While conjunctions do agree with the switched phrase, ‘but’ and ‘because’
have been integrated into the Afrikaans lexicon and are most likely to
occur in their English forms, even when the switched portion is Afrikaans.
• Codeswitching occurs under equivalence only when present tense forms
are used. Switches occur where surface structures map onto each other or
when the first word of a switch would be in the same syntactic position in
either language.
• Switching may occur even when there is no word order equivalence, as
past tense and negation always results in word order conflict between
English and Afrikaans.
• Closed class items may not be switched.
• Content words, such as nouns, may be switched.
• Afrikaans determiners may be used with English nouns or noun phrases
when these have become part of the Afrikaans lexicon, or when there is no
meaningful direct translation.
• Verbs may be switched, even if they result in a combination of morphs
from English and Afrikaans. This may be done if a speaker wishes to use
‘ge-’, as an indication of tense, for verbs which do not usually take this
form. Switching may also occur if the English verb is more likely to be
understood or when it is phonetically similar to its Afrikaans equivalent.
Lastly, English/Afrikaans codeswitching has a unique set of constraints that
determine what may constitute an acceptable switch. It is clear from the data that
codeswitching fulfills many social and conversational functions, it allows
speakers access to different identities, and it is a complex process involving great
skill in both the languages being used. The data has proven that, even within the
context of a live radio talk show, English/Afrikaans codeswitching is both socially
motivated (as speakers are able to assign roles and identities and convey concepts
of ‘self’ and ‘other’) and governed by a unique set of grammatical constraints that
determine when a switch may or may not occur.
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