grammatical constraints and motivations for - University of the ...
grammatical constraints and motivations for - University of the ... grammatical constraints and motivations for - University of the ...
where languages lacked the vocabulary to do so. Thus, speakers were forced to rely on a word from another language to convey the meaning they intended to. In certain instances, codeswitching fulfils this function as well, but also serves a variety of other functions too. However, what differentiates codeswitching from borrowing is that the former only occurs in the speech of bilinguals, while the latter is evident even in the speech of monolinguals (Simango, 2000). Poplack (1990: 55) further distinguishes between nonce loans and borrowing, arguing that, borrowings “tend to be content words which take the same inflections and occupy the same syntactic slots as corresponding native recipientlanguage words.” This implies that borrowings are generally single words which belong to open classes and occupy the same position in a sentence in either language whereas nonce loans are single words in one of the languages used and are found in sentences otherwise consisting of elements in the other language. In relation to English/Afrikaans codeswitching, distinguishing between borrowings and nonce loans appears to be quite challenging as, in many instances, the sentence structures are alike. Therefore, one will only be able to draw a clear-cut distinction between the two in cases where syntactic structures differ. Poplack (1990) also argues that when a single word from one language appears in a sentence consisting of elements from another language, this word may be analyzed as an insertion of a minimal constituent if it occurs in an appropriate lexical slot. Thus, single words may be analyzed as borrowings, nonce loans or as the insertion of minimal constituents. For the purpose of this study, I will analyze borrowings as such, but will also regard them as switches in cases where there is a clear switch from one language to another. Earlier, I defined codeswitching as the use of two linguistic varieties (languages or dialects) in an utterance, or the use of both grammatical and lexical items from two different languages in a single utterance, produced by a bilingual speaker. Thus, while single words may be labeled borrowings, I believe that they should also be regarded as instances of 46
codeswitching as they do reflect the use of two languages within a single utterance. 3.2 Grammatical Constraints on Codeswitching A wide variety of constraints have been proposed by many different researchers, each focusing on switching across different sets of languages. Some of the constraints proposed may be language specific, whereas others may act as universal constraints for codeswitching in any language. Muysken (1995: 196) argued that switching is possible under the following conditions: 1. When no tight relation exists among elements: when there are no rules of government preventing a switch 2. Under equivalence: when the order of grammatical elements is the same in both languages 3. When the element undergoing the switch is morphologically encapsulated 4. When the first word of the switch can belong to either of the languages involved, such as ‘in’ which has the same meaning and is pronounced in the same way in German and English. Cook-Gumperz (1976) argues that, both co-ordinate and sub-ordinate conjoined sentences can be freely switched, but the conjunction always goes with the second switched phrase: John stayed at home because his wife was at work. ** John stayed at home because his wife was at work. This theory may very well be applicable to English/Afrikaans codeswitching. It makes more sense for the conjunction to agree with the second part of the phrase because it is likely that the conjunction would be a part of the phrase being 47
- Page 1 and 2: GRAMMATICAL CONSTRAINTS AND MOTIVAT
- Page 3 and 4: Abstract GRAMMATICAL CONSTRAINTS AN
- Page 5 and 6: Declaration I declare that Grammati
- Page 7 and 8: Table of Contents Key words .......
- Page 9 and 10: 1.0 Introduction Chapter 1 Backgrou
- Page 11 and 12: English is not the mother tongue of
- Page 13 and 14: everyday communication. The nature
- Page 15 and 16: While researchers and sociolinguist
- Page 17 and 18: language of the court, education, a
- Page 19 and 20: This, then, makes it apparent why C
- Page 21 and 22: have always been exposed simultaneo
- Page 23 and 24: ) I have eaten an apple. The past t
- Page 25 and 26: also instances in which they do not
- Page 27 and 28: providing a strong argument that co
- Page 29 and 30: 1.10 Outline of the Study Chapter 1
- Page 31 and 32: 2.0 Introduction Chapter 2 Social M
- Page 33 and 34: “…codeswitching is a form of bo
- Page 35 and 36: In this section, I attempt to provi
- Page 37 and 38: eferred to as RO) sets between part
- Page 39 and 40: example, Afrikaans speakers may swi
- Page 41 and 42: Further, Franceschini (1998: 62) st
- Page 43 and 44: context in which the speaker finds
- Page 45: 3.0 Introduction Chapter 3 Grammati
- Page 49 and 50: Constituent insertion differs from
- Page 51 and 52: In these examples, the main verbs a
- Page 53 and 54: 4.0 Introduction Chapter 4 Research
- Page 55 and 56: Thus, qualitative research is an in
- Page 57 and 58: However, contrary to Auer’s 1984
- Page 59 and 60: The transcripts were then analyzed
- Page 61 and 62: 5.0 Introduction Chapter 5 Discussi
- Page 63 and 64: Turn Phrase Table 1: Switched conju
- Page 65 and 66: In turns 22, 53, 59 and 63, English
- Page 67 and 68: Unlike in English, when the past te
- Page 69 and 70: similarity to that of Afrikaans due
- Page 71 and 72: Table 7: Afrikaans determiners with
- Page 73 and 74: possessive. However, it appears as
- Page 75 and 76: indefinite articles, ‘a’ or ‘
- Page 77 and 78: The following are examples from the
- Page 79 and 80: Turn Mixed verb Afrikaans equivalen
- Page 81 and 82: In turns 421 and 532, the host subs
- Page 83 and 84: the violation of this constraint, p
- Page 85 and 86: nouns) are used. I have selected a
- Page 87 and 88: What follows are a few switches to
- Page 89 and 90: The next switch is the insertion of
- Page 91 and 92: has chosen to split the phrase into
- Page 93 and 94: The discourse suggests that the hos
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codeswitching as <strong>the</strong>y do reflect <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> two languages within a single<br />
utterance.<br />
3.2 Grammatical Constraints on Codeswitching<br />
A wide variety <strong>of</strong> <strong>constraints</strong> have been proposed by many different researchers,<br />
each focusing on switching across different sets <strong>of</strong> languages. Some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
<strong>constraints</strong> proposed may be language specific, whereas o<strong>the</strong>rs may act as<br />
universal <strong>constraints</strong> <strong>for</strong> codeswitching in any language.<br />
Muysken (1995: 196) argued that switching is possible under <strong>the</strong> following<br />
conditions:<br />
1. When no tight relation exists among elements: when <strong>the</strong>re are no rules <strong>of</strong><br />
government preventing a switch<br />
2. Under equivalence: when <strong>the</strong> order <strong>of</strong> <strong>grammatical</strong> elements is <strong>the</strong> same in<br />
both languages<br />
3. When <strong>the</strong> element undergoing <strong>the</strong> switch is morphologically encapsulated<br />
4. When <strong>the</strong> first word <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> switch can belong to ei<strong>the</strong>r <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> languages<br />
involved, such as ‘in’ which has <strong>the</strong> same meaning <strong>and</strong> is pronounced in <strong>the</strong><br />
same way in German <strong>and</strong> English.<br />
Cook-Gumperz (1976) argues that, both co-ordinate <strong>and</strong> sub-ordinate conjoined<br />
sentences can be freely switched, but <strong>the</strong> conjunction always goes with <strong>the</strong> second<br />
switched phrase:<br />
John stayed at home because his wife was at work.<br />
** John stayed at home because his wife was at work.<br />
This <strong>the</strong>ory may very well be applicable to English/Afrikaans codeswitching. It<br />
makes more sense <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> conjunction to agree with <strong>the</strong> second part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> phrase<br />
because it is likely that <strong>the</strong> conjunction would be a part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> phrase being<br />
47
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