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

In turns 22, 53, 59 and 63, English conjunctions are followed by Afrikaans
pronouns. In turns 22 and 63, the switches begin with the pronoun, ‘hulle’, while
in turns 53, 119, 127, and 129 switches begin with ‘hy’. These may all be
accounted for in terms of identity as the speaker refers to himself as well as those
he speaks of by using Afrikaans pronouns, implying that they wish to be affiliated
with the Cape Flats Afrikaans speech community.
In turn 22, the switch can be accounted for in terms of a structural as well as
motivational framework. The switched phrase, ‘sign language’, can be explained
in terms of Azuma’s (1996) Stand Alone Principle, as the basic premise is that
any ‘chunk’ which carries meaning on its own may be switched. In this case, it
appears as though the speaker is more familiar with the English phrase, rather than
its Afrikaans equivalent. Therefore, the English phrase meaningfully stands on its
own in the host’s mind. Further examples of codeswitching which can be
accounted for in terms of the Stand Alone Principle are provided in the discussion
on verbs and nonce loans.
In addition, the switch may also be analyzed as a nonce loan or as the insertion of
a minimal constituent as it requires no inflection, according to matrix language
rules, and occupies the same syntactic slot as its Afrikaans equivalent would.
In terms of motivation, the term ‘sign language’ fills a gap in the host’s Afrikaans
lexicon as it is unlikely that the speaker is familiar with the Afrikaans translation.
The same could apply to the listeners as it is highly likely that if the host did not
know the Afrikaans equivalent, the majority of his listeners would not either.
Therefore, the host may possibly have opted to use the English phrase, instead, as
a means of accommodating his listeners and ensuring their understanding.
Again, in turn 22, switching fills a lexical gap. It seems the speaker wishes to
continue in Afrikaans after using the conjunction ‘but’ since it is followed by the
Afrikaans determiner, ‘die’. However, the Afrikaans equivalent of ‘French
waiters’ (Franse tafelbediendes) would either be unknown to some listeners or
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