Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
Discussions concerning syntactic aspects of code-switching (CS) phenomena are currently ongoing. This thesis looks at two such phenomena, nominal ellipsis (NPE) and linear adjacency, and shows how...Show moreDiscussions concerning syntactic aspects of code-switching (CS) phenomena are currently ongoing. This thesis looks at two such phenomena, nominal ellipsis (NPE) and linear adjacency, and shows how empirical investigation of CS contexts helps inform linguistic theory. This was accomplished by presenting 23 Belgian Dutch/French (BD/FR) bilinguals with a two-alternative forced choice judgment task and comparing their choices through t-tests to check for significance. Experiment 1 examines whether the choice of grammatical gender on adnominal ellipsis remnants reveals a morphosyntactic link between a FR elided noun with a BD antecedent. The results show that no such link can be observed for NPE in this language pair; this is contra González-Vilbazo and Ramos (2015), Merchant (2015) and Nee (2012), who have found evidence of a such a link between elided elements and antecedent in code-switched clausal and VP-ellipsis, as well as general evidence against structural theories of ellipsis (e.g., Merchant, 2001; 2004). Experiment 2 explores the Matrix Language Framework (MLF) (Myers-Scotton, 1993; 1995), a popular model that predicts that the determiner language will match the matrix language (ML) in code-switched DPs. However, effects of linear adjacency between the determiner and the inflection on the main verb (which determines the ML) have not yet been considered within the MLF. The DP was given as a post-verbal complement (adjacent), and as a post-verbal adjunct and a pre-verbal complement (non-adjacent). The results show that linear adjacency has no effect on determiner language. Moreover, the results also do not fit into the MLF. This thesis is the first empirical study to examine NPE theory in a code-switched environment, as well as the first to investigate linear adjacency effects on code-switched DPs. This work also provides insight into CS patterns in the BD/FR language pair, a relatively understudied bilingual population that frequently employs CS but is not a close-knit community. Taken together, these findings show that gathering empirical CS data from distinct bilingual populations is crucial, adding new and contrary insights and aiding the construction of linguistic theory.Show less
The aim of this study is to improve our understanding of code-switching (CS) at conflict sites (where the grammars of two languages have conflicting rules). We examine Determiner-Noun-Adjective...Show moreThe aim of this study is to improve our understanding of code-switching (CS) at conflict sites (where the grammars of two languages have conflicting rules). We examine Determiner-Noun-Adjective switches produced by Kaqchikel-Spanish bilinguals. Both languages differ in gender and word order: (i) Spanish has gender, Kaqchikel does not, and (ii) the adjective in Spanish is normally postnominal while in Kaqchikel it is prenominal (Bosque & Picallo, 1996; Brown, Maxwell & Little, 2006) (see examples 1 & 2, respectively). (1) Spanish: la casa roj-a def. .art fem house red-fem ‘The red house’ (2) Kaqchikel: ri käq jay def.art red house ‘The red house’ Predictions on mixed nominal constructions (NCs), based on two theoretical approaches, the Matrix Language Frame model (MLF) (Myers-Scotton, 2002) and the Minimalist Program (MP) (Chomsky, 1995, 2000) are examined. Both approaches provide contrasting predictions regarding the language of the determiner and adjective position. The MP predicts that (i) the determiner language is provided by the language with the ‘richest array of grammatical features’ (Liceras, Spradlin & Fernández Fuertes, 2005; Moro Quintanilla, 2014) and (ii) the adjective language dictates the relative order of the adjective with respect to the noun (Cantone & MacSwan, 2009). The MLF model predicts that (i) the determiner language is provided by the Matrix Language (ML) of the clause, and (ii) the ML dictates the relative order of the adjective with respect to the noun. Previous studies, both based on naturalistic and experimental data, report different outcomes when examining the prediction accuracy of the two approaches for language of the determiner and adjective position in different language pairs (e.g. Herring, Deuchar, Parafita Couto & Moro Quintanilla, 2010; Parafita Couto & Gullberg, 2017; Blokzijl, Deuchar, Parafita Couto, 2017, Fairchild & Van Hell, 2015; Parafita Couto, Deuchar & Fusser, 2015; Stadthagen-González, Parafita Couto, Parraga & Damian, 2017; Balam & Parafita Couto, 2019; Pablos, Parafita Couto, Boutonnet, De Jong, Perquin, De Haan & Schiller, 2019). In the present study, a total of 277 mixed NCs were elicited from 20 Kaqchikel-Spanish bilinguals through a Director-Matcher task (Gullberg, Indefrey & Muysken, 2009). Results show that (i) the determiner always appeared in Kaqchikel, supporting the predictions of the MLF (because the ML was always Kaqchikel) but not the MP, (ii) the adjective always occurred in postnominal position. In 164 out of 174 cases, the adjective language was Kaqchikel. This postnominal position was not predicted by any of the theoretical approaches. In monolingual Kaqchikel nominal constructions in this task, the adjective also occurred predominantly in postnominal position. Possible explanations for this can be drawn upon recent studies that report a task-effect (Bellamy, Parafita Couto & Stadthagen-González, 2018).Show less
Objectives: This thesis is a replication study of previous work on Spanish-English code-switching (Stadthagen-González, Parafita Couto, Párraga and Damian, 2017) and focuses on comparative...Show moreObjectives: This thesis is a replication study of previous work on Spanish-English code-switching (Stadthagen-González, Parafita Couto, Párraga and Damian, 2017) and focuses on comparative judgments, with regard to adjective-noun order in Papiamento-Dutch code-switched utterances. It examines the predictions of adjective-noun order derived from two different theoretical models: the Minimalist Program (Cantone & MacSwan, 2009) and the Matrix Language Framework (Myers-Scotton, 2002). In Dutch, adjectives are prenominal, like ‘zwarte hond’ (‘black dog’), whereas in Papiamento, adjectives are mostly post-nominal, as in ‘kachó pretu’ (literally: ‘dog black’). The Matrix Language Framework (MLF) posits that the word order in code-switched sentences must follow the word order of the Matrix Language (determined by finite verb morphology) (Myers-Scotton, 2002). However, according to Cantone and MacSwan (2009) within the Minimalist Program (MP), the word order depends on the adjective’s language. Methodology and analysis: To evaluate these predictions, 10 monolingual base sentences were modified into 40 code-switched items, consistent with the MP, the MLF, with both or none of the theoretical models. Data was gathered by a 2-Alternative Forced Choice (2AFC) task, concentrating explicitly on switches in adjective-noun word order and was analysed using Thurstone’s Law of Comparative Judgment (Thurstone, 1927). Conclusions: Results of the thirty-seven bilinguals that participated in this experiment, indicate that both the language of the verb as well as the language of the adjective are used to determine word order in code-switched sentences and these results do not differ much from those of the similar study regarding Spanish-English bilinguals (Stadthagen-González et.al., 2017). Evidence showed that neither of the two theoretical models can fully account for the acceptability of adjective-noun switches. Implications: A suggestion would be to combine the insights of both the Minimalist Program and the Matrix Language Framework to be able to understand grammaticality in code-switching, as already proposed by Stadthagen-González et.al., (2017).Show less
This thesis focuses on gender-assignment strategies in Spanish-English mixed nominal constructions in which nouns come from English and determiners come from Spanish. Spanish has gender-agreement...Show moreThis thesis focuses on gender-assignment strategies in Spanish-English mixed nominal constructions in which nouns come from English and determiners come from Spanish. Spanish has gender-agreement for determiners (el/los/uno/estos for masculine, la/las/una/estas for feminine gender), as well as also other types of agreement, for instance with adjectives. English does not possess gender-agreement in the least. This conflict site where grammars of the two languages have conflicting rules, is therefore interesting to examine. Previous studies report that bilingual speakers use different strategies when assigning gender-agreement in code-switched Determiner Phrases (DPs) where the determiner comes from a gender-carrying language and the noun from a language without gender. Valdés Kroff, in his study (2016) found evidence in favour of the default strategy proposed earlier by Poplack, Pausada & Sankoff (1982). He examined mixed DPs in the Bangor Miami Corpus. He found that Spanish determiners were almost all masculine gendered and used as a default. A second strategy proposed by Liceras et al. (2008) suggests that translation equivalent of the noun will determine the gender of the Spanish determiner in Spanish-English bilingual speech. A third possible strategy, found by Parafita Couto et al. (2016), is that the gender-assignment in Basque-Spanish language pair is determined by a phonological cue. This means that nouns ending on-a, mostly trigger the Spanish feminine la determiner in mixed DPs. The aim of the present study is to determine which of these strategies are mostly used in each community and to look if, and how, these communities differ. The bilingual speech production of 104 participants were examined through a Map Task, across four Spanish-English communities: Pennsylvania State University (PSU) (USA), San Juan, (Puerto Rico, USA), El Paso (Texas, USA) and Granada (Spain)). Results showed, that in bilingual DPs, Spanish masculine determiner occurred more frequently as a default strategy, than the analogical strategy in both San Juan and PSU. Interestingly, in Granada and El Paso, both the default and the translation equivalent strategies are almost equally used. In conclusion, these bilingual communities with the same language pair, have different strategies for gender-assignment in bilingual DPs. As suggested by Valdés Kroff (2016), this can be explained by specific community norms that result in linguistic variation across communities.Show less
This thesis focuses on the factors influencing the language of determiners in nominal constructions in two sets of bilingual data, Spanish-English from Miami and Spanish- Nicaraguan Creole English...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the factors influencing the language of determiners in nominal constructions in two sets of bilingual data, Spanish-English from Miami and Spanish- Nicaraguan Creole English from Nicaragua. Previous studies (Liceras, Fernández Fuertes, Perales, Pérez-Tattam, and Spradlin, 2008; Quintanilla, 2014) have argued that Spanish determiners are preferred in mixed nominal constructions because of their grammaticized nature, since they mark gender. However, those studies did not take the matrix language into account, even though Herring, Deuchar, Parafita Couto, and Quintanilla (2010) found that the language of the determiner generally matched the matrix language. For that reason, the hypothesis of this study is that the matrix language is the main influence on the language of the determiner in both mixed and unmixed nominal constructions. This would mean that bilinguals will have to option to switch language in selecting the noun, meaning that the noun complement could be influenced by extra-linguistic factors. The results are consistent with this hypothesis: once the matrix language is controlled for, the Miami data shows a greater tendency for Spanish determiners to appear in mixed DPs than English determiners. However, the reverse tendency is found in the Nicaragua data, in which we found only mixed DPs with an English creole determiner. The results suggest that bilingual communities can follow different patterns, and that social factors play a role as well. This study concludes that while the language of the determiner is influenced by clause-internal structure, the language of its noun complement and the matrix language itself depend on extralinguistic considerations.Show less
This thesis reports on an empirical investigation of the language in both company posts and customer comments on the Dutch H&M Facebook page and on the results of a small-scale online self...Show moreThis thesis reports on an empirical investigation of the language in both company posts and customer comments on the Dutch H&M Facebook page and on the results of a small-scale online self-completion questionnaire on the appreciation and understanding of English words by Dutch Facebook users in order to investigate the role of the translator in online social media. After carrying out the case-study it became obvious that influences of the English language are evidently present on the H&M Facebook page as 89 per cent of the company posts and 37 per cent of the accompanying customer comments contained English and/or (standardised) loanwords. The results from the questionnaire remained open to different interpretations as comprehension of fashion related terminology was high but preferences and attitudes towards code-switching and the use of English, Dutch or hybrid one-liners that often appear in the H&M company posts varied depending on the phrasing of the specific questions in the questionnaire. However, the results do suggest that language mixing through hybrid posts is generally not recommendable as exclusively Dutch and exclusively English one-liners were often preferred by the participants of this study. Yet, the data did not provide a conclusive answer to whether English posts on social media should be translated or creatively re-written into Dutch but underlined that this depends on factors which are relevant when translating for online social media such as the specific target audience and the purpose of the translation.Show less
English has become increasingly more important in the field of academics due to the rapid development of global internationalisation. In the Netherlands, English has become the primary medium of...Show moreEnglish has become increasingly more important in the field of academics due to the rapid development of global internationalisation. In the Netherlands, English has become the primary medium of instruction in many postgraduate courses. This study was conducted to investigate the use of spoken Dutch within two postgraduate courses with English as primary medium of instruction (EMI classrooms). It’s aim was provide an insight into the situation and aid in understanding the co-existence of Dutch and English. This research investigated three questions: 1) Is Dutch used in the EMI classroom? 2)What is the function of the use of Dutch and 3) How is the use of language perceived by the students? For this project, data were collected through the observation of lectures and interviews with students. The findings showed that Dutch was used by both lecturers and students, in many different situations (for example, mostly outside of the lecturers and in breaks) and served many different functions (for example as an unofficial medium of instruction, or to appeal for assistance when knowledge was lacked in English) This means that even though English is the primary medium of instruction, this does not mean that is not the only language that is being used. The language situation has become similar to a diglossic situation, in which Dutch and English rather comfortably co-exist.Show less
This thesis investigates mixed nominal constructions, both complex (with an adjective) and simplex. Such constructions create potential conflict sites in Spanish-English code-switching. Spanish and...Show moreThis thesis investigates mixed nominal constructions, both complex (with an adjective) and simplex. Such constructions create potential conflict sites in Spanish-English code-switching. Spanish and English differ for (1) adjective-noun order: Spanish typically has post-nominal adjectives, whereas English has pre-nominal adjectives, and (2) grammatical gender: Spanish has a binary gender system, while English does not. A multi-task method was conducted in the Spanish-English bilingual community in Puerto Rico. The tasks comprised of an elicitation task (cf. director-matcher task, Gullberg, Indefrey, and Muysken 2008) and an auditory grammaticality judgment task. The predictions from the Matrix Language Framework (MLF, Myers-Scotton 2002) and a minimalist analysis from Cantone and MacSwan (2009) are tested against the collected data. The results from both tasks tend to indicate that the Matrix Language approach provides better predictions than the minimalist approach in every respect except for adjective-noun order constructions in the judgment task. This slight preference, however, is not significant. Toy task results for gender assignment in Spanish determiners indicate that there is a preference for the assignment of default gender, i.e. masculine in Spanish, rather than gender that is analogue to the translation equivalent of the noun. This preference is confirmed by judgment task results that include simple nominal constructions, but not by judgment task results for complex nominal constructions. I assume that adjectival presence in complex nominal constructions may have to do with this. Implications of my results for the theories and the methodologies are discussed.Show less
The main focus of this study is the use of English on the covers of Japanese girls’ fashion magazines. A lot has been written about the use of English in Japanese media and other sources, with most...Show moreThe main focus of this study is the use of English on the covers of Japanese girls’ fashion magazines. A lot has been written about the use of English in Japanese media and other sources, with most authors stating that borrowing in Japan is mostly limited to loanwords. What I intend to provide is a thorough explanation of existing linguistic theories on loaning behavior, followed by the application of these theories on my research data which I have taken directly from the covers of Japanese girls’ fashion magazines. What I intend to prove is that the language borrowing behavior that takes place, goes further than simply loaning words. First of all there is a division between conventional loanwords and unconventionally used English words. More importantly, there are more complex ways in which English is borrowed and bent, such as through creative word hybrids or even the alteration of grammatical structures. A thorough introduction on linguistic theories will be provided, followed by a step-by-step guidance through examples from the data, looking beyond the eye-catching slogans and delving deeper into the linguistic characteristics of these code-switching behaviours.Show less
