Margaret Deuchar

Language Choice in the Earliest Utterances: A Case Study with Methodological Implications.

In this case study we investigate how early a developing bilingual exposed simultaneously to English and Spanish can make appropriate language choices. We propose two methodological requirements for studies of this kind: (1) detailed records of the development of the childs lexicon; and (2) data collection in more than one language context. Our own study relies on detailed records of the childs cumulative vocabulary from the first word at ten months, and on weekly audiovideo recordings in both English and Spanish contexts from age 1;3. Analysis of the data shows a strong tendency for the language of the childs utterances to match that of the context at ages 1;7-1;8.

Structured variation in codeswitching: towards an empirically based typology of bilingual speech patterns

This paper aims to accomplish two things: first, to develop precise criteria to establish profiles for bilingual speech, following the typology of insertion, alternation and congruent lexicalisation developed in Muysken (2000); and second, to test these criteria on specific data sets. A first set involves Welsh–English bilingual data analysed by Deuchar, a second set comprises Tsou–Mandarin Chinese data collected and analysed by Sung-Lan Wang, and a third set involves Taiwanese–Mandarin Chinese data, also collected and analysed by Sung-Lan Wang. We conclude that it is indeed possible to establish more precise quantitative profiles which capture the intuition that different data sets show different codeswitching properties, but that there are a number of conceptual and methodological issues that require further investigation.

Congruence and Welsh–English code-switching

This paper aims to contribute to elucidating the notion of congruence in code-switching with particular reference to Welsh–English data. It has been suggested that a sufficient degree of congruence or equivalence between the constituents of one language and another is necessary in order for code-switching to take place. We shall distinguish between paradigmatic and syntagmatic congruence in relation to the grammatical categories of the two languages, focusing on the insertion of English nouns and noun phrases, adjectives, verbs and participles in otherwise Welsh utterances. We shall demonstrate how differing degrees of congruence between grammatical categories in the two languages are reflected in different code-switching outcomes.

One vs. two systems in early bilingual syntax: Two versions of the question

This paper identifies two versions of the question as to whether there is a single initial system in the syntax of developing bilinguals. Version 1 asks whether there are early mixed utterances, and if so, attributes this to a single initial system. Version 2 asks whether the utterances containing words from one of the childs languages exhibit the same syntax as the utterances containing words from the childs other language. We argue with reference to our own data (from an English-Spanish bilingual from ages 1;7 to 1;9) that Version 1 is not tenable because of the paucity of lexical resources when the child begins to produce two-word utterances. However, we argue that the early two-word utterances in our data do seem to exhibit a single rudimentary syntax, based on a predicate-argument structure found in all utterance types, mixed and non-mixed. We then argue in relation to Version 2 of the question, that it can only be answered once the childs utterances can be identified as language-specific in the two languages, and that this is not possible before the emergence of morphological marking. This is illustrated by an analysis of our data from ages 1;8 to 2;3. We argue that language-specific morphology allows us to identify the language of the utterances in our data and to see evidence for the appearance of two differentiated morphosyntactic systems.

Gender conflict resolution in Spanish–Basque mixed DPs *

This study analyzes gender assignment in Spanish–Basque mixed nominal constructions with nouns in Basque (a language that lacks gender) and determiners in Spanish (a language that marks gender) by using a multi-task approach: (i) naturalistic data, (ii) an elicitation task, and (iii) an auditory judgment task. Naturalistic data suggest cross-language effects under which a morphological marker of Basque (-a determiner) is interpreted as a morphophonological expression of gender marking in Spanish. A preference for feminine determiners was observed in the judgment task, which differs from the masculine default trend observed in Spanish–English bilinguals (Jake, Myers-Scotton & Gross, 2002). Our results point to feminine gender as default in Spanish–Basque mixed DPs, indicating that the resources that bilinguals use for gender assignment can be different from those of monolinguals. We argue that this is an outcome of interacting processes which take place at the interfaces (lexicon, phonology, morphosyntax) of both languages, resulting in cross-language effects.

A systematic comparison of factors affecting the choice of matrix language in three bilingual communities

In this paper we compare the code-switching (CS) patterns in three bilingual corpora collected in Wales, Miami and Patagonia, Argentina. Using the Matrix Language Framework to do a clause-based analysis of a sample of data, we consider the impact of structural relationships and extra-linguistic factors on CS patterns. We find that the Matrix Language (ML) is uniform where the language pairs have contrasting word orders, as in Welsh-English (VSO-SVO) and WelshSpanish (VSO-SVO) but diverse where the word order is similar as in Spanish-English (SVO-SVO). We find that the diversity of the ML in Miami is related to the diversity of degrees of proficiency, ethnic identities, and social networks amongst members of that community, while the uniformity of the ML in Wales is related to the uniformity of these factors. This is not so clear in Patagonia, however, where there is little CS produced in conversation. We suggest that the members of the speech community use Spanish or Welsh mostly in a monolingual mode, depending on the interlocutor and the social situation.

Testing the Nonce Borrowing Hypothesis: Counter-Evidence from English-Origin Verbs in Welsh.

According to the nonce borrowing hypothesis (NBH), “[n]once borrowings pattern exactly like their native counterparts in the (unmixed) recipient language” (Poplack & Meechan, 1998a, p. 137). Nonce borrowings (Sankoff, Poplack & Vanniarajan, 1990, p. 74) are “lone other-language items” which differ from established borrowings in terms of frequency of use and recognition. Lone other-language items are singly occurring words from the “donor” language which are preceded and followed by words or phrases from the “recipient” language. Whether such other-language words belong only to the donor language (and are classed as codeswitches) or to both the donor and the recipient language (and are classed as borrowings) is both a theoretical and a practical issue. Poplack & Meechan (1998a) suggest that this question can be settled by measuring the linguistic integration of donor-language words, so that infrequent donor-language words which behave like their recipient-language counterparts are categorised as (nonce) borrowings. This suggests that frequency of use need play no role in the extent to which other-language items are linguistically integrated into the recipient language. We challenge this hypothesis with an analysis of soft mutation on English-origin verbs in Welsh, which shows that integration is related to frequency.

Are function words non-language-specific in early bilingual two-word utterances?

This paper investigates “mixed” early two-word utterances by bilinguals, in order to determine whether function words match the language context less frequently than content words. Data collected in two language contexts from a child acquiring English and Spanish from birth were used to identify those two-word utterances occurring in the first two months of two-word utterances, between the ages of 1;7 and 1;9. Those utterances containing one word from each language, where one word was a function and the other a content word, were analysed quantitatively to determine whether the function word was more or less likely to match the context than the content word. The results showed that function words matched the context considerably less than content words. This finding is interpreted as suggesting that function words may not be treated as language-specific by early bilinguals, whereas content words are. It reinforces the significance of the well-established function/content distinction in language acquisition theory in a way which would not be possible with monolingual data.

Code switching and the future of the Welsh language

Abstract In this article we argue that Alan Thomass (1982) ideas about the linguistic conditions for language death were ahead of his time, and in fact anticipated those of a prominent code-switching theorist, Myers-Scotton (1998). Both scholars postulated similar stages representing language shift, and both could be interpreted as presenting a scenario for language shift in Welsh–English bilinguals towards monolingualism in English. The ideas of the two scholars are tested empirically by our analysis of a sample of Welsh–English data in order to determine whether or not the linguistic conditions favouring language shift or language death can be found. Our analysis shows that the data are clearly at the first stage, classic code-switching in Myers-Scottons (1998) terms, with Welsh providing the main grammatical frame, while English provides some content words and phrases. We argue that this stage is associated with stable bilingualism, especially if the socio-political circumstances favour that stability. We then present evidence that the recent socio-political climate has favoured the revitalization of Welsh, and suggest that there is no cause for pessimism about the future of Welsh, although “eternal vigilance” is necessary.

What is the “Nonce Borrowing Hypothesis” anyway?

In this rejoinder to Shana Poplacks response to Stammers & Deuchar (this issue), we argue that our reformulation of the nonce borrowing hypothesis (NBH) to include specific reference to frequency was needed in order to make the hypothesis more precise and testable. Furthermore, in order to test the assumption that codeswitching (CS) and borrowing (B) are two distinct categories, it was necessary to suspend this assumption in our study. This led us to find support for a possible CS/B distinction, but not for the categorical integration of all borrowings regardless of frequency. In discussing our methods, we maintain that soft mutation is an appropriate measure of morphosyntactic integration in Welsh, and is no more purely phonetic than any other morphosyntactically triggered process.