Cover not available

In:Hispanic Contact Linguistics: Theoretical, methodological and empirical perspectives
Edited by Luis A. Ortiz López, Rosa E. Guzzardo Tamargo and Melvin González-Rivera
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 22] 2020
► pp. 235–260

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Chapter 10
Portuguese-Spanish contacts in Misiones, Argentina

Probing (for) code-switching constraints

 | The Pennsylvania State University
Published online: 14 February 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.22.10lip
Abstract
The present study reports on spontaneous Portuguese-Spanish mixing as produced by L2 and balanced bilinguals in various communities along the Brazilian border, as well as three interactive tasks conducted with fluent bilinguals in Misiones province, Argentina. Taken together the results reveal a residue of permeable but grammatically-grounded constraints even between morphosyntactically and lexically cognate sibling languages and among individuals who do not routinely code-switch. These constraints are more robustly maintained among fluent bilinguals but are sometimes contravened by L2 speakers. The data also demonstrate that code-switching does not emerge automatically in bilingual settings involving highly congruent languages.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Grammatical constraints on intra-sentential code-switching(?)
  • 2.A corpus of L2 Portuguese along the Brazilian border
    • 2.1Apparent code-switching restrictions in L2 Portuguese
  • 3.Portuguese-Spanish bilingualism in Misiones province, Argentina: Corpus data
    • 3.1Putative code-switching constraints and the Misiones corpus
    • 3.2Do Misiones Portuguese speakers really code-switch?
  • 4.First interactive task: Speeded translation
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Materials
    • 4.3Procedure
    • 4.4Results
  • 5.Second interactive task: Language classification
    • 5.1Participants
    • 5.2Materials
    • 5.3Procedure
    • 5.4Results
  • 6.Third interactive task: Memory-loaded repetition
    • 6.1Participants
    • 6.2Materials
    • 6.3Procedure
    • 6.4Results
  • 7.General discussion
  • Notes
  • References
References (87)
References
Aguirre, A. (1981). Toward an index of acceptability for code alternation: An experimental analysis. Aztlán, 11, 297–322.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1985). An experimental study of code alternation. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 53, 59–82.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Azuma, S., & Meier, R. (1997). Open class and closed class: Sentence-imitation experiments on intrasential code-switching. Applied Psycholinguistics, 18, 257–276. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Balam, O. (2015). Code-switching and linguistic evolution: The case of ‘Hacer + V’ in Orange Walk, Northern Belize. Lengua y Migración, 7, 83–109.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bartlett, L., Ebert, S., & Vergara, D. (2012). Linguistic competence in heritage speakers and second language learners: Evidence from code switched wh questions. Presented at 2012 UIC Bilingualism Forum, University of Illinois Chicago.
Bates, D., Maechler, M., Bolker, B. & Walker, S. (2014). lme4: Linear mixed-effects models using Eigen and S4. R package version 1.1–12. <[URL]>
Belazi, H., Rubin, E., & Toribio, A. J. (1994). Code-switching and X-bar theory: The Functional Head Constraint. Linguistic Inquiry, 25, 221–238.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bentahila, A., & Davies, E. (1983). The syntax of Arabic-French code-switching. Lingua, 59, 301–330. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berk-Seligson, S. (1986). Linguistic constraints on intrasentential code-switching: A study of Spanish/Hebrew bilingualism. Language in Society, 15, 313–348. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bradac, J., Martin, L., Elliott, N., & Tardy, C. (1980). On the neglected side of linguistic science: Multivariate studies of sentence judgment. Linguistics, 18, 967–995. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burt, S. M. (1992). Codeswitching, convergence and compliance: The development of micro community speech norms. Journal of Multilingual & Multicultural Development, 13(1–2), 169–185. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carvalho, A. M. (2004). I speak like the guys on TV: Palatalization and the urbanization of Uruguayan Portuguese. Language Variation and Change, 16, 127–151. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clyne, M. (1987). Constraints on code switching: How universal are they? Linguistics, 25, 739–764. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Daviña, L. S. (2003). Fronteras discursivas en una región plurilingüe: Español y portugués en Misiones (Unpublished MA thesis). Universidad de Buenos Aires.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
D’Introno, F., Fiallo, A. T., Ram, K., & Sicilia, D. (1991). Condiciones gramaticales sobre la alternancia. Hispania, 74(2), 400–408. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
DiSciullo, A. M., Muysken, P., & Singh, R. (1986). Government and code-mixing. Journal of Linguistics, 22, 1–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Doron, E. (1983). On a formal model of code-switching. Texas Linguistic Forum, 22, 35–59.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dussias, P. (2003). Spanish-English code mixing at the Auxiliary Phrase: Evidence from eye-movement data. Revista Internacional de Lingüística Iberoamericana, 1(2),7–34.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ebert, S. (2014). The morphosyntax of Wh-questions: Evidence from Spanish–English code-switching (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Illinois, Chicago.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fox, J., & Weisberg, S. (2011). An {R} companion to applied regression (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks CA: Sage. <[URL]>
Giancaspro, D. (2013). L2 learners’ and heritage speakers’ judgments of code-switching at the auxiliary-VP boundary. In J. Cabrelli Amaro, G. Lord, A. de Prada Pérez, & J. E. Aaron (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 16th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 56–69). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grabowski, J. (2011). Stability of grammaticality judgments in German-English code-switching (Unpublished MA thesis). Arizona State University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gullberg, M., Indefrey, P., & Muysken, P. (2009). Research techniques for the study of code-switching. In B. Bullock & A. J. Toribio (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of linguistic code-switching (pp. 21–39). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gumperz, J. (1977). The sociolinguistic significance of conversational code-switching. RELC Journal, 8, 1–34. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Guzzardo Tamargo, R., & Dussias, P. (2013). Processing of Spanish-English code-switches by late bilinguals. In S. Baiz, N. Goldman, & R. Hawkes (Eds.), BUCLD 37: Proceedings of the 37th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (Vol. 1, pp. 134–146). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hebblethwaite, B. J. (2007). Intrasentential code-switching among Miami Haitian Creole-English bilinguals (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Indiana University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). Adverb code-switching among Miami’s Haitian Creole-English second generation. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13, 409–428. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jake, J. (1994). Intrasentential code-switching and pronouns: On the categorical status of functional elements. Linguistics, 32, 271–298. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jake, J., Myers-Scotton, C., & Gross, S. (2002). Making a minimalist approach to codeswitching work: Adding the Matrix language. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 5, 69–91. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Joshi, A. (1985). Processing of sentences with intrasentential code switching. In D. R. Dowty, L. Karttunen, & A. M. Zwicky (Eds.), Natural language parsing: Psychological, computational and theoretical perspectives (pp. 190–205). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klavans, J. (1985). The syntax of code-mixing: Spanish and English. In L. King & C. Maley (Eds.), Proceedings of the Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (pp. 213–231). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koronkiewicz, B. (2014). Pronoun categorization: Evidence from Spanish/English code-switching (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Illinois at Chicago.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuznetsova, A., Bruun Brockhoff, P., & Haubo Bojesen Christensen, R. (2014). lmerTest: Tests for random and fixed effects for linear mixed effect models (lmer objects of lme4 package). R package version 2.0–6. <[URL]>
Liebscher, G., & Dailey-O’Cain, J. (2004). Learner code-switching in the content-based foreign language classroom. The Canadian Modern Language Review / La Revue Canadienne des Langues Vivantes, 60, 501–525. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lipski, J. (1978). Bilingual language switching and the problem of linguistic competence. In M. Paradis (Ed.), Aspects of bilingualism (pp. 250–264). Columbia, SC: Hornbeam Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1982). Spanish English language switching in speech and literature: Theories and models. Bilingual Review, 9, 191–212.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1985). Linguistic aspects of Spanish English language switching. Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University, Center for Latin American Studies.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2006). Too close for comfort? the genesis of “portuñol/portunhol”. In T. L. Face & C. A. Klee (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 8th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 1–22). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). Searching for the origins of Uruguayan Fronterizo dialects: Radical code-mixing as “fluent dysfluency.” Journal of Portuguese Linguistics, 8, 5–46.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009). “Fluent dysfluency” as congruent lexicalization: A special case of radical code-mixing. Journal of Language Contact, 2, 1–39. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011a). Um caso de contato de fronteira: O sudoeste. In H. Mello, C. Altenhofen, & T. Raso (Eds.), Os contatos linguísticos no Brasil (pp. 349–368). Belo Horizonte: Editora UFMG.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011b). Encontros lingüísticos fronteiriços. Ideação, 13(2), 83–100. <[URL]>
(2014). Spanish-English code-switching among low-fluency bilinguals: Towards an expanded typology. Sociolinguistic Studies, 8. 23–55. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Portuguese/portuñol in Misiones, Argentina: Another Fronterizo? In S. Sessarego & M. González (Eds.), New perspectives on Hispanic contact linguistics (pp. 253–281). Frankfurt & Madrid: Vervuert & Iberoamericana.. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016). The role of unintentional/involuntary code-switching: Did I really say that? In R. Guzzardo, C. Mazak, & M. C. Parafita Couto (Eds.), Spanish-English codeswitching in the Caribbean and the US (pp. 139–168). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017a). Portuguese or Portuñol? Language contact in Misiones, Argentina. Journal of Linguistic Geography, 4, 47–64. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017b). Ecuadoran Media Lengua: More than a “half”-language? International Journal of American Linguistics, 82, 233–262. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017c). Language switching constraints: More than syntax? Data from Media Lengua. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 20(4), 722–746. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018a). Can agreement be suppressed in second-language acquisition? Data from the Palenquero-Spanish interface. Second Language Research, 34(3), 275–308. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018b). La interfaz portugués-castellano en Misiones, Argentina: zona de prueba para la alternancia de lenguas. Estudios Filológicos, 60, 169–190.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2019). Field-testing code-switching constraints: A report on a strategic languages project. Languages, 4, 7. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
MacSwan, J. (1999). A minimalist approach to intrasentential code switching. New York, NY: Garland Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2000). The architecture of the bilingual language faculty: Evidence from intrasentential code switching. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 3, 37–54. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). Codeswitching and linguistic theory. In T. Bhatia & W. Ritchie (Eds.), Handbook of bilingualism (pp. 283–310). Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2005). Codeswitching and generative grammar: A critique of the MLF model and some remarks on “modified minimalism.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 8, 1–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mahootian, S., & Santorini, B. (1996). Code switching and the complement/adjunct distinction. Linguistic Inquiry, 27, 464–479.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maia, I. C. da. (2004). Intercambios lingüísticos de frontera: Incidencia el el hablar de los alumnos del profesorado en portugués de la UNAM (Unpublished MA thesis). Universidad Nacional de Misiones, Posadas.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mueller, S. T., & Piper, B. J. (2014). The psychology experiment building language (PEBL) test battery. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 222, 250–259. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Muysken, P. (2000). Bilingual speech: A typology of code-mixing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peirce, J. W. (2007). PsychoPy – Psychophysics software in Python. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 162(1–2), 8–13. Program available at: <[URL]>
Peñalosa, F. (1980). Chicano sociolinguistics: A brief introduction. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pfaff, C. (1979). Constraints on language mixing: Intrasentential code-switching and borrowing in Spanish/English. Language, 55, 291–318. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Poplack, S. (1980). Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in Spanish y termino en español. Linguistics, 18, 581–618. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Poplack, S., Zentz, L., & Dion, N. (2012). Phrase-final prepositions in Quebec French: An empirical study of contact, code-switching and resistance to convergence. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15(2), 203–225. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Potowski, K. (2009). Forms and functions of code-switching by dual immersion students: A comparison of heritage speaker and L2 children. In M. Turnbull & J. Dailey-O’Cain (Eds.), First language use in second and foreign language learning (pp. 87–114). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Potowski, K., & Bolyanatz, M. (2012). Reactions to (in)felicitous codeswitching: heritage speakers vs. L2 learners. In K. Geeslin & M. Díaz-Campos (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 14th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 116–129). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prince, E. & Pintzuk, S. (2000) [1983]. Bilingual code-switching and the open/closed class distinction. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics (PWPL), 6(3), 237–257.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rivas, A. (1981). On the application of transformations to bilingual sentences (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Salmons, J. (1990). Bilingual discourse marking: Code switching, borrowing, and convergence in some German-American dialects. Linguistics, 28, 453–480. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sankoff, D., & Poplack, S. (1981). A formal grammar for code-switching. Papers in Linguistics, 14, 3–46. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Savić, J. M. (1995). Structural convergence and language change: Evidence from Serbian/English code-switching. Language in Society, 24(4), 475–492. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sebba, M. (1998). A congruence approach to the syntax of codeswitching. International Journal of Bilingualism, 2, 1–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sturza, E. R. (1994). O espanhol do cotidiano e o espanhol da escola: um estudo de caso na fronteira Brasil-Argentina (Unpublished MA thesis). Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Brazil.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). Fronteiras e práticas lingüísticas: Um olhar sobre o portunhol. Revista Internacional de Lingüística Iberoamericana, 2, 151–160.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2005). Línguas de fronteira: o desconhecido território das práticas lingüísticas nas fronteiras. Ciência e Cultura, 57(2), 47–50 <[URL]>
Timm, L. (1975). Spanish-English code-switching: El porque y how not to. Romance Philology, 28, 473–482.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Toribio, A. J. (2001a). Accessing bilingual code-switching competence. International Journal of Bilingualism, 5, 403–436. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2001b). On the emergence of bilingual code-mixing competence. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4, 203–231. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). Convergence as an optimization strategy in bilingual speech: Evidence from code-switching. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 7(2), 165–173. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Torres Cacoullos, R., & Travis, C. E. (2011). Testing convergence via code-switching: Priming and the structure of variable subject expression. International Journal of Bilingualism, 15(3), 241–267. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Gauging convergence on the ground: Code-switching in the community. International Journal of Bilingualism, 19, 365–386. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Gelderen, E., & MacSwan, J. (2008). Interface conditions and code-switching: An F-movement analysis of pronouns and lexical DPs. Lingua, 118, 765–776. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wakefield, J. Jr., Bradley, P., Lee Yom, B.-H., & Doughtie, E. (1975). Language switching and constituent structure. Language and Speech, 18, 14–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Woolford, E. (1983). Bilingual code-switching and syntactic theory. Linguistic Inquiry, 13, 519–535.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1984). On the application of WH movement and inversion in code-switching sentences. Revue Quebecoise de Linguistique, 14, 77–86. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue