Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T02:08:49.909Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Structural convergence and language change: Evidence from Serbian/English code-switching

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2009

Jelena M. Savić
Jelena M. Savić
Affiliation:
Department of Languages, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK 74104
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study investigates how the process of structural convergence common in many bilingual communities (cf. Clyne 1987, 1994) interacts with the process of code-switching. Data on Serbian/English code-switching indicate that there the process of structural convergence is reshaping the Serbian variety spoken by bilingual speakers. This process is reflected in code-switching situations in the form of what Myers-Scotton 1993b calls “matrix language” (ML) turnover: the matrix language in code-switched utterances can only be assigned if one considers the process of structural convergence occurring in Serbian. These data indicate that code-switched utterances in which the diachronic ML turnover is under-way present a very useful source of information not only for the analysis of code-switching, but also for the analysis of language change under conditions of contact. The findings of this study strongly suggest that any theoretical model of code-switching which aims at achieving universality needs also to take into consideration the results of the structural convergence that affects linguistic varieties in many code-switching bilingual communities. (Structural convergence and language change, Serbian, code-switching, Matrix Language Frame model)

Type
Research Article
Information
Language in Society , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , September 1995 , pp. 475 - 492
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bentahila, Abdelâli, & Davies, Eirlys E. (1992). Code-switching and language dominance. In Harris, Richard J. (ed.), Cognitive processing in bilinguals, 443–58. Amsterdam: Elsevier.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berend, Nina, & Mattheier, Klaus (1994), eds. Sprachinselforschung: Eine Cedenkschrift für Hugo Jedig. Frankfurt: Lang.Google Scholar
Bokamba, Eyamba (1988). Code-mixing, language variation and linguistic theory: Evidence from Bantu languages. Lingua 76:21–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clyne, Michael (1972). Perspectives on language contact. Melbourne: Hawthorn.Google Scholar
Clyne, Michael (1987). Constraints on code-switching: How universal are they? Linguistics 25:739–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clyne, Michael (1994). What can we learn from Sprachinseln? Some observations on “Australian German.” In Berend, & Mattheier, (eds.), 1994:105–21.Google Scholar
D'Introno, Francisco; Fiallo, Ana Teresa; Ram, Karen; & Sicilia, Debra (1991). Condiciones gramaticales sobre la alternancia. Hispania 74:400–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gumperz, John J. (1982). Discourse strategies. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henzl, Vera (1981). Slavic languages in the new environment. In Ferguson, Charles A. & Heath, Shirley Brice (eds.), Language in the U.S.A., 293–321. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ivić, Pavle (1971). Srpski narod i njegov jezik [Serbian people and their language]. Beograd: Srpska književna zadruga.Google Scholar
Jakobson, Roman (1984). Contribution to the general theory of case: General meanings of the Russian cases. In his Russian grammar studies 1931–1981, 59–105. Berlin: Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joshi, Aravind K. (1985). Processing of sentences with intrasentential code-switching. In Dowty, David R. et al. (eds.), Natural language parsing: Psychological, computational and theoretical perspectives, 190–205. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milroy, Lesley (1987). Observing and analyzing natural language. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko, & Gilman, Charles (1987). How African is Gullah, and why? American Speech 62:120–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers-Scotton, Carol (1991). Differentiating borrowing and codeswitching. In Ferraraet, Kathleen et al. (eds.), Linguistic change and contact (Texas Linguistic Forum, 30), 318–25. Austin: Dept. of Linguistics, University of Texas.Google Scholar
Myers-Scotton, Corol (1993a). Common and uncommon ground: Social and structural factors in code-switching. Language in Society 22:475–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers-Scotton, Corol (1993b). Duelling languages. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers-Scotton, Corol (1993c). Social motivation for code-switching: Evidence from Africa. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poplack, Shana (1978). Syntactic structure and social function of codeswitching. In Durán, Richard P. (ed.), Latino language and communicative behavior, 169–84. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Poplack, Shana (1980). Sometimes I'll start a sentence in Spanish y TERMINO EN ESPANOL: Toward a typology of code-switching. Linguistics 18:581–618.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poplack, Shana. (1988). Contrasting patterns of codeswitching in two communities. In Heller, Monica (ed.), Codeswitching: Anthropological and sociolinguistic perspectives, 215–44. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poplack, Shana; Sankoff, David; & Miller, Christopher (1988). The social correlates and linguistic processes of lexical borrowing and assimilation. Linguistics 26:47–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salmons, Joe (1990). Bilingual discourse marking: Code-switching, borrowing and convergence in some German-American dialects. Linguistics 28:453–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salmons, Joe (1994). Naturalness and morphological change in Texas German. In Berend, & Mattheier, (eds.), 1994:59–72.Google Scholar
Sankoff, David, & Poplack, Shana (1981). A formal grammar for code-switching. Papers in Linguistics: International Journal of Human Communication 14:3–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Savić, Jelena M. (1994) Serbian/English and Spanish/English code-switching: Toward a more comprehensive model. Ph.D. dissertation, Purdue University.Google Scholar
Thomason, Sarah, & Kaufman, Terrence (1988). Language contact, creolization, and genetic linguistics. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woolford, Ellen (1983). Bilingual code-switching and syntactic theory. Linguistic Inquiry 14:520–36.Google Scholar