Abstract
One of the most developed models for explaining bilingual constituents is the matrix language frame model (Myers-Scotton 1997). Its basic insight is that a bilingual constituent will be determined by the abstract structure underlying only one of the languages of the constituent, the matrix language. While the model has been tested against many language situations, a situation typical for minority linguistic groups in Maiduguri in NE Nigeria has not been studied in detail. The present study centers on Nigerian Arabs. Urban Nigerian Arabs are typically bilingual in Nigerian Arabic (NA) and Hausa, and additionally they use English and Standard Arabic, particularly for lexical concepts. Bilingual speech (codeswitching) is supported by both NA and Hausa matrices. In a number of respects, however, both lexical and constituent insertions into these two languages are different. This article documents these differences on the basis of an extensive spoken corpus, and examines their implication for the notion of matrix language. It is argued that the structural notion of matrix language needs to be supplemented with a perspective allowing matrix languages to be conceived of in hierarchical terms.
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