Switching or selecting?

Myers-Scotton’s Direlliiig Laizgirqys is a book which deals with codeswitching (CS) from a sociolinguistic, but also, and predominantly, from a linguistic and a psycholinguistic point ofviewv. The book first came out in 1993, in hardback only, but has apparently been received so well that Oxford University Press decided to bring out a new paperback edition in 1997. In fact, the word “new” is slightly misleading, since the paperback edition is an exact copy of the first edition, but a twenty page aflenvord has been added to it. In the aflenvord MyersScotton clarifies some issues that had led to misunderstandings in the earlier edition and revises certain parts to bring them in line with her current thinking. The new book, then, consists of eight chapters and an aftenvord. In Chapter I, MyersScotton states the main goal of the book: “to present a model to account for the structures in intrasential CS” (p.5). In addition, Chapter I contains a detailed description of the database used for this study, the Nairobi corpus. IVe are given an interesting description of the position of Swahili and English in Kenya, and of the sociolinguistic background of the conversations from which the codeswitches were taken. Chapter I1 offers a critical review of earlier research on CS. One of the weaknesses pointed out is that in most early research single lexemes were excluded as instances of CS. The chapter is also critical of most early proposals for structural constraints, the main problem being that they have no theoretical basis and are therefore descriptive rather than explanatory. In Chapter 111, the background for the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model is sketched. First, there is a discussion of several monolingual speech production models, notably Garrett’s (e.g., 1990) and Levelt’s (1989). Second, the distinction between the matrix language (ML) and the embedded language (EL) is introduced. A frequency-based criterion is suggested to operationalize the notion of the ML, which is defined as “the language of more morphemes in interaction types including intrasentential CS” (p. 68). Chapters IV and V constitute the t\vo most important chapters of the book since they present the MLF model and the predictions following from it. The MLF model is psycholinguistic in that it adopts some of the ideas from current work on speech production, such as the distinction between two kinds of morphemes: System morphemes and content

This chapter states that, when speakers engage in code-switching (CS) including Arabic, the asymmetries between the participating languages hold in similar ways as they do in other code-switching corpora and in line with predictions of the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model (Myers-Scotton 1997, 2002). The 4-M model is a model of morpheme classification. Because it refines system morphemes, it adds precision to the MLF model. Yet, it is not an extension of the MLF model as some researchers seem to view it; the classification is intended to apply to all language data. The Uniform Structure Principle seems obvious when applied to monolingual data, but it needs stating because its role in bilingual data is not obvious at all. It considers five sets of examples that occur in CS involving Arabic that, at first glance, seem to elude analysis under the MLF model. Keywords:Arabic; code-switching (CS); Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model; system morphemes

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The purpose of this paper is to clarify the grammatical constraints on discourse particles in Chinese–Japanese intra-sentential code switching in light of the general framework of the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model augmented by the 4-M model. Design/methodology/approach: This study retrieves data collected for three years from three Chinese–Japanese bilingual children aged between 2;1 and 5;0. Data and analysis: The database consists of nearly 300 hours of spontaneous conversations that are audio-recorded from the families of the three bilingual children, as well as diary entries. It shows that a large number of code switching utterances involve discourse particles. Findings/conclusions: Qualitative analyses of the data indicate that discourse particles are generally constrained by the MLF, yet they do not fit into any category of the 4-M model. Morphologically bound, discourse particles represent the information structure of a sentence (as in the Japanese topic marker - wa) or encode constraints on the inferential processes (as in the Japanese complementizer - kara) rather than truth-conditional information. They manifest some idiosyncrasy at the interface of syntax and pragmatics, and set up the MLF at a discourse level. Thus, the MLF model is extended from a merely syntactic level to the syntax–discourse interface. Originality: The present work has contributed empirical evidence from a hitherto undocumented language pair of Chinese and Japanese, and made theoretical explorations on the linguistic constraints of discourse particles. Significance/implications: On one hand, it is work that provides support for the robust nature of universality of the MLF constraints on code switching. On the other hand, discourse particles exhibit typological features that need further theoretical exploration in order to make a more comprehensive account for the grammatical constraints on Chinese–Japanese code switching.

This article presents an empirical and theoretical critique of the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model (Myers-Scotton, 1993; Myers-Scotton and Jake, 2001), and includes a response to Jake, Myers-Scotton and Gross's (2002) (JMSG) critique of MacSwan (1999, 2000) and reactions to their revision of the MLF model as a “modified minimalist approach”. The author argues that although a new structural definition of the Matrix Language (ML) makes the MLF model falsifiable, its empirical predictions are inconsistent with the facts of codeswitching (CS). The author also identifies significant theoretical problems associated with the MLF model, and suggests that it be rejected on empirical and theoretical grounds, and on grounds of scientific parsimony. In addition, the author contends that JMSG's critique of the Minimalist approach to CS rests on conceptually significant misreadings of published research in CS and in the theory of syntax, and that JMSG fail to motivate their central claim, namely, that a Minimalist approach to CS cannot succeed without incorporating the ML construct. It is further shown that an analysis of the CS facts which JMSG consider as their test case may be straightforwardly pursued within the Minimalist Program without appealing to the ML construct or any other aspect of the MLF model. The author concludes with the recommendation that research on CS depart from the formulation of general CS-specific constraints like the MLF model and engage in the task of analyzing language contact phenomena in terms of independently motivated constructs of linguistic theory.

This study examines the morphosyntactic constraints on Cree-English intrasentential codeswitching involving mixed nominal expressions to test the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model. The MLF model is one of the most influential frameworks in the field of contact linguistics used in the study of grammatical aspects of codeswitching and other contact-induced phenomena. The three principles associated with MLF, viz., the Matrix Language Principle, the Asymmetry Principle and the Uniform Structure Principle, were tested on data consisting of 10 video recordings (constituting of 323 tokens of English nouns in mixed utterances) collected from the speech of a Cree child, aged 04;06 - 06;00. The data is drawn from Pile’s (2018) thesis which is based on the data collected from the Chisasibi Child Language Acquisition Study (CCLAS). The results of the analyses suggest general support for the three principles since, in the entire data set, not a single counter example has been recorded. The Cree-English bilingual data appears asymmetrical in structure, where the Matrix Language, namely Cree, provides morpheme order and outsider late system morphemes, and consequently, is responsible for the well-formedness and morphosyntactic frame of bilingual clauses..

This paper uses some data from Igbo-English intrasentential codeswitching involving mixed nominal expressions to test the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model. The MLF model is one of the most highly influential frameworks used successfully in the study of grammatical aspects of codeswitching. Three principles associated with it, the Matrix Language Principle, the Asymmetry Principle and the Uniform Structure Principle, were tested on data collected from informal conversations by educated adult Igbo-English bilinguals resident in Port Harcourt. The results of the analyses suggest general support for the three principles and for identifying Igbo-English as a ‘classic’ case of codeswitching.

Studies have shown that items from the languages that participate in code switching (henceforth CS) do not occur at random. Rather they are guided by the grammatical rules of the languages involved. Verbs that participate in Twi/English CS also do not occur at random. They are constrained by the grammatical rules of both Twi and English. Twi is a dialect of Akan, the most widely spoken language in Ghana. Using the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model of Myers-Scotton (1993a), this work shows that Twi is the matrix language (ML) and English, the embedded language (EL) in Twi/English CS. Based on this, the work discusses the morphological and phonological constraints on English verbs in Twi/English CS. It also shows how English verbs are only allowed in syntactic structures that already exist in Twi. The discussion covers the constraints of Twi tense and aspect on English verbs, and serial verb construction (SVC).Finally, the work looks at English verbs that may not participate in Twi/English CS. All these are discussed to show how the MLF model is applicable to Twi/English CS.

Aim and objective: The aim of this study is to show how different English single content morphemes, in particular nouns and adjectives, occur in the Persian structure by applying the Matrix Language Frame and 4M models. Methodology: The data collection in the present study includes tape-recordings of spontaneous conversations involving 12 Persian–English bilingual speakers at a public university in Malaysia. The IELTS participants’ scores were 6.0 or higher and they were between 20 and 40 years old. Data and analysis: Qualitatively, 8 hours of tape-recorded conversations were transcribed and coded carefully according to the Canonical Trilinear Representation. Quantitatively, the English content morphemes, especially nouns and adjectives, were analysed syntactically and morphosyntactically to show how they grammatically occur in the bilingual complementiser phrases. Findings and conclusions: The findings of this study reveal that code-switching was permissible even when it led to structural dissimilarity. Wherever it was required by a Persian principle, the inserted English elements, particularly nouns and adjectives, received different Persian markers. They may also appear without any Persian marker where required by the Persian grammar. Moreover, the data supported the Matrix Language Frame and 4M models’ principles, Morpheme order principle and System morpheme principle, and no counterexample appeared against the mentioned models. Originality/significance/implication: There are few studies on code-switching between Persian and English that focus on typological differences between the languages involved and the use of the Matrix Language Frame model and 4M model. Thus, the present study contributes knowledge in the field of code-switching between Persian and English and discusses how English single content morphemes, particularly nouns and adjectives, occur in the Persian structure by applying both the Matrix Language Frame model and 4M model as references.

The core of this paper is to employ the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model on Urdu-English clausal-internal switching to identify whether the Matrix Language Frame model potentially accounts for the bilingual linguistic competence efficiently. For this, a qualitative methodology has been adopted for this study. For empirical evidence, data has been taken from eighty Urdu- English bilinguals within a naturalistic setting after categorizing them into four groups, and each group has 20 participants. After conducting audio-recording through non-participant interviews in an informal setting, the collected data was transcribed. The MLF model posited that two languages are fused in a single Intra-CP of a mixed string. The linearly dominant language is Matrix language (ML) that incorporates only late outsider system morphemes. Odd is Embedded language (EL) that supplies content morphemes satisfying the system morpheme principle (SMP) uniformly and morpheme order principle (MOP). The present study ubiquitously scrutinizes that naturalistic data of Urdu-English bilinguals highlights the innovative results: it predicts that Matrix language (ML) is unidentified in intra-CP, no late outsider system morphemes linearize a code-switched sentence, unparalleled constituent and clausal structure, System Morpheme Principle (SMP) and Morpheme Order Principle (SMP) provides the illegitimate output and computes ungrammatical sentences hence; the Matrix Language Frame model redundantly and inconsistently accounts for Urdu-English naturalistic data and its principles have failed to compute Urdu-English naturalistic data.

The Matrix Language Frame model and Spanish/English codeswitching in fiction

This study investigates the incorporation of non-finite verbs in code-switching (CS), employing the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model as its theoretical framework (Myers-Scotton & Jake, 2014; 2017). Drawing on both naturalistic and elicited data, this study examines how English non-finite verbs resist integration in the matrix language due to their complex selectional properties and morphosyntactic frames. Contrary to the 4-M model’s classification of these verbs as content morphemes, this study identifies them as hybrid morphemes—linguistic items that possess [±θ] features and exhibit both lexical and functional behavior. Based on these findings, this study proposes a refined morpheme categorization within the MLF model, comprising three layers: content, system, and hybrid morphemes. In summary, the study concludes that not all non-finite verbs are equally incorporable and that the MLF model requires revision to accommodate hybrid morphemes. Furthermore, the findings of the study have pedagogical implications for teachers, emphasizing the need to recognize bilingual syntactic patterns, support authentic code-switching practices, and design curricula that reflect the natural linguistic behavior of multilingual learners. These insights offer a valuable understanding of bilingual competence and language development in multilingual communities.

ABSTRACTThis article explores the morphosyntactic features of mixed nominal expressions in a sample of empirical Igbo-English intrasentential code-switching data (i.e. codeswitching within a bilingual clause) in terms of the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) Model. Since both Igbo and English differ in the relative order of head and complement within the nominal argument phrase, the analysed data seem appropriate for testing the veracity of the principal assumption underpinning the MLF Model: the notion that the two languages (in our case Igbo and English) participating in code-switching do not both contribute equally to the morphosyntactic frame of a mixed constituent. As it turns out, the findings provide both empirical and quantitative support for the basic theoretical view that there is a Matrix Language (ML) versus Embedded Language (EL) hierarchy in classic code-switching as predicted by the MLF Model because both Igbo and English do not simultaneously satisfy the roles of the ML in Igbo-English code-switching.

This article investigates English–Japanese children's code-switching (CS) from the structural point of view. Muysken categorises it into three types, that is, insertion, alternation and congruent lexicalisation. Regarding insertion, using Myers- Scotton's matrix language frame (MLF) model, for example, the matrix language (ML) of a bilingual clause can be identified and items from the other language are considered embedded. In contrast, alternation does not distinguish between the matrix and embedded languages: the speaker makes a full change from using language A to using language B. In congruent lexicalisation, on the other hand, the ML consists of two or more languages. In this article, natural data from two English–Japanese bilingual children (5;9-9;3, 3;3-6;9) are analysed primarily using the MLF model, the insertion framework, but the ML cannot be identified in 41.8% of the data. These are examined with the alternation and congruent lexicalisation frameworks. Qualitative analyses show that psycholinguistic processes and pragmatic forces underlie those non-insertional types of CS. Psycholinguistic processes of triggering and formulaic language play important roles in alternation, whereas convergence, another psycholinguistic process, leads to congruent lexicalisation. From the pragmatic point of view, English makes a pragmatic/discourse frame and Japanese expresses propositional meanings. This finding suggests that bilingual children can attribute different functions to different languages.

Aims: This study provides new insights into Arabic-English code-switching with particular reference to verb insertion. It aims to identify (1) patterns of English verb insertion into Arabic; (2) factors affecting them. We offer an alternative to previous studies’ conclusions regarding a supposed lack of English verbs integrated morphologically into Arabic, which is claimed to result from incongruence between Arabic and English verb systems. Methodology: We employ the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model and the 4-M model. Data and analysis: The data comprise 14,414 clauses obtained from interviews with students at the American University in Cairo. Data were analyzed quantitatively. Findings: Most (80.17%) of inserted verbs were inflected with Arabic tense, gender, and number prefixes showing morphological integration into Arabic. We distinguished four recurrent patterns in verb insertion: (1) complete morphological integration in the present tense; (2) incomplete assimilation of forms requiring the use of the plural suffix -u; (3) lack of morphological integration in the past tense; and (4) lack of suffixation of Arabic clitics to English verbs. Originality: This is the first study focusing on verb insertion in Arabic-English code-switching based on empirical data collected in Egypt. It offers different findings on verb patterns and their explanation compared with other quantitative studies based on the MLF model. We propose to look beyond incongruence between Arabic and English as a factor determining verb patterns to include linguistic convention. Thus, we hypothesize that verb insertion might be controlled by linguistic norms accepted and perpetuated in a given speech community. Significance: Contrary to previous claims, our results show that patterns of verb insertion in Arabic-English code-switching are consistent with the MLF model. Hence, the study contributes evidence for the MLF model and its explanatory value.

Welsh-English code-switching and the Matrix Language Frame model