Spanish-English Code-switching Research Articles

Bilingual Texting in the Age of Emoji: Spanish–English Code-Switching in SMS

Technology and computer-mediated communication (CMC) have quickly transformed the means of interaction among monolingual and bilingual individuals alike, especially in the younger generations. While e-mail once replaced traditional “snail mail”, today’s youth networks mainly via social media and short message services (SMS). Digital communication has thus become a fertile ground for sociolinguistic research. The present study aims to contribute to the field of “electronic” code-switching, specifically in the emerging area of text messaging. To this end, I analyze The Bilingual Youth Texts Corpus, a collection of text messages among urban emergent Spanish–English bilinguals in New York City. The main findings indicate that (1) although it is not the most common practice, participants do engage in code-switching when texting each other; (2) their language mixing obeys most of the socio-pragmatic and communicative patterns attested in oral production (such as emphasis, elaboration, lexical need and, especially, tag switches) along with other functions (textisms) which are idiosyncratic to CMC; and (3) the language choices made by these bilinguals reveal a linguistic and a cultural belonging to two worlds where they may and must use both languages to fully express themselves online just like in real life.

Bilingualism is good but codeswitching is bad: attitudes about Spanish in contact with English in the Tijuana - San Diego border area

ABSTRACT A qualitative study of language attitudes toward Spanish in contact with English in San Diego county reveals that while Spanish-English bilingualism is highly valued, Spanish-English codeswitching is disfavored. While studies in other border communities along the U.S.-Mexico border have found similar general results, the present study contributes to the field in a few novel ways: the San Diego area is an understudied location in border Spanish; four populations were interviewed for this study on both sides of the border (first and second-generation speakers of Spanish in San Diego county and in the city of Tijuana); although first-generation speakers in San Diego and Tijuana express the most negative views about codeswitching, San Diego parents emerge as uniquely positioned to understand the language experience of their children and thus act as catalysts for attitudinal change; second-generation Tijuana speakers are the least biased against codeswitching; second-generation San Diego speakers internalize the stigma against codeswitching, which results in linguistic insecurity. This study explores internal linguistic discrimination across borders and generations in the Tijuana-San Diego area.

Subject pronouns in Spanish-English code-switching

Abstract While the Minimalist Program argues that Spanish-English code-switches between pronominal subjects and finite verbs are ungrammatical (Van Gelderen & MacSwan, 2008), the MLF/4-M models (Myers-Scotton, 1993; Myers-Scotton & Jake, 2000) predict their grammaticality when overt pronouns are obligatory in both languages (e.g., contrastive focus). In this study, we test the contrary predictions of these models using a code-switching production task. Thirty-eight Spanish-English bilinguals (31 female; Age: 18–23 years) completed a concurrent memory-loaded repetition task where visual primes forced broad or contrastive focus interpretations. We also examined the effects of switch direction, code-switching frequency, and language dominance. The results showed that code-switches between a Spanish overt pronoun and an English inflected verb were more accurately produced in the contrastive focus than the broad focus condition, lending support for the MLF/4-M models. No effect of code-switching frequency was found. Finally, higher Spanish dominance resulted in more accurate production of these code-switches.

Sociolinguistically-aware computational models of Mandarin-English codeswitching

Current research on computational modeling of codeswitching has focused on the use of syntactic constraints as model predictors (Li & Fung 2014; Li & Vu 2019). However, proposed syntactic constraints (Poplack 1978; Poplack 1980; Myers-Scotton 1993; Belazi et al. 1994) are largely based around Spanish-English codeswitching, and are violated repeatedly (and potentially systematically) by codeswitching involving other languages. Thus, a computational model trained on these syntactic constraints, when applied to codeswitching involving languages that are not Spanish-English, may not capture the naturalistic patterns of those languages in codeswitching contexts. This paper demonstrates the value of sociolinguistic factors as predictors in training a Classification and Regression Tree (CART) model on novel Mandarin-English codeswitch data, which come from 12 bilingual speakers of two different generations from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Participants also answered metalinguistic questions about their own language practices and attitudes and completed a written Language History Questionnaire (LHQ) (Li et al. 2020), which asked for self-evaluations of language habits (proficiency, immersion, and dominance in the two languages). LHQ responses were then quantified into numerical scores serving as sociolinguistic predictors in the CART model. The model, which highlighted that age, L2 Dominance, and L1 Immersion were among the top predictors, achieved an accuracy of 0.804 with the area under its ROC curve being 0.692. This is comparable to, if not more powerful than, previous computational studies (e.g. Li & Fung 2014) that trained models using only proposed syntactic constraints as predictors. This paper shows the importance of sociolinguistic factors in computational research previously focused on syntactic constraints; the intersection of these methodologies could improve a cross-linguistic and computational understanding of codeswitching patterns.

Preposition Stranding in Spanish–English Code-Switching

This study tests the acceptability of preposition stranding in the intrasentential code-switching of US heritage speakers of Spanish. Because languages vary when extracting determiner phrases from prepositional phrases, known as preposition stranding or p-stranding, a contrast arises for Spanish–English bilinguals. English allows p-stranding, but in Spanish the preposition is traditionally pied-piped with the DP. Heritage speakers of Spanish, though, have shown variability, with child sequential bilinguals requiring said pied-piping, but simultaneous bilinguals allowing p-stranding in Spanish. Participants (n = 24) completed a written acceptability judgment task with a 7-point Likert scale. The task included code-switched sentences (n = 16) with p-stranding, switching from either English to Spanish or vice versa, with comparison monolingual equivalents for Spanish (n = 8) and English (n = 8) included as well. The results found that the simultaneous bilinguals accepted p-stranding in both languages, while also showing no restriction in either code-switching condition. Child sequential bilinguals, however, showed the expected monolingual distinction between Spanish and English, and p-stranding was only accepted with Spanish determiner phrases extracted from an English prepositional phrase (i.e., Spanish-to-English). These findings support the previously reported differentiation between simultaneous and child sequential bilinguals regarding p-stranding, while expanding it to code-switching.

Adverbs in Spanish–English code-switching: Comparing verb raising and non-raising

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions:Using generative syntactic theory regarding verb raising, predictions are made about adverb position in intra-sentential Spanish–English code-switching. Since both languages allow for non-raising, pre-verbal adverbs should be acceptably switched. However, since verb raising is only available in Spanish, post-verbal adverbs should only be allowed with a Spanish finite verb.Design/methodology/approach:Spanish–English early bilinguals ( n = 24) completed a written acceptability judgment task with a 7-point Likert-type scale. The Spanish–English code-switched sentences contained a finite verb switched with a post-verbal or pre-verbal adverb. In addition, comparison sets of monolingual equivalents were tested, targeting adverb order in Spanish and English.Data and analysis:A total of 192 judgments were included in the analysis, and z-scores of the mean ratings provided by the participants were calculated. After a descriptive analysis of the results compared language and adverb order, statistical analyses were conducted via analyses of variance (ANOVAs).Findings/conclusions:Participants showed a preference for non-raising in English, while they accepted both orders in Spanish, but only with adverbs of completion and manner. For code-switching, non-raising was always acceptable, but verb raising varied. The availability of switched non-raising directly follows from the literature. However, the language of the finite verb did not predict availability of verb raising in code-switching. The results suggest that the language of the adverb is crucial to the availability of switching, not solely the verb.Originality:The status of adverbs in code-switching has been left relatively unexplored. This study provides important details regarding adverb position both in mixed Spanish–English utterances and in monolingual contexts for this particular bilingual population.Significance/implications:These findings have a broader impact by providing data about adverb-position preferences in Spanish for a different community of speakers. In particular, it shows even more variability in the idiosyncratic behavior of different adverbs in Spanish.

The That-Trace Effect: Evidence from Spanish–English Code-Switching

The that-trace effect is the fact that many languages (like English) ban the extraction of embedded-clause subjects but not objects over an overt complementizer like that, while many other languages (like Spanish) allow such extractions. The effect and its cross-linguistic variation have been the subject of intense research but remain largely a mystery, with no clear consensus on their underpinnings. We contribute novel evidence to these debates by using Spanish–English code-switching (the use of two languages in one sentence) to test five contemporary theoretical accounts of the that-trace effect. We conducted a formal acceptability judgment experiment, manipulating the extracted argument and code-switch site to test different combinations of linguistic features. We found that subject extraction is only permitted in Spanish–English code-switching when both the C head (que ‘that’) and the T head (i.e., the verb) are in Spanish, but not when either functional head is in English. Our results demonstrate indirect support for two of the five theories we test, failing to support the other three. Our findings also provide new evidence in favor of the view that the that-trace effect is tightly linked to the availability of post-verbal subjects. Finally, we outline how our results can narrow the range of possible theoretical accounts, demonstrating how code-switching data can contribute to core questions in linguistic theory.

La búsqueda del lector híbrido como motivo implícito de la traducción pragmática. Caso de la novela Puppet de Margarita Cota-Cárdenas y su traducción al inglés

The article deals with a particular case of intra- and intertextual translation of a highly pragmatic nature, which can be seen in Puppet. A Chicano novella by Margarita Cota-Cárdenas. Composed mainly of fragments of conversations, monologues and personal letters, the novel reflects Spanish-English codeswitching, as a characteristic feature of the speech of the Mexican American community in the USA. By (re)producing a range of heteroglossal forms of this community communication, Cota-Cárdenas uses translation procedures to reach the hybrid reader who is, at the same time, the hallmark of Chicanos. The multilingual strategies (Hansen Esplin, 2012) of the author and the translators, Barbara D. Riess and Tino Sandoval, become the main pragmatic objective of the novel, both in its source and target versions. Given the multitude of translation procedures observed in both versions of this hybrid novel, the relativity of traditional translation terms, such as original and translation, is also discussed, as both turn out to be bilingual texts and pragmatic translations.

“I'm gonna Spanglish it on you”: Self-reported vs. oral production of Spanish–English codeswitching

AbstractMuch bilingualism research includes some consideration of codeswitching, which may be measured via self-report, an experimental task, or sociolinguistic interview; however, there is little triangulation across measures in either psycholinguistic or sociolinguistic approaches. To consider possible differences between self-report and oral production of codeswitching, Spanish–English bilinguals completed a codeswitching questionnaire and oral production in an autobiographical memory task. They also completed proficiency and executive function tests. We found that broad measures of self-reported and orally produced codeswitches were positively correlated, although relationships with proficiency and executive function were more complex. These findings may direct future studies’ operationalization of codeswitching.

Hey, baby, ¿Qué Pasó?: Performing bilingual identities in Texan popular music

This study analyzes Spanish-English code-switching in the music of the Texas Tornados, a bilingual-bicultural San Antonio band. Their entire repertoire was transcribed and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively to ascertain the form and functions of code-switching. We found that 39% of songs included language mixing, with English being the most frequent matrix language and Spanish lexical insertions and inter-sentential switches prevailing. Lexical insertions are used to exoticize songs and for humorous effect, while inter-sentential code-switching presents similar ideas in sequence demonstrating high poetic virtuosity. Such artistic use of language represents the subaltern status of Spanish, reflecting the sociolinguistic reality of Texas.

The universality of syntactic constraints on Spanish–English codeswitching in the USA

This study focuses on the syntactic properties of codeswitching within sentences uttered by bilingual speakers of Spanish and English in the USA or the so-called Spanglish, by analysing data based on examples cited in the existing literature. To that end, I will examine the definitions of this cultural and linguistic phenomenon, make a necessary distinction among the different language contact phenomena that take place in a bilingual context such as the Spanish and English background in the USA, and evaluate some of the most popular and influential approaches that have come out in the codeswitching literature over the last 30 years. These approaches can be broadly classified into two groups: first, those that are essentially descriptive or constraint-based, and second, the studies that are explanatory or constraint-free. Finally, I conclude that although there seems to be no definitive, universal model of codeswitching, formal linguistics research has comprehensively shown that codeswitching requires a strong command of the two languages and that it is not an unstructured phenomenon. This constitutes a sharp contrast with the relationship commonly established between Spanglish and illiteracy, marginality and chaos. This language choice simply reveals how bilinguals live in between two languages and two cultures.

Spanish-English code-switching among low-fluency bilinguals: Towards an expanded typology

Spanish-English code-switching in the United States is not confined to the speech of fluent bilinguals, although the latter group exhibits the greatest consistency of structural patterns as well as the highest likelihood of conscious and voluntary control over language switching. Among less fluent bilinguals (including heritage speakers of Spanish as well as foreign language students producing the second language under duress) incursions from English may depart significantly from structural patterns characterizing fluent bilinguals, and may represent involuntary and/or unconscious insertion of English elements, ranging from tags such as you know and I mean to larger discourse chunks. The present study compares data from a cluster of low-fluency Spanish heritage speakers and a group of fluent bilingual Spanish-English code-switchers in the United States, and proposes that the notion of congruent lexicalization (e.g. as proposed by Muysken, 2000) be expanded to include ‘ragged’ and possibly involuntary code-mixing among semi fluent bilinguals.

“Do they even know that they do it?”: Exploring Awareness of Spanish-English Code-Switching in a Sixth-Grade English Language Arts Classroom

This article draws on scholarship in educational and linguistic anthropology to explore awareness of Spanish-English code-switching among bilingual Chicana/o and Latina/o students in a sixth-grade English Language Arts classroom. Analysis of qualitative data gathered via participant observation, video/audio recording, and semistructured interviews reveals that students articulated practical and discursive forms of awareness and that these forms of awareness were also sometimes embodied in their language use. It is argued that viewing awareness as a continuum affords a clearer understanding of the full range of their awareness by allowing for embodied reflections of awareness and shifts in individual speakers’ awareness across contexts.

I think, thereforedigo yo: Variable position of the 1sg subject pronoun in New Mexican Spanish-English code-switching

Using the New Mexico Spanish-English Bilingual Corpus, the present paper examines the variable position of the 1sg Spanish subject pronoun yo—pre- versus post-verbal—to consider the effect that code-switching may have on structural change. In an analysis of close to 700 tokens of yo, a rate of 16% post-positioning is found, which is within the range of post-position in non-contact varieties and thus contraindicative of the convergence hypothesis, in accordance with which the almost exclusive use of preverbal subject pronouns in English would predict lower rates of post-verbal yo in a converged contact variety. Moreover, by testing factors hypothesized to account for choice of post-posing yo using multivariate analysis, it is shown that bilinguals display similar constraints on yo post-positioning in New Mexican Spanish as monolingual speakers of Spanish, providing stronger support for an anti-convergence account. Results are discussed in terms of bilingual parallel activation, syntactic priming, and construction grammar.

Predicting code-switches from phonetic information: The discourse marker like in Spanish-English code-switching

The present study investigated whether Spanish-English bilinguals (L1 Spanish, English dominant) use phonetic cues to anticipate code-switches. Listeners were presented with four sets of 10 utterances. In a given set all utterances began in English or Spanish. All utterances included the discourse marker like. In each set, half of the utterances continued in the same language after like and half switched languages after like. Listeners only heard up to and including like. Listeners evenly sorted the utterances into two columns, “continues in English” or “continues in Spanish,” to indicate which five utterances involved code-switching. Half of listeners received instructions in English and half in Spanish. Both sets of listeners were significantly above chance for stimuli beginning in English [p < 0.05]. Listeners who received Spanish instructions were also trending above chance for stimuli beginning in Spanish [p = 0.08]. This suggests listeners can use phonetic cues to anticipate switches from their dominant to their non-dominant language. Additionally, when language mode is the non-dominant language, listeners can also anticipate switches from their non-dominant to their dominant language. These results support a theory where both languages are somewhat activated at all times, allowing bilinguals to use phonetic cues to anticipate language switches.

Reading the world in Spanglish: Hybrid language practices and ideological contestation in a sixth-grade English language arts classroom

This paper presents findings from a study of language and ideology among bilingual Chicana/o and Latina/o sixth-graders at a middle school in East Los Angeles. Relying on participant observation, video/audio-recording, and semi-structured interviews, the study explored students’ language ideologies with respect to Spanish-English code-switching, a language practice that many of the students referred to as “Spanglish.” Analysis of the data reveals that students articulated and embodied both dominant language ideologies that framed Spanglish in pejorative terms and counter-hegemonic language ideologies that valorized and normalized this bilingual language practice. It is argued that this ideological variation and contradiction provide fertile ground for transformative dialog that could potentially help students cultivate critical language awareness and critical literacy more broadly.

The production of Spanish–English code-switching

It is generally assumed that in code-switching (CS) switches between two languages are categorical, however, recent research suggests that the phonologies involved in CS are merged and bilinguals must actively suppress one language when encoding in the other. Thus, it was hypothesized that CS does not take place abruptly but that cues before the point of language change are also present. This hypothesis is tested with a corpus of Spanish-English CS examining word-initial voiceless stop VOT and the vowel in the discourse marker “like.” English VOTs at CS boundaries were shorter, or more “Spanish-like,” than in monolingual utterances. Preliminary results suggest Spanish VOTs at CS boundaries were shorter than in monolingual utterances, thus even more Spanish-like than monolingual Spanish utterances. The vowel of “like” in English utterances was more monophthongal and had a lower final F2 as compared to “like” in Spanish utterances. At CS boundaries, “like” began similarly to the language preceding the token and ended similarly to the language following it. For example, in a “English-like-Spanishnn” utterance, initial F2 measurements were more English-like but final measurements more Spanish-like. These results suggest code-switching boundaries are not categorical, but an area where phonologies of both languages affect productions.

Spanglish as Literacy Tool: Toward an Understanding of the Potential Role of Spanish-English Code-Switching in the Development of Academic Literacy

This article reports findings from a qualitative study of Spanish-English code-switching “or Spanglish” among bilingual Latina/Latino sixth graders at a middle school in East Los Angeles. Analysis of the data revealed significant parallels between the skills embedded in students’ everyday use of Spanglish and the skills that they were expected to master according to California’s sixth-grade English language arts standards. In particular, students displayed an impressive adeptnessat (1) shifting voices for different audiences, and (2) communicating subtle shades of meaning. It is argued that this skillful use of Spanglish could potentially be leveraged as a resource for helping students to further cultivate related academic literacy skills. The article concludes with a discussion of specific implications for how teachers might begin to leverage Spanglish as a pedagogical resource by helping students to recognize, draw on, and extend the skills already embedded intheir everyday use of language.

SPANISH/ENGLISH CODESWITCHING IN A WRITTEN CORPUS

SPANISH/ENGLISH CODESWITCHING IN A WRITTEN CORPUS. Laura Callahan. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2004. Pp. viii + 183. $108.00 cloth.Despite a vast literature on oral codeswitching—the use of more than one language within a single conversation—codeswitching as a written literary practice has remained largely underinvestigated. In redressing this imbalance, Callahan examines Spanish-English codeswitching in literary texts from a grammatical and a discourse function perspective. The analysis of a corpus of 30 novels and shorts stories suggests that there is a “fundamental similarity” between written and spoken codeswitching and that written codeswitching “does not require a separate model of syntactic constraints” (p. 69). Callahan also argues that written codeswitching is far from an artificial literary device; not only does it fulfill the same authentic discourse functions reported for oral codeswitching but its use constitutes authors' strategic “rejection of monolingual English as well as of monolingual Spanish” (p. 145) in a redefined sociolinguistic market.

Convergence as an optimization strategy in bilingual speech: Evidence from code-switching

The present article examines one property of bilingual speech – convergence – and strives towards explanatory depth by attending to the insights of the antecedent research in formal linguistics, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics. In particular, the paper adopts as a point of departure (and further substantiates) the argument that convergence will be evidenced in the syntax–pragmatic interface (Hulk and Müller, 2000) and the assertion that convergence is a ‘bilingual optimization strategy’ (Muysken, 2002), in advancing the claim that convergence (cum congruent lexicalization) in bilingual speech may be amplified or attenuated in tandem with the language mode (bilingual versus monolingual) of the bilingual (Grosjean, 1998). Specifically, it will be demonstrated through an analysis of two individual bilinguals' productions in both monolingual and bilingual modes that the convergence that is already manifested to some degree in these individuals' Spanish is enhanced in Spanish-English code-switching when their languages are simultaneously activated and deployed.