It is not uncommon for bilinguals or multilinguals to sometimes switch back and forth between two or more different languages within a single conversation or even a single sentence. This phenomenon is called “code-switching”, and has been studied extensively from sociolinguistic and structural perspectives. In this paper, however, it will be examined from a psycholinguistic approach.
As code-switching occurs rather naturally and in informal settings, psycholinguists – who usually seem to prefer working with controlled data – tend to refrain from studying the psycholinguistic aspects of this phenomenon. Thus, unfortunately, much experimental data does not seem to exist in this research field so far.
Nonetheless, the study of code-switching with naturally occurring data could certainly provide some interesting insights into the cognitive processes of bilinguals when switching languages, and has thus been increasingly analyzed and evaluated with corpus data in recent years, for example, by Broersma & De Bot, 2006; Broersma, 2009, whose findings will be summarized and discussed in this paper. The aim here is to present support for language switches induced by so-called “trigger words”, and to analyze how and to what extent certain words can trigger code-switching.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: A psycholinguistic approach to code-switching
2. The triggering hypothesis
2.1 Types of triggering
2.2 The triggering hypothesis in relation to speech production models
3. Comparison of the two triggering hypotheses, their respective methodological approaches, and the evidence
3.1 Code-switching in typologically unrelated languages: Dutch-Moroccan Arabic
3.2. Codeswitching in typologically closely related languages: Dutch-English
4. False cognates as trigger words
5. Conclusion
Objectives and Core Topics
This paper aims to investigate the psycholinguistic mechanisms of code-switching, specifically evaluating the role of "trigger words"—such as cognates and false cognates—in inducing language switches. The research evaluates the evolution of the triggering hypothesis from Michael Clyne’s surface-level structural approach to more modern, lemma-level models proposed by Broersma and De Bot, utilizing empirical corpus data from diverse language pairs to determine if and how specific words influence a speaker's subconscious language selection.
- The psycholinguistic analysis of code-switching and bilingual speech production models.
- A comparative evaluation of Clyne’s (1967) triggering hypothesis versus the revised Broersma and De Bot (2006) model.
- The impact of typological language distance on the occurrence of trigger-induced code-switching.
- The role of cognates and false cognates in facilitating language switches.
- Empirical findings from natural speech corpora (Dutch-Moroccan Arabic, Dutch-English, and Russian-English).
Excerpt from the Book
2.1 Types of triggering
Clyne (1967) proposes that the words most likely to undergo a language switch are the words that are closest to these cognates, i.e., the ones directly neighbouring the cognates in an utterance, as they can supposedly cause a short-term loss of the speaker’s linguistic orientation. Clyne (1967) differentiates between three triggering loci:
(a) Consequential triggering: Clyne (1967) assumes that after the occurrence of a trigger word, the speaker may briefly be confused as to which language her or she is currently engaging, and thus switch to another language with the word(s) that follow.
(1) “Ich les’ gerade eins; das handelt von einem alten SECONDHAND-DEALER and his son [...]“ (Clyne, 1987: 754)
In this example the lexical transfer “secondhand-dealer“ may act as a trigger word and thus increase activation in the non-selected language, resulting in a language switch within the utterance. The words in italics are always the code-switched words in these examples.
(b) Anticipational triggering: Here the assumption is that when speakers plan ahead what they are going to say, the production of a trigger word might subconsciously be anticipated, which could cause the speaker to switch languages right before the trigger word is articulated (Clyne, 1967).
(2) “Dann sind wir nach Warracknabeal gegangen und haben on a FARM gewohnt.” (Clyne, 1981: 37)
The word “farm may have a triggering effect here, and results in a code-switch taking place directly before the trigger word.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: A psycholinguistic approach to code-switching: This chapter introduces the phenomenon of code-switching from a psycholinguistic perspective and outlines the paper's aim to evaluate the "trigger word" hypothesis.
2. The triggering hypothesis: This section details Michael Clyne's foundational theory of triggering, its types, and how modern speech production models necessitate an adjustment of these initial assumptions toward a lemma-level focus.
3. Comparison of the two triggering hypotheses, their respective methodological approaches, and the evidence: This chapter provides a comparative analysis of Clyne’s theory and the revised model by Broersma and De Bot, examining findings from studies on typologically different and similar language pairs.
4. False cognates as trigger words: This section investigates whether phonological overlap alone, without semantic equivalence, is sufficient to trigger a code-switch, using data from Russian-English bilinguals.
5. Conclusion: The final chapter synthesizes the findings, noting that while both the word-level and clause-level approaches have merits, the adjusted lemma-level hypothesis offers a more accurate account of the mental processes involved in triggered code-switching.
Keywords
Code-switching, trigger words, psycholinguistics, cognates, false cognates, lemma level, surface structure, speech production models, bilingualism, linguistic orientation, typology, activation threshold, natural speech, language contact, lexical selection.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fundamental focus of this paper?
This paper examines code-switching from a psycholinguistic viewpoint, specifically evaluating whether certain words—labeled "trigger words"—can provoke a speaker to switch between languages within a conversation.
What are the primary themes discussed?
The core themes include the validity of the triggering hypothesis, the evolution of speech production models, the comparison between word-level and clause-level approaches, and the role of cognates and false friends in language switching.
What is the primary objective of this research?
The objective is to determine if cognates and other lexical similarities can induce code-switching and to assess which theoretical model—Clyne’s structural model or the lemma-based approach by Broersma and De Bot—better explains the phenomenon.
Which scientific methods are employed?
The paper performs a comparative analysis of existing literature and evaluates statistical data derived from corpus-based studies of natural, spontaneous speech across various language pairs.
What does the main part of the work cover?
The main part covers the theoretical background of speech production, detailed descriptions of triggering types (consequential, anticipational, and sandwich words), and a comparative review of empirical evidence from Dutch-Moroccan, Dutch-English, and Russian-English studies.
Which keywords characterize this work?
Key terms include code-switching, trigger words, lemma level, bilingual speech production, cognates, and linguistic typology.
How do false cognates differ from standard cognates in this research?
While standard cognates share both form and meaning, the study explores whether false cognates—which share only form—are capable of triggering a language switch, effectively testing if phonological similarity is enough to influence language selection.
What is the significance of the "basic clause" in the adjusted triggering theory?
Broersma and De Bot utilize the "basic clause" as the processing unit for lexical selection. They argue that if a trigger word exists within this clause, it increases the likelihood of a code-switch occurring within that same unit.
- Citar trabajo
- Anna Sophia Vollmer (Autor), 2017, Trigger words and their effect on code-switching, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1010081
