In this paper, I analyse the patterns of intra-sentential code switching in the speech of bilingual children aged between of two and four years.
The first section will deal with some of the theoretical approaches to code switching which try to establish certain grammatical rules for this linguistic phenomenon.
Afterwards, I will analyse the code switches in the speech acts of different children in order to find out more about the nature of these switches. The aim is to find out whether code switches, within the sentence boundaries, always occur in the same position or if they can be found anywhere in the sentence. Furthermore, I will analyse what types of words are being switched and if the switches violate the word order of the sentences. All this will be looked at with regard to the principles mentioned in the first section and whether the code switches adhere to these principles or violate them.
The findings and results presented here should be considered with reservation since the brevity of this paper does not allow the analysis of a representative amount of data.
The data is taken from the CHILDES Corpus as well as from Gawlitzek-Maiwald and Tracy’s article Bilingual Bootstrapping and from Albrecht’s publication I can speak German- und Deutsch: The development and use of code-switching among simultaneous and successive English-German bilingual children.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Principles and constraints of code switching
2.1 Poplack’s Equivalence Constraint
2.2 Sankoff and Poplack’s Free Morpheme Constraint
2.3 Myers-Scotton’s Matrix Frame Language Model
3 Analysis of data
3.1 Data 1, Hannah (2;4)
3.2 Data 2, Jeremy (2;5.05)
3.3 Data 3, Jeremy (2;5.12)
3.4 Data 4, Olivier (2;8)
3.5 Data 5, Annick (3;1)
3.6 Data 6, Olivier (3;7)
3.7 Data 7, Paula (4;3)
3.8 Data 8, Paula (4;5)
4 Conclusion
5 References
6 Appendix
Research Objectives and Key Topics
This paper examines the patterns and grammatical constraints of intra-sentential code-switching in the speech of bilingual children aged two to four. It investigates whether such switches consistently occur at specific sentence positions and if they conform to established linguistic principles.
- Theoretical approaches to grammatical constraints in code-switching.
- Analysis of intra-sentential switches across different word classes.
- Evaluation of code-switching against the Equivalence and Free Morpheme Constraints.
- Examination of the Matrix Language (ML) model in child discourse.
- Role of bilingual development in the adherence to syntactic rules.
Excerpt from the Book
3.1 Data 1, Hannah (2;4)
In Hannah’s case the code switch is situated in the middle of the sentence in line 1. The girl starts her sentence with a German subject and a German auxiliary verb. Then, the code switch takes place within the past participle. She starts with the German morpheme ‘ge’ which indicates that it is a past participle and follows with the English past participle ‘climbed’, which is a lexical item. Hannah does not know the correct German past participle ‘geklettert’ and therefore, creates her own variety by blending together the two components which are known to her. The preposition of the sentence is given in English as well. This code switch violates the Free Morpheme Constraint since the child created a word by putting together a bound morpheme of the German language and an English lexical item which has not been incorporated into German.
When the other person asks “what” (l. 2), she takes it as a request for clarification. Therefore, she repeats the whole sentence in English since all words are known to her in this language.
The ML changes throughout the conversation: while the ML is German in line 1, it changes to English in line 3. The word order follows the syntactic rules of English throughout the transcript, even in line 1 where the ML is German. Therefore, this code switch also violates the Equivalence Constraint.
Chapter Summaries
1 Introduction: This chapter defines the scope of the study, focusing on intra-sentential code-switching patterns in children, and outlines the methodology involving data from the CHILDES corpus.
2 Principles and constraints of code switching: This section provides a theoretical overview of linguistic constraints, specifically the Equivalence Constraint, Free Morpheme Constraint, and the Matrix Frame Language Model.
3 Analysis of data: The core section of the paper, where specific speech samples from eight different instances are analyzed to see if they violate or adhere to the introduced constraints.
4 Conclusion: Summarizes findings, noting that while most children respect grammatical constraints, violations occur regardless of age and do not hinder the communicative intent of the child.
5 References: A bibliography of the academic literature and corpora used to support the linguistic analysis.
6 Appendix: Contains the raw transcript data of the child speech acts examined in the analysis section.
Keywords
Code-switching, bilingual children, intra-sentential, Equivalence Constraint, Free Morpheme Constraint, Matrix Language Model, CHILDES corpus, linguistic development, syntax, morphology, German, English, French, language acquisition, bilingualism.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this research paper?
The paper focuses on analyzing the patterns of intra-sentential code-switching in the speech of bilingual children between the ages of two and four years.
Which linguistic constraints are evaluated in the study?
The study primarily evaluates the data against Poplack’s Equivalence Constraint and the Free Morpheme Constraint, as well as Myers-Scotton’s Matrix Frame Language Model.
What is the central research question?
The research aims to determine if intra-sentential code switches occur in consistent sentence positions, whether they violate established grammatical rules, and if the word order of the sentences is compromised.
What methodology is used to conduct this analysis?
The author uses qualitative analysis of speech data extracted from the CHILDES corpus and specific articles focusing on bilingual bootstrapping and language development.
What does the main body of the work cover?
The main body systematically analyzes eight different data sets (speech samples) from various children, documenting specific instances of switching and evaluating each against the theoretical constraints.
What are the essential keywords characterizing this work?
Key terms include code-switching, bilingualism, language acquisition, Equivalence Constraint, and grammatical theory.
Does the age of the child influence the ability to adhere to linguistic constraints?
The findings indicate that age does not play a determining role, as violations were observed across the entire age range (two to four years).
What is a key observation regarding the Matrix Language (ML)?
The author observes that while the ML is often stable, it can change within a conversation, and this change does not necessarily correlate with the violation of grammatical principles.
- Quote paper
- Yvonne Benoit (Author), 2007, Intra-sentential code switching in the speech of bilingual children, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/76099
