Optimization in bilingual language use

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 740-742
Author(s):  
RAKESH M. BHATT
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Life Time ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Keynote Paper ◽  
Conceptual Clarity ◽  
Productive Area ◽  
Short Essay ◽  
Theoretical Unification

Pieter Muysken's keynote paper, “Language contact outcomes as a result of bilingual optimization strategies”, undertakes an ambitious project to theoretically unify different empirical outcomes of language contact, for instance, SLA, pidgins and Creoles, and code-switching. Muysken has dedicated a life-time to researching, rather successfully, various sub-fields of language contact, so I am very pleased to see him develop a synergistic model that reduces the complexities of different bilingual contact phenomena to four optimization strategies, the specific permutations of which yield the different, linguistically significant, generalizations. Such attempts are necessary, certainly, if the field of language contact has to make progress, theoretically. The success of such a theoretical unification, however, depends to a large extent on (i) the empirical mileage such unification receives; (ii) how well the assumptions underlying the logic of unification are theoretically motivated, to yield precise predictions about the orderliness of bilingual behavior; and (iii) the conceptual clarity required to understand the various links among the outcomes of language contact. On all these counts, Muysken's paper comes close to achieving success, though one notices several areas of fuzziness that need to be addressed for a competent model to fully emerge. In this short essay, I will point out two areas that need theoretical attention so that subsequent revisions of the present version of the model can address them. I will restrict my comments to code-switching, an extremely productive area of language contact, with which I am most familiar.

scholarly journals Sociolinguistics of the Varieties of West African Pidgin Englishes—A Review

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 534
Author(s):  
Edward Owusu ◽  
Samuel Kyei Adoma ◽  
Daniel Oti Aboagye
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
West African ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Gender Attitudes

<p><em>Language contact is a key issue in the field of sociolinguistics. One notable phenomenon in the field of language contact is Pidgin English. Historically, Pidgin began as a language marked by traditional interference used chiefly by the prosperous and privileged sections of a community, represented by the unskilled and illiterate class of the society (Quirk et al., 1985). However, nowadays, it has gained status in some communities to the extent that it has become the mother-tongue of such communities. This paper, therefore, investigates the sociolinguistics of the multiplicity of West African Pidgins of Cameroon, Nigeria and Ghana against some sociolinguistic variables of gender, attitudes, code switching, borrowing, slang, and domains of language use. The paper has been structured into two main parts. The first section contains the reviews/synopses of the various papers or works that have been used for the study. The second section deals with a discussion on the prominent sociolinguistic variables found in the various papers.</em><em></em></p>

Intra-Sentential Code-Switching among Bilingual Saudis on Twitter

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Hussein Ali Habtoor ◽  
Ghzail Faleh Almutlagah
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Common Phenomenon

Code switching (CS) is a common phenomenon in language contact situations wherein bilinguals utilize two languages in the same context. This study investigated the occurrence of intra-sentential code switching by 12 bilingual Saudi females on twitter who differed in age and education. The data were collected by taking screenshot for 1260 tweets. Data were analysed statistically to show the phenomena of Arabic- English code switching. Moreover, a qualitative method was used for data analysis. Findings of the study showed that code-switching was observed clearly on twitter and that intra-sentential code-switching occurs frequently. It was also observed that at the level of particular syntactic categories in Arabic-English CS, nouns were the most often switched elements in the corpus. This study focused on nouns and verbs as examples of these syntactic categories of CS. English as inserted language was mostly used by participant, so the study focused on Arabic sentences in which English is the embedded language. Finally, it is found that the most inserted words in English were related to the internet and other social aspects. 

scholarly journals Meanderings Around the Notion of ‘Contact’ in Reference to Languages, their Dynamics, and to ‘we’

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-548
Author(s):  
Robert Nicolaï
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Ordinary Language ◽  
Language Usage ◽  
Classical Sense ◽  
Communication Practices ◽  
As If

This paper is a linguistic, anthropological and philosophical exploration of language, with particular focus on language contact. The goal is not to address linguistic phenomena from a descriptive perspective, in the classical sense of the term, nor as if they were a “given”, and nothing further. Nor is the goal to craft a model. Instead it is an attempt to account for all relevant elements which (empirically) come into play in ordinary language use, considering them both in terms of language dynamics and in terms of language usage; this necessarily entails taking into consideration our own practices, as actors of communication and as builders of knowledge. We are ever stakeholders in this play (and its plays) because we are the ones who identify and/or attribute relevance. In other words, this text is a reflection on the (our) frameworks established through communication practices (frameworks which naturally have an impact on the form of our tools, including languages!) It highlights that the objectivization of phenomena which underlies our practices (whether academic or not) is closely dependent on the means by which we grasp the phenomena—this is nothing new but is worth noting afresh. Methodologically speaking, observing this point is an essential element in the elaboration of a theory to account for how phenomena are empirically grasped, and more particularly what it entails in the field of ‘language contact’.

The Contact Diffusion of Linguistic Practices

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen Bohnemeyer ◽  
Katharine T. Donelson ◽  
Randi E. Moore ◽  
Elena Benedicto ◽  
Alyson Eggleston ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Reference Frames ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Spatial Reference ◽  
Diffusion Analysis ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Education Levels ◽  
Spatial Reference Frame ◽  
Using Data

We examine the extent to which practices of language use may be diffused through language contact and areally shared, using data on spatial reference frame use by speakers of eight indigenous languages from in and around the Mesoamerican linguistic area and three varieties of Spanish. Regression models show that the frequency of L2-Spanish use by speakers of the indigenous languages predicts the use of relative reference frames in the L1 even when literacy and education levels are accounted for. A significant difference in frame use between the Mesoamerican and non-Mesoamerican indigenous languages further supports the contact diffusion analysis.

World Englishes, Code-Switching, and Convergence

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara E. Bullock ◽  
Lars Hinrichs ◽  
Almeida Jacqueline Toribio
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mixing Patterns ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Analysis Of Variation ◽  
Mixed Nature

In this chapter, it is argued that the study of World Englishes (WE) should assume a more central place in the analysis of variation and change in the context of language contact. Because they emerge from situations of bilingualism and contact, WE varieties are highly informative with regard to the structural issues of code-switching and convergence (also termed structural borrowing, transfer, interference, imposition). The inherently mixed nature of WE is shown here to mirror the diverse structural patterns that are commonly encountered in bilingual speech. It is argued that different mixing patterns arise in response to the social and medial embedding of WE vernaculars at the community, the individual, and the interactional levels. Social evaluations of relative prestige, individual projections of style, stance, and identity, and the complex nature of multilingual interaction conspire to bring about complex, new language structures.

scholarly journals A Bridge to Portugal: Language and Identity in Bridgeport, CT

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-140
Author(s):  
Fabio Scetti
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
American English ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Language And Identity ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Status

Here I present the results of BridgePORT, an ethnographic study I carried out in 2018 within the Portuguese community of Bridgeport, CT (USA). I describe language use and representation among Portuguese speakers within the community, and I investigate the integration of these speakers into the dominant American English speech community. Through my fieldwork, I observe mixing practices in day-to-day interaction, while I also consider the evolution of the Portuguese language in light of language contact and speakers’ discourse as this relates to ideologies about the status of Portuguese within the community. My findings rely on questionnaires, participant observation of verbal interaction, and semi-structured interviews. My aim is to show how verbal practice shapes the process of identity construction and how ideas of linguistic “purity” mediate the maintenance of a link to Portugal and Portuguese identity.

Summary and conclusion

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Gafaranga
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Advanced Level ◽  
Concurrent Use ◽  
Interactional Functions ◽  
New Research

Research in code-switching, undertaken against the backdrop of very negative attitudes towards the concurrent use of two or more languages within the same conversation, has traditionally been geared towards rehabilitating this form of language use. From being seen as a random phenomenon reflecting the user’s lack of competence, code-switching is currently seen as sign of an advanced level of competence in the languages involved and as serving different interactional functions. However, as a result of its success, the research tradition now faces an entirely new challenge: Where to from here? How can research in code-switching continue to be relevant and interesting now it has largely achieved its original purpose? This book has argued that, in order to overcome this challenge, the notion of bilingualism itself must be redefined. Bilingualism must be seen as consisting of diverse interactional practices and be investigated as such. This book has made the case for this new approach, outlined a methodology for investigating bilingualism as interactional practices and illustrated it by means of three case studies. This concluding chapter wraps up the argument and invites other researchers to contribute to this new research direction.

Language choice and conversational repair in bilingual interaction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Gafaranga
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Additional Resource ◽  
Concurrent Use ◽  
Language Alternation ◽  
Conversational Repair ◽  
Research Questions

Research in code-switching, undertaken against the backdrop of very negative attitudes towards the concurrent use of two or more languages within the same conversation, has traditionally been geared towards rehabilitating this form of language use. Now that code-switching has been rehabilitated, the research tradition faces an entirely new challenge, namely that of its continued relevance. This book argues that, in order to overcome this challenge, research should aim to describe specific interactional practices involving the use of two or more languages and outlines a methodology for doing so. This chapter illustrates this methodology by means of a specific case study. The chapter describes the interactional practice of conversational repair in bilingual interaction. Two research questions are raised: (a) where in the repair sequence can language alternation occur and (b) what does language alternation do when it occurs in repair sequences. It is shown that language alternation interacts with repair organisation in two ways. Either language alternation is the focus of conversational repair or it is an additional resource for the organisation of conversational repair.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document