How to mix
Confronting “mixed” NP models and bilinguals’ choices
Rena Torres Cacoullos | Penn State University
Nathalie Dion | University of Ottawa
Dora LaCasse | University of Montana
Shana Poplack | University of Ottawa
The widespread occurrence of nouns in one language with a determiner in the other, often referred to as mixed NPs, has
generated much theorizing and debate. Since both a syntactic account based on abstract features of the determiner and an account highlighting
the notion of a Matrix language yield largely the same predictions, we assess how the tenets of each play out in speaker choices. The data
derive from a massive corpus of spontaneous nominal mixes, produced by bilinguals in New Mexico, where bidirectional code-switching is the
norm. Bilinguals’ choices concern (1) NP status (mixed vs. unmixed); (2) mixing type (limited-item vs. multi-word); and (3) language of the noun
(here, English vs. Spanish). Results show that the community preference is for mixed NPs, independent of their theoretical felicity as dictated
by determiner language properties. As to mixing type, these NPs are mostly constituted of lone nouns, such that
the language of the determiner and any associated verb is perforce that of the surrounding discourse. Finally, the overwhelming choice is for
English lone nouns incorporated into Spanish, and hence for a Spanish determiner. The language of the determiner thus proceeds, not from abstract
linguistic properties, but instead from straightforward adherence to bilingual speech community conventions.
Keywords: mixed NP, classes of nominal mixes, lone other-language nouns, multi-word code-switching, bilingual community norms
Published online: 19 February 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.20017.tor
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.20017.tor
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