Article published In:
Linguistic Approaches to BilingualismVol. 14:3 (2024) ► pp.310–339
Subject pronouns in Spanish-English code-switching
A test of two models
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.
Keywords: code-switching, subject pronouns, MLF/4-M models, Minimalist Program approach, language dominance
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.The present study
- 3.Methods
- 3.1Participants
- 3.2Materials
- 3.3Task and procedure
- 3.4Unilingual Spanish
- 3.5Analysis and results
- 4.Discussion
- 5.Conclusion
- Notes
-
References
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