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The PF Disjunction Theorem to Southern Min/Mandarin code-switching.
- Source :
-
International Journal of Bilingualism . Oct2017, Vol. 21 Issue 5, p541-558. 18p. - Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- Aim and research question: The aim of this study is to test Macswan's ((1999). A minimalist approach to intrasentential code switching. New York, NY: Garland; (2000). The architecture of the bilingual language faculty: Evidence from intrasentential code-switching. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 3, 37-54; (2005). Codeswitching and generative grammar: A critique of the MLF model and some remarks on "modified minimalism". Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 8, 1-22.) PF Disjunction Theorem (PFDT), which was proposed based on Chomsky's ((1995). The minimalist program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.) minimalist programme, to answer the following question: Is code-switching (CS) behaviour governed by CS-specific grammar or an innate mechanism that produces monolingual and bilingual utterances in our language faculty? Methodology: A quantitative approach was adopted to test the PFDT with the Southern Min/Mandarin CS data. Data and analysis: 811 lexical items extracted from 343 bilingual clauses in my Southern Min/Mandarin CS corpus, and almost no violation against this model (i.e., a word-internal switch) was found, except one example that was regarded as the informant's slip of tongue. Findings/conclusions: The results of this study confirm the prediction of the PFDT that phonological systems cannot be mixed within a word. Originality: Although the morphosyntactic structures and in some cases the pronunciations of morphemes are identical, tonal differences of these two languages still prohibit word-internal switches. Significance/implications: This study thus supports the PFDT and argues that CS behaviour is governed by a single innate mechanism that governs both monolingual and bilingual language production and that the so-called CS-specific grammar/mechanism is not necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 13670069
- Volume :
- 21
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- International Journal of Bilingualism
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 125123878
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006916637677