Codeswitching in Igbo-English Bilingualism

A Matrix Language Frame Account

Kelechukwu Ihemere

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781350066557
• eBook ISBN: 9781474278157
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Codeswitching occurs when multilingual speakers embed elements of more than one language into the dominant (or Matrix) language within individual utterances of conversation. Codeswitching in Igbo-English Bilingualism explores the syntax of bilingual codeswitching between the Benue-Congo African language of Igbo and English. Within the framework of Myers-Scotton's highly influential Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model, Kelechukwu Ihemere explores the notion of asymmetry in Igbo-English codeswitching, arguing that the two languages do not contribute equally in the creation of mixed utterances. In the abstract interaction between the two grammars, the Matrix language is more activated than the Embedded language, resulting in either monolingual Igbo discourse or discourse with an Igbo morphosyntactic frame but with English insertions. Using both linguistic and quantitative analyses, this book uniquely investigates the governing principles and restrictions on bilingual clauses and grammatical codeswitching in the context of a West African language and English. Providing a detailed descriptive and theoretical investigation of Igbo-English data and a deeper analysis of the MLF model, this book will be of interest to anyone working in the fields of comparative syntax, bilingualism and contact linguistics.

1

Introduction

Many studies exploring language contact phenomena reveal that when speakers of different languages come into contact the interaction of the two or more languages involved can lead to several linguistic outcomes, including the use of two (or more) languages in the same utterance (codeswitching: CS); one group involved in the contact may take into its language some words from the other group’s language to refer to things and concepts that are new to the first group (such words usually go on to become established borrowings), or a situation may arise where one of the languages in contact contributes all the surface-level forms, while some of the abstract lexical structures that underlie the surface-level patterns come from the other language(s) (convergence). Other outcomes of language contact can include the birth of new languages in the case of Pidgins and Creoles, lexical attrition, incomplete second language acquisition and interference, or even the death of a language.

Codeswitching, which we shall define as the use of elements from more than one language within a single clause or sentence (see section 5.4 for a discussion of the unit of analysis adopted in this study), is conceivably one of the most studied and discussed outcomes of language contact. Its study has been approached from two main dimensions: (1) the linguistic and (2) the sociolinguistic. Researchers concerned with the sociolinguistic aspects of CS tend to seek to identify patterns of occurrence of CS and the impact of social-psychological factors on this bilingual behaviour; whereas those working from a purely linguistic dimension focus on the structural aspects of CS, their aim being to uncover the syntactic and morphological characteristics of codeswitched utterances. The main focus of this volume is on characterizing the structural aspects of Igbo–English CS. Since Igbo and English are two typologically distinct languages (as we shall outline in Chapter 4 of this book), we believe that uncovering what CS mechanisms are deployed by Igbo–English bilinguals in the process of CS would shed some light on our ever evolving understanding of this pervasive bilingual behaviour from a purely linguistic perspective. In the sections that follow below, we shall introduce some of the representative studies of CS from both the linguistic (in section 1.1) and sociolinguistic (in section 1.2) dimensions. Since our primary focus is linguistic rather than sociolinguistic, we shall return in chapters 2 and 3 to review the linguistic approaches introduced here in more detail. We only present an overview here of studies of CS from the sociolinguistic dimension to highlight their contributions to our understanding of the subject. This is followed in section 1.3 by an overview of the grammatical studies of CS in West Africa, the region of the world where Igbo–English is spoken. This is done with a view to highlighting the contributions that these studies have made to the furtherance of our understanding of CS. Also, the discussion in section 1.3 will reveal that not much comprehensive work has been undertaken in the linguistic study of CS involving Igbo and English; an important gap which the present book intends to fill. In section 1.4, we shall introduce the context of the research. Section 1.5 outlines the aims and organization of the rest of the book.

1.1 The linguistic dimension

Starting from the 1970s researchers such as Lance (1975), Timm (1975) and Pfaff (1979) began to work on grammatical aspects of CS focusing on switching within the sentence. Using mostly Spanish–English data, these researchers sought to uncover constraints on CS. For instance, Timm (1975: 477–8) proposed that switching between a pronominal subject/object and a finite verb and between a finite verb and an infinitive complement was not allowed. For her part, Pfaff (1979) suggested that switching was prohibited between a noun and adjective. It is important to observe that, in as much as several of the earlier proposed constraints on CS have been shown in the literature to be acutely language-specific and unmotivated by any particular theoretical approach, these initial studies pointed to the fact that CS is not haphazard, but grammatically constrained. Following this group of researchers are others¹ interested in formulating constraints on points in a sentence where codeswitching can take place on the grounds of surface-level linear differences between the languages concerned. These researchers consider restrictions on CS along the lines of dissimilarities in word order, either across clauses or on phrases within clauses. In particular, Poplack’s (1980) Equivalence Constraint (EC) is based on this premise that switching is not permitted when the syntax of two languages does not match at a potential switch point (see section 2.1 for a review of the EC). Another constraint put forward by researchers within this group is the Free Morpheme Constraint (FMC). The FMC is reviewed in section 2.2 of this volume. According to the FMC, a switch may not occur between a bound morpheme and a lexical form unless the latter has been phonologically integrated into the language of the bound morpheme (Sankoff and Poplack 1981). Over the years, various researchers such as Bhatt (1997a, 1997b, 1999, 2001a, 2001b), Couto, Deuchar and Fusser (2015), Deuchar (2006) and Legendre and Schindler (2010) have reported CS examples that appear to falsify the predictions of both the EC and the FMC.² Yet another group of researchers³ look for explanations at a more abstract level than linear structure. These researchers assert that the grammatical organization of CS can be accounted for in terms of the principles of current syntactic theories, even though these theories were initially formulated to explain monolingual data. They do not seem to recognize any theoretical (or useful) value in acknowledging the asymmetry between any two languages participating in CS cross-linguistically (these studies are reviewed in sections 2.3–5).

On the other hand, the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model (see Chapter 3 for a detailed discussion of this CS framework) makes the case for a distinction between the Matrix Language (ML) and the Embedded Language (EL). The ML is claimed to play a dominant role in shaping the overall morphosyntactic properties of codeswitched utterances. In other words, the model posits two hierarchies in reference to mixed constituents: the two languages do not participate equally; only one language is the source of the abstract morphosyntactic frame. In chapters 6 to 8 of this volume we will assess the veracity of the notion of asymmetry in the roles played by the languages participating in CS using data from Igbo–English CS. Furthermore, in the study of CS, a distinction is usually made between intersentential and intrasentential CS. Both types are introduced below, where we also specify that the analyses reported in this book shall focus on examples of intrasentential CS in Igbo–English.

1.1.1 Types of codeswitching

Different types of CS are identified in the literature (see Clyne 2003 and Matras 2009, for instance), but researchers often make a differen...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations and Symbols
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Studying the Grammar of Codeswitching
• 3 Theoretical Framework
• 4 Comparison of Aspects of Igbo and English Grammars
• 5 Methodology
• 6 Embedded Language Single Words: Nouns and Adjectives
• 7 Embedded Language Single Words: Verbs
• 8 Embedded Language Islands
• 9 Concluding Remarks and Implications
• Appendix A: Sample Interview Protocol
• Appendix B: Summary of Findings from the Interview Protocol
• Notes
• References
• Index
• Copyright