This sociolinguistics study investigates a new phenomenon that has recently surfaced in the field of code-switching among Saudi females residing in the Western region of Saudi Arabia. This phenomenon basically combines bound Arabic pronouns, tense markers or definite article to English free morphemes or the combination of bound English affixes to…

This paper sketches a comprehensive framework for modeling and interpreting language contact phenomena, with speakers' bilingual strategies in specific scenarios of language contact as its point of departure. Bilingual strategies are conditioned by social factors, processing constraints of speakers' bilingual competence, and perceived…

Explores an Optimality-Theoretic approach to account for observed cross-linguistic patterns of code switching that assumes that code switching strives for well-formedness. Optimization of well-formedness in code switching is shown to follow from (violable) ranked constraints. An argument is advanced that code-switching patterns emerge from…

Provides a critical review of the syntactic study of code mixing, discussing data drawn from African and South Asian languages, and focuses particular attention on the syntactic constraints paradigm. An examination of seven major surface constraints, deemed to have universal applicability, shows that none of these constraints is universal. (53…

This paper investigates the intrasentential codeswitching patterns of two sets of English-Finnish bilingual teenagers in a corpus of 208 bilingual sentences. Two of the subjects live in Finland and two in the United States; therefore, the macro-sociolinguistic situations for them are reverse. For those living in the United States, the minority…

A paradigm gap has prevented research on second language acquisition theory and indigenized varieties of English from making substantive contributions to each other. The varieties of English represent several significant sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic variables, the investigation of which will put second language acquisition theory on firmer…

Presents an analysis of code switching that relies on general principles of phrase structure and rejects constraints specific to code switching. This model is shown to account for intersentential switches between typologically different languages such as Farsi and English, including within word switches and switches between modifiers and nouns.…

Defines language transfer as a psycholinguistic procedure by which second language learners activate prior knowledge in developing or using their interlanguage. A functional differentiation of language transfer is proposed, according to its activation in learning, reception, and production. (Author/LMO)