Phonological Effects in
Intrasentential Codeswitching?
Sonia Colina and Jeff MacSwan
Arizona State University/University of Arizona
and Arizona State University
Research Questions
 How does phonology affect the syntax of
codeswitching?


What are the restrictions on language mixing
within the phonological component of the
grammar?
Can restrictions on codeswitching be
accounted for in terms of architectural (design)
considerations?
Codeswitching in Morphophonology
 We can’t switch before a bound morpheme
(Poplack,
1980, 1981)
*Estoy eat-iendo
*Juan love-ó a Maria
 (Nonce) borrowing versus word-internal switching
Lonchamos con Maria [borrowing]
*Lunch-amos con Maria [word-internal codeswitch]
‘Let’s have lunch with Maria’
 In fact, we can’t mix phonology within words at all.
Spanish: g ---> ƒ between vowels
English: o ---> ow [+round] word finally
English “ago” as [aƒow] in Spanish-English is ill-formed.
Phrasal Affixation
 English genitive -’s is a phrasal (XP) affix
[Tom and Mary]’s house
[the man from Nebraska]’s hat
 Spanish-English (MacSwan, 2004)
Su novia’s coche está nuevo
‘His girlfriend’s car is new.’
Mi cuñado’s motorcycle is in the driveway
‘My brother-in-law’s motorcycle is in the driveway.’
 Croatian-English (Hlavac, 2003)
… imam, moja mamin’s sestra jet u i … sve moj tata’s
family je sve u Zagreb …
… I have, my brother’s sister is here and … all my dad’s
family is all in Zagreb …
Codeswitching in Head Movement
Contexts

Language Switching in Restructuring Contexts
(Italian-French)
Si è dato un regalo
[Italian]
Un regalo si è dato
[Italian]
Si è donné un cadeau [Italian-French]
*Un cadeau si è donné [Italian-French]
‘A gift is given’

Language Switching in Negation Contexts
(Spanish-Nahuatl)
*No nitekititoc
‘I’m not working’
Amo estoy trabajando
‘I’m not working’
Descriptive Generalization
 Codeswitching cannot occur
 word-internally
 in head movement contexts
 In other words: Codeswitching cannot occur internally
within a head (X0), whether simple or complex.
 Counter-examples?


Finnish-English case morphology
Dutch agreement suffix -e on French adjectives
 Viable counter-examples stimulate further study,
leading to theoretical refinements
The PF Disjunction Theorem
(MacSwan 1999, 2000)

Goals


Rule out head-internal codeswitching without positing
codeswitching-specific mechanisms.
PF Disjunction Theorem
i.
The PF component consists of rules which must be
(partially) ordered with respect to each other, and these
orders vary cross-linguistically.
ii. Codeswitching entails the union of at least two (lexicallyencoded) grammars.
iii. Ordering relations are not preserved under union.
iv. Therefore, codeswitching within a PF component is not
possible.
 Heads are inputs to phonology.
 PFDT is an instantiation of Full Interpretation (FI)
Words (X0s) which contain objects associated with distinct
phonological systems lack sensorimotor interpretations at
the PF Interface.
Previous Studies in the Phonology/
Phonetics of Codeswitching
 Recent studies of phonological aspects of codeswitching
have focused on phonetic, gradient effects:

Grosjean and Miller (1994)
• Voice Onset Time (VOT) measurements in French/English
codeswitches. Lexical switches.
• Findings: “base language” has no impact on the production of
codeswitches for VOT; the shift from one language to the next
is total and immediate.

Botero et al. (2004)
 VOT measurements in Spanish/English codeswitches. Sentential
switches.
 Findings: trend towards convergence in the VOT values of
voiceless stops in Spanish/English codeswitches; perseverative
phonetic effects in codeswitching contexts.
Previous Studies in the Phonology/
Phonetics of Codeswitching
 Bullock et al. (2004)




also focuses on phonetics (phonetic convergence), despite the
introduction of allophonic distribution.
does not present a theoretical account of the phonological facts.
sounds under investigation are switch-internal (vs. at the point of
switch).
findings:
 hypothesis (English allophones may be substituted for the Spanish ones and/or vice
versa) is not borne out; no allophonic substitution, no convergence at the
phonological level of representation; phonetic convergence found instead.
 acoustic values of [l] in codeswitched bilingual speech are closer to those of an
English dark /l/ than those of monolingual Spanish, but still below the threshold
level necessary to be perceived as dark. Although subjects show coda
neutralization of the l/r contrast in Spanish (lambdacism), no such process was
found in codeswitching into English.
Goals of the Present Study
Contribute to the literature on the phonology of
codeswitching by examining phonological,
categorical phenomena.
2. Determine empirically whether in mixed-language
contexts there is
1.


3.

a “base-language effect” in the postlexical
phonological component
or a sudden switch in phonological systems
Refine/reformulate the PF Disjunction Theorem
using insights from Optimality Theory.
Here we report on initial efforts with 1 and 2 will not
address 3 for the moment.
The Relevance of Optimality Theory to
the Present Study
 Crosslinguistic variation (language typology) is the result of language-
specific rankings of universal constraints.
 Two languages may have opposite rankings of the same
constraints: e.g., languages with consonant epenthesis have
ONSET >> DEP, but those without it have the ranking DEP >>
ONSET.
 Ranking paradoxes (opposite rankings of the same universal
constraints) are not permitted.
 Conflating phonological systems in bilingual codeswitching could result
in a ranking paradox.
 OT predictions:
 In the case of a ranking paradox, since only one ranking is
possible, there must be a sudden switch in phonology (from the
“base” to the “receptor language”) at the point of switch.
 When no conflicting rankings are involved, the facts could be
different. A feature in the receptor language could serve as a
trigger for a process in the base language.
Two Experiments
 Experiment 1

Intervocalic allophones of /b, d, g/


Conflicting rankings in English and Spanish.
Switches between a Spanish trigger and an English lexical
item test whether Spanish phonology persists into the
English lexical item.
 Experiment 2

Voicing of syllable-final /s/ in Spanish.


No conflicting rankings involved.
Switches between an English trigger and a Spanish lexical
item test whether English phonology persists into the
Spanish lexical item.
Experiment 1: Spanish
Approximants (Fricatives)
 /b, d, g/ are realized as [-continuants] when following a stop or a
pause (or /l/ in the case of /d/):
cuando
[ku9an5do]
‘when’
tengo
[te go]
‘I have’
cambio
[kambi9o] ‘change’
caldo
[kal5do]
‘broth’
 All Spanish dialects with [+continuant] allophones of the voiced
stops have a [+ continuant, -vocalic] segment in intervocalic
contexts (Lipski, 1994):
haba
[aBa]
‘bean’
hada
[aDa]
‘fairy’
haga
[a a]
‘do-SUBJ.3SG’
 In English, by contrast, intervocalic allophones of /b, d, g/ are
always [-continuant].
Relevant Constraints
 AGREE (stricture): Adjacent segments must agree in
degree of stricture (Díaz-Campos & Colina, 2004;
Steriade, 1993)
 IDENT-IO (continuant): Corresponding segments are
identical with regard to their [+/- continuant]
specification (i.e., [+/- continuant] specification in the
output must match that of the input and vice versa).
 IDENT-IO (sonorant): Corresponding segments are
identical with regard to their [+/- sonorant]
specification (i.e., [+/- sonorant] specification in the
output must match that of the input and vice versa).
Other Relevant Constraints
 FAITHFULNESS: Any segment present in the
input must also be present in the output
(MAX-IO); any segment present in the output
must have a correspondent in the input (DEPIO).
 Stricture theory (cf. Steriade, 1993)



A0: maximal stricture (non-continuants, stops,
nasals and laterals)
Af: medium aperture (fricatives)
AMAX: minimal stricture (approximants and
vowels)
Constraint Ranking Differences
 Spanish
AGREE (stricture)>> IDENT-IO (continuant),
IDENT-IO (sonorant)
 English
IDENT-IO (continuant), IDENT-IO
(sonorant) >> AGREE (stricture)
Note: this process affects only voiced obstruents in
Spanish (not voiceless). An undominated constraint
against voiceless approximants is responsible for the
exclusion of the voiceless counterparts.
Tableaux
Monolingual Spanish
/lagala/ [laÂala] ‘the event’
AGREE
(stricture)
a. [laÂa la]
b. [lagala]
*!
IDENT-IO
(continuant)
*
IDENT-IO (sonorant)
Tableaux
Monolingual English
/eigoust/ [ei9gou9st] ‘a ghost’
IDENT-IO
(continuant)
IDENT-IO
(sonorant)
*
*!
 [ei9gou9st]
b. [ei9Â ou9st]
AGREE
(stricture)
*
Methods
 Participants: 5 simultaneous Spanish-English bilinguals from
Central Arizona (students at Arizona State University).
 Task: Participants were asked to pronounce 27 sentences three
times each in non-sequential order using Presentation, a
stimulus-delivery software package, in a sound booth.
 Items: Items involved codeswitches from Spanish into English
(voiced stop-initial English noun at the onset of the switch,
preceded by a vowel-final Spanish determiner). E.g.,
Hablamos de mi ghost yesterday
‘We talked about my ghost yesterday’
Hablamos de mi disk yesterday
‘We talked about my disk yesterday’
Hablamos de mi book yesterday
‘We talked about my book yesterday’
Methods
 The sentences were recorded, transcribed
and subjected to spectrographic analysis
(using Praat) to determine the continuancy
(stop versus approximant) of /b, d, g/.
 The codeswitched samples were compared
to monolingual Spanish intervocalic contexts
to rule out convergence towards English in
participants’ Spanish phonology.
Results
Figure 1: Results for Spanish-English bilingual
speech sample
total tokens
stops
approximant
s2
s3
s4
(excluded)*
s5
52
55
54
50
49
52
2
4
2
Per cent
stops
96.15%
89.09%
96.29%
53
52
1
98.11%
s6
61
48
1
78.68%
*Note: S4 excluded based on monolingual Spanish results.
other
2
2
Results
Figure 2: Results for monolingual Spanish speech
sample
total tokens
stops
s2
s3
s4*
50
55
54
3
0
51
approximant Per cent
approximants
29
91%
47
100%
0
0%
s5
53
1
49
98%
s6
61
5
27
84%
other
18 deletions
8 deletions
3 1 deletion; 3
stops induc ed
by pause
3 unin telli gible
13 deletions; 16
unintelli gible
Bar Graph Representation of Results for
Spanish-English Bilingual Speech Sample
Per cent stops
120.00%
100.00%
80.00%
60.00%
Per cent stops
40.00%
20.00%
0.00%
s2
s3
s5
s6
average
Experiment 2: /s/-voicing in
Spanish
 In Spanish /s/ is realized as [z] when followed by a voiced
consonant
desde
[dezD e]
‘from’
mismo
las dos
[mizmo]
[lazDos]
‘same’
‘the two’
tres manos
tres osos
[trezmanos]
[tresosos]
‘three hands’
‘three bears’
Note: This process is postlexical and therefore not obligatory. However, the presence of at least
some /s/-voicing in a codeswitching context, in particular when /s/ is followed by an English
word that starts with a voiced consonant, would indicate that the feature [+voice] can serve as a
trigger for the /s/ voicing, independendently of the fact that [+voice] belongs to an English
lexical item.
Relevant Constraints
 AGREE (voice): Adjacent segments must agree
voicing
 IDENT-IO Coda (voice): Corresponding coda
segments are identical with regard to their [+/voice] specification. (i.e., [+/-voice] specification in
the output must match that of the input and
viceversa).
 IDENT-IO Onset (voice): Corresponding onset
segments are identical with regard to their [+/voice] specification. (i.e., [+/-voice] specification in
the output must match that of the input and
viceversa).
Constraint Ranking
IDENT-IO Onset (voice) >> AGREE (voice) >>
IDENT-IO Coda (voice)
Tableaux
Monolingual Spanish
/mismo/ [mizmo] ‘same’
IDENT-IOONSET AGREE (voice) IDENT-IOCODA
(voice)
(voice)
*
a. [mizmo]
b. [mismo]
*!
Tableaux
Code-switched utterance (Spanish > Eng)
/mis || goust/ [mi gou9st] ‘my ghosts’
IDENT-IOONSET AGREE
(voice)
(voice)
a.[miz gou9sts]
b. [mis go u9sts]
*!
IDENT-IOCODA
(voice)
*
Methods
 Participants: 5 simultaneous Spanish-English bilinguals from Central
Arizona (students at Arizona State University).
 Task: Participants were asked to pronounce 9 sentences three times
each in non-sequential order using Presentation, a stimulus-delivery
software package, in a sound booth.
 Items: Items involved codeswitches from Spanish into English (voiced
stop-initial English noun at the onset of the switch, preceded by a sfinal Spanish determiner). E.g.,
Hablamos de mis ghosts yesterday
‘We talked about my ghosts yesterday’
Hablamos de mis disks yesterday
‘We talked about my disks yesterday’
Hablamos de mis books yesterday
‘We talked about my books yesterday’
Methods
 The sentences were recorded, transcribed
and subjected to spectrographic analysis
(using Praat) to determine voicing of /s/.
 The codeswitched samples were compared
to monolingual Spanish contexts to rule out
convergence towards English in participants’
Spanish phonology.
Results
Figure 3: Results for Spanish-English bilingual
speech sample
s2
s3
s4*
s5
total tokens
28
26
27
25
[s]
18 (64.28%)
5 (19.23%)
26 (96.29%)
13 (52%)
[z]
6
18
1
8
Per cent [z]
21.42%
69.23%
3.70%
32%
s6
32
5 (15.62%)
16
50%
other
4 (14.28%)
3 (11.53%)
4 (partial voicing)
(16%)
11 (34.37%)
Results
Figure 4: Results for monolingual Spanish speech
sample (e.g. hablamos de)
s2
s3
s4*
total tokens [s]
28
14 (50%)
26
1(3.84%)
27
26 (96.29%)
[z]
13
15
0
Per cent [z]
46.42%
57.59%
s5
25
2(8%)
21
84%
s6
32
0
29
90.62%
other
1 unin telli gible
10
1 [s] before
pause
2
3 2 deletion; 1
unintelli gible
Bar Graph Representation of Results for
Spanish-English Bilingual Speech Sample
[z] percent
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
[z] percent
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
s2
s3
s5
average
Conclusions
 The presence of the relevant structural
description does not always trigger
application of Spanish phonology across
word boundaries.
 The data reveal that simultaneous SpanishEnglish bilinguals shift suddenly from Spanish
to English phonology between word
boundaries when there are conflicting
rankings (/b,d,g/).
Conclusions
 An English segment may serve as a trigger
for Spanish phonology across word
boundaries in a Spanish lexical item when no
conflicting rankings are involved.
 These results are consistent with the theory
that phonological systems may be switched at
word boundaries but not within words
(heads). The defining characteristics of the
switch (sudden or not) will depend on the
specific processes involved as well as the
theoretical account used to explain them.
Further Research
 Another experiment needs to be done to test
the opposite directionality in /s/-voicing. In
other words, is the English contrast between
/s/ and /z/ affected by contact with a [+voice]
C in a Spanish lexical item, E.g, price de
‘price of,’ [praisDe] or [praizDe]?
 This study seeks to contribute to a model of
bilingual codeswitching in which
grammaticality facts are substantially
explained by conditions on the syntaxphonology interface.
Acknowledgments
 Funding
 This research was funded by a grant from the
National Academy of Education with funding
from the Spencer Foundation.
 Participants
 We thank the several bilingual students at
ASU who participated in the study.
 Graduate Assistants
 Kara McAlister and Peter Sayer assisted in
this research.
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