Trilingual code-switching in the nominal domain: Evidence from two speech communities.

Bilingual speakers often use both languages in the same sentence, a practice known as code-switching. This usage is not random, but determined by various linguistic and extra-linguistic factors. Existing code-switching models focus on bilingual speech, but can they also account for trilingual speakers, whose grammatical and lexical options are even greater?To answer this question, I will investigate the code-switching patterns of trilingual speakers of two understudied, typologically varied language triads: Purepecha-Spanish-English (USA) and Georgian-Russian-English (Georgia). Using naturalistic and experimental data, I will identify the direction and location of code-switches in nominal constructions, as well as the gender assignment strategies applied. This will allow me to test the two main models of code-switching, the Matrix Language Framework and Minimalist approach, and to contrast the findings with already attested patterns. Both communities present complex socio-cultural dynamics, thus I will also study extra-linguistic factors, e.g. code-switching frequency, language dominance and order of acquisition.Such an approach is necessary to bridge the methodological and theoretical gap left by a continued focus on well-studied language pairs in bilingual speech only. This project will use new trilingual data to inform and expand current models of code-switching, thereby contributing to a more nuanced understanding of mental grammar(s) and the range of human language.

Keywords:code-switching, multilingualism, grammatical gender

Disciplines:Contact linguistics, Linguistics not elsewhere classified