Lingüística

The effect of lexical triggers on Spanish-English code-switched judgment tasks

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Co-authored article published in Frontiers in Psychology.

Introduction: It has been argued that certain words can “trigger” intrasentential code-switching. While some researchers suggest that cognates establish triggering at the lexical level, others have argued that words that lack direct translations are more natural stories switch. Yet to be tested experimentally is to what extent different types of lexical items influence the acceptability of mixed utterances.

Methods: The current study investigates this methodological consideration for code-switching research by having early US Spanish-English bilinguals (i.e., heritage speakers of Spanish) complete an acceptability judgment task with a 7-point Likert scale directly comparing cognates (e.g., sopa “soup”) and culturally specific items (e.g., pozole “traditional Mexican soup”) in otherwise identical grammatical switched sentences (N = 24).

Results: The results showed that there was no significant effect of condition (p = 0.623) suggesting that cognates and language-specific items are equally acceptable in code-switched sentences. Indeed all conditions were rated on average above 6.

Discussion: These findings show that in this context, judgment tasks are not affected differently by these types of lexical items.

Asymmetrical p-stranding: Acceptability data from Spanish-English code-switching

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Co-authored paper presented at Bilingualism in the Hispanic and Lusophone World (BHL), Puebla, Mexico. [PDF]

This study examines preposition stranding (p-stranding) in Spanish-English code-switching (CS) among US heritage speakers of Spanish, comparing p-stranding and pied-piping with different prepositions across language switches. Preliminary results from an acceptability judgment task indicate that participants preferred pied-piping in Spanish and accepted p-stranding in English, with mixed preferences in CS depending on the direction of the switch. The findings suggest that the language of the preposition influences whether p-stranding is accepted in CS, supporting prior research.

Inalienable possession in Spanish-English code-switching: Acceptability data from US heritage speakers of Spanish

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Article published in Spanish as a Heritage Language.

Intraclausal code-switching is a common bilingual phenomenon that occurs when multiple languages are used in the same utterance. Research has shown that such switching is not arbitrary, but rather systematic and rule-governed. By looking at the syntactic interactions between languages, we can shed light on our understanding of a variety of structural factors as well as bilingual grammars more generally. The present study focuses on data from Spanish- English inalienable possession, which is manifested differently in the two languages (e.g., he washed his face vs. él se lavó la cara ‘(lit.) he to himself washed the face’). The results of an acceptability judgment task completed by US heritage speakers of Spanish suggest that regardless of the direction of the switch, an English-like structure is preferred with a possessive determiner (e.g., he washed su cara), and in the case of a Spanish verb switched with an English object, the preverbal clitic is required as well (e.g., él se lavó his face). Overall, the findings support the view that multiple bilingual alignments (Sánchez, 2019) can be accessed by these individuals both in their monolingual Spanish and in code-switching, suggesting that the bilingual alignments hypothesis can be a useful lens for understanding code-switching patterns.

Qué libro is he referring to?: Preposition-stranding in Spanish-English code-switching

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Co-authored paper presented at the First Theoretical and Experimental Linguistics Workshop, Budapest, Hungary. [PDF]

This study examines preposition stranding (p-stranding) in Spanish-English code-switching (CS) among US heritage speakers of Spanish, focusing on whether the determiner or preposition dictates D-to-P incorporation. Using an acceptability judgment task with various prepositions and structures, preliminary results show that participants accept p-stranding in English but disprefer it in Spanish, with a preference for pied-piping. In CS contexts, participants favored p-stranding from Spanish-to-English, aligning with previous findings that the language of the preposition drives incorporation patterns.

Bilingual preposition-stranding acceptability in heritage speaker Spanish, English, and code-switching

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Co-authored paper presented at the 4th Heritage Language Syntax Conference, Konstanz, Germany. [PDF]

This study explores the acceptability of preposition stranding (p-stranding) in intrasentential code-switching among US heritage speakers of Spanish, comparing its use in Spanish, English, and bilingual contexts. While p-stranding is allowed in English but not traditionally in Spanish, participants rejected p-stranding in monolingual Spanish and code-switching contexts, except for marginal acceptance in Spanish-to-English switching. The findings suggest that the language of the preposition, rather than the determiner, determines the possibility of p-stranding in bilingual code-switching.

Characterizing heritage Spanish speakers’ bilingualism: The role of objective, subjective, and language experience measures

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Co-authored paper presented at Heritage Languages at the Crossroads (HL@C), Istanbul, Turkey. [PDF]

This study investigates how various objective and subjective measures characterize bilingualism among heritage Spanish speakers, aiming to provide a more ecologically valid assessment of bilingualism. Preliminary results show positive correlations between self-reported and objective proficiency measures, with objective measures being most strongly correlated.

The effect of lexical triggers on Spanish-English code-switching

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Co-authored poster presented at Heritage Languages at the Crossroads (HL@C), Istanbul, Turkey. [PDF]

This study explores how lexical items, specifically cognates and culturally specific terms, influence the acceptability of code-switched sentences among Spanish-English bilinguals. Preliminary findings suggest that culturally specific words are rated as more acceptable in code-switched sentences than cognates. These results indicate that lexical item choice can impact code-switching judgments, potentially due to the cultural and identity significance of certain terms.

Inalienable possession in the Spanish-English code-switching of early and late bilinguals

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Paper presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Conference, Portland, Oregon. [PDF]

This study examines how early and late Spanish-English bilinguals handle inalienable possession in code-switching, focusing on the syntactic divergence between the two languages. Results from production and acceptability judgment tasks show that bilinguals have a clear preference for English possessive determiners over definite determiners in mixed sentences, while both Spanish options (possessive and definite determiners) were accepted along side a strong preference for a preverbal clitic. The findings highlight significant variation in how bilinguals navigate this syntactic conflict, offering insights into the interaction between Spanish and English grammar.

Code-switching inalienable objects: Evidence from a Spanish-English acceptability judgment task

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Paper presented at the UIC Bilingualism Forum, Chicago, Illinois. [PDF]

This study explores how bilinguals handle inalienable possession in Spanish-English code-switching, focusing on the interaction of possessive and definite determiners with clitics. Results from an acceptability judgment task reveal that participants preferred possessive determiners with English verbs and clitic + possessive constructions with Spanish verbs, though predictions were only partially confirmed. The findings suggest that while the verb determines the presence of a clitic, the language of the determiner does not fully predict the features of possession, highlighting the complex relationship between clitics and determiners in bilingual grammars.

Ella se mordió her tongue: Inalienable possession in Spanish-English code-switching

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Paper presented virtually at the Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference (MIFLC), Greensboro, North Carolina. [PDF]

This study examines how bilinguals navigate inalienable possession in Spanish-English code-switching, given the syntactic differences between the two languages. Results from an acceptability judgment task and an elicited production task with heritage Spanish speakers show significant variation, with participants mixing possessive and definite determiners from both languages. Although a strong preference for preverbal clitics with Spanish verbs was observed, the Spanish possessive determiner was found to be just as acceptable as the definite in receptive tasks, suggesting English-to-Spanish influence affects code-switching patterns.