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On the grammar of code‐switching
Author(s) -
BHATT RAKESH M.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-971x.1996.tb00123.x
Subject(s) - code switching , syntax , computer science , grammar , embedding , linguistics , simple (philosophy) , code (set theory) , programming language , natural language processing , artificial intelligence , philosophy , set (abstract data type) , epistemology
This paper explores an Optimality‐Theoretic approach (Prince and Smolensky, 1994) to account for the observed cross‐linguistic patterns of code‐switching. The proposal is premised on the simple assumption that code‐switching strives for well‐formedness. I assume that when the embedding constituents are mixed into the matrix language, the syntax operates to optimize well‐formedness. I show that optimization of well‐formedness in code‐switching follows from the (violable) ranked constraints. I will argue that the patterns of code‐switching emerge from the interactions among the ranked constraints.