Explaining Code-Switching. Matrix Language Models vs. Bilingual Construction Grammar

This paper challenges the concept of matrix, base or basic language used in many descriptions and models of insertional code-switching. It proposes an account based on Construction Grammar and usage-based principles. At the heart of the paper is a discussion of four problematic issues of matrix-language approaches: the unitary conception of the notion of language, the generalization that syntactic frames mirror languages, the missing independent evidence for a matrix language and the narrow scope of the models that employ this term. The proposed approach of Bilingual Construction Grammar instead operates with a more complex, usage-based concept of language affiliation and places constructions in the centre of speech production. It thus avoids too coarse global predictions in favour of construction-specific predictions. This way, the matrix-language effect can be reinterpreted as by-product of constructional processing. Instead of using the term matrix language it is thus more appropriate to speak of matrix constructions.