Exploring the dynamics of English/Spanish codeswitching in a written corpus

Authors

  • Maria Isabel González Cruz Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14198/raei.2017.30.12

Keywords:

English/Spanish codeswitching, Written codeswitching, Hispanicisms, Popular romance fiction, Canary Islands

Abstract

This investigation is part of a much larger ongoing research project which approaches a corpus of popular romance fiction novels from a multidisciplinary perspective. The paper focuses on the usage of Spanish words and expressions in the English written discourse of two samples of romances taken from the corpus we are compiling for Research Project FFI2014-53962-P. When analyzing the occurrences of Hispanicisms in the samples, we will specifically address the issues of both their forms and the different socio-pragmatic functions that these cases of language switching seem to play. It is only recently that scholars have studied the patterns of codeswitching in literary writing, but, to the best of the author’s knowledge, no previous research has focused on codeswitching in this particular subgenre, which has always been doubly stigmatized for being both popular and feminine.

Funding

Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) for Research Project FFI2014-53962-P, Discursos, género e identidad en un corpus de novella rosa inglesa ambientada en Canarias y otras islas atlánticas, is hereby gratefully acknowledged

References

Alvarez-Cáccamo, Celso (1988): “From ‘switching code’ to ‘code-switching’. Towards a reconceptualisation of communicative codes”. In P. Auer, Code-switching in Conversation: Language, Interaction and Identity. London and New York: Routledge, 29-48.

Anchimbe, Eric A. and Richard W. Janne (2011): “Postcolonial pragmatics: An introduction”. Journal of Pragmatics,43(6): 1451-1459.

Andersen, Gisle, Cristiano Furiassi, and Biljana Misic Ilic (2017): “The pragmatic turn in studies of linguistic borrowing”. Journal of Pragmatics,113: 71-76.

Anderson, Sheri L. (2004): Status and Solidarity through Codeswitching: Three Plays by Dolores Prida. MA Thesis. Texas A&M University, College Station, hdl.handle.net/1969.1/536 Accessed 11 March 2017.

Anderson, Tyler K. and Almeida J. Toribio (2007): “Attitudes towards lexical borrowing and intra-sentential code-switching among Spanish-English bilinguals”. Spanish in Context, 4(2): 217-240.

Appel, René and Pieter Muysken (1987): Language Contact and Bilingualism. London: Edward Arnold.

Auer, Peter (1984): Bilingual Conversation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Auer, Peter (1988): Codeswitching in Conversation. Language, Interaction and Identity. London and New York: Routledge.

Bonnin, Juan Eduardo (2014):“Discurso político y cambio de código: la alternancia guaraní / español en el discurso de Fernando Lugo”. Sociolinguistic Studies, 8(2): 273-291.

Bonvillain, Nancy. (2008): Language, Culture and Communication. The Meaning of Messages. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Brown, Roger (1958): Words and Things. An Introduction to Language. Illinois: The Free Press/The MacMillan Company.

Braunmüller, Kurt and Julianne House (2009): Convergence and Divergence in Language Contact Situations. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Bullock, Barbara and Almeida Jaqueline Toribio (2009): The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Code-Switching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Callahan, Laura (2004): Spanish/English Codeswitching in a Written Corpus.Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Clyne, Michael (2003): Dynamics of Language Contact: English and Immigrant Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cortés-Conde, Florencia and Diana Boxer (2002): “Bilingual word-play in literary discourse: The creation of relational identity.” Language and Literature, 11(2): 137-151.

Coulmas, Florian (2005): Sociolinguistics: The Study of Speakers’ Choices. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Culpeper, Jonathan (2014): Language and Characterization. People in Plays and Other Texts. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.

Curell, Clara et al. (2009): “Por un glosario de hispanismos en la Literatura de Viajes”. In C. Solé i Castells, M. Parra, P. Solá, M.C. Figuerola, eds., Texto y sociedad en las letras francesas y francófonas. Universitat de Lleida, 634-641.

http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/oaiart?codigo=3711598. [Accessed 21 Jan. 2017].

Curell, Clara and Cristina G. de Uriarte (2001): “Hispanismos en los libros de viaje franceses del siglo XVIII”. In I. Uzcanga, E. Llamas and J.M. Pérez, eds., Presencia y renovación de la lingüística francesa. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, 99-107.

Eastman, Carol M. (1992): Codeswitching. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Flores Ohlson, Linda (2008): ‘Soy el brother de dos lenguas.’ El cambio de código en la música popular contemporánea. Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. Göteborgs Universitet. Romanica Gothoburgensia 55.

Gardner-Chloros, Penelope (1991): Language Selection and Switching in Strasbourg. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Gardner-Chloros, Penelope (2015): “Code switching – where next?” Paper presented for a Plenary Session at the International Conference on Bilingualism, held at the University of Malta, 23-25 March.

Giles, Howard and Smith, Philip (1979): “Accommodation theory: Optimal levels of convergence”. In H. Giles and R. N. St. Clair, eds., Language and Social Psychology.Oxford: Basil Blackwell,45–65.

Giménez-Eguibar, Patricia and De los Heros, Susana (2016): “La alternancia lingüística en los diálogos de East Los Angeles High.Una forma de representación mediática con función afiliativa de la latinidad”. In D. Dumitrescu and D. Bravo, eds., Roles situacionales, interculturalidad y multiculturalidad en encuentros en español. Buenos Aires: Editorial Dunken, 31-54.

González-Cruz, María-Isabel (1995): La convivencia anglo-canaria. Estudio sociocultural y lingüístico, 1880-1914. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria.

González-Cruz, María-Isabel (2002): Notas para una bibliografía inglesa sobre Canarias. La Laguna: Instituto de Estudios Canarios / Universidad de La Laguna.

González-Cruz, María-Isabel (2011a): “Hispanismos y canarismos en los textos de dos viajeras inglesas decimonónicas”. Revista de Filología de la Universidad de la Laguna, 29: 81-99.

González-Cruz, María-Isabel (2011b): “Exploring the Canarian contribution to Hispanicisms in English”. Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses, 24: 131-152.

González-Cruz, María-Isabel (2013): “Hispanismos y canarismos en un corpus de textos ingleses sobre Canarias.” LEXIS. Revista de Lingüística y Literatura, 37(2): 229-267.

González-Cruz, María-Isabel (2014): “Nuevos registros para la bibliografía en lengua inglesa sobre Canarias: siete relatos de viaje, dos guías turísticas, una obra de ficción y un estudio lingüístico.” Anuario de Estudios Atlánticos, 60: 599-641.

González-Cruz, María-Isabel (2015): “Love in Paradise: Visions of the Canaries in a corpus of popular romance fiction novels”. Oceánide. Journal of the Spanish Society for the Study of Popular Culture SELICUP7, http://oceanide.netne.net/articulos/art7-4.pdf.

González-Cruz, María-Isabel (2017): “Conciencia sociolingüística e hispanismos en un corpus de novela rosa inglesa.” SOPRAG Pragmática sociocultural / Sociocultural Pragmatics, 5(2): 125-149. https://doi.org/10.1515/soprag-2017-0014.

González Cruz, Mª Isabel and Mª del Pilar González de la Rosa (2006): “Language and travel: Spanish vocabulary in British travel books.” Tesserae. Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies, 12(2-3): 203-217.

González Cruz, Mª Isabel and Mª del Pilar González de la Rosa (2007): El viaje lingüístico: una aproximación sociolingüística a la literatura de viajes”. In J. M. Oliver, C. Curell, C. G. Uriarte and B. Pico, eds., Escrituras y reescrituras del viaje. Miradas plurales a través del tiempo y de las culturas. Bern: Peter Lang, 235-251.

Grosjean, François (1982): Life with Two Languages. An Introduction to Bilingualism. Cambridge (Massachusetts): Harvard University Press.

Gumperz, John Joseph (1992): Discourse Strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Haugen, Einar (1956): “Bilingualism in the Americas: A bibliography and research guide”. Publications of the American Dialect Society 26. University of Alabama Press.

Heller, Monica, ed. (1988): Codeswitching: Antropological and Sociolinguistic Perspectives. New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Heller, Monica (1992): “The politics of codeswitching and language choice”. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 13(1-2): 123-142.

Heredia, Roberto R. and Jeanette Altarriba (2001): “Bilingual language mixing: Why do bilinguals code-switch?” Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10(5): 164-172.

Jacobson, Rodolfo, ed. (1998): Codeswitching Worldwide. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Jacobson, Rodolfo (2001): Codeswitching Worldwide II. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Jackson, Jane (2014): Introducing Language and Intercultural Communication. London and New York: Routledge.

Jiménez Hurtado, Catalina (2011): Léxico y pragmática. Bern: Peter Lang.

Jonsson, Carla (2010): “Functions of code-switching in bilingual theater: An analysis of three Chicano plays”. Journal of Pragmatics, 42(5): 1296-1310.

Kanellos, Nicolás (2003): Hispanic Literature of the United States: A Comprehensive Reference. Wesport, CT: Greenwood Publishing.

Keller, Gary (1984): “How Chicano authors use bilingual techniques for literary effect”. In E. García et al., eds., Chicano Studies: A Multidisciplinary Approach. New York: Teachers College, 171-192.

Kecskes, Istvan (2010): “Formulaic language in English Lingua Franca”. In P. Hanks and R. Giora, eds., Metaphor and Figurative Language: Critical Concepts in Linguistics. London and New York: Routledge.

Khoutyz, Irina (2009): “Anglicisms as a means of pragmatic marking”. Scientific Bulletin of Politehnica University of Timisoara,8(1-2): 5-11.

Lipski, John M. (1982): “Spanish English language switching in speech and literature – theories and models”. The Bilingual Review, 9(3): 191-212.

Lipski, John M. (2005): “Codeswitching or Borrowing? No sé so no puedo decir, you know”. In L. Sayahi and M. Westmoreland, eds., Selected Proceedings of the Second Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 1-15.

L. Sayahi and M. Westmoreland (2014): “Spanish-English codeswitching among low-fluency bilinguals: Towards an expanded Typology”. Sociolinguistic Studies,8:23-55.

Milroy, Lesley and Pieter Muysken, eds. (1995): One Speaker, Two Languages. Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Code-Switching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Montes-Alcalá, Cecilia (2000a): “Written code-switching: Powerful bilingual images”. In R. Jacobson, Codeswitching Worldwide II. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 59-74.

Montes-Alcalá, Cecilia (2000b): “Attitudes towards oral and written code-switching in Spanish-English bilingual youth”. In A. Roca, ed., Research on Spanish in the United States: Linguistic Issues and Challenges. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 218-227.

Montes-Alcalá, Cecilia (2001): “Oral vs. written code-cwitching contexts in English-Spanish bilingual narratives”. In I. de la Cruz, ed., La lingüística aplicada a finales del siglo XX. Ensayos y propuestas, vol. 2. Madrid: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, 715-720.

Montes-Alcalá, Cecilia (2005a): Two Languages, One Pen: Sociopragmatic Functions in Written Spanish-English Codeswitching.PhD Thesis. Michigan: Hell & Howell Information.

Montes-Alcalá, Cecilia (2005b): “Mándame un e-mail: cambio de códigos español-inglés online”. In L. Ortiz López and M. Lacorte, eds., Contactos y contextos lingüísticos: El español en los Estados Unidos y en contacto con otras lenguas. Madrid and Frankfurt: Iberoamericana, 173-185.

Montes-Alcalá, Cecilia (2012): “Code-switching in US Latino novels”. In M. Sebba, S. Mahootian and C. Jonsson, eds., Language Mixing and Code-Switching in Writing: Approaches to Mixed-Language Written Discourse. London and New York: Routledge, 68-88.

Montes-Alcalá, Cecilia (2015): “Code-switching in US Latino Literature: The role of biculturalism”. Language and Literature, 24(3): 264-281.

Montes-Alcalá, Cecilia (2016): “Socio-pragmatic functions of codeswitching in Nuyorican and Cuban American literature”. In G. Tamargo et al., eds., Spanish-English Codeswitching in the Caribbean and the US. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 191-213.

Montes Granado, Consuelo (2012): “Code-Switching as a strategy of brevity in Sandra Cisneros' Woman Hollering Creek and other stories”. DQR Studies in Literature, 49: 125-138.

Moyer, Melisa (1998): “Bilingual conversation strategies in Gibraltar”. In P. Auer, ed., Codeswitching in Conversation. London and New York: Routledge, 215-234.

Müller, Katharina B. (2015): “Code-switching in Italo-Brazilian literature from Rio Grande do Sul and Sao Paulo: A sociolinguistic analysis of the forms and functions of literary code-switching”. Language and Literature, 24(3): 249-263.

Muysken, Pieter (2000): Bilingual Speech. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Myers-Scotton, Carol (1992): “Comparing codeswitching and borrowing.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development,13(1-2): 19-39.

Myers-Scotton, Carol (1993): Social Motivations for Codeswitching. Evidence from Africa. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Page, Norman (1988): Speech in the English Novel. London: MacMillan.

Pennycook, Alistair (2012): Language and Mobility: Unexpected Places. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Pfaff, Carol W. and Laura Chávez (1986): “Spanish/English codeswitching: Literary reflections of natural discourse”. In R. von Bardeleben et al., eds., Missions in Conflict: Essays on U.S.-Mexican Relations and Chicano Culture. Mainz: Gunter Narr Verlag Tubingen, 229-254.

Poplack, Shana (1980): “Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in Spanish Y TERMINO EN ESPAÑOL: Toward a typology of code-switching”. Linguistics,18(7-8): 581-618.

Poplack, Shana and Marjory Meechan (1998): “How languages fit together in codemixing”. International Journal of Bilingualism, 2: 127-138.

Romaine, Suzanne (1995): Bilingualism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Romance Writers of America n.d. “About the romance genre”. Available at http://www.rwa.org/p/cm/ld/fid=578 [Accessed 19 March 2016].

Sánchez-Palencia Carazo, Carolina (1997): El discurso femenino de la novela rosa en lengua inglesa. Cádiz: Publicaciones de la Universidad de Cádiz.

Sebba, Mark, Shahrzad Mahootian, and Carla Jonsson, eds. (2012): Language Mixing and Code-Switching in Writing: Approaches to Mixed-Language Written Discourse. London and New York: Routledge.

Sebba, Mark (2000): “Writing switching in British Creole”. In K. Jones and M. Martin-Jones, eds., Multilingual Literacies: Reading and Writing Different Worlds. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 171-187.

Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2007): Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Söderqvist, Therése (2009): ‘All of a sudden me siento tristona.’ El cambio de código inglés / español en MySpace. Unpublished MA Thesis. Göteborgs Universitet, Available at https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/20834/1/gupea_2077_20834_1.pdf. [Accessed 10 May 2016].

Tabouret-Keller, Andrée (1997): “Language and identity”. In F. Coulmas, ed., The Handbook of Sociolinguistics. Malden, USA and Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 315-326.

Thompson, Gregory L. and Edwin M. Lamboy (2012): Spanish in Bilingual and Multilingual Settings Around the World. Leiden and Boston: Brill.

Valdés-Fallis, Guadalupe (1976): “Code-switching in bilingual Chicano poetry”. Hispania, 59: 866-877.

Valdés-Fallis, Guadalupe (1977): “The sociolinguistics of Chicano literature: Towards an analysis of the role and function of language alternation in contemporary bilingual poetry”. Punto de contacto, 1(4): 30-39.

Weinreich, Uriel (1979): Languages in Contact. Findings and Problems. New York: Mouton.

Woolard, K.A. (1987): “Code-switching and comedy in Catalonia”. International Pragmatics Association Papers in Pragmatics, 1: 106-122.

Wotjak, Gerd (2006): Las lenguas, ventanas que dan al mundo. El léxico como encrucijada ente morfosintaxis y cognición: aspectos semánticos y pragmáticos en perspectiva intra e interlingüística. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.

Zentella, Ana Celia (1997): Growing up Bilingual. Puerto Rican Children in New York. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Statistics

Statistics RUA

Published

15-12-2017

How to Cite

González Cruz, Maria Isabel. 2017. “Exploring the Dynamics of English/Spanish Codeswitching in a Written Corpus”. Alicante Journal of English Studies / Revista Alicantina De Estudios Ingleses, no. 30 (December):331-55. https://doi.org/10.14198/raei.2017.30.12.