Constraints on South African English-Afrikaans intrasentential code switching : a minimalist approach

Abstract

Since the 1970s, the phenomenon of code switching has been studied from a variety of theoretical perspectives. From a structuralist perspective, the most important question arising from this extensive study of code switching concerns the nature of the grammatical constraints on code switching. Many such constraints have been proposed, some of the more prominent of which will be discussed below. The main aim of this paper, however, is to provide the reader with an exposition of the Minimalist approach to code switching. Following the exposition of the Minimalist approach to code switching, a study in which the Minimalist assumption concerning the constraints on code switching is empirically evaluated with the aid of South African English-Afrikaans code switching data will be described. Finally, conclusions will be drawn regarding the theoretical and empirical validity of the Minimalist account of the constraints on code switching. As a starting point, however, it is essential to provide both a definition of the term "code switching" as it will be used in this paper, as well as a brief exposition of the differences between code switching and related phenomena such as borrowing, code mixing and interference.

Keywords

• intrasentential code switching
• english-afrikaans intrasentential code switching
• code switching
• south african english-afrikaans code switching