The Null Theory of Code-Switching versus the Nonce Borrowing Hypothesis: Testing the Fit in Persian-English Bilingual Discourse  

Oleh:

Samar, Reza Ghafar ; Meechan, Marjory

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: International Journal of Bilingualism (Full Text) vol. 2 no. 2 (Jul. 1998), page 203-219.
Topik: loanword integration; nonce borrowing; Persian-English
Fulltext: 203-219.pdf (1.19MB)

Isi artikel

In this paper we determine the status of ambiguous lone English-origin nouns in othenvise Persian discourse. Utilizing the variationist comparative method, we analyze their distribution and conditioning and compare them to those of their counterparts in unmixed English. The results of our diagnostic measures all show remarkable similarities between the treatment of native Persian nouns, attested loan\vords, and unattested lone English-origin nouns. The Null Theory of codeswitching is assessed against these findings. The Null Theory’s prediction that both English and Persian heads should structurally project was not confirmed while the nonce borrowing hypothesis fully accounts for the findings of this study. Thus, the Null Theory provides no better explanation for the parallel patterns exhibited by English nonce forms and attested loannards in Persian discourse to unmixed Persian than the more straightfonvard Nonce Borrowing Hypothesis. Our results constitute ovenvhelming evidence that there is no distinction between established loan\vords and nonce borrowing and that therefore, they should all be classed as borroived elements. As such they cannot be considered as evidence for any theory of codesuitching.

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