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Socio-pragmatic functions of codeswitching in Nuyorican & Cuban American literature

Abstract

This chapter emphasizes the social, pragmatic, and cultural nature of codeswitching (CS) over the search for grammatical constraints on the phenomenon. While the bulk of research performed on language mixing has concentrated on spontaneous oral production, the present investigation focuses on CS in literary writing. Through the quantitative and qualitative analysis of a selection of contemporary Nuyorican and Cuban American bilingual literature (poetry, drama, and fiction) the goal of the study is to determine the extent to which literary CS reflects ordinary bilingual speech and performs socio-pragmatic functions similar to those ascribed to natural bilingual discourse. It also seeks to establish whether literary CS displays any substantial differences across genres and/or between the two groups analyzed.

Abstract

This chapter emphasizes the social, pragmatic, and cultural nature of codeswitching (CS) over the search for grammatical constraints on the phenomenon. While the bulk of research performed on language mixing has concentrated on spontaneous oral production, the present investigation focuses on CS in literary writing. Through the quantitative and qualitative analysis of a selection of contemporary Nuyorican and Cuban American bilingual literature (poetry, drama, and fiction) the goal of the study is to determine the extent to which literary CS reflects ordinary bilingual speech and performs socio-pragmatic functions similar to those ascribed to natural bilingual discourse. It also seeks to establish whether literary CS displays any substantial differences across genres and/or between the two groups analyzed.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements viii
  4. Introduction: Multiple influencing factors, diverse participants, varied techniques 1
  5. I. Codeswitching, identity, attitudes, and language politics
  6. Spanglish 11
  7. Codeswitching and identity among Island Puerto Rican bilinguals 37
  8. Codeswitching among African-American English, Spanish and Standard English in computer-mediated discourse 61
  9. II. Links between codeswitching and language proficiency and fluency
  10. Hablamos los dos in the Windy City 83
  11. Language dominance and language nativeness 107
  12. The role of unintentional/involuntary codeswitching 139
  13. III. Codeswitching in written corpora
  14. The stratification of English-language lone-word and multi-word material in Puerto Rican Spanish-language press outlets 171
  15. Socio-pragmatic functions of codeswitching in Nuyorican & Cuban American literature 191
  16. “Show what you know” 215
  17. IV. Bilingual structure in codeswitching
  18. Tú y yo can codeswitch, nosotros cannot 237
  19. On the productive use of ‘hacer + V’ in Northern Belize bilingual/trilingual codeswitching 261
  20. Mixed NPs in Spanish-English bilingual speech 281
  21. Comprehension patterns of two groups of Spanish-English bilingual codeswitchers 301
  22. Index 323
Spanish-English Codeswitching in the Caribbean and the US
This chapter is in the book Spanish-English Codeswitching in the Caribbean and the US
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.11.08mon

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements viii
  4. Introduction: Multiple influencing factors, diverse participants, varied techniques 1
  5. I. Codeswitching, identity, attitudes, and language politics
  6. Spanglish 11
  7. Codeswitching and identity among Island Puerto Rican bilinguals 37
  8. Codeswitching among African-American English, Spanish and Standard English in computer-mediated discourse 61
  9. II. Links between codeswitching and language proficiency and fluency
  10. Hablamos los dos in the Windy City 83
  11. Language dominance and language nativeness 107
  12. The role of unintentional/involuntary codeswitching 139
  13. III. Codeswitching in written corpora
  14. The stratification of English-language lone-word and multi-word material in Puerto Rican Spanish-language press outlets 171
  15. Socio-pragmatic functions of codeswitching in Nuyorican & Cuban American literature 191
  16. “Show what you know” 215
  17. IV. Bilingual structure in codeswitching
  18. Tú y yo can codeswitch, nosotros cannot 237
  19. On the productive use of ‘hacer + V’ in Northern Belize bilingual/trilingual codeswitching 261
  20. Mixed NPs in Spanish-English bilingual speech 281
  21. Comprehension patterns of two groups of Spanish-English bilingual codeswitchers 301
  22. Index 323
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