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Typological constraints on code mixing in Inuktitut–English bilingual adults

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Abstract

Patterns of code mixing vary according to relative typology of the languages and sociolinguistics of the contact situation (e.g., Muysken 2000). We extend understanding of the factors involved by analyzing for the first time mixing between an isolating Germanic language (English) and a polysynthetic Eskimo–Aleut language (Inuktitut). The adult bilinguals mixed English and Inuktitut in about 5% of the almost 17,000 utterances analyzed. Over half of the mixes comprised a single noun or verb root from one language (usually English) in an utterance of the other. Another third were tags or quotes from one language in an utterance of the other. Very few mixes involved phrases from each language as is common with typologically similar languages (e.g., Spanish–English, Poplack 1980).

Abstract

Patterns of code mixing vary according to relative typology of the languages and sociolinguistics of the contact situation (e.g., Muysken 2000). We extend understanding of the factors involved by analyzing for the first time mixing between an isolating Germanic language (English) and a polysynthetic Eskimo–Aleut language (Inuktitut). The adult bilinguals mixed English and Inuktitut in about 5% of the almost 17,000 utterances analyzed. Over half of the mixes comprised a single noun or verb root from one language (usually English) in an utterance of the other. Another third were tags or quotes from one language in an utterance of the other. Very few mixes involved phrases from each language as is common with typologically similar languages (e.g., Spanish–English, Poplack 1980).

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Part I. Polysynthesis
  5. Polysynthesis in the Arctic 3
  6. Polysynthesis as a typological feature 19
  7. Analytic vs. synthetic verbal constructions in Chukchi and West Greenlandic 35
  8. Lexical polysynthesis 51
  9. How synchronic is synchronic analysis? 65
  10. Comparative constructions in Central Alaskan Yupik 81
  11. Part II. Around the verb
  12. The efficacy of anaphoricity in Aleut 97
  13. Objective conjugations in Eskaleut and Uralic 115
  14. Complex verb formation revisited 135
  15. Determining the semantics of Inuktitut postbases 149
  16. The marking of past time in Kalaallisut, the Greenlandic language 171
  17. Part III. Discourses and contacts
  18. Tracking topics 185
  19. Arguments and information management in Inuktitut 201
  20. Space and structure in Greenlandic oral tradition 215
  21. Grammatical structures in Greenlandic as found in texts written by young Greenlanders at the turn of the millennium 231
  22. Chat – New rooms for language contact 249
  23. Seward Peninsula Inupiaq and language contact around Bering Strait 261
  24. Typological constraints on code mixing in Inuktitut–English bilingual adults 273
  25. Index of languages 307
  26. Index of subjects 309
Variations on Polysynthesis
This chapter is in the book Variations on Polysynthesis
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.86.18typ

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Part I. Polysynthesis
  5. Polysynthesis in the Arctic 3
  6. Polysynthesis as a typological feature 19
  7. Analytic vs. synthetic verbal constructions in Chukchi and West Greenlandic 35
  8. Lexical polysynthesis 51
  9. How synchronic is synchronic analysis? 65
  10. Comparative constructions in Central Alaskan Yupik 81
  11. Part II. Around the verb
  12. The efficacy of anaphoricity in Aleut 97
  13. Objective conjugations in Eskaleut and Uralic 115
  14. Complex verb formation revisited 135
  15. Determining the semantics of Inuktitut postbases 149
  16. The marking of past time in Kalaallisut, the Greenlandic language 171
  17. Part III. Discourses and contacts
  18. Tracking topics 185
  19. Arguments and information management in Inuktitut 201
  20. Space and structure in Greenlandic oral tradition 215
  21. Grammatical structures in Greenlandic as found in texts written by young Greenlanders at the turn of the millennium 231
  22. Chat – New rooms for language contact 249
  23. Seward Peninsula Inupiaq and language contact around Bering Strait 261
  24. Typological constraints on code mixing in Inuktitut–English bilingual adults 273
  25. Index of languages 307
  26. Index of subjects 309
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