Lexical Frequency and Frequency of Co-Occurrence Predict the Use of Embedded-Language Islands in Bilingual Speech : Adjective-Modified Nominal Constituents in Russian-German Code-Mixing
Faculty/Professorship: | Slavic Linguistics |
Author(s): | Hakimov, Nikolay ![]() |
Title of the Journal: | Journal of language contact : evolution of languages, contact and discourse |
ISSN: | 1955-2629, 1877-4091 |
Publisher Information: | Leiden : Brill |
Year of publication: | 2021 |
Volume: | 13 |
Issue: | 3 |
Pages: | 501-539 |
Language(s): | English |
DOI: | 10.1163/19552629-bja10028 |
URL: | https://brill.com/view/journals/jlc/13/3/articl... |
Abstract: | This article explores the role of usage frequency in the structure of language mixing by the application of corpus-linguistic and statistical methods. The goal of the study is to reveal that the frequency of a lexical item and the frequency with which it occurs with other items account for its use in bilingual speech. To achieve this goal, I analyze German monolingual and German-Russian mixed adjective-modified nominal constituents in otherwise Russian discourse in a corpus of Russian-German bilingual speech collected from fluent bilinguals in Russian-speaking communities in Germany. My findings show that many of German nominal constituents, also called embedded-language islands, are recurrent A-N combinations. However, in the absence of sequential associations between the involved words, the adjectives may be realized in Russian or in German. In light of this evidence, I suggest two mechanisms underlying the production of embedded-language islands: retrieval of a multiword chunk and co-activation. |
GND Keywords: | Deutsch; Sprachkontakt; Wortstellung; Russisch |
Keywords: | code-mixing, embedded-language island, frequency, multiword chunk, co-activation, Russian, German |
DDC Classification: | 490 Other languages |
RVK Classification: | KG 3710 |
Peer Reviewed: | Ja |
International Distribution: | Ja |
Open Access Journal: | Ja |
Type: | Article |
URI: | https://fis.uni-bamberg.de/handle/uniba/51104 |
Release Date: | 18. August 2021 |

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University of Bamberg