Introduction

CONSTRAINTS ON INTRASENTENTIAL CODE-MIXINGIN CANTONESE AND ENGLISH

Leung Yin Bing

A lot of younger Chinese in Hong Kong are bilinguals whose formallearning all takes place in English. Their Cantonese is influenced by thesuperordinate language, English. These Cantonese-English bilinguals oftenresort to a mixed code (Cantonese-English) when interacting amongthemselves. The use of the elements of English is sometimes sounconscious that it seems to fit perfectly well in speech.

But a number of questions have been raised in relation to thisphenomenon. How can two distinct languages such as Cantonese and Englishnarrow their differences in such a way as to result in discourse involvinglanguage mixes within a single sentence? In other words, how do the unitsof another code integrate into the systems of the first code, and how canthe units from two codes be organized into a cohesive relationship? Canthese units of another code fit in anywhere in the first code? If not,what are the appropriate places for these units? Does code-mixing mean abilingual's incompetence in both languages? Or does analysis illustratethat code-mixing is a development requiring competence in the t-ocomponent codes, as well as the additional skill to manipulate themconcurrently?

It is with these questions in mind that the study into code-mixing wasconducted.

Definition of code-mixing

' Code-mixing' is one of the major kinds of language choice which issubtler than 'code-switching', as stated by Fasold (1984). In code-mixedsentences, pieces of one language are used while a speaker is basicallyusing another language. These 'pieces' of the other language are oftenwords, but they can also be phrases or larger units. For the purposes ofthis paper, the definition of 'code-mixing' is limited to the shift ofcode found within one and the same clause or sentence. Changes of code atthe sentence level are not included in this study because it will focusonly on the syntactic constraints within sentences where codes are mixed,i.e. intrasentential code-mixing will be analyzed and discussed. Becauseof this, the terms 'code-mixing' and 'code-switching' are, for thepurposes of this study, used interchangeably.

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Previous studies

During the past two decades, most research has been concerned with thesociolinguistic parameters of code-mixing and code-switching, and withspecifying the conditions under which each language is selected (see forexample: Rubin, 1962; Ervin Tripp, 1964; Gumperz, 1964; Blom & Gumperz,1972; Gumperz & Hernandez-Chavez, 1972; Hymes, 1972). These early workstended to consider factors such as setting, topic, domain, participantsand language functions. Lance (1975) was the first investigator toquestion whether code-switching has any syntactic restrictions, but heconcluded that there are none: Gumperz & Hernandez-Chavez (1975) andGumperz (1976) discussed the linguistic constraints in code-switching. Atotal of nine syntactic constraints were discussed by Gumperz. Othermajor works on syntactic constraints in code-mixing and code-switchingwere carried out by Timm (1975), Kachru (1975), Pfaff (1976 & 1979), Wentz& McClure (1976), Wentz (1976), Gibbons (1979), Woolford (1983) and Ewing(1984).

The most comprehensive work on syntactic constraints on code-switchingcomes from Poplack( 1981), and Sankoff & Poplack (1981). They suggestedtwo major constraints in code-switching, namely: the Equivalence

Constraint and the Free Morpheme Constraint . After surveying thestructural integrity of the component languages in code-switching, theyargued for a separate grammar of code-switching in addition to the twomonolingual grammars. Ten major switch types were found in their studies.

A few studies have been carried out and papers have been written onthe code-mixing and code-switching of Cantonese and English in Hong Kong( Kwok & Chan, 1972; Gibbons, 1979; Johnson, 1983; Reynolds, 1985). Themost important work on code-mixing seems to be Gibbons' study onU-Gay-Wa. In his work, Gibbons examined the nature of the languagemixture of the students at the University of Hong Kong. U-Gay-Wa waspredominantly Cantonese with a less significant English element and someinteresting autonomous elements. He found some of the code-mixedsentences difficult to analyze because the structure of the mixture agreedwith neither language system. He proposed that in syntax, there was asmall autonomous U-Gay-Wa element. He concluded that the students hadcomplete competence in neither Cantonese nor English. They developed anindependent system -- a fused competence -- to cope with every facet oftheir daily life, this competence of necessity involving the mixing ofelements from the sources of Cantonese and English.

Basic assumptions, scope and aims

Intrasentential code-mixing was considered syntactically random ratherthan rule-governed behaviour. Labov (1971) claims that, in contrast tophonological and syntactic variation in Black English, alternation betweenSpanish and English in conversation is random. Lance (1975) suggests thatthere are perhaps no syntactic restrictions on where the switching canoccur. However, more recent work on code alternation suggests that thereare, in fact, syntactic constraints on code-mixing.

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The question arises as to how such sentences from two distinctlanguage systems reconcile their differences in such a way as to result indiscourse involving language alternation within a single sentence. Cancode-mixing take place at any point in a sentence? The example given byPfaff (1979) demonstrates that no switching occurs between a noun and afollowing modifying adjective.

1. *I went to the house chiquitaI went to the little house

(English/Spanish)

This perhaps agrees with Woolford's suggestion (1983) that code-mixing canonly take place when the syntactic construction is common to bothlanguages. If the structure is unique to only one language, code-mixingwill not occur, as we can see in example (1). Woolford's theory alsopredicts that if there are identical expansion rules in the two languagesinvolved, the phrase, or clause, or the sentence may have its elementsrandomly filled from either lexicon. The example given by Ewing (1984:52)shows that it is possible to generate code-mixed sentences like thefollowing:

2. a. el papa es polaco.b. The Pope is Polish.c. el Pope is polaco.d. The papa is Polish.e. el Pope is Polish.f. The papa es polaco.

In this example, English and Spanish have identical NP expansionrules: NP ----- DET NOM; it is therefore possible to generate any of theabove strings from (a) to (f). Sankoff and Poplack (1981) would make asimilar prediction because it obeys the equivalence constraint theypropose. They explain the constraint as:

'The order of sentence constituents immediately adjacent to and onboth sides of the switch point must be grammatical with respect toboth languages involved simultaneously. This requires somespecification: the local co-grammaticality or equivalence of the twolanguages in the vicinity of the switch holds as long as the order ofany two sentence elements, one before and one after the switch point,is not excluded in either language' (1981:57).

The other constraint they propose is the free morpheme constraint: "aswitch may not occur between a bound morpheme and a lexical form unlessthe latter has been phonologically integrated into the language of thebound morpheme' (1981:5).

According to this constraint, it is possible to switch full sentencesas well as any constituent within the sentences, provided that theconstituent consists of at least one free morpheme. Therefore code-mixingas in examples (2c - f) is permitted. However, Timm and Pfaff wouldreject (2e) and (2f), as their models include some sort of Closed ClassConstraint which prohibits the switching of any closed class items (e.g.DET, PRO, QUANT, COMP, CONJ, POSS, AUX, TNS, etc). This constraint wouldprohibit the change of determiner in (2e) and (2f). Therefore, it is thetask of this study to find out what the syntactic constraints are in

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code-mixing Cantonese and English and to locate where the permissibleswitch points are in a sentence.

Sankoff and Poplack argue for a separate grammar of code-switching,'... possibly emanating from a single code-switching grammar composed ofthe overlapping sectors of the grammars of Ll and L2', (Poplack 1982:

260). Gibbons also points out that there are unique features incode-mixing sentences which differ from any of the source languages, andhe calls this U-Gay-Wa syntax. It is, therefore, also one of the tasks ofthis study to elucidate whether there is a code-mixing grammar whichresults from the combination of Cantonese and English.

It is also arguable that code-mixing is a result of imperfectcompetence in either of the two monolingual modes of communication.Gibbons is strongly for this, while Sankoff and Poplack think otherwise.They claim that code-mixing is a verbal skill requiring a large degree oflinguistic competence in more than one language, rather than a defectarising from insufficient knowledge of one or the other. Poplack says:'Code-switching, then, rather than representing deviant behaviour, isactually a suggestive indicator of degrees of bilingual competence.'( 1982:261)

Methodology

Subjects

The subjects of the study were ten locally-born Cantonese speakers.The age range was from 24 to 36. They had been brought up and educated inHong Kong. Most of them had spent some time overseas. Two of them hadstayed in English-speaking countries for about 10 years and all of themhad been abroad.

Data Collection

The analyses that follow are based on recorded speech data in bothinterview and 'natural' settings.

The first tape was made during a lunchgathering of the writer's four colleagues and one colleague's husband.Various topics were discussed, but most were about work and othercolleagues.

Formal interviews were also conducted. Usually another friend wasinvited to act as a mediator in the interview. In most cases, theinterviewer talked quite the same amount as the interviewees. Theinterviews were conducted in Cantonese and switched to English at a fewjunctures. Therefore, both parties were employing the skill ofcode-mixing in the discourse.

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Blom, Jan-petter & Gumperz, J.J. 1972. 'Social meaning in linguisticstructure: Code-switching in Norway'. In Directions inSociolinguistics , edited by J.J. Gumperz & D. Hymes, pp. 407-434.Holt, Reinhart & Winston, Inc.

Ewing, A. 1984. 'Polish-English code-switching: A clue to constituentstructure and processing mechanisms'. In Papers from the TwentiethRegional Meeting. Chicago Linguistic Society , edited by J. Drogo, V.Mishra & D. Testen, pp. 52-64.

Fasold, R. 1984. The Sociolinguistics of Society . Basil Blackwell.

Gibbons, J. 1979a.

' U-Gay-Wa: a linguistic study of the campuslanguage of students at the University of Hong Kong'. In Hong KongLanguage Papers , edited by R. Lord, pp. 3-43. Hong Kong UniversityPress,

1979b.

' Code-mixing and koineising in the speech ofstudents at the University of Hong Kong'. AnthropologicalLinguis tics . 21: 113-123.

Gumperz, J.J. & Hernandez-Chavez, E. 1975. 'Cognitive aspects ofbilingual communication'. In El Lengua De Los Chicanos , edited by E.Hernandez-Chavez, Cohen & Beltramo, pp. 154-163. Centre for AppliedLinguistics, Arlington, Virginia.

Gumperz, J.J. 1976.

' The sociolinguistic significance of conversationalcode-switching'.

Papers on Language and Context (Working Paper 46) .Berkeley: University of California, Language Behaviour ResearchLaboratory.

Press.

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