Digital Commons Network^™

Codeswitching In Hiaki Conversational Discourse: An Evaluation Of Myers-Scotton's Matrix Language Frame Model, Sofia Gottlieb Pierson

Honors Papers

Through the lens of Hiaki-Spanish codeswitching, this paper provides evidence that the languages that engage in bilingual codeswitching are grammatically asymmetrical. With the exception of a few counterexamples addressed at the end, this research supports Myers-Scotton's theory that the surface word order and certain types of morphemes should always come from the grammatically dominant language (the Matrix Language) in mixed language constituents. If the other (Embedded Language) contributes morphemes that violate either of these principles, the remainder of its constituent must be finished in that language. Although the Hiaki language has been thoroughly studied, this study is one of the …