33.1682, Review: German; Russian; Sociolinguistics; Syntax: Hakimov (2021)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-33-1682. Thu May 12 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.1682, Review: German; Russian; Sociolinguistics; Syntax: Hakimov (2021)

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Date: Thu, 12 May 2022 12:27:40
From: Marco Forlano [marco.forlano at unibg.it]
Subject: Explaining Russian-German code-mixing

 
Discuss this message:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=36781477


Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/32/32-3735.html

AUTHOR: Nikolay  Hakimov
TITLE: Explaining Russian-German code-mixing
SUBTITLE: A usage-based approach
SERIES TITLE: Contact and Multilingualism
PUBLISHER: Language Science Press
YEAR: 2021

REVIEWER: Marco Forlano, University of Bergamo

SUMMARY
 
Nikolay Hakimov’s “Explaining Russian-German code-mixing. A usage-based
approach” is a monograph dealing with structural aspects of code-mixing. The
analysis is carried out on a Russian-German bilingual corpus by applying
usage-based approaches. The book is divided into seven chapters, preceded by
an Introduction. 

Chapter One offers a survey of the main existing studies on structural aspects
of code-mixing, starting from Muysken’s (2000) code-mixing typology. Muysken’s
classification, which connects structural aspects of code-mixing to the
sociolinguistic situation of bilingual communities, allows the author to focus
in more detail on the social aspects of code-mixing. The main theories
accounting for insertional code-mixing, namely those of Myers-Scotton and
associates, starting from the Matrix Language Frame Model (cf. Myers-Scotton
1993), and of Backus, starting from Backus (1996), are then described. While
following Myers-Scotton’s terminology, Hakimov expresses his purpose of
quantitatively verifying through his analysis Backus’s theories based on
cognitive linguistics, according to which insertions from one language into
another in bilingual speech tend to be represented by relatively fixed
expressions, including multiword ones. Finally, the author enters the debate
over the distinction between borrowing and code-mixing in a synchronic
bilingual discourse. The author argues that borrowing and code-mixing are
different phenomena and chooses to rely on the criterion of frequency in order
to rule borrowings out from the analysis of code-mixing. 

Chapter Two provides some theoretical background for the analysis by
introducing usage-based linguistic theories developed in the context of
cognitive linguistics. First of all, the theory of exemplars is illustrated,
according to which the human brain can store linguistic experiences as
memories, categorizing them as exemplars through cognitive processes; in this
scenario, exemplars are strengthened by the frequency at which they occur in
speech. Afterwards, the centrality of multimorphemic words and multiword
expressions in usage-based approaches is emphasized. In this regard, several
studies concerning both the processing and production of such expressions are
illustrated. The chapter closes with the application of usage-based theories
to language variation, emphasizing the role played by socio-cultural factors
besides cognitive ones.

Chapter Three introduces the participants in the research, the data collection
methods, and the structuring of the corpus. The nineteen participants are
presented both as a group and as individuals. They belong to a group of
so-called German repatriates from the Soviet Union and its successor states.
Overall, the group is homogenous: most of them belong to the intermediate
generation of immigrants, i.e., they were born in Russia and migrated to
Germany during their childhood or adolescence, before the age of eighteen. All
of them have lived in Germany for over ten years and are proficient in both
languages, being fluent in German and using Russian in their day-to-day
interactions.   

Chapters Five, Six, and Seven make up the core of the book, where variation in
code-mixing patterns within three different morpho-syntactic contexts is
analyzed. Those patterns involve German nouns or phrases inserted into
Russian, which, following Myers-Scotton’s (1993) terminology, can be
considered to be the matrix language. In all three chapters, in order to
account for such variation, the author both verifies already existing
explanations and hypothesizes new usage-based factors, mostly based on the
frequency both of specific lexemes and of the co-occurrence of certain strings
of words in monolingual speech. Since the insertions mostly involve German
lexemes, frequency is measured on a German corpus. Finally, the predictive
ability of the various hypothesized factors is statistically analyzed through
a linear regression model, which also takes into account the possible
influence of the speakers’ idiosyncratic choices.

Chapter Four deals with code-mixing within noun phrases with adjective
modifiers. In the Russian-German bilingual corpus, either the adjective-noun
sequence is in German or single German nouns are modified by Russian
adjectives. The choice between the two patterns is hypothesized to depend on
the frequencies of the single nouns and adjectives, as well as on the
co-occurrence frequency of the adjective-noun pairs, which are computed on the
German corpus. In addition to their frequency of co-occurrence, the cohesion
of the adjective-noun pairs is calculated through a statistical measure, the
Mutual Information. The linear regression model shows that, among the
hypothesized factors, frequency of the adjective is the best predictor for
code-mixing patterns, followed by the co-occurrence one. In this regard, less
frequent adjectives are found to be produced in German whereas more frequent
ones tend to be produced in Russian. It is also estimated that regularly
co-occurring words tend to repel code-mixing. Thus, combining these two
patterns, it emerges that if the frequency of the adjective is low and the
co-occurrence frequency of a noun-adjective couple is high, a German noun
phrase is very likely to be produced. 

Chapter Five deals with code-mixing within prepositional phrases. In the
Russian-German bilingual corpus, either German prepositional phrases or mixed
prepositional ones (where a Russian preposition is followed by a German noun
phrase) may be found. The choice between the two patterns is hypothesized to
depend on the frequency of the noun in a prepositional phrase and of
co-occurrence of the preposition-noun pairs, which are calculated on the
German corpus. The presence of the same noun or preposition shortly before in
the speech is also hypothesized to play a role in the variation of code-mixing
patterns, and it is detected in the Russian-German bilingual corpus. The
linear regression model shows that all the above factors influence the
structure of code-mixing. Specifically, the most influential one is found to
be the occurrence of the same preposition in the preceding discourse, which
proves the influence of priming in shaping bilingual speech. This means that
the chances of producing a preposition in one of the languages involved are
higher if the same preposition occurs in the same language shortly before in
the discourse.

Chapter Six deals with code-mixing below the word level, namely in plural
nouns. In the Russian-German corpus, German nouns either keep their German
plural markers or take the Russian ones. The choice between the two patterns
might depend on the following three possible factors: the frequency at which
German nouns occur either in the plural form or in the singular form in
monolingual German speech, the morphological structure of the German lexical
root, and, lastly, the different syntactic position of the nouns, due to
inconsistencies between the case systems of Russian and German. The linear
regression model shows that all three factors influence the structure of
code-mixing. However, the most influential turns out to be the frequency at
which the nouns occur in the plural in monolingual German speech. In that
regard, plural-dominant German nouns retain their German plural suffixes once
inserted into Russian, repelling code-mixing. 

In Chapter Seven, the author summarizes the issues previously dealt with in
the book and highlights the effectiveness of utilizing usage-based criteria to
account for the variation of code-mixing in structural patterns.

EVALUATION 

“Explaining Russian-German code-mixing. A usage-based approach” is a clear and
in-depth study aimed at explaining the structural variation of code-mixing
patterns in Russian-German bilingual discourse. 

The book is very well structured. As should be clear from the Summary, the
first three chapters, which explain the theoretical background and methodology
of the research, are followed by three chapters designated for the analysis of
the data extracted from the Russian-German corpus. The specific configurations
of code-mixing are analyzed within three different morphosyntactic contexts,
i.e., noun phrases modified by adjectives, prepositional phrases, and plural
nouns. The different patterns of code-mixing are instantiated through many
glossed examples. Before beginning the analysis, the author devotes a large
space to outlining how the constructions under survey are realized both in
Russian and German. Thus, the book is also made accessible to those who are
not fluent in either language. Moreover, the author very carefully describes
the statistical measures used to analyze the data. This way, the book is also
made available to those without any preliminary statistical knowledge.
Moreover, the description of the applied statistical processes is greatly
supported by graphs and figures.  

Dealing with structural aspects of code-mixing, Hakimov delves into a deeply
studied and yet controversial topic. In fact, although several scholars have
tried to identify models so as to categorize structural variation in
code-mixing by considering specific language pairs, such models have always
been invalidated by several counterexamples from other language pairs. Thus,
as Ciccolone (2014: 2) has rightly pointed out, the various attempts to
identify structural boundaries in code-mixing have paradoxically highlighted
the great level of freedom and linguistic creativity in bilingual discourse.
However, in carrying out the analysis, Hakimov distances himself from rigidly
syntax-based models, which are the most famous ones, such as Poplack’s (1980)
Equivalence Constraint and Free Morpheme Constraint and Myers-Scotton’s Matrix
Language Frame Model (1993). Rather, he chooses to apply usage-based models,
relying on cognitive linguistics. 

The starting point for this book is the idea that the same cognitive processes
present in monolingual speech may be active in bilingual speech and thus
influence code-mixing patterns. Accordingly, frequent multimorphemic words or
sequences of words, which, following usage-based theories, tend to be stored
as units in the language users’ mental lexicon, are hypothesized to show up as
units even when inserted in a discourse conducted in another language and, as
such, to repel code-mixing. An advantage of the work is that it provides a
multi-factorial explanation for variation in code-mixing patterns, i.e., it
does not exclude a priori other possible factors which, besides frequency, can
influence the structure of code-mixing in a Russian-German bilingual
discourse. In fact, while carrying out the analysis, Hakimov hypothesizes
other factors as well, both usage-based (such as priming) and structural (such
as the inconsistency between the morphological and syntactic structures of the
languages in contact). The effective influence of these factors in shaping
code-mixing patterns in all the three examined contexts is systematically
verified through a linear regression model, which is another strength of the
book. 

Eventually, Hakimov fully achieves his main goal, i.e., he proves that
measuring the frequency of occurrence of specific words as well as of the
co-occurrence of specific sequences of words in monolingual speech can be
useful in predicting code-mixing patterns in bilingual speech. However, the
author himself acknowledges that the findings need to be tested in further
studies based on larger corpora. Another possible development of the work
could be the application of usage-based models also to the other types of
code-mixing, i.e., alternation and congruent lexicalization (cf. Muysken
2000).

In conclusion, the book proves to be valuable for researchers dealing either
with language contact or cognitive linguistics. It is therefore a promising
and highly innovative adaptation of the two fields of linguistics.

REFERENCES

Backus, Ad. 1996. Two in one: Bilingual speech of Turkish immigrants in the
Netherlands. Studies in Multilingualism 1. Tilburg: Tilburg University Press.

Ciccolone, Simone. 2014. Classificare il ‘code-mixing’: una reinterpretazione
dei parametri di ‘constituency’ del modello di Muysken. Linguistica e
Filologia 34. 95-134.

Myers-Scotton, Carol. 1993. Duelling languages: Grammatical structure in
codeswitching. Oxford: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press.

Muysken, Peter. 2000. Bilingual Speech: A Typology of Code-mixing. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. 

Poplack, Shana. 1980. Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in Spanish Y TERMINO EN
ESPAÑOL: Toward a typology of code-switching. Linguistics 18(7/8). 581–618.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

After gaining an M.A. in Linguistics at the University of Pavia (with a thesis
on the sociolinguistic situation of Romani in Italy) and at the Collegio
Ghislieri, Marco Forlano is now a Ph.D. student at the University of Pavia and
the University of Bergamo (Italy). His doctoral research deals with contact
between Italian and Romani, with particular attention to code-mixing phenomena
among Lombard Sinti. His primary research interest is sociolinguistics, with a
specific focus on plurilingualism and synchronic language contact.





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