repetition

  • test: the participants have to repeat some English/Spanish code-switching structures taken from Fantini (1985) and Deuchar and Quay (2000), and some other structures incorporated specifically into this study
  • languages: English, Spanish
  • participants: 2 simultaneous bilingual children (2;06)
  • objective: to check whether children accept or reject any specific type of code-switching so that we can determine if their behavior is linked to the concept of language dominance
AJT_concord
  • test: participants have to rate a series of experimental structures using a 1-to-4 scale presented via emoticon faces (1 = sounds bad; 4= sounds good). The structures involve English/Spanish code-switching at the DP level:

The house is in the bosque Se están mirando el face El gato está junto a la house

  • languages: English, Spanish
  • participants: 48 adults (2L1 English, Spanish), 111 adults (L2 English-L1 Spanish), 8 adults (L2 Spanish), 98 children (2L1 English, Spanish)
  • objective: to determine the preference for the Spanish or the English functional category in code-mixed constructions as well as gender preferences in the case of Spanish determiners; and to link these preferences to the concept of language dominance and to how features are represented in the bilingual mind
AJT_agreeement
  • test: participants have to rate a series of experimental structures using a 1-to-4 scale presented via emoticon faces (1 = sounds bad; 4= sounds good). The structures involve English/Spanish code-switching at 2 grammatical points:

DP subject + copula verb with adjective

The house es bonita / bonito La casa is nice

DP or pronominal subject + verb

La señora / Ella hugs her sister The teacher / She lee una revista

  • languages: English, Spanish
  • participants: 48 adults (2L1 English, Spanish), 111 adults (L2 English-L1 Spanish), 8 adults (L2 Spanish), 101 children (2L1 English, Spanish), 49 children (L2 English-L1 Spanish)
  • objective: to determine how gender and person features shape the code-switching preferences of different groups of bilinguals and to link these preferences to the concept of language dominance and to how features are represented in the bilingual mind
production_concord & agreement
  • test: participants have to complete sentences using either a Spanish determiner or a Spanish adjective, which will result in structures involving code-switching at the level of the DP or in copula constructions, respectively:

Hay nubes en __ (el/la) sky Ha puesto una cortina en __ (el/la) window

That book is __ (amarillo/amarilla) That face is ___ (rojo/roja)

  • languages: English, Spanish
  • participants: 48 adults (2L1 English, Spanish), 53 adults (L2 English-L1 Spanish), 8 adults (L2 Spanish), 87 children (2L1 English, Spanish), 38 children (L2 English-L1 Spanish)
  • objective: to determine the preference for the Spanish or the English functional category in code-switched constructions as well as gender preferences in the case of Spanish determiners and to link these preferences to the concept of language dominance and to how features are represented in the bilingual mind