Modelling Intrasentential Codeswitching

Arabic as a Minority Language
edited by
J onathan Owens
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin New York 2000
... )
Modelling intrasentential codeswitching: a
comparative study of AlgerianlFrench in Algeria
and MoroccanlDutch in the Netherlands
Louis Boumans and Dominique Caubet
Our contribution addresses grammatical regularities in codeswitching. We

will discuss the description and interpretation of codeswitching patterns in
general, and compare Moroccan ArabicIDutch codeswitching in the
Netherlands to Algerian ArabicIFrench in Algeria. Section I introduces an
insertional model of codeswitching which combines the merits of earlier
matrix language approaches in an eclectic manner, termed the Monolingual
Structure Approach. The Moroccan ArabicIDutch and Algerian
Arabic!French data corpora are then described according to the principles of
this framework in sections 2 and 3. Subsequently, the major patterns of
insertion in both corpora will be compared in section 4, where an account
for some of the similarities and dissimilarities will be proposed. A summary
concludes this article.
Boumans wrote section 1, which reflects his point of view, as well as the
section on Moroccan ArabicIDutch and the comparison of codeswitching in
both data corpora. Caubet wrote section 3 on Algerian ArabicIFrench.
Finally, we have revised each other's sections as needed.
1. The matrix langnage
i.i.introduction
In the following we wiIl adopt an insertional approach to the description of
codeswitching patterns. This means that codeswitching is viewed as the
insertion of smaller or larger constituents from one language, to be called
the Embedded Language, into a syntactic frame set by another language, the
matrix language.' In Boumans (1998a) it is argued that this approach
efficiently and economically describes most codeswitching phenomena, even
if some data seem to systematically undermine the model.
In the past decades several scholars have made proposals for insertion
models of codeswitching which differ from each other with respect to the
114 Louis Boumans and Dominique Caubet Modelling intrasentential codeswitching: a comparative study 115
exact definition of the matrix language. This definition determines what language constituents. In the Monolingual Structure Approach embedded
types of embedded elements are possible, and what constitutes counter-evi- language material can be recognised as an embedded language constituent if
dence. A central question is whether the matrix language for a particular it constitutes a possible constituent according to the grammatical rules of
syntactic structure can be identified on the basis of the larger context. In the the embedded language, using traditional criteria for constituency such as
present chapter we follow the model Boumans developed for his PhD re- distributional properties (Jacobson 1995). This implies that indefinite
search on Moroccan ArabiclDutch codeswitching (Boumans 1998a). This pronouns, for instance, may be classified as a type of noun phrase by
model, called the Monolingual Structure Approach, combines in an eclectic virtue of their distributional properties; the embedded Dutch iedereen
manner insights from a number of scholars including, most prominently, 'everyone' in (22) below exemplifies this. Likewise, singly occurring
Hasselmo (1972, 1974), Bautista (1975, 1980), K1avans (1985), Nishimura adverbs may be classified as full adverbial constituents. The Matrix
(1986) and Myers-Scotton (1993; Myers-Scotton and Jake 1995). Language Frame model does not allow for embedded single morpheme
Since the early 1990s, Myers-Scotton's Matrix Language Frame model constituents, called "embedded language islands" in the model. In
has been the predominant insertional framework (Myers-Scotton 1993, Myers-Scotton's words, "all islands must be composed of at least two
1997; Myers-Scotton and Jake 1995). The main point of divergence lexemes/morphemes in a hierarchical relationship" (Myers-Scotton 1993:
between the Matrix Language Frame model and the Monolingual Structure 138).
Approach concerns the scope of the matrix language and, related to this, the In the remainder of this section, the definition of the matrix language
possibility of layered insertion (for which see below). The Matrix Language according to the Monolingual Structure Approach is expounded (1.2 and
Frame model assumes a matrix language/embedded language dichotomy for 1.3). After that challenges and limitations of the Monolingual Structure
only one particular syntactic level, the complementizer phrase, while Approach will be pointed out, with particular attention to clause-external
inferring the matrix language from the make-up of mixed constituents within discourse markers (lA). Section 1.5 summarises this discussion and section
the complementizer phrase. This implies that according to the Matrix 1.6 explains how the Monolingual Structure Approach is employed to
Language Frame model the same matrix language provides the describe insertion patterns in a text corpus.
morphosyntactic frame for the complementizer phrase and for each mixed
constituent within the complementizer phrase. Layered or recursive 1.2. Identifying the matrix language
insertion is thus precluded. The success of any insertion approach hinges on the proper definition of the
The stance we take here is that the matrix language of a particular clause matrix language and the identification of embedded elements. The point of
does not necessarily coincide with the language of the discourse as a whole, departure is that the make-up of each syntactic structure identified, e.g.
the speech turn or any larger sample than the clause itself. Likewise, the clause or phrasal constituent, can be attributed to one and only one of the
language that provides the syntactic frame of the clause as a whole does not participating languages, which is thus identified as the matrix language for
necessarily provide the morphosyntactic structure of each constituent within this structure. The matrix language governs the selection and relative order
this clause. The idea that the definition of the matrix language must refer to of the constituent parts that make up the structure, whether these
features of the matrix structure itself also entails that on the supra-clausal constituents are from the same language or another language (the embedded
level the definition of the matrix language in a non-circular way becomes language). Constituents are defined by traditional criteria such as
problematic. This problem concerns particularly the use of extra-clausal distributional properties (Jacobson 1995).
discourse markers (e.g. conjunctions and question tags) which combine with The process of identifYing the matrix language makes use of
clauses from another language, and which are located in the specifier generalisations over a set of individual instances of codeswitching
position of the complementizer phrase according to the Matrix Language (Boumans 1998a: 61-90). A given set of data is described as a collection of
Frame model. insertions, using the smallest possible number of insertion types. This
A second difference between the Monolingual Structure Approach and principle leads to the conclusion that word order and function morphemes
the Matrix Language Frame model concerns the definition of embedded are usually indicative of the matrix language; content words (including
certain types of derived or inflected content words) are more liable to be appear in otherwise Dutch finite clauses, nor is there any indication that the
inserted than functional morphemes; furthermore, in codeswitching with distribution of Moroccan Arabic articles follows the rules of Dutch grammar
languages marking tense and/or aspect on the Verb, verbal inflection for (or vice versa).
these categories is a reliable indicator of the matrix language on the finite Though the insertion of single function morphemes is very rare,
clause level, a principle introduced by Klavans (1985) and supported by embedded complex word forms consisting of a content morpheme and one
Treffers-Daller (1994: 204). The following examples illustrate how the or more function morpheme affixes or, sometimes, clitics are quite common.
matrix language is identified. Examples of this are embedded language words that contain derivational
affixes. More interesting are embedded complex words where the embedded
1.2.1. Phrasal constituents as matrices
language function morpheme functions in the grammatical system of the
In example (I) we find the Dutch word uitkering 'benefit' in a sentence that matrix language. A rather common pattern is the insertion of embedded
is otherwise in Moroccan Arabic. The noun uitkering is part of a nominal language nouns with embedded language plural markers. In the next
constituent (noun phrase) I-uitkering dyal-hifm 'their benefit'. This example the English noun steaks is embedded in a Spanish noun phrase. The
constituent can be regarded as a matrix. English plural marking in this word triggers agreement elsewhere in the
Spanish noun phrase, namely in unos and sabrosos. This demonstrates that
(I) ye-~ti-w n-nas l-uitkering dyal-bUm English steaks functions as a plural form in the Spanish nominal paradigm.
3-give-PL DEF-people DEF-benefit of-3PL
'They'll give the people their [social security] benefit'. MAlDutch (2) daban unos steak-s tan sabroso-s
(Hayat)2 they' gave INDEF'M'PL steak-PL so tastY'M-PL
'They served some steaks so tasty'. SpanishlE. (pfaff 1979: 306)
Moroccan Arabic is identified as the matrix language on the basis of the
internal make-up of this noun phrase: all function morphemes and the The insertion of content words accompanied by inflectional affixes or clitics
relative order of all morphemes can be attributed to this language. The ana- is subject to regularities that are related to features of both the matrix
lytical possessive construction too embodies a recognisably Moroccan language and the embedded language. To give an example: it is common for
Arabic pattern: Dutch would use a possessive pronoun here (hun uitkering). the plural of embedded language nouns to be marked by an embedded
Therefore uitkering in (I) is analysed as a Dutch (embedded language) language affix when the matrix language is Arabic or one of the (Indo-)
content morpheme embedded in a Moroccan Arabic (matrix language) European languages, but when the matrix language is an agglutinative
nominal constituent. language like Swahili, Finnish or Turkish, the singular form of the noun is
While this is a straightforward example, it is principles of generalisation often inserted and inflected with an matrix language plural marker. In order
that favour this analysis rather than the alternative analysis in which 1- to describe which complex word forms are inserted and which complex
uitkering dyal-hifm is considered as a Dutch noun phrase with the forms are not, the point of departure may be that only content morphemes
Moroccan Arabic article 1- and the possessive prepositional phrase dyal- are embedded. Subsequently the conditions under which inflectional affixes
hUm as embedded elements, and the entire noun phrase being embedded in a and clitics may accompany embedded language content morphemes can be
Moroccan Arabic matrix clause. After all, embedded Dutch nouns occur in formulated (see Boumans 1995; 1998b for an elaboration of this approach).
all positions in which Moroccan Arabic nouns can occur in monolingual "Content word" is used as a cover term to refer to both content morphemes
Moroccan Arabic, and the insertion of single nouns is widely attested in and more complex word forms like plural nouns in contexts where the
codeswitching with any language pair. The insertion of single articles, distinction is not critical.
affixes, or possessive markers, on the other hand, is cross-linguistically rare;
the Moroccan ArabiclDutch data bear no evidence at all of insertion of
either Moroccan Arabic or Dutch articles. No Moroccan Arabic articles
1.2.2. The finite clause as a matrix necessary precision when she contends that the "inflection bearing element"
Examples (3) and (4) exempliry the insertion of nominal and prepositional of the finite verb is indicative of the matrix language.
constituents. The Moroccan Arabic independent pronoun hadak f-fi 'this' in
1.3. Layered insertion
(3) occupies the topic position in a Dutch finite clause. In accordance with
Dutch grammar the topic constituent, often coinciding with the gram- The preceding examples showed insertion in two kinds of matrix structures.
matical subject, is followed by the finite verb in a declarative main clause. A content morpheme or complex word form from the embedded language
When the topic constituent is not the subject, like the prepositional phrase can be embedded in a matrix language constituent. The matrix language on
mfa-k in (13), the relative order of the finite verb and subject is reversed. this level is inferred from the internal make-up of the constituent. A
This is known as the West-Germanic verb-second rule. complex constituent can also be embedded in a finite clause. In that case the
matrix language is defined as the language of the inflection of the finite
(3) hadak Hi is eh uit den boze verb.
DEM DEF -thing is er from the evil Since the matrix language is defined independently on more than one
'No, this is fundamentally wrong'. (Samir) level, the matrix language of the finite clause does not necessarily govern
(4) m~a-k ben ik mezelj the internal structure of each complex constituent within the finite clause.
with-2SG am I myself The possibility of having embedded language constituents in a matrix clause
'With you I'm being myself. Moroccan ArabicfDutch (Samir) already makes this apparent. embedded language constituents may also be
themselves matrix structures in which an element of the other language is
The order of the immediate constituents in (3) and (4) can be ascribed to inserted. This is called "layered insertion" in the Monolingual Structure
Dutch syntactic rules. The Moroccan Arabic prepositional phrase and noun Approach. Ifwe assume that within one finite clause insertion can occur on
phrase constituents in these examples occupy a position within a larger more than one level - and there is no reason to exclude this possibility - we
matrix structure. This structure encompassing the verb and its arguments can account for many instances of codeswitching that are problematic for
will be defined as a clause containing one and no more than one finite verb, matrix language approaches identirying a matrix language on just one level.
labelled here as the finite clause. This definition is derived from the Nishimura (1986) proposes such a "layered insertion" analysis in order to
psycholinguistic model of speech production proposed by Levelt, according account for her JapanesefEnglish data. Consider one of her examples:
to whom the finite clause is the unit in which the ordering of constituents
takes place (Levelt 1989: 256). (5) J slept with her basement de
LOCATIVE
The finite verb is probably the best criterion for the identification of the
matrix language at the finite clause level. There turns out to be a constant 'r slept with her in the basement'. JapanesefE. (Nishimura 1986: 130)
correlation between the language of the inflection of the finite verb, and the
Nishimura views 1 slept with her basement de as an English sentence; in
language to which the order of the major constituents (the verb and its ar-
this English sentence a Japanese post-positional constituent, basement de, is
guments) must be attributed. Here again generalisation provides the major
inserted. This prepositional phrase in its turn constitutes a matrix structure
argument: in those cases where the languages involved clearly do differ with
that contains the English noun basement. Nishimura's analysis fits well into
respect to constituent order, it is hardly ever possible to consider the
I
the Monolingual Structure Approach that identifies a matrix language on
inflection ofthe finite verb itselfto be an insertion. The relationship between
more than one level. To consider the Japanese postposition to be the
constituent order and the finite verb can be generalised to comprise those
embedded element is not an attractive alternative. Firstly, this would cause a
cases where both languages share the same constituent order, so that the
new insertion type, namely "insertion of postposition", to be added to the
inflection of the finite verb determines the matrix language in all cases. Note
corpus description. This runs counter the observation that "single" function
that non-finite verb forms as well as verb stems can be inserted, as will be
morphemes tend not to be embedded, whereas the insertion of English
shown in sections 2 and 3. Therefore, K1avans (1985) provides the
nouns in JapaneselEnglish is not controversial. Secondly, the rela-tive order as well-formed embedded language constituents, the source language word
of noun and adposition argues against the analysis of basement de as being order challenges the idea that the matrix language governs the distribution
an English prepositional phrase.' More examples oflayered insertion will be of the elements that make up the matrix structure, see islamitische school
discussed in sections 2.3.1 and 3.4 (exx. 41, 42, 78, 82). 'Islamic school' in (17) below. The Dutch word order adjective-noun is
retained in these two words, but they do not constitute a well-formed Dutch
1. 4. Counter-examples and limitations constituent as Dutch would require a determiner.
While the Monolingual Structure Approach offers a coherent account of a A possible explanation for this phenomenon is that collocations are
great many aspects of codeswitching, it does not account for all aspects of stored together with their internal word order in the speaker's mental
codeswitching attested in the literature. In 1.4.1 we perfunctorily list five lexicon, from which they are retrieved as a whole in speech production.
potential sources of difficulty, acknowledging that we have no ready Such an explanation is particularly plausible for idiomatic collocations. In
answers to them. In 1.4.2 the status of discourse markers and c1ause- any case, the effect of collocational ties on the word order of embedded
external topics is taken up, as the description of these two elements as language forms challenges the idea that the matrix language determines
constituents within a higher order syntactic structure poses particular word order inside the matrix language structure.
problems for an insertional approach to codeswitching.
Attributive adjectives
1.4.1. Counter-examples Attributive adjectives generally constitute a problem area for insertion
models. There are two word order possibilities: either the adjective precedes
"Bare" forms the head noun, or it follows it. The word order should in all cases be in
conformity with the matrix language of the nominal constituent, but here
An aspect of codeswitching is that in some cases function morphemes that
counter-examples are relatively common (cf Santorini and Mahootian
are obligatory according to the matrix language grammar tend to be
1995). The matrix language in itself does not predict the order of embedded
omitted. Moroccan ArabicIDutch codeswitching offers clear examples of
attributive adjectives very well. Instead, attributive adjectives recurrently
this phenomenon: preceding an embedded Dutch noun more often than not
display source language word order when embedded. It is possible that the
the Moroccan Arabic definite prefix 1- is omitted, even in contexts where it
matrix language is just one of several factors that together determine the
is obligatory according to Moroccan Arabic grammar. This will be
word order of attributive adjectives. 4
discussed in detail in section 2.2.1 below.
In itself, the insertion approach to codeswitching cannot account for the Major constituent order
omission of function morphemes, as this approach assumes that the matrix
language governs the distribution of morphemes. Loosely stated, the ab- The most serious threat to the Monolingual Structure Approach on the level
sence of function morphemes must be attributed to the unproductivity of the of the finite clause occurs when the inflection of the finite verb fails to
(morphological) process that attaches inflections to "new" content mor- predict the order of the major constituents. Such counter-examples are rare,
phemes. The Monolingual Structure Approach is a useful tool, however, for however (cf Stenson 1990: 173-4). One possibility is that the verb itself is
the detection of contexts in which certain morphemes tend to be omitted. embedded (see Igla 1991 and Boumans 1998b for further discussion).
Collocations of content morphemes Modal and aspectual adverbs

A further complication for the insertion model comes from the insertion of Various scholars have shown that certain embedded language adverbs
collocations of content morphemes (or content words) that typically retain display syntactic features of their source language, rather than the language
embedded language word order. Common examples are noun-adjective and of the other constituents of the clause. The problematic adverbs often serve
verb-object collocations. If these embedded collocations cannot be classified a discourse marking function, marking sequences in the structure of the text
122 Louis Bournans and Dominique Caubet Modelling intrasententiai codeswitching: a comparative study 123
(secondly, finally) or expressing subjective modal values (definitely); other expressions that either order the text into sequences (e.g. though, so, and),
embedded language adverbs displaying embedded language word order or express the speaker's attitude toward what is being said, or toward
properties are more readily associated with aspect marking (still, already). her/his interlocutor (already, really, you see?). Above it was already noted
Examples of "embedded" adverbs that display source language word order that some embedded language adverbs tend to retain source language word
properties are discussed by Stenson (1990: 173, 182-3) and Hasselmo order properties. In the case of discourse markers that occur clause-initially
(1974: 223-4), among others, on English adverbs in lrishlEnglish and or clause-finally it is not at all obvious that they belong to the finite clause
SwedishlEnglish respectively. as a matrix structure and, therefore, can be viewed as embedded elements.
We will not pursue this matter here, but note that the word order Such discourse markers do not constitute straightforward counter-
properties of these adverbs, although they appear to undermine the idea of a examples, but the Monolingual Structure Approach cannot account for their
matrix language, will be very difficult to examine if the matrix language placement either. Similar difficulties arise with respect to extra-clausal
model is rejected altogether. foregrounding strategies. The Arabic emphatic pronouns that indicate a shift
in topic and mark contrastive topics illustrate this. In codeswitching with
Independent development of the codeswitching variety Arabic, Arabic full personal pronouns commonly precede a finite clause in
In a community where codeswitching is a regularly used mode of commu- the other language (English, French, or Dutch), as the Moroccan
nication, it is possible that the codeswitching variety itself develops inde- ArabiclDutch example below illustrates; and see (80) below. 5
pendently of the two constituent languages. Such a development can be
(6) ~end-nal-maSakel ze~ma n-gul-ubhal bhalikeh muhimm
conceived of both on an individual level, as when a speaker changes her
linguistic behaviour over time, and on the level of smaller or larger speech at-IpL DEF-problems EPISTEMIcl-say-PL same same I er anyway
communities in which several speakers imitate each other. As a conse- nti-yai voorJOUj washetmisschien ehm iets
quence of this development, some regularities in codeswitching behaviour 2SG F-EMPH for you was it maybe er somewhat
can no longer be analysed as simply the combination of elements from the moelijker
two monolingual varieties as the insertion approach claims. more difficult
A relatively common example of this is the use of a periphrastic 'We have -let's say - the same problems. I er ... Anyway for
YOU it was maybe somewhat more difficult'. Moroccan
construction with an matrix language auxiliary verb to incorporate verbs or,
in some West African languages, adjectives from the embedded language Arabic/Dutch (Samir)
(Myers-Scotton 1993: 150-1; Meechan and Poplack 1995). Even if this
Within Myers-Scotton's Matrix Language Frame model several
practice builds on an existing matrix language construction, its frequent use
discourse phenomena are analysed in terms of a higher-order syntactic
in the codeswitching variety typically leads to grammaticalisation and
structure called complementizer phrase in X-bar theory. The comple-
semantic bleaching of the matrix language auxiliary verb. The Nijmegen
mentizer phrase matrix contains as its immediate constituents the finite
corpus of Moroccan ArabiclDutch codeswitching shows this process rather
clause, and the discourse marker or dislocated or topicalised constituent in
clearly as individual respondents display varying degrees of gramma-
the so-called specifier complementizer phrase position (Jake 1994; Myers-
ticalisation of the periphrastic construction in which Dutch verbs are
Scotton, Jake and Okasha 1996). It then becomes possible to consider
embedded (see section 2.2.6).
either the finite clause, or the discourse marker or topicalised constituent to
1.4.2. Discourse markers and clause-external topics be an embedded language constituent. In the Matrix Language Frame
model, the stretch ntiya .. moeilijker in example (6) above would probably
The concept of matrix language applies less well to various types of be analysed as an Arabic complementizer phrase in which the stretch voor
elements that function on the discourse level. In the present article the major jou .. moeilijker is an embedded Dutch finite clause island. This appears to
problems will be pointed out. Various complications emerge with respect to be an attractive account. However, the definition of the matrix language
"discourse markers", a heterogeneous group of particles, adverbs and remains an intricate problem. Only Arabic can account for the syntactic and
textual distribution of these clause-initial topic pronouns. If the topic a number of recurrent codeswitching patterns that cannot be dealt with
pronoun itself is decisive in identifYing Arabic as "the language which sets satisfactorily in an insertion model. However, even for phenomena that
the frame for the entire complementizer phrase", the whole reasoning appear to undermine the model the assumption of a matrix language is
becomes circular: the pronoun (or other discourse marker) designates the functional for their recognition and their description in an economical way.
matrix language, and the matrix language predicts the selection and
placement of the pronoun and the finite clause constituent. No interesting 1.6. Corpus description in the Monolingual Structure Approach
generalisations about insertion types can be formulated on this basis. In fact, A description of codeswitching data according to the Monolingual Structure
the whole operation will amount to a roundabout way of saying that the Approach consists in identifYing types of embedded elements (morphemes,
distribution of discourse markers is predicted by their source language. 6 word forms, and constituent types) for each matrix language. Crucially,
For this reason the Monolingual Structure Approach does not assume a either language of a language pair can in principle occur as the matrix
hierarchical relationship between clause-initial or clause-final discourse language, even though it will often turn out that the insertion types are
markers and the finite clause. The source language of the discourse marker highly dependent on the language which functions as the matrix language.
itself seems to predict its distribution in a text, and there is no independent That is, codeswitching is typically asymmetric. In assessing insertion types,
criterion that consistently identifies the source language of the discourse the use of general terms like noun phrase and pronoun calls for particular
marker as the matrix language. This means that the Monolingual Structure concern because insertion is often restricted to a subclass of these
Approach cannot handle phenomena above the finite clause level. categories, e.g., only certain types of noun phrase. A type of embedded
element is basically assumed to be congruent with a corresponding matrix
1.5. The matrix language: summary
language category, i.e., have the same syntactic distribution as its matrix
The following are the major features of the Monolingual Structure language counterpart. Therefore we will discuss the distribution of an
Approach, as compared to other insertion models: Firstly, the matrix embedded language category only insofar as it turns out to diverge from the
language/embedded language dichotomy is a strictly grammatical distinction expected pattern.
logically independent of the difference in social status of the languages In sections 2 and 3, we will use the Monolingual Structure Approach to
involved. Defining the matrix language on grammatical grounds only, we describe two bilingual data corpora: Moroccan ArabiclDutch conversations
can investigate how insertion patterns correlate with the social status of the recorded in the Netherlands, and Algerian ArabiclFrench as spoken in
matrix language. Secondly, in a hierarchical representation of sentence Algeria. The application of the same principles of interpretation and
structure, it is possible to recognise a matrix language for grammatical classification enables us to aSSess the insertion patterns which are particular
constructions on more than one level, notably the level of the finite clause to each codeswitching variety, as well as the patterns common to both of
and the level of a nominal or prepositional constituent within that clause. As them.
a consequence, it is possible to have insertions inside insertions, e.g., a
language x content word in a language y nominal constituent that is part of a 2. Moroccan ArabicfDutch codeswitching in the Netherlands
language x clause. Thirdly, on the finite clause level the matrix language is The Moroccan ArabiclDutch data are extracted from Boumans (1998).
the language of the inflection bearing element of the finite verb; on the Section 2.1 will provide the necessary information on the Moroccan
constituent level, there is no such independent criterion, and the matrix community in the Netherlands, the Nijmegen data corpus, and the
language must be inferred from the internal make-up of the constituents, respondents who took part in the recordings. Then the morphological and
and from generalisations with respect to attested insertion types. Finally, the syntactic description of the data is divided in two parts. The first part (2.2)
Monolingual Structure Approach does not a priori exclude the possibility of concerns insertions of Dutch morphemes and constituents in Moroccan
inserting function morphemes. Instead, the observation that single function Arabic matrices; the second (2.3) concerns Moroccan Arabic insertions in
morphemes are not usually inserted follows from the application of the Dutch.
Monolingual Structure Approach to a set of codeswitching data. There are
The grammatical description is a qualitative, rather than a quantitative, the ideological antagonism between Islamic and Western values is
analysis of the data. However, in order to exclude non-recurrent phenomena increasingly accentuated. As a consequence Moroccans encounter unfa-
the following minimum standards are observed: unless stated otherwise, the vourable attitudes and discrimination in Dutch society, which makes them
phenomena discussed occur at least five times in the data, distributed among very much aware of their ethnic identity.
at least two respondents. Only in the case of less frequent insertion types
(less than 20 occurrences) is the absolute number of tokens given, so as to 2.1.2. The Nijmegen data corpus
allow some comparison of different insertion types. All the respondents' The Moroccan ArabiclDutch codeswitching project at the University of
names are pseudonyms. For each example cited the pseudonym of the Nijmegen was initiated by Jacomine Nortier in 1991. She undertook the
respondent will be indicated, so that the reader may link the examples to the collection and ordering of the data corpus until February 1992. In 1993
sociolinguistic information provided in section 2.1. The pseudonyms are Boumans became responsible for the codeswitching project, and the data
further used to indicate the distribution of particular codeswitching that had been gathered were put at his disposal. This data consist of audio
phenomena among the respondents. recordings of interviews and spontaneous conversations among Moroccan
immigrants and immigrants' children, in addition to reports on their
2.1. The Nijmegen data corpus
immigration history and patterns of language use. Youssef Azghari, a
student of Moroccan descent, organised the recording sessions and also
2.1.1. The Moroccan community in the Netherlands took part in most of them. He transcribed the passages that contained
According to the so-called "combined birth country criterion", which codeswitching. The transcripts where checked by Nortier and finally by
includes everyone born in Morocco or having one parent born in Morocco, Boumans.
there were 195,536 Moroccans in the Netherlands as of January 1, 1992 In this article the discussion will be limited to seven male and six female
(Martens, Roijen and Veenman 1994). Moroccan migration to the respondents, distributed over eight conversations (approximately 10 hours).
Netherlands originates in the 1960s when Dutch employers began to recruit Ten of these do not speak a Berber language at all; three young men have
personnel from various Mediterranean countries, due to a shortage of Tashelhit as their mother tongue (see below), but their Moroccan Arabic
unskilled labour force in the Netherlands. After the economic crisis of 1973, and their Moroccan ArabiclDutch codeswitching variety did not differ
the recruitment of foreign workers came to an end. Immigration continued noticeably from those of the Arabophones. No Berber was spoken during
though, as Moroccan workers had their wives and children come over and, the recordings 7 The data are heterogeneous in many respects: the
particularly since 1984, due to new marriages and relations (Muus 1993: sociolinguistic backgrounds of the respondents, their speech behaviour in
56). People from the Berberophone Rif area in northern Morocco are well terms oflanguage choice and the conversational settings.
represented. It is estimated that about 70 per cent of the Moroccans in the
Netherlands speak a variety of Berber as their mother tongue. Since 2.1.3. The respondents
Moroccan Arabic is the lingua franca in Morocco, nearly all Berberophone The most salient sociolinguistic factors influencing individual respondents'
immigrants have a good command of this language, with the exception of codeswitching patterns are their competence in Moroccan Arabic and Dutch
some elderly women and Dutch born children. Dutch born Moroccans in and the amount of use they make of these languages in daily communicative
general speak Dutch most of the time and are more fluent in this language interactions. Both are related to the amount of time the respondent spent in
than in their home language (El Aissati 1996). Morocco and in the Netherlands, and the age at which (s)he began acquiring
The present social situation of the Moroccan community is far from Dutch. The respondents were asked whether they were more confident in
ideal. The community faces a dramatic unemployment rate, and problems of speaking Moroccan Arabic or Dutch. Jamal and Abdellah, who arrived in
poor educational achievement and youth delinquency, though a clear the Netherlands at the age of seven and ten, respectively, had no clear
improvement is signalled with respect to schooling in the recent years (see preference for either language. Those who had immigrated at an earlier age,
the chapter on the Netherlands in Basfao and TaaIji (1994). Furthermore, or where born in the Netherlands, had a preference for Dutch: Maryam, and
128 Louis Boumans and Dominique Caubet Modelling intrasententiai codeswitching: a comparative study 129
the Hamadi siblings Nawal, Abdelkrim, Younes and Samir. All remaining Grammatical gender
respondents had arrived at the age of 16 or older and were more confident
Both Dutch and Moroccan Arabic have a two-gender system. Moroccan
in speaking Moroccan Arabic: Fatima, Mimoun, Maryam's mother Hayat,
Arabic distinguishes feminine and masculine, in analogy with natural gender.
Zineb, Warda, and Mustafa. With the exception of Mustafa, all selected
In Dutch, historical masculine and feminine have merged into one common
respondents were capable of sustaining a conversation in either language,
class that is opposed to neuter. Dutch grammatical gender is marked only in
though with varying degrees of fluency. Abdellah, Jamal, and Mimoun are
the singular, in the definite article (de for common, het for neuter singular)
of Soussi descent, and speak Tashelhit besides Moroccan Arabic. We may
and the agreement of most attributive adjectives (suffix -e [a1 for common
further note that the Hamadi siblings speak a distinctively eastern variety of
Moroccan Arabic, 8 although in the recorded material they actually oscillate gender, no marking for neuter singular). For all plural nouns, the form of
between East Moroccan and Atlantic Coast Koine forms. the definite article and the attributive adjective is the same as for common
The ensuing description of Moroccan ArabicIDutch codeswitching will gender singular. As a result, the formal distinction of common and neuter is
concentrate on the patterns that are most salient and characteristic of not very salient nor transparent, and learners of Dutch as a second language
Moroccan ArabicIDutch codeswitching generally, leaving out many and even second generation immigrants tend to generalise the forms of the
idiosyncrasies. Dutch insertions in Moroccan Arabic matrices will be common gender to both genders.
considered first, followed by Moroccan Arabic insertions in Dutch matrix Embedded Dutch nouns are assigned either Moroccan Arabic masculine
structures. or feminine gender, as indicated by the agreement patterns. In the following
examples, a subscript i indicates the Moroccan Arabic gender agreement.
2.2. Dutch insertions in Moroccan Arabic matrices
(7) ma hna sakn-in f dorp;, hiya; ~yir-a;, fi-ha; Vir I-hulan<;!i-yin
The Dutch elements that occur in Moroccan Arabic matrix clauses or while jpLlive-PRT-PL in village 3F small-F in-3F only DEF-Dutch-PL
constituents are classified into a number of types. In the first place, there is 'Now that we live in a village, which is small, and only Dutch live
the insertion of content words that is common to most varieties of there'. (Warda)
codeswitching discussed in the literature: nouns, (predicate) adjectives, (8) feyna l-bewijsi, feyna huwai?
verbs, and adverbs. Secondly, a number of Dutch constituent types are where DEF-evidence where 3M
embedded with low frequency: noun phrases, prepositional phrases, 'Where's the evidence, where is it?' (Zineb)
predicate constituents with nominal or adjectival heads, adverbial
constituents, and certain types of subordinate clauses that function as a At this point it is not clear what mechanisms rule gender assignment. It is
constituent in a Moroccan Arabic matrix clause (e.g., relative and possible that the gender of a corresponding Moroccan Arabic noun plays a
conditional clauses). In addition, some Dutch discourse markers are used in role. However, it cannot be assessed with certainty what the corresponding
the context of Moroccan Arabic clauses. In view of the size of our Moroccan Arabic word, if any, is. The Dutch noun dorp 'village' in (7), for
contribution, the discussion will be limited to the major word categories instance, may be translated into Moroccan Arabic as feminine qerya or
nouns, adjectives and verbs, as well as the embedded constituents headed by masculine fila3, dfer, or (iewwar9
these categories.
Number
2.2.1. Embedded Dutch Nouns
Both Moroccan Arabic and Dutch distinguish singular and plural nouns.
As is common in codeswitching, the bulk of the insertions consists of Embedded Dutch nouns never receive any Moroccan Arabic marking for
embedded language nouns. This section deals with gender assignment, plural; Dutch plural nouns are embedded instead. In the next example, the
number, definiteness, and other types of modification of embedded Dutch embedded plural noun series is co-referential with the resumptive 3PL
nouns. Object pronoun -h Um. (The existential kayen does not consistently display
gender and number agreement.)
,....---------------------------,- ..... ~.---~.
(9) kayen serie-si ka-n-dir-_ volg-en, ne-tferr"3-hUmi (11) ka-n-dewwez wahed -cursus
EXIST serial-PL ASP-I-do[ -3PL] follow-lNF l-watch-3PL Asp-I-follow INDEF [DEF-]course
'There are TV serials that I follow, that I watch'. (Abdelkrim) 'I follow a course'. (Mustafa)
(12) Snu had l-xi1<:4a, ki smiyt had _-groente
Moroccan Arabic grammar determines whether a singular or a plural what DEM DEF-vegetable how name DEM [DEF-]vegetable
form is appropriate. Although the contexts where nouns are marked for 'What's this vegetable, what's the name of this vegetable?' (Hayat)
plural largely coincide in both languages, some instances indicate the (13) 3a-w huma b-dik I-idee men temma l-hna
supremacy of matrix language grammar. In (10) the use of the definite come-PL 3PL with-DEM DEF-ideafrom there to-here
singular noun l-buitenlander is in accordance with Moroccan Arabic 'They brought this idea from there to here'. (Hayat)
grammar, since in generic expressions, Moroccan Arabic may use both the
definite singular and definite plural of count nouns (Caubet 1993 II: 295-7). The frequent omission of the article 1- as a second determiner may be
The Dutch equivalent of this utterance would require an indefinite plural. related to its redundancy in these contexts, as there is no contrast in
Hence the absence of the embedded language plural marker in (10) is meaning between Moroccan Arabic walled 1- and walled, or for instance had
dictated by the matrix language grammar. 1- and had. For the other contexts in which 1- is used in Moroccan Arabic,
the situation is more complex and the prefix 1- mayor may not surface; see
(10) ka-y-lelb-u l-buitenlander b ~ifa ~amm-a
Hayat's cultuur dyal-ek in (14) with her l-uitkering dyal-hiim in (I) above.
ASP-3-askfor-PL DEF-foreigner (SG) with manner general-F
The factors determining the omission of 1- in these contexts are largely
'They ask for foreigners in general'. [as opposed to foreign women unknown.
only] (Zineb)
(14) ta-te-qra-y cultuur dyal-ek u d-din dyal-ek
Definiteness AsP-2-learn-F [DEF-]culture of-2sG and DEF-religion of-2SG
Moroccan Arabic uses articles to mark nouns for definiteness, among other 'You leam about your culture and your religion'. (Hayat)
things. We distinguish the definite article 1-, and three indefinite articles: the
composite walled 1-, fi and the so-called zero article 0 (i.e. absence of overt However, the definite prefix has a high propensity to surface in
hesitations when it forms a phonological word together with a preceding
marking). The use and distribution of these four articles' is rather
morpheme, notably the indefinite article walled, the preposition 1, or the
complicated and cannot be presented here, but we may note that 1- has the
widest distribution, followed by walled 1_.10 demonstrative had, as in [w~hd~l], [f~l], and [h~d~l], respectively. This is
illustrated in the next example.
Embedded Dutch nouns may occur with any of these articles in the
appropriate contexts. However, the Moroccan Arabic definite prefix 1- is (15) kany-dir-hiim hnaya, ze~ma f 1- eh schoot dyal-u
omitted in the large majority of the cases. Whereas all respondents omit 1-
be 3-put-3PL here EPISTEMICin DEF- er nap of-3M
before Dutch nouns, omission is particularly frequent in some syntactic
'He used to put them here, let's say, on his nap'. (Samir)
contexts. When 1- is required as a second determiner as part of the
composite indefinite article walled 1-, its omission before Dutch nouns is It may be noted that the omission of the Arabic definite prefix sometimes
almost complete, cf (11, 12). When 1- is required after a demonstrative leads to surface structures which are analogous to nominal determination in
determiner, most respondents omit it consistently, but Hayat and Samir monolingual Dutch. See, for instance walled cursus 'a course' in (11) and
show some variation in this respect: they omit 1- in some instances but not had groente 'this vegetable' in (12) which are superficially similar to Dutch
in others, cf (12) and (13). The missing morphemes are indicated between een cursus and deze groente. This apparent structural similarity is mere
square brackets in the glosses. coincidence, however. Apart from the tendency to omit the Moroccan
Arabic definite prefix, there is no indication that the insertion of Dutch (17) walakin daba d-derri yadiye-dxel islamitisch-eschool, Skun
nouns influences the Moroccan Arabic system of nominal determination. Il A but now DEF-child FUT 3-enter Islamic-AGR school who
possible explanation for the frequent omission of 1- before Dutch nouns is yadi ye-Iqa?
that the morphological process that attaches this prefix is relatively FUT 3-meet
unproductive with foreign words. Such an account becomes plausible if we
'But now the child will go to an Islamic school, whom will he
consider that in monolingual Moroccan Arabic, various loan words from meet?' (Maryam)
Berber and Hispanic Romance tend to occur invariably without the
(18) muhimm ka-te-kbe, u ka-t-fekke, f eh ander-e
Moroccan Arabic definite article (Colin 1945: 232; Harrelll962: 190).
anyway ASP-2-grow'up and ASP-2-thingin er other-AGR
interesse-s
Modification
interest-PL
Apart from Moroccan Arabic articles, embedded nouns may be modified by 'Anyway, you grow up and you think of other interests'. (Abdellah)
Moroccan Arabic analytic possessives like schoot dyal-u 'his nap' in (15),
Moroccan Arabic locative prepositional phrases, numerals, or relative Typically, these are fixed expressions like islamitisch-e school 'Islamic
clauses. Interestingly, however, embedded Dutch nouns modified by a school' in (17), but this is not always so obvious, cf (18). Respondents who
Moroccan Arabic attributive adjective are extremely rare. No more than are less fluent in Dutch tend to omit the agreement suffix -e of the adjective
three examples were attested among the hundreds of embedded language in this context.
nouns in the Nijmegen corpus. Of these, (16) is reproduced here. The
embedded language noun is repeated before it gets modified by a Moroccan 2.2.3, Embedded Dutch nominal constituents
Arabic adjective. The influence of repetition will be considered again in An inserted noun phrase is a full constituent in Dutch that has the
2.3 .1. distribution of a noun phrase in the Moroccan Arabic clause. What counts
as a noun phrase in Dutch and in Moroccan Arabic is determined by
(16) b ~-~ehh huwa racist, racist kbir hadak
distributional properties. According to the above definition, a single noun
with DEF-reality 3M racist racist big DEM may function as a full noun phrase in certain contexts: both Dutch and
'But he is a racist, a big racist he is'. (Younes) Moroccan Arabic allow for single noun predicates in copular constructions,
for instance. In the present description of Moroccan ArabicIDutch
It is far more common for embedded Dutch nouns to be modified by an
codeswitching, nominal constituents of this type are subsumed under 'noun
embedded Dutch attributive adjective. This will be addressed in the next
insertion' (section 2.2.1). Analogously, embedded noun phrases that consist
paragraph. As for numerals and other quantifiers like 'many' and 'all',
of just a noun and an attributive adjective are not distinguished from the
Moroccan Arabic and Dutch modifiers are about equally common; these
insertion of adjective-noun combinations (2.2.2). Here, we will be
forms are discussed in section 2.2.3 on embedded Dutch noun phrases.
concerned with types of embedded Dutch noun phrases that cannot be
2.2.2. Embedded Dutch adjective-noun combinations analysed as instances of content morpheme insertion.
With respect to' the insertion of constituents, one of the questions we
Embedded Dutch nouns are commonly found accompanied by Dutch would like to examine is what types of function morpheme they may
attributive adjectives. These adjective-noun combinations invariably retain include. For this reason, embedded noun phrases are divided according to
the Dutch word order in which the adjective precedes the head noun, which the type of determiner. In this respect three types of embedded Dutch noun
is opposite to the order in Moroccan Arabic. Some examples: phrases emerge from the data: nouns determined by a definite or indefinite
article (19); nouns determined by possessive pronouns (20); and nouns
determined by a numeral or other quantifier (21).
(19) '1adi ne-them de hoofdlijn-en, zeg maar, die begrijp 2.2.4. Grammatical functions of embedded nouns and noun phrases
FUT l-understandDEF,pL outline-PL say just those understand
There are no constraints in terms of grammatical functions on the
ik wel
distribution of embedded nouns as compared with Moroccan Arabic (matrix
I AFFIRM
language) nouns and noun phrases. They occur in all syntactic and
'I'll understand the outlines, say, I do understand those'. (Abdellah)
pragmatic functions. Embedded language nouns and noun phrases (and
(20) kUlI wahed ~end-u, end-u zijn interesse-s
adjectives, see below) are most frequent as objects of Moroccan Arabic
every one at-3M at-3M his interest-PL verbs including fend- 'to have', and as predicates in copular constructions.
'Everyone has, has his own interests'. (Samir)
As Hasselmo (1975: 259) has pointed out, embedded language forms have a
(21) yir r-ra3el ~end-u meer mogelijkhed-en dan de vrouw-en, predilection for focused positions. However, it has not been established that
onlYDEF-man at-3M more opportunity-PL thanDEF'PL woman-PL embedded language nouns and noun phrase's differ from matrix language
ook hier in Nederland ones in this respect. After all, nouns in general are typically used to convey
also here in thelNetherlands new information associated with the focused position and the syntactic
'Men just have more opportunities than women, even here in the functions of predicate and object. Topics, on the other hand, typically
Netherlands'. (Fatima) represent given information and are more often realised as pronominal
forms or as part of the verbal inflection.
In addition, embedded pronouns are also classified as noun phrases by
With respect to the granunatical functions of embedded nouns, there is a
virtue of their distributional properties. The attested instances all concern
noticeable anomaly: just like the definite prefix l-, the Moroccan Arabic
indefinite pronouns (' everything', 'someone else' etc.) or independent
prepositional c1itic 1 that marks nominal constituents for the thematic roles
demonstratives ('this').
of DIRECTION/GOAL and RECIPIENTIBENEFACTIVE, is often omitted
(22) ra-h iedereen ka-ye-kteb S-.f\'er before inserted Dutch words. In the case of embedded Dutch nouns,
PRESENTATIVE-3M everyone Asp-3-write DEF-poetry omission of the preposition often, if not always, co-occurs with the
'Everyone writes poetry'. (Fatima) omission of the Moroccan Arabic definite prefix. The omission of the
preposition 1 is found with several respondents, both after the verb mfa 'to
None of the embedded noun phrase types is very frequent. Setting aside go' and after other verbs, as the following examples illustrate. The missing
the Dutch complements of embedded Dutch verbs (for which see below), 11 prepositions and definite prefixes are indicated between square brackets.
embedded noun phrases containing a Dutch article were found, that is on
average 1 instance in each hour of recordings. In addition, there are 3 noun (23) mSi-t _ _ kleuterschool
phrases containing a possessive pronoun, 7 with a quantifier, and 5 go-l SG[to DEF-]nursery-school
pronouns. When numerals are used with embedded Dutch nouns, these are 'I went to the nursery school'. (Hayat)
Dutch numerals about half of the time, which makes [numeral + noun] a (24) maJi ana, <;Ierb-u-l-i tilifun ana, <;Ierb-u _ _directie
relatively common type of embedded noun phrases. On average, counted NEG ISG hit-PL-to-lsG telephone ISG hit-PL [to DEF-]management
nouns constitute only a small portion of the noun phrases in the recorded temmak
conversations. embedded language noun phrases are somewhat recurrent as there
predicates in Moroccan Arabic copular constructions, notably in Samir's 'Not me, they didn't call ME, they called the management there'.
contributions. (Younes)
2.2.5. Embedded Dutch adjectives Such a strategy for verb insertion is common to codeswitching in many
language paIrs; see Backus (1996: 211-83) for an overview and a dis-
The distinction between attributive and predicative adjectives is central.
cussion of the grammaticalisation process involved. The gramrnaticalisation
However, the insertion of attributive adjectives as modifiers of matrix
of the 'do' verb for the insertion of foreign verbs makes the codeswitching
language nouns is highly limited. While there are no constraints on the
varIety dIverge from the monolingual variety of the matrix language. This
insertion of adjectives as predicates in copula constructions. There is only
process undermines the validity of the insertion model (see section 1.4.2).
one unequivocal example of an embedded attributive adjective, namely
For codeswitching with Moroccan Arabic the periphrastic construction is
paars 'purple' in (25). somewhat adventitious since embedded French and Spanish verb sterns or
(25) kayn-in ji mya,ba, n-~eff-u-hUm, y-Iebs-u triku
infinitives are inflected with Moroccan Arabic affixes (this will be discussed
for Algerian Arabic in 3.3.5). However, the pattern shown in (27) does
EXIST-PL INDEF Moroccan'PL l-know-PL-3PL 3-wear-PLsweater
bUIld on an existing periphrastic construction in monolingual Moroccan
paars xuxi u hadak j-j'i
Arabic., An example of dar with a Moroccan Arabic verbal noun is pre-
purple peach'coloured and DEM DEF-INDEF sented In (28). (See EI-Idrissi 1990 for a discussion of this construction.)
'There are Moroccans - we know them - who wear purple and
peach sweaters and all that stuff'. (Y ounes) (28) kifaj ka-t-dir daba t-te~hih dyal dyal d-dfater?
how Asp-2-do now DEF-correction of of DEF-notebook-PL
Embedded predicative adjectives are much more frequent in the data. As
in monolingual Dutch, the uninflected form of the adjective is used for both 'Now how do you do the correction of the notebooks?' (Mimoun)
genders and numbers. A single adjective is a possible (predicate) constituent While dar plus verbal noun is not a very frequent feature of the
in Dutch. Moreover, embedded Dutch predicate adjectives are usually monolingual language, in some varieties of Moroccan ArabicIDutch
modified by Dutch degree adverbs, if any, see (26). For these reasons, all codeswitching it has become a very productive way to incorporate Dutch
embedded predicative adjectives may be viewed as belonging to the same verbs. It turns out to be frequent in the Hamadi brothers' contributions to
insertion type, namely the insertion of predicate constituents, the latter the data, while a few instances were produced by Nawal Hamadi ' Fatima,
12
being a rather unconstrained insertion type. Jamal, Mustafa, and Zineb. The remaining five respondents did not make
use of this construction at all. There is no direct correlation between
(26) ra-h y-kun heel liej, heel aardig
PRESENTATIVE-3M 3-be very gentle very kind familiarity with Dut~h and the use of dar plus infinitive. For example, the
'He will be very gentle, very nice.' (Fatima) construclton occurs In the speech of Mustafa, a beginning learner of Dutch
while it is absent from the data contributed by Abdellah and Maryam wh~
2.2.6. Embedded Dutch verbs are both highly fluent in Dutch.
The respondents who use this construction display different degrees of
Dutch verbs are integrated in Moroccan Arabic clauses by means of a so- grammaticalisation of dar as an auxiliary that incorporates Dutch verbs. In a
called periphrastic do construction with the Moroccan Arabic verb dar process of semantic bleaching, dar loses its original meaning of 'to make
(imperfect ydir) 'to put; to make, do', and the Dutch infinitive verb form. do'. The meaning element of volitionality, that is 'to engage intentionally i~
All verbal inflectional categories (tense, aspect, subject agreement, nega- some activity', disappears, along with the transitive feature of dar.
tion, and pronominal objects) are expressed on dar. Eventually, dar adopts the subcategorisation pattern of the embedded verb.
Grammaticalisation is nearly complete in Samir's variety, somewhat less so
(27) vir t-dir opnem-en wella aj 3ayy t-dir?
in that of his younger siblings and least in that ofthe other respondents. This
just 2-do record-INF or what come'PARTICIPLE 2-do
is manifest in the types of verb complementation. Rather than the use of the
'You're just going to make recordings, or what did you come to
construction itself, the degree of grammaticalisation can be associated with
do?' (Jamal)
138 Louis Boumans and Dominique Caubef Modelling infrasenfential codeswitching: a comparative study 139
sociolinguistic factors. Frequent use is a prerequISIte for the gramma- (29) emmer-t-ha, emmer-t l-werqa, der-t-l-ha invull-en
ticalisation process and this in turn presupposes a relatively high degree of fill'out-ISG-3F fill'out-lSG DEF-paper do-ISG-to-3F fill'out-INF
familiarity with Dutch. More important than competence in Dutch, '1 filled it out, I filled out the form, I filled it out'. (Mustafa)
however, is that the individual participates in a community where code-
switching is a common mode of speaking. This is evidenced by the three In the second pattern the auxiliary dar has lost its own transitivity and
Hamadi brothers whose contributions show the highest frequency of the neatly reflects the sub categorisation pattern of the embedded verb. The
periphrastic construction as well as the highest degree of grammati- direct object of the embedded verb surfaces as a direct object suffix on dar,
calisation of dar. At the same time they do not speak Dutch more fluently see (30) below. This pattern is predominant in Samir's codeswitching
than the Dutch born Maryam who never inserts Dutch verbs in her variety, and occasional examples occur in the speech of his brother
Moroccan Arabic utterances. Abdelkrim. Only in Samir's variety it is possible to mark the distinction
A number of the instances concern intransitive verbs, or verbs that can be between the direct object and indirect object of the embedded Dutch verb.
used intransitively like opnemen 'to record' in (27). As for the embedded Compare the first singular direct object -ni in (30) to the first singular
verbs that require more than one argument, the data show a neat distinction indirect object -li-ya in (31).
between pronominal and lexical verb complements. Personal pronoun
complements of the embedded verb are nearly always encoded as suffixes
(30) ma bya-w S y-dir-u-ni aannem-en
on the Moroccan Arabic auxiliary verb dar, unless they are simply left NEGwant-PL NEG3-do-PL-ISG admit-INF
unexpressed. Lexical complements, on the other hand, are almost 'They didn't want to admit me [at a school]'. (Samir)
exclusively in Dutch, whether they are direct objects or prepositional (31) wahed I-weld ~ta-ha-li-ya, dar-li-ya len-en
complements. Indefinite pronouns such as 'something' are free fonns in INDEF DEF-boy give-3F-to-ISG do-to-ISG lend-INF
both languages, and both Dutch and Moroccan Arabic indefinite pronouns 'A guy gave it to me, he lent [it] to me'. (Samir)
occur as objects of embedded verbs. Also in the case of clausal
complements of embedded verbs, there is no obvious preference for either The third pattern leaves out object pronouns altogether. This pattern is
language. Apart from some speakers' tendency to omit pronominal the only one found with Zineb, the major one in the examples produced by
complements, embedded Dutch verbs display the same subcategorisation Y ounes and Abdelkrim, and occurs in some examples by Samir. This is
patters as in monolingual Dutch. Examples of the most frequent exemplified in Abdelkrim's (9) above: in this example, he says ka-ndir volg-
complementation types are given hereafter. en '1 follow [those]' in a context where Samir would say ka-ndir-hifm volg-
To start with pronominal direct objects of embedded nouns, the data en. Note that Abdelkrim does use a resumptive object pronoun in the co-
from Mustafa, Zineb, Jamal and the Hamadi brothers show three different ordinated Moroccan Arabic verb ne-tferre3-hiim 'I watch those'.
patterns (Fatima and Nawal did not produce any instances that require a Turning to lexical complements of embedded verbs, examples occur in
pronominal complement). The first pattern consists of marking the direct the contributions of Jamal, Fatima and the Hamadi brothers Samir Younes
object of the embedded verb as an indirect object on dar, that is, marked by a~~ Abdelkrim. Lexical complements, whether direct objects ;r prepo-
-1- as in (29). Note that both Moroccan Arabic femmer and Dutch invullen slttonal complements, are always in Dutch. Moreover, the relative order of
are transitive verbs. The verbal noun occupies the syntactic position of the embedded verb and its complements is governed by Dutch syntax. This
direct object of dar. This pattern is analogous to the periphrastic means that direct objects precede the infinitive, whereas prepositional
construction in monolingual Moroccan Arabic (EI-Idrissi 1990: 64). It is the phrases may either precede or follow the infinitive. A single example from
only pattern attested for Mustafa and Jamal, and it occurs as a minor pattern Abdelkrim will illustrate this. If we compare (32) to its monolingual Dutch
in the speech ofYounes and Samir. paraphrase in (33), we see that the relative order of the Dutch verb and its
complement is as in monolingual Dutch. (A finite future tense auxiliary gaan
'to go' is added to the paraphrase in order to trigger the infinitive fonn of
r
the main verb gebruiken 'to use', in clause-final position.) In Moroccan article. Often either Moroccan Arabic or Dutch grammar could account for
Arabic the unmarked word order is for complements to follow their head, the absence of an article, but in other cases such as technieken toepassen in
so that the order in (32) must be attributed to Dutch syntax. l3 (36) both languages would require a definite article. In other words, the
Dutch direct object is typically a bare form, and hence the verb and its
(32) rna ka-t-dir S echt moeilijk-e woord-en gebruik-en complement do not constitute a well-formed Dutch VP constituent.
NEG Asp-3F-do NEG really difficult-AGR word-PL use-lNF
'It [a TV programme] doesn't use really difficult words'. (36) ka-ye-qra techniek-en f l-rne(lrasa, u f d-dar huwa
(Abdelkrim) ASP-3-learntechnique-PL in DEP-school and in DEP-house 3M
(33) (ze gaan geen) echt moeilijk-e woord-en gebruik-en ka-y-dir techniek-en toepass-en, ka-y-dir
they will no really difficult-AGR word-PL use-lNF asp-2-do technique-pI apply-inf asp-3-do
'They won't use really difficult words'. Dutch paraphrase of (32) toepass-en op zijn tekening-en
apply-lNF to his drawing-PL
As in monolingual Dutch, prepositional phrase complements may either 'He learns techniques at school, and [then] at home he applies [the]
precede or follow the infinitive; toepassen op zijn tekeningen 'apply to his techniques, he applies [them] to his drawings'. (Samir)
drawings' in the second line of (36) below is an example of the latter word
order. Predicative complements of copular verbs precede the infinitive as in Dutch (inherently) reflexive verbs constitute an interesting case. Mostly,
(34); clausal complements follow the infinitive (35). Dutch reflexive pronouns are simply omitted, but they are sometimes
realised in the varieties of Samir and Jamal:
(34) yadi n-dir-u probleem nog moeilijk-er mak-en
PUT I-do-PL problem still difficult-cOMPAR make-lNF (37) rna ne-qder S n-dir me eigen concentrer-en, well a ne-qra
'We will make the issue even more complicated'. (Samir) NEG I-can NEG I-do my own concentrate-lNF or I-read
(35) u ka-y-dir de vraag stell-en of zij wel een Si na3a
and Asp-3-do DEpcquestion pose-lNF whethersheAFPIRM a INDEF thing
ziel heeft '1 can't concentrate or read anything'. (Jamal)
soul has
'And he poses the question whether she does have a soul'. (Samir) Examples like (37) challenge the concept of insertion, firstly because
reflexive pronouns such as the (substandard) me eigen 'myself are free
In contrast with what happens to personal pronouns, the lexical direct form function words and as such they constitute an unusual insertion type,
object of an embedded infinitive is never marked as an indirect object via the and secondly because the reflexive pronoun has no place in a Moroccan
preposition l. Even in those rare cases where the object is a Moroccan Arabic matrix. Moroccan Arabic has reflexive pronoun forms like !U~-i
Arabic indefinite pronoun, or when it consists of a Dutch noun preceded by [head-IsG] 'myself but these occur with reflexively-used transitive verbs;
a Moroccan Arabic determiner, 1 is absent. Hence the absence of this inherently reflexive verbs like the Dutch zich concentreren 'to concentrate'
marker cannot be due to its relative unproductiveness with Dutch words (cf in (37) are typically rendered by medio-passive verbs in Moroccan Arabic.
section 2.3). This pattern diverges from El-Idrissi's (1990: 64) description A final observation with regard to embedded Dutch verbs concerns the
of the periphrastic construction with dar in (monolingual) Moroccan word order of adverbs. The infinitive can be modified by an adverb in both
Arabic, where the lexical complement of the verbal noun is marked by I; it languages. Dutch adverbs typically precede the infinitive, thus obeying
also diverges from the Moroccan Arabic example (28) according to which Dutch word order, whereas Moroccan Arabic adverbs occur afIer the
the complement of the verbal noun is introduced by the analytic possessive infinitive. Compare Dutch echt 'really', and Moroccan Arabic b .'f,-.'f,ehh
construction. A further peculiarity of this construction is that the lexical 'really' in the next examples.
direct object is typically not marked by any Moroccan Arabic or Dutch
(38) mnin dar-u eeht seh .. seheld-en, ma dar-u-S eeht factors that are both highly specific, albeit of a very different nature. One is
when dO-PL really sc .. scold-INF NEG dO-PL-NEGreally the use of culturally specific items needed to fill lexical gaps in the
seheld-en respondents' Dutch vocabulary. The other factor is the insertion of
scold-INF Moroccan Arabic words as a result of repetition. Each factor accounts for
'When they were really scolding, they weren't really scolding'. about half of the instances.
(Abdelkrim)
(39) ma ka-y-dir-ha S men-en b ~-~ehh ? Culturally specific vocabulary
NEG ASP-3-do-3F NEG mean-INF with DEF-reality Firstly, part of the insertions consists of lexical items referring to typically
'He doesn't really mean it, does he?' (Samir) Moroccan or Islamic culture and society. These are all nouns or fixed
nominal expressions. The term hizb in (40) for instance refers to a portion
2.3. Moroccan Arabic insertions in Dutch matrices of the Koran. (The ?ahzaab are known by the word they begin with. sabbi
Insertions with Dutch as the matrix language are far more restricted than 'praise' (imperative) is the first word of the 60th hizb, so in (40) Mimoun
insertions with Moroccan Arabic as the matrix language, both quan- actually claims that he succeeded in memorising the entire Koran.)
titatively and in terms of insertion types. No Moroccan Arabic verbs were
embedded in Dutch clauses at all; there is a small number of Moroccan (40) ik had hizb sabbih helemaalgeleerd
Arabic nouns, adjectives, noun phrases, prepositional phrases, and time and 1 had hizb 'praise' entirely learnt
place adverbs in Dutch matrix constituents and clauses. With respect to em- 'I had memorised all of hizb sabbih'. (Mimoun)
bedded clauses and discourse markers, the attested patterns are fairly sym-
metrical: Dutch clauses functioning as a constituent within a Moroccan Embedded Moroccan Arabic words in repetitions
Arabic matrix clauses, and Moroccan Arabic clauses functioning as a Embedded Moroccan Arabic content words that do not belong to this
constituent in a Dutch matrix clause are about equally common. Also category can be related to a discourse phenomenon called topic continuity.
Moroccan Arabic discourse markers are used in Dutch context while Dutch These are Moroccan Arabic nouns and adjectives that recur in a Dutch
discourse markers function in Moroccan Arabic contexts, although different structure after they have been used in a Moroccan Arabic matrix in the
kinds of discourse markers are involved in both cases. Here the discussion immediately preceding discourse.
of the data will be limited again to embedded Moroccan Arabic nouns, noun In the discussion of a topic, speakers tend to stick to the original
phrases, and adjectives. Although the number of tokens is very small (about terminology, whether this was first introduced by themselves or by one of
40 instances in 10 hours of conversation), some interesting patterns can be their interlocutors. This repetition contributes to the cohesion of a text,
identified. together with other grammatical and lexical mechanisms (Halliday and
Hasan 1976: 274-92). In bilingual conversations, such repetition leads to
2.3.1. Embedded Moroccan Arabic nouns and adjectives codeswitching when interlocutors keep to the terminology set at an earlier
While there are hundreds of embedded Dutch nouns, there are only twelve point in the discussion, but shift to another (matrix) language (De Rooij
Moroccan Arabic nouns in Dutch matrices. This means that any genera- 1996: 174-96). Of course, this mechanism accounts for part of the Dutch
lisation made with respect to this category should be taken with some insertions in Moroccan Arabic matrices as well, but it turns out to be of
reserve. As far as can be established, embedded Moroccan Arabic nouns are particular importance to the insertion of Moroccan Arabic elements in
not subject to any morphological process in Dutch. Plurality is marked by Dutch. Moroccan Arabic content words have little chance of being
means of inserting Moroccan Arabic plural forms. To the extent that this is embedded in Dutch matrices, except for highly specific vocabulary items
clear from context, Moroccan Arabic nouns are assigned common gender in that fill lexical gaps in Dutch, and repeated items. Insertions that result from
Dutch. The occurrence of embedded nouns can be traced back to two repetition are not associated with particularly specific lexical items.
Some examples will illustrate the mechanism. In (41) Samir inquires (42) ma ta-ye-byi-w S <,l.yu, mwessx-inlangs een straat
about Jamal's housing situation. Note the Moroccan Arabic word bit NEG ASP-3-want-PLNEG house/PL dirty-PL along a street
'room' in the first line of the cited passage; it recurs in a later turn by Samir mwessx-a
(line 3), in the Dutch noun phrase nog een andere bit 'yet another room'. dirtY-F
Note the layered insertion pattern: this Dutch noun phrase is the 'They don't want dirty houses along a dirty street.'. (Hayat)
complement of Moroccan Arabic fend-u 'he has'.
2.3.2. Embedded Moroccan Arabic nominal constituents
(41) S waS ~end-ek bit wahd-a u ~afi hna-ya?
With respect to embedded Moroccan Arabic noun phrases, two completely
Q at-2SG room one-F and that's/all here-EMPH
disparate types can again be discerned. The first type concerns culturally
J iyeh, hiya hadi
specific lexical items once again, but this time accompanied by the
yes 3F DEM
Moroccan Arabic definite prefix. The second type concerns clause-initial
S u huwa ~end-u sfaapkamer, en nog een ander-e bit,
noun phrases that occur as topic constituents in Dutch clauses or clause-
and 3M at-3M bedroom and yet a other-AGR room externally, in the form ofleft-dislocations.
douche 14
shower Moroccan Arabic nouns accompanied by the Moroccan Arabic definite
S 'Do you have just one room here?' prefix
J 'Yeah, that's it'.
S '( ... ) So he has a bedroom, yet another room, and a shower...' These are classified as embedded noun phrases if their distribution in Dutch
(Samir and Jamal) matrix clauses can be shown to follow the distribution of a Dutch noun
phrase rather than that of a noun. There are four examples of this. In (43)
Moroccan Arabic hit 'room' here refers to rooms in an apartment in the Moroccan Arabic noun is further modified by the Moroccan Arabic
Holland, so it has nothing to do with the culturally specific terminology locative prepositional phrase f rj-rjar.
discussed above. Also note that for repetition to enhance textual cohesion
the repeated item is not necessarily co-referential with its earlier occurrence; (43) (je had eh voor de middag had je les in het arabisch en na de mi
mi ddag dan heb je les in het frans)
in fact in (41) it is expressly indicated that the two instances of hit refer to
en dan komt er nog eh d-dari3a f d-daf,
different rooms (cf. Halliday and Hasan 1976: 282-4).
Repetition also triggered the insertion of two Moroccan Arabic and then comes EXPLETIVE yet er DEF-Moroccan in DEF-house
adjectives in the text corpus, one attributive and one predicative. In these (dus je zit eigenlijk met drie talen door elkaar)
cases the repetition has an obvious rhetoric effect, as illustrated in (56). (42) 'You had er .. In the morning you had courses in [Standard] Arabic
is also an instance of layered embedding: the adjective mwessxa is used and in then the afternoon you have courses in French, and then
attributively as part of the Dutch noun phrase een straat mwessxa, which is there's Moroccan Arabic at home, so you're faced with three
part of the Dutch prepositional phrase fangs een straat mwessxa. This languages at the same time'. (Abdellah)
Dutch prepositional phrase is itself embedded in a Moroccan Arabic matrix
Moroccan Arabic topic constituents
clause. The adjective retains its Moroccan Arabic post-nominal order in
straat mwessxa 'dirty street', thus violating the predictions of the A relatively common type of Moroccan Arabic insertion consists in stating
Monolingual Structure Approach.!S the first constituent in Moroccan Arabic, which then occupies the topic
position in a Dutch matrix clause. 23 examples occur in the data corpus;
most of these occurring in Dutch copular constructions. Embedded
Moroccan Arabic noun phrases are about equally frequent as embedded
Dutch noun phrases. The majority of the instances is found in Samir's part former comprises data from 13 respondents with very diverse linguistic
in the conversations, but other respondents contribute occasional examples backgrounds, the latter is confined to mainly one speaker, the Algerian
as well. Most of the Moroccan Arabic constituents that occur in the topic comedian Mohamed Fellag. The Dutch data include stretches with frequent
position are 'indefinite' pronouns like fi wahed 'someone' or had 1-fi 'this'. codeswitching as well as longer monolingual Arabic and Dutch passages,
Consider the following example: dependent on the respondents' competence and preferences; in the Algerian
data, the overall frequency of codeswitching is higher and more evenly
(44) wella, n-gul-u, Si wahed is onrede!Jjk wella dom distributed over the entire corpus.
or I-say-PL INDEF one is unreasonable or stupid As a result of the long-standing French influence in North Africa,
'Or, suppose someone is unreasonable, or stupid'. (Samir) codeswitching between Algerian Arabic and French is a much more
established phenomenon than Moroccan ArabicIDutch. The existing
Topic constituents mostly function as the subject of the clause. If they literature on Algerian ArabiclFrench codeswitching (e.g. Hadj-Sadok 1955,
fulfill another function, they trigger the inversion of the subject and the Keddad 1986) shows the conventionalised nature of individual speakers'
finite verb, such that the finite verb remains in the second position, in codeswitching patterns. For this reason and on the basis of our own
accordance with the Dutch verb second rule. A first example of a non- experience we feel safe to consider Fellag's codeswitching as representative
subject topical noun phrase was cited in section 1; see the discussion of of the type of codeswitching going on in Algeria among the speakers
examples (3) and (4). The place adverb hna 'here' in (46) illustrates the defined in 3.1. Fellag's utterances were furthermore checked with
same phenomenon; in (45), hadak huwa has the syntactic function of direct information from two other subjects with comparable backgrounds.
object of the verb vind '(I) find'. (The 3M singular pronoun huwa merely
marks emphasis.) 3.1. Material description and sociolinguistic profile
(45) hadak huwa vind ik interessant One has to be very precise in describing the exact conditions of
DEM 3M find I interesting codeswitching. We chose to work mainly on an Algerian comedian,
'This I find interesting'. (Samir) Mohamed Fellag, using extracts from his shows which were recorded on
(46) iyeh,hna gaan hun met de tijd mee video in Algiers in 1989-90. The way he codeswitches was checked with
two other subjects: the singer Baaziz and a PhD student recorded when he
yes here keep pace they with the time keep pace
arrived in France for the first time ever in May 1996. Even if there is a
'Yes, here they keep pace with time'. (Hayat)
difference of generation, their style of codeswitching is very similar; it is in
Finally, Moroccan Arabic topical noun phrases occur as left-dislocated fact the way bilingual men will codeswitch in Algiers.
constituents of Dutch clauses. Left-dislocations are typically more high- Mohamed Fellag is ofKabylia (SE of Algiers) origin. Born in 1950, he
lighted topics, e.g., contrastive ones. In Dutch, left-dislocated noun phrases spoke nothing but Berber until the age of eight. The war lead him to Algiers
are marked by a clause-initial resumptive pronoun, like ciat in the following in 1958, where he had to learn both French at school and Algerian Arabic in
example. the street. At school, he studied in French until Classical Arabic was
introduced abruptly during the course of secondary education. He studied at
(47) hadak S-Si, dat is wat anders the National School of Theatre in the 70s and started his professional life as
DEM DEF-thing that is something different an actor. After the uprising of 1988 and the relative intellectual freedom that
'As for this, that's something different'. (Abdellah) followed until 1992, he was able to produce a one-man show, which
immediately became a national event: Cocktail Khorotov. This was followed
3. Algerian ArabiclFrench by two others shows, SOS Labess in 1989 and Babor I I'Australie l6 in
Compared to the Moroccan ArabicIDutch corpus, the Algerian 1991. Although 'written' in their original form, the shows soon become an
ArabiclFrench corpus is smaller and more homogeneous. Whereas the improvisation on a general framework. The first two shows have been
released on video. Passages transcribed from these two videos, as well as a 3.2. Extracts from the data
video recording of the third show which was not brought out, were used for To give a general impression on Fellag's shows, an extract from SOS
this study. Labess18 will be presented, in which he discusses the Berlin wall issue: Le
Fellag's success is due to the content of his shows, essentially based on Mur de Berlin (1990).
Algerian self-derision, but also to his tone: on the stage, he speaks as if he
were telling a story to a friend, deliberately using the language of the people Alors, les dernieres nouvelles c;lurk ~allm-u-na balli kay.m Si nas hna,
of Algiers. Fellag is deeply trilingual: Kabylia, Algerian Arabic and French. so-the last news now, informed-they-usthat there is some people here
He can perform the same show either in Arabic (i.e. Algerian Arabic) or in fi blad-na, katb-u talab lIes autorites ta~ I 'Allemagne de I 'Est baS
Kabylia; in either case, he will extensively codeswitch with French. Since in conntry-our wrote-they demand to the authorities of East Germany so that
1998-1999 he performs in French for a French audience and is very y-aSri-w ~1i-hum le mur de Berlin. ra-hum dejiJ bda-w y-dir-u
successful. 3-buy-PL from-them the wall of Berlin here-them already started-they 3-do-PL
Baaziz is slightly younger than F ellag. He was born in Cherchell, a very la quete u had an-nas habb-u y-aSri-w had ai-hit ta~
collecting money and these the-people wanted-they 3-buy-PL this the-wall of
old port to the west of Algiers. He systematically uses codeswitching in his
had Berlin baS y-farrq-u er-rjal w an-nsa. Les experts financiers nta~
songs, on stage when addressing the audience and in every day speech. One
this Berlin so that3-separate-PL the-men and the women the experts financial of
of his songs Je m 'en jous from the audio cassette of the same name was al-)alam kamaI qal-u balli had an-nas dar-u une bonne affaire,
17
used the-world all said-they that these the-people made-they a good bargain
The student was 28 in 1996, when he was recorded. He belongs to the financiere; en effet, b a~-~uma ta) hit wahed, ra-hum Jra-w zuj
generation that was arabized at school. When he reached university level, he financial effectively with the-sum of wall one here-them bought-they two
had to choose between French and Arabic for his licence in physics, and he hyut man jiha c 'est le mur de la honte,al-hit ta~ al-hJuma u man al-jiha
chose French. He studied in Jijel and Bejaia (ports to the east of Algiers), a walls from side it is the wall of shame the-wall of the-shame and from the side
I-uxra c 'est le mur des lamentations I-hit ta) al-bka, xayyl-u an-nhar
part of the country very much influenced by Kabylia and French. When he
the-other it is the wall of lamentations the-wall of the-wailing, imagine-PL the-day
discusses naturally with his fellow citizens, he uses codeswitching.
y-abni-w ~h hna fi blad-na, y-dir-u an-nsa m~n jiha w ar-rjai
Recordings and notes taken while discussing were used, plus numerous 3-build-PL here inconntry-our 3-make-PL the-women from side and the-men
conversations in codeswitching with all three of them. y-qu)d-u man jihauxra fuq aI-hit hai5ak, y-dir-u des miradors win
Codeswitching is used only when feeling confident with someone. It is a 3-stay-PLfrom side other on top the wall that 3-make-PL miradors where
sign of belonging to a certain social group. It can be used for normal com- ykun fi-ha, fi kUl1 bab ykunu quatre gardiens armes jusqu 'aux dents
munication, or, deliberately for making translinguistic puns, for the fun of there is in-itlF in every gate there are four guards armed to the teeth
m.';lallh-in hattal-as-snan, man al-jiha ta) ar-rjal, win y-sukn-u ar-rjal, fi
playing with two languages you are intimate with.
Especially among men, in codeswitching, French is algerianized in the armed-PL to to-the teeth from the side of the-men where 3-live-PL the-men in
kill! huma, ykun un bureau lli y-m.dd des laisser-passers Hi
sense that all the inserted words are pronounced with a heavy Algerian every neighbourhood, there is an office which 3-passes passes which
accent (rolling the r's, transformation of vowels ... ) and adapted to Algerian killl rajol mzowwoj, mon ol-jiha l-iiJqa, mOlTa f .l-'am, y-lUh y-oqu,d
phonology, even if the speaker is perfectly capable of producing French every man married- fromthe side the-other once in the year 3-goes 3-stays
French. It is less obvious among females, because the French pronunciation sott swayo" y-fekofll;Ji u y-wolli..(. .. )
is considered "feminine" and charming when uttered by females. On the six hours 3-fertilizes and 3-comes back
contrary, for males to use a French accent in codeswitching would be a case
So, last newsl/ now, we've been informed that some people in this country, made
of marking a difference, as if one were forgetting one's mother tongue. The
an official quest to/I the authorities of East Germany// in order to buy from them!/
general intonation of all Fellag's shows is that of Algerian Arabic (and the Berlin Wall. And in fact, they have!! already!! started collecting money!! and
probably also Kabylia at times, Caubet 1998a). they want to buy that wall, that/! Berlinl! wall, in order to separate men from
womenJ! The financial expertsJ! from the whole world said that these people
r - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -.. -~---~
150 Louis Boumans and Dominique Caubet Modelling intrasenlenliai codeswitching: a comparative study 151
madell a good bargain, financially; effectivelyll, for the price of one wall, they, in Sometimes the speaker hesitates with respect to gender assignment. This
fact, bought two: on one side,ll it is the wall of shame!/ the wall of shame, and on
the other sidell it is the Wailing Wallll the wall of wailing. Imagine the day they
is possibly caused by interference from an equivalent Algerian Arabic lexical
build it here, in our country, they put the women on one side, and the men stay on item. In the following example, the word sachet is masculine in French, but
the other side. On top of that wall, they put!! watchtowers!/ where there is, in each the Algerian Arabic equivalent is possibly feminine (e.g., fkara). Note the
gate, there'rell four guards, anned to the teeth/I, armed to the teeth. On the men's inconsistent agreement in n;x/di-ha and ndir-u.
side, where the men live, in every neighbourhood, there' si/an office!/ which
issues// passes// which, every man who is married on the other side, once a year, (49) da?imanna-ddi m~a-ya uni peti~ sache~,na-ddi-hai I
goes and stays six hours (on the other side), fertilises and comes back. ..
always I-take with-lsGINDEF'Msmall bag l-take-3F to
3.3. French insertions in Algerian Arabic matrices l'etranger ki n-ru\l, n-dir-u; f al-valiza
DEF-abroad when I-go I-put-3M in DEF-suitcase
In this section, examples of various types of syntactic insertions of French '1 always take with me a little plastic bag, I take it abroad, when I
elements into Algerian Arabic matrix structures will be discussed; they go, I put it in my suitcase'.
constitute the bulk of Algerian ArabiclFrench codeswitching. The dis-
cussion of insertion types will be limited to the major categories noun, Number
adjective and verb, in addition to embedded noun phrases.
Embedded French nouns do not receive Algerian Arabic morphological
3.3.1. Embedded French nouns marking for plural, but French plural nouns are inserted instead. French
plural is marked not on the noun itself but on the article that usually
Under this heading, the question of gender, number and nominal accompanies embedded nouns: definite les [le] (50) and indefinite des [de]
determination will be examined successively. (51). Before vowels, these articles are realised as [Iez] and [dez],
respectively. In monolingual French, plural is further marked by the nominal
Grarmnatical gender
suffix -s [-z] (except for irregular nouns) which surfaces only in certain
French and Algerian Arabic both distinguish feminine and masculine gender. 'liaison' contexts. In Algerian ArabiclFrench codeswitching, however, this
Apart from biological sex, gender assignment is arbitrary, so that part of the suffix is never realised, and plural is expressed exclusively by means of the
feminine French nouns have a masculine translation equivalent in Algerian article. (The French suffix is present in the transcripts, but merely because
Arabic and vice versa. Algerian Arabic does not distinguish gender in the conventional spelling is adhered to for the French elements.) Note the plural
plural, whereas French does, which is apparent in pronominal agreement. agreement in the following examples.
French gender is not formally marked on the noun, but on the singular
article: definite la [la], indefinite une [yn] for feminine, and le [la] and un (50) les experts financiersta~ .I-~alam kamal qal-u halli. ..
[oe] for masculine; before vowels definite le and la are both reduced to I' DEF'PL expert financial of DEF-world whole say-PL COMPL
[I]. French plural nouns are not marked for gender. 'The financial experts of the whole world said that ( .. )'.
In the large majority of the cases, French feminine nouns trigger feminine (51) killl ~Sar iyyamy-gawwz-u des camions blindtfs
agreement in Algerian Arabic verbs and pronouns, while masculine nouns every ten daY-PL 3-make'pass-PL INDEF'PL lorry armoured
trigger masculine agreement. A subscript; marks co-indexed nouns and 'Every ten days they bring in armoured lorries'.
agreement markers in the following example.
Definiteness
(48) jaz-ati unei colonnei ta~ al-~askaf
pass-3F INDEF'F column of DEF-military Under this heading the grammatical features which are marked in Algerian
'A group of soldiers passed by'. Arabic by the class of articles will be discussed. These features comprise
various degrees of definiteness, as well as a number of other features. The
152 Louis Boumans and Dominique Caubet Modelling intrasentential codeswttching: a comparative study 153
tenns 'definite' and indefinite' are merely loose characterisations which do (55) y-duf f al-virage U ye-t-kesser-I-u al-cardan
not cover all the functions of these articles.19 The exact usage of articles is 3-turn in DEF-bend and 3-MP-break-to-3MDEF-universaljoint
too complex to be dealt with here. Monolingual Algerian Arabic has the 'He turns in the bend, and he breaks his universal joint' .
article gl- which assimilates to the initial consonant of the noun if the latter
is a coronal (except for /yf), traditionally known as a solar consonant. Solar consonants: assimilation of gJ-:
Indefinite nouns are marked in one of three ways: by means of 'zero'
(56) kayan wahad fah ~ond od-dentiste, ...
marking (WgJd), the composite determiner wahed J- (wahed J- WgJd), or
EXIST INDEF go at DEF-dentist
kaJ(kaJ WgJd). Embedded French nouns are usually marked by one of the
'One (even) went to the dentist's ... '
French articles which, as we have seen, are portemanteau morphemes that
also mark number and grammatical gender. The discussion of the The French definite articles express exactly the same grammatical
determination of embedded French nouns is organised along the lines of the features and have the same distribution as Algerian Arabic gJ- (cf. section
Algerian Arabic articles: definite gl-, and indefinite wahgd gJ- and 0. No 1.2 above). The article gl- does not only mark definiteness but has
examples of kaJfollowed by a French noun occurred in the data. numerous other uses. Consider the next example:
The Algerian Arabic article ;>l- (57) yo-bda y-ras-i f al-hyut, tellementNiq, ki
3-begin 3-graze-IMPF againStDEF-wallPLSO thin like
Preceding embedded French nouns, the French articles 1', la, les (but rarely I 'affiche m~a ol-\lit
le) are used as if they were the Algerian Arabic article gl-, even in positions
DEF-poster with DEF-wall
where they would be impossible in monolingual French.
'He starts grazing against the walls; he is so thin, like a poster on the
(52) ki n-ruh I l'etranger, ( ... ) wall'.
when I-go to DEF-abroad In (57) the French definite article I' is used with affiche. This parallels
'When I go abroad, (. .. )'. (pronounced with a geminate [11]) the use of Algerian Arabic :JJ- when a single object represents the entire
(53) ta-hhm-I-u la scoliose class. The French translation of (57) would use the indefinite article comme
3f-strike-to-3m DEF'F scoliosis une affiche.
'He gets scoliosis'.
(54) y-dir-u ga~ les partis Hi y-habb-u The Algerian Arabic composite detenniner wahed-gJ-
3-do-PL all DEF'PL party REL 3-like-PL
The same regularities apply in the formation of the composite determiner
'They [the women] have all the parties they like'.
wahed gl-. When embedded French nouns are determined by this compo-
The French definite article le, used in French with masculine singular site article, French {la, I', les} is used instead of Arabic gJ-, while French le
nouns which begin with a consonant, differs in this respect. Unlike the other becomes gl- and assimilates to 'solar' consonants. wahed "J- has many
French definite articles it is mostly "replaced" by the Algerian Arabic article uses, among which a certain degree of indetermination and appreciative
gl-, both on the syntactic and morphological levels. It is assimilated by the modal values 20 The expression of appreciative values is exemplified in (58).
initial consonant of the noun, when the latter is a 'solar' (coronal, except for Similar examples include wahed "r-regard [pgarJ 'a (particular) look,
y) consonant, as is the rule for the Algerian Arabic article gl-. However, the glance', wahed I'ambiance [Iiibjiis] 'a (very special) atmosphere'.
masculine gender feature of the underlying French le is still apparent in the
agreement patterns.
Non-solar consonants: le > gl-:
(58) y~-t-Ilaka-w walled Jes histoires, walled Jes histoires (61) fi kUlI Iluma y-kun un bureau Hi y-modd
3-MP-tell-PL INDEF DEF'PL story INDEF DEF'PL story in each neighbourhood 3-be INDEF'Moffice REL 3-give'out
des laissez-passer
ta~ Je temps passe, ta~ Je temps futur
INDEF'PL pass
of DEF'M time past of DEF'M time future 'In each neighbourhood, there's an office which delivers passes'.
'They tell each other some (fantastic) stories: stories of past times
and future times ... ' There is one example where the embedded French [indefinite article + noun]
is modified by an Arabic adjective. Here, French [indefinite article + noun]
Modal uses seem to prevail when the composite determiner wah"d ,,1- is can be shown to be part of an Algerian Arabic nominal constituent, as is
used with French nouns. Cases where wah"d "J- merely marks indefini- common for embedded French [definite article {la, I', les} + noun].
teness, as in (59), are less frequent.
(62) ki t-Juf-u un a1gerien smin, ( .. )
(59) kayen meme walled ol-perroquet when 2-see-PL INDEF'M Algerian fat
EXISTENTIAL even INDEF DEF-parrot 'Whenever you see a fat Algerian, (.. )'
'There's even a parrot, (.. )'
3.3 .2. Embedded French noun-adjective combinations
As a rule, in codeswitching, wahed ,,/- before French nouns tends
to mark the modal values, while in the cases where wahed ,,1- marks low As in Moroccan ArabicIDutch codeswitching, it is common to find
determination, the French articles un, une, des tend to be inserted with the embedded combinations of nouns and attributive adjectives. They function
nominal, see (61) and (62) below. However, the distribution of these French exactly like embedded French nouns with respect to gender and number
indefinite articles in codeswitching needs further investigation, in particular marking and agreement, and with respect to the use of Algerian Arabic and
their relationship with the three Algerian Arabic 'indefinite articles' 0, French articles. Several examples were cited above, see, for instance, les
wahed ,,1- and kaf It is also possible that the French use of the indefinite experts finanCiers in (50) and des camions blindes in (51). Here too, the
distribution of the French definite articles follows that of the Algerian
articles plays a role in their use in the codeswitching variety.
Arabic definite article ,,1-, and the embedded combination [definite article
The Algerian Arabic 0 article noun adjective] may be marked by an Arabic demonstrative or the indefinite
article wahed (63).
Some nouns are inserted as bare forms without an overt article, in
accordance with Algerian Arabic grammar. (63) alors or-rjal ye-t-meJJa-w berra, ye-t-meJJa-w u y-Ilekm-u-hilm
so DEF-men 3-MP-walk-PL outside3-MP-walk-PL and3-grab-PL-3PL
(60) kayen bagarre bin J'FLN [ldden] walled Jes maladies incroyabJes
EXIST fight among DEF-FLN
'There's a fight inside the FLN'. (Baiiziz) INDEF DEF'PL disease incredible
'So the men walk around outdoors, they walk around, and they get
Such examples are not numerous, however. Mostly one of the French the most incredible diseases'.
indefinite articles {une, un, des} is inserted with the noun. It should be
noted that the plural form des is required to mark plurality. The French 3.3.3. Embedded French nominal constituents
articles un and une may cover the distribution of three markers in Algerian
Single nouns constitute a possible noun phrase type in French and in
Arabic: the 'zero' article 0, wahed :11- and kaf
Algerian Arabic in certain contexts, cf (60). However, not all inserted
nouns function as full noun phrases (cf 55). It cannot be established that
singly embedded nouns which constitute a full constituent exemplifY an 'There's a few leftists, who like women for what they are'_
insertion type distinct from plain noun insertion. Similarly for the embedded Although noun pbrase insertion is a recurrent feature of Algerian Ara-
French combinations of the type [{la, I', les) + noun]: they are often
biclFrench codeswitching, this does not imply that all types of French noun
preceded by an Algerian Arabic determiner like wah:xi, dak, or gaf. As a pbrases are freely inserted in Algerian Arabic finite clauses_ Two conspi-
generalisation that covers all occurrences, their syntactic distribution in cuously absent types are nouns determined by a possessive pronoun and
Algerian Arabic clauses is best described as that of Algerian Arabic [~l- + (indefinite) pronouns (cf the Moroccan ArabiclDutch (20) and (22).
noun], rather than Algerian Arabic full noun phrases. The same applies to
embedded noun-adjective combinations. However, the case of French [(un, 3.3.4. Embedded French adjectives
une, des) + noun1is different, for these combinations mostly function as full
As in most codeswitching varieties, embedded predicative adjectives are
noun pbrases, so they are perhaps best described as a type of noun phrase
much more frequent than attributive ones. The insertion of attributive
insertion (but see (62)
adjectives does not seem to be as rare as in Moroccan ArabiclDutch,
In addition to these, various other embedded French noun phrase types
however. There are two instances of this, despite the fact the Algerian
are observed which have the distribution of Arabic noun phrases in the
ArabiclFrench data corpus is much smaller than the Moroccan ArabiclDutch
Algerian Ar;bic finite clause. Hence the generalisation that noun pbrase
one.
insertion is a feature of this codeswitching variety is warranted. Besides
If the noun is sufficiently determined (by the article ~l-, in a construct
definite {le, la, 1', les) and indefinite {un, une, des}, French has a series of
state, by a pronoun suffix), the Algerian Arabic adjective should be
partitive determiners: plural des (instead of de + les), and singular feminine
determined by the article, but there is no instance where the French
de la and masculine du, used with mass nouns. Singular de la and du
adjective is marked by the Algerian Arabic article. Instead, the article is
become de I' before vowels, the form present in de I 'education politique in
omitted and a 'bare form' results (68).
(64). Note that Algerian Arabic uses the definite prefix ~l- with mass nouns,
so that the selection of de I' in this example must be determined by French (67) an-nsa y-tayyb-u wahed ol-l;1wayoj diabo/iques!
grammar. Embedded noun pbrases in which the noun is determined by
DEF-woman-PL 3-cook-pL INDEF DEF-thing-PL diabolical
French numeral or other quantifier are exemplified in (65) and (66). Some 'The women cook the most diabolical dishes I '
of the embedded nominal constituents are set expressions (le code de la (68) hadak oz-zbol bien marine
jamille 'the code offamily law', le Mur de Berlin 'the Berlin wall'). DEM DEF-garbage well marinated
(64) tammak y-dir-u une politique incroyable (. .) y-dir-u 'That well-marinated garbage'.
there 3-do-PL INDEF-F policy incredible 3-do-PL The predicative construction in Algerian Arabic involves a "zero" copula
de l't!ducation politique in the case of unmarked tense, mood and aspect. Where tense, mood or
of DEF-education political aspect is marked, a form of the verb kan 'to be' serves as the copula. The
'Over there, they lead an incredible policy ( .. ) they have political predicative adjective itself is not marked by any overt article (i.e., it is
education ... '
marked by the 0 article).
(65) xarraj-na quatorze millions de oui
produce-PL fourteen million of yes (69) killl-Si faux!
'We printed 14 million yes's [ballot papers]'. everything false
(66) y-kun-u quelques gauchistes,lIi y-habbu an-nsa pour ce 'Everything is false!' (Baaziz)
3-be-PL a-few leftist REL 3-like-PL DEF-women-PLfor that
qu 'elles sont
what-they are
As in monolingual Algerian Arabic, the subject may be omitted in certain (72) y-walli rajal ma y-support-i [jsyporte] rajal,
contexts. A slight pause before the adjective is enough to confer it a 3-become man NEG 3-bear-IPF man
predicative value: vir rajal y-crois-i [jkarwaze] raja\..
just man 3-paSS-IPF man
(70) kun-t hab~l f ~1-bouJevard # bien!
'No man can stand men anymore, when a man passes another
be-lSG godownPARTICIPLE onDEF-boulevard well
man .... '
'I was walking down the boulevard, I was feeling well!'
(73) ya-t-maSSa-w barra, m-degout-i-yin [mdegulejin]
French predicative adjectives are also found after auxiliaries like bqa 'to 3-MP-walk-pL outsidePRT -disgust-PL
stay, remain' and walla, 'to become'. 'They walk outside, disgusted'.
(71) y~-bqa-w toJerantes binat-hum All the previous examples belong to Fellag; the following was uttered by
3-staY-PL toleranH between-3PL the Algerian student and noted down by Caubet:
'They remain tolerant among themselves.'
(74) habb-it n-profit-i [nppfile] baS
3.3.5. Embedded French verbs want I-profit compl
n-deveJopp-i-hUm [ndevbpehum]
The insertion of French verbs is very productive in Algerian
I-develop-3PL
ArabicfFrench. French verb stems are augmented with a stem-final vowel
'1 want to take advantage [of this] to develop these [pointsl' .
that is subject to the ablaut pattern -i - -a. The conjugation is that of the so-
called "weak" conjugation, e.g. Algerian Arabic walla - ywelli 'to return; to The integration of French verbs in this manner is common throughout
become'. The complete perfect (suffixed form) and the imperfect (prefixed Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Early discussions of this phenomenon in
form) paradigm is given below for kroisa - ykroisi, or hrwaza- Algeria include Marcel Cohen (1912), on the Jewish dialect of Algiers, and
yk"rwazl' from French croiser [kRwazel 'to cross'. Hadj-Sadok (1955). The Algerian ArabicfFrench codeswitching variety
perfect
under study differs from the codeswitching type commonly found in Mo-
imperfect
SG PL SG PL rocco with respect to the integration of French (inherently) reflexive verbs.
In Moroccan Arabic, such verbs are usually marked by the medio-passive
1 k~rwazi-t karwazi-na n-k~rwazi n-k~rwazi-w
2m karwazi-t k~rwazi-tu t-k~rwazi t-k~rwazi-w
prefix t- - 11- along with the so-called stem V conjugation in analogy with
2f k~rwazi-t tmenna - yetmenna 'to wish'. Thus, French se comporter 'to behave'
3m k~rwaza k~rwaza-w y-k~rwazi y-k~rwazi-w becomes t-comporta - ye-t-comporta in Moroccan ArabicfFrench (Caubet
3f k~rwaza-t 1993 vo!. I: 55_6)22 In Algerian ArabicfFrench, French transitive, intran-
participle (both active and passive): ffi-= =-i: rn-karwaz-i sitive and reflexive verbs are often assigned to the same conjugation para-
digm and the medio-passive prefix is scarcely used. The reflexive verb se
On the other hand, as far the integration of French verbs in the way venger 'to take one's revenge', for instance, is integrated as venga - y-
described here goes, there are many such examples, although these are
vengi. However, one can also find the medio-passive prefix t-, like in t-
largely restricted to verbs having an infinitive form in -er [e1 in French. All
brancha - ye-t-brancha from French se brancher 'to get connected'.
these French words are phonologically adapted to Algerian Arabic to some It is possible that in a primary stage of language contact, the French
extent: the French Ir/ is rolled as in Algerian Arabic, but the nasal vowels infinitive in -er [e1was associated with the Arabic weak conjugation stem in
are maintained in verbs like venger, pr%nger, and ramper (Caubet 1997). -i because of the phonetic similarity. Subsequently the ablaut pattern must
The phonetic realisation ofthe verb is given in square brackets. have been modelled in analogy with the Arabic verbs of this conjugation
type. The phonetic similarity of the infinitive ending to the Arabic weak less common than Moroccan Arabic insertions in Dutch (2.3), but since the
conjugation is not a prerequisite for this integration pattern, however. Algerian corpus is smaller, the total number of attested instances is very
French verbs with the less frequent infinitive endings in -ir [iR], for instance, small indeed. There are no singly embedded Arabic nouns or verbs at all in
may also be conjugated according to the weak paradigm. In analogy with the corpus and very few nominal and prepositional constituents. Algerian
the verbs in -er [e] the Arabic -a/-i stem ablaut replaces the infinitive ending, Arabic elements that are more commonly inserted are subordinate clauses.
as in soujJra - y-soujJri [sufra - jsufii] from French soujJrir [SUfRiR] 'to In addition, Algerian Arabic discourse markers and particularly the c1ause-
suffer' (cf Heath 1989; Boumans 1997). In ArabiclSpanish codeswitching initial Topic pronouns are quite frequent in this codeswitching variety.
in North Africa, Arabic prefixes and suffixes are attached to Spanish
Embedded Algerian Arabic nominal and prepositional constituents
infinitives that end in a phonetically realised Irl, for example pensar - y-
pensar, 1SG perfect pensar-it from pensar 'to think', cf Marcel Cohen Setting aside left-dislocated noun phrases, there is just one instance of an
(1912: 413-50), Heath (1989: 104-8), and Herrero Munoz-Cobo (1996). unequivocally embedded Arabic noun phrase, reproduced here in (77). The
Likewise in Maltese, Sicilian, Italian and English verbal borrowings and "inflected verb criterion" identifies French as the matrix language for this
codeswitching items receive prefixes and suffixes according to the weak finite clause. (78) and (79) are examples of Algerian Arabic prepositional
conjugation (Mifsud 1992). Hence this way of verb integration is a phrases that are part of French finite clauses. (78) is a case of layered
recurrent feature of the Maghreb dialects. embedding: the Arabic prepositional phrase lies mitraillages is a matrix
constituent which contains a French insertion of the type [definite article +
Verb-Complement collocations noun]. That is, the prepositional phrase rather than the preposition is
A number of embedded Verb-Complement collocations occur in Fellag's considered to be the embedded element; see the analysis of (5) in section
data. There are two patterns. In one, the French verb stem is inflected by 1.3.3. Besides, the French clause in this example contains the Algerian
means of Arabic affixes as in the above examples, but the lexical com- Arabic adverb (and adverbial constituent) bed< 'just'.
plement is translated into Arabic. These "translated" collocations produce a
(77) j'ai senti Swiya kammun, Swiya ...
comical effect in Fellag's shows. This pattern is illustrated in (57) above: y-
I-have smelled abit cunun abit
rasi f gl-hyut 'he grazes against the wall' from French raser les murs. The
'I smelled a bit of cumin, a bit .. .'
second pattern concerns French constructions withfaire 'to do, make'. In
(78) if mut fake attention bark 1 fes mitrailfages
Algerian ArabiclFrench codeswitching, Frenchfaire is replaced by Algerian
EXPLETIVE should do attention just to DEF'PL gunfire
Arabic dar 'to do' and the complement is realised in French:
'You should just pay attention to the gunfire'.
(75) bda-w y-dir-u la quete (79) et comme elles sont plus intelJigentes
~li-na et plus
begin-PL 3-do-PL DEF'F collection
'They started to collect [money]'. (Frenchfaire la quete) and since theY'F are more intelligent'F on-IPL and more
(76) dar-u une bonne affaire toIerantes (. .. )
do-PL lNDEF'F goOd'F deal tolerant'F
'They made a good deal'. (Frenchfaire une bonne ajJaire) 'And since they are more intelligent than us, and more tolerant,'
3.4. Algerian Arabic insertions in French matrices Various Algerian Arabic constituents precede French finite clauses. They
can be analysed as topical constituents inside the finite clause, e.g. l-yum
The reverse insertion pattern, where Arabic words are part of French 'today' in (80) and bekri 'in the old days' in (81), or as left-dislocated
constituents or Algerian Arabic constituents are embedded in French finite constituents if noun phrases. The noun phrase la salet" tal'-na hna 'our
clause, is very rare. Algerian Arabic insertions in French are probably not dirtiness' in (82) is classified as an Arabic noun phrase containing a French
. ------.. ~~~~~~-~--~-~--~-~.~~~=========='"
[definite article + noun] insertion. Note that, if it were a French noun in 4.1. The codeswitching varieties have in common the property that they
phrase, it would start with the French possessive pronoun notre salet.! (a are highly asymmetric. We will discuss this in 4.2. As for the dissimilarities,
nous). This Algerian Arabic noun phrase is a left-dislocated constituent of we note the use of embedded language definite and indefinite articles in
the ensuing French finite clause, and as such it recurs in the resumptive Algerian ArabiclFrench, but not in Moroccan ArabicfDutch, and the
pronoun elle with which it agrees in number and gender in accordance with divergent ways in which Dutch and French verbs are embedded in Arabic
French (matrix language) grammar. A second left-dislocated noun phrase is clauses.
shown in (83); note the similarity with the Moroccan ArabicfDutch example Some minor differences are recognised with respect to adjectival
in (44). modification and embedded language constituents. In Moroccan
ArabicfDutch, embedded Dutch nouns are seldom modified by a Moroccan
(80) ana-ya, al-yum,je m 'en fous Arabic (matrix language) adjective, and conversely, Dutch attributive
lSG-EMPH DEF-day I meREFL-ofit not care adjectives rarely occur as singly embedded content words. There seems to
'Personally, today, I don't care ... ' (Baaziz) be a general restriction on mixed noun-adjective combinations in Moroccan
(81) bakri, c 'est un perroquet bresilien, huwa .. ArabicfDutch. There may not be such restrictions on adjectival modi-
before it-is INDEF'M parrot Brazilian 3M fication in Algerian ArabiclFrench. True, the total number of mixed noun-
'In the old days, he is a Brazilian parrot...' adjective combinations is three in both corpora, but in view of the smaller
(82) la sa1ete tal' -na hna, elle est franche, on est francs, hna ! size of the Algerian corpus, they will be proportionally more frequent in the
DEF'F dirtiness of-lpL IPL it-F is frank'F we are frank IPL latter. It is not clear whether there are no restrictions on mixed adjectival
'Our dirtiness is frank, WE are frank !' modification in Algerian ArabiclFrench at all, or whether the Moroccan
(83) kaS nhar, wahed i1 s'est plaint, ula? ArabicfDutch and Algerian ArabicfFrench are only different in degree in this
INDEF day someone hehim'REFL-is complained or respect. In Algerian ArabiclFrench too, embedded French noun-adjective
'Has anyone ever complained, or what?' combinations are much more common than mixed ones. The nature of the
co-occurrence restrictions of nouns and attributive adjectives observed in
Arabic discourse emphatic pronouns often occur with French finite Moroccan ArabicfDutch awaits further investigation.
clauses. They occur clause-initially like anaya in (80) and clause-finally like As for embedded noun phrase constituents, these seem to be more fre-
huwa in (81). Otherwise, they immediately follow their co-referent, like hna quent in the Algerian ArabiclFrench data, but only because of the tendency
in (82) follows the Algerian Arabic left-dislocated noun phrase la salet<! taf- to embed French articles along with French nouns. Moroccan ArabicfDutch
na 'our dirtiness'. The Arabic discourse emphatic pronouns cannot be has small numbers of embedded noun phrases distributed over several types,
analysed as an embedded element, even though a similar use of emphatic including indefinite pronouns and nouns determined by possessive
pronouns exists in French. From a cross-linguistic perspective, it is clear pronouns, types absent from the Algerian data. The latter difference may be
that the use of Arabic full pronouns in codeswitching is a feature of Arabic explained, however, by the larger size of the Dutch data corpus.
discourse grammar; see the discussion of the Moroccan ArabicfDutch
example (6) above. 4.1. Comparison of Algerian Arabic/French and Moroccan Arabic/Dutch
The following table summarises the insertion patters of nouns, adjectives,
4. Comparison of Moroccan ArabiclDutch and Algerian ArabiclFrench verbs and constituents headed by these lexical categories in both data
codeswitching corpora. The abbreviations Fr. and D. are used for French and Dutch.
The analysis of two data sets within the same Monolingual Structure
Approach allows for a comparison of the insertion patterns in each of them.
When we look at both corpus descriptions, we discover a number of
similarities and dissimilarities which are summarised in the comparison table
Embedded D.lFr. adjective-noun combination

4.1.1. Embedded Dutch and French nominals ~utch PcAJFrench
D. word order is preserved: the adjective Fr. word order is preseIVed. Unlike in
Grammatical Gender precedes the noun, unlike in MA. The monolingual AA, the Fr. adjective is never
(concord appears in verb and pronoun agreement) Arabic definite article never precedes the D. detennined by AA article ~I- (wahed les
MAlDutch ANFrench adjective. maladies incroyables). In AA, this can
There are two genders in MA, F!M. There There are two genders in AA and in Fr., happen too.
are two genders in D., common and neuter. FM.
D. nouns may be assigned either MA femi- Embedded D. and Fr. Nominal constituents
nine or masculine gender; some idiolects Mostly the gender of tile Fr. embedded
~utch ANFrench
display a tendency to generalise feminine noun is kept, and agreement in AA is done
Small numbers of various kinds of Dutch Frequent and common insertion of Fr.
gender for all inanimates. accordingly; there can be hesitation when
NP: nouns determined by a D. article, pos- nouns determined by Fr. definite or
the genders do not coincide in both indefinite articles, less frequently
sessive pronoun, or quantifier and indefinite
langnages. pronouns. quantifiers. No instance of Fr. indefinite
Number pronouns or Fr. nouns determined by
(concord appears in verb and pronoun agreement) possessive pronouns.
MAlDutch PcAJFrench
D. plural nouns are embedded and As a rule, Fr. plural nouns are embedded Embedded D. and Fr. adjectives
agreement is made in the plural. and agree in the plural; there may be a few ~utch AAJFrench
exceptions, when plural inanimates agree in Attributive adjectives: highly limited. Attributive adjectives: not very frequent, but
the FSG, like in AA, when influenced by Insertion of predicative adjectives uncon- there are a few cases
Classical Arabic. strained; these remain uninflected like in D. Predicative adjectives: no constraint, inflec-
Nominal plural is marked primarily on the tion for gender like in Fr.
Fr. article.
Definiteness
4.1.2. Embedded Dutch and French verbs
~utch ANFrench
MA sets the rules for the use of articles: AA sets the rules for the use of articles: ~utch AAJFrench
D. nouns may be preceded by the MA The Fr. definite articles are divided into 2 D. verbs are integrated via a periphrastic do All Fr. verbs in -er can get integrated via
articles 0, :JI- and wah:xl ~/w and the demon- categories: construction" using the MA verb dar - ydir + conjugation in AA; in both the perfect and
strative detenniners had and dak. However, - le becomes 01- before the embedded Fr. D. infinitive form in some idiolects; no verb imperfect form, and both active and passive
the prefix :JI- is often omitted before D. noun. insertion in others. Pronominal comple- participles.
nouns. - {la, I', les} remain in Fr. before the ments in MA, lexical complements in D. Other verbs are much less common, nearly
embedded Fr. noun, but the distribution of impossible.
these articles in the text reflects AA rules.
Indefinite Fr. nouns may be preceded by 4.1.3. Moroccan Arabic and Algerian Arabic insertions into Dutch or
AA articles 0 and wah:xl ~l-; for the latter, French matrices
the above rule applies to the embedding of
Fr. articles: le becomes 01-, {la, /', les} A1A and AA nouns
remain in Fr.~ MAlDutch AAJFrench
They can also be determined by the Fr. Not very common; usually fill a lexical gap, Not very common.
indefinite articles {un, une, des}. or else used in repetition.
Topical constituents - Left-dislocated NPs
MAlDutch PcAJFrench
Sentence-initial, clause-extemal MA em- Mostly clause-external AA emphatic per-
phatic pronouns and (other) left-dislocated sonal pronouns and left-dislocated AA NPs;
NPs; clause-internal topic NPs, less often topical PPs and AdvPs.
,.---------~,.----,.-------------------------- ..... "yW'~"
PPs and AdvPs. pOSItIOns of Dutch in the Netherlands and French in Algeria though
obviously dissimilar in many ways, in both cases these languages are needed
4.2. Asymmetry in codeswitching to gain access to valued information and upward social mobility. Crucially,
The most striking feature shared by both codeswitching varieties examined in contacts between Moroccans and the Dutch in the Netherlands, Dutch
in this paper is their asymmetry. In each, the matrix language is generally will be the medium of communication, and likewise only French is used in
provided by Arabic (Moroccan Arabic, Algerian Arabic), Dutch and French Algerian-French contacts. The main difference is that the Dutch situation
providing content words inserted in Arabic matrices. involves much face-to-face interaction while Algerians in Algeria are
The much less frequent Arabic insertions in both codeswitching varieties confronted with French primarily through schooling and (both foreign and
share a number of characteristics as well. Unlike French and Dutch local) media. The asymmetric bilingual situations in Algeria and in the
insertions, Arabic insertions are not usually motivated by the want for Netherlands can be generalised in a dichotomy based on social distinctions,
specific vocabulary items: many of the Arabic insertions are indefinite viz. between the in-group or Community Language and the economically
pronouns or noun phrases and prepositional phrases which themselves andlor culturally dominant or Superimposed Language.
contain embedded French or Dutch content words (cases of layered
insertion). Besides, embedded Arabic elements tend to occur in a clause- Community Language versus Superimposed Language
initial position, either as an embedded topic inside the Dutch or French finite For a clarification of these terms, we begin with the postulate that
clause, or as a clause-external, left-dislocated constituent. In both data codeswitching takes place in a bilingual speech community; an analogous
corpora we find embedded Arabic subordinate clauses, while Arabic reasoning can be set up for situations of partial bilingualism, trilingualism
discourse-emphatic pronouns and some other discourse markers may etc. As Romaine notes in the introduction to the 1995 edition of her
accompany Dutch and French finite clauses. textbook on bilingualism, "where more than one language exists in a
How do we account for the asymmetry on the one hand, and the fact that community, they are rarely equal in status" (1995: xiv). Bilingualism on a
Arabic has the same role in both codeswitching varieties on the other hand? community-wide scale typically results from the situation that speakers from
Unless there is something specific about Arabic that makes it function as the one speech community massively acquire the language of a culturally andlor
matrix language, the explanation must be sought in the sociolinguistic economically dominant population, while the reverse does not happen. We
situation. The relevance of the sociolinguistic situation can be demon- therefore distinguish a language that is used only within the bilingual
strated by comparing Moroccan ArabiclDutch and Algerian ArabiclFrench community, which we call the Community Language, and a language that is
with codeswitching in closely parallel sociolinguistic circumstances with common to both the bilingual group and the culturally dominant population,
other language pairs. The frequent insertion of Dutch content words is also to be called the Superimposed23 Language. Notice that the Community
found in the codeswitching varieties of other immigrant communities in the Language need not be the mother tongue; the Moroccan ArabiclDutch and
Netherlands such as the Turks (Backus 1992, 1996). Close parallels of Algerian ArabiclFrench codeswitching varieties, for instance, are spoken by
Algerian ArabiclFrench are found in other former French colonies, see for both Arabophones and Berberophones. The Superimposed Language may
instance De Rooij's (1996) description of SwahililFrench codeswitching in be characterised firstly as the language which is (predominantly) used in
the CopperbeJt region of Congo-Kinshasa, former Zaire. Consequently, the linguistic interactions between members of both speech communities.
fact that Arabic is the common matrix language in both Moroccan Secondly, knowledge of the Superimposed Language is important for
ArabiclDutch and Algerian ArabiclFrench must be due to a comparable upward social mobility and access to valued information. In the first stages
sociolinguistic situation, despite the quite different status of Arabic in of language contact, the bilingual speakers need the Superimposed
Algeria and in the Netherlands. Language only to communicate with the dominant population. When the
In both bilingual communities Arabic is the language "originally" spoken dominant population does not speak the Community Language,
whereas Dutch and French are acquired in order to communicate with an codeswitching plays no role in these contacts. Codeswitching comes into
economically andlor culturally dominant speech community. The dominant
play as soon as bilinguals start to use the Superimposed Language for Monolingual Structure Approach may eventually reveal more detailed
communication among themselves. correlations of codeswitching patterns and sociolinguistic factors. Such
The Community Language may be spoken by a (local) numerical correlatIOns can serve as cues for the explanation of attested patterns in for
minority like the Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands. It may also be instance, a psycholinguistic or ethnographic framework. '
the language of the numerical majority as in the case of Algerian Arabic in
Algeria. The inhabitants oflinguistic border areas may at first blush seem to 4.3. Articles in Algerian Arabic/French and Moroccan Arabic/Dutch
represent a more balanced kind of bilingualism, but here too, prestige One of the remarkable differences between the two codeswitching varieties
factors often lead to the identification of one language as the Superimposed concerns the use of articles. In Moroccan ArabiclDutch Moroccan Arabic
Language and the other as the Community Language. In AlsatianlFrench articles .are used with embedded Dutch nouns, except fo; the definite prefix
codeswitching in Strasbourg (cf. Gardner-Chloros 1991), for instance, ;}l-, which the respondents tend to leave out, thus creating bare forms. In
French is the Superimposed Language, as the local population is culturally Algerian ArabiclFrench, French articles take the place of Arabic articles
and economically oriented toward France, and Francophone settlers in the before embedded French nouns. The distribution of the French definite
Alsace will not bother to speak the local German dialect. articles seems to follow very closely that of Arabic ;}l-; the distribution of
Recall that the Community Language versus Superimposed Language the French indefinite articles in codeswitching is less obvious: it may be that
dichotomy is logically independent from the matrix language versus they mark grammatical ~eatures marked in monolingual Algerian Arabic by
embedded language dichotomy: the Community Language can be the matrix any of the ArabiC mdefirute articles wahed ;}l-, 0, and kaf
language with the Superimposed Language being the embedded language, This difference between French and Dutch has been much commented on
and vice versa. However, the sociolinguistic dichotomy makes it possible to in the comparison of Moroccan ArabiclFrench and Moroccan ArabiclDutch
predict a number of insertion patterns: Community Language/Superimposed particularly with respect to the definite articles. Nortier (1990: 208-9~
Language codeswitching is characterised by the insertion of Superimposed 1992) and Muysken (1990: 26) relate the finding that French definite
Language content words in Community Language constituents and, less articles accompany embedded nouns to their more proclitic character, as
often, the insertion of certain Superimposed Language constituents in compared to the Dutch definite articles. Boumans (1995; 1998b)
Community Language finite clauses. The insertion of Community Language demonstrates that mdependent arguments support this claim. Both French
material in Superimposed Language matrices is less common. Such and Dutch definite articles can be described as clitics which attach to the
insertions are less often motivated by the need for specific vocabulary items. first element in the noun phrase, but clitics do not form a homogeneous
Community Language insertions tend to be more grammatical in nature, that
category. Zwicky (1992; 1994) defines clitics as elements that share
is, they are often constituents rather than content words and many of these
properties with both inflectional morphology and independent words. He
embedded language constituents consist of Community Language function
uses nine criteria to distinguish these two categories. His criteria identify
mor-phemes and Superimposed Language content morphemes. Community
the French definite articles as being more inflection-like than their Dutch
Language insertions further have a tendency to occur in clause-initial
counterparts. (The Arabic al- is a prefix by any criterion.) Comparing
position of the Superimposed Language finite clause. On the other hand, the
French and Dutch, one difference is that the phonological shape of
insertion of subordinate clauses and the use of discourse markers from both
French artIcle depends on the phonology of the word it cliticises to:
languages may be more symmetrical, provided the bilingual community
preceding a vowel, singular le and la become l' [1-], and plural les [le-]
members are sufficiently competen in both languages.
becomes [lez-]. Another relevant criterion is known as the 'promiscuous
The above predictions seem to hold for most codeswitching varieties.
attachment' criterion .. Both French and Dutch articles attach to the first
However, the social inequality of languages will be more pronounced in
some bilingual situations than in others. 24 When the languages at stake have word of the noun phrase, but in practice, the number of word categories
a more equal status, this will probably lead to more symmetric to which the article cliticises is more restricted in French than in Dutch
codeswitching patterns. The description of data in the framework of the
because adjectival and participial modifiers are mostly post-nominal in English on Malta. It seems that the different sociolinguistic settings in the
the former and exclusively pre-nominal in the latter language. Netherlands and in North Africa lead to the use of different ways of
The use of French definite articles with embedded nouns may be embedding foreign verbs. As a hypothesis, we speculate that the do
compared to the Dutch plural suffixes in Moroccan ArabiciDutch (cf. construction in codeswitching is characteristic of migrant bilingualism in
example (9) and the discussion of (10). Just as the Dutch plural suffixes modern industrialised societies. If there turns out to be such a correlation
mark the matrix language category of plural, the French definite articles between the way foreign verbs are incorporated and sociolinguistic factors,
express the matrix language grammatical categories of gender and number any explanation for a given insertion routine should take this into account. It
in addition to all features otherwise marked by the Arabic definite prefix. may be, for instance, that the speaker's perception of the "foreignness" of
Cross-linguistic comparison of codeswitching varieties shows that the other language, or her expectations with respect to the bilingual com-
embedded language affixes and, secondly, affix-like c1itics have a much petence of her interlocutors, influence the choice of a given routine for the
higher propensity to occur with embedded language content words than embedding offoreign verbs. This would need to be investigated, though.
embedded language free form function words like the Dutch articles. An The correlation between ways of incorporating foreign verbs and
explanation of these findings may be sought in theories on the organisation sociolinguistic factors is obscured by the fact that various (matrix)
of the mental lexicon (Boumans 1995; 1998b). languages display only one routine, irrespective of the social circumstances.
The occurrence of the French indefinite plural articles des can be Periphrastic do constructions, for instance, are pervasive feature of the
explained in the same manner: this article displays the same morpho- monolingual varieties of many Turkic and Indo-Iranian languages, among
phonological alternation as definite les. Moreover, it is required as a plural others. It comes as no surprise, then, that in code-switching with Turkish as
marker since number is obligatorily marked in Arabic in certain contexts, the Community Language, for example, verbs from the Superimposed
while Arabic morphology for nominal plural marking is not particularly Language are embedded in a do construction whether in migrant
productive, as both codeswitching varieties show. While the use of the communities (cf Backus 1992, 1996, on TurkishfDutch) or in Turkish
French indefinite article des and the definite la, 1', and les is widespread in speaking lands (cf Rudin and Eminov 1990, on TurkishlBulgarian). For the
ArabiclFrench codeswitching in North Africa, the recurrent use of indefinite rela~ionship between sociolinguistic variables and ways of embedding
singular un and une is less common. We may hypothesize that in F ellag' s foreIgn verbs to become apparent, the same Community Language
variety of Algerian ArabiclFrench, the use of the French indefinite article in obviously must show various ways of verb-embedding in different language
the plural is generalised to both numbers. contact situations.
4.4. Embedded verbs 5. Summary

Comparing Moroccan ArabiciDutch codeswitching in the Netherlands with The concept of matrix language enables an efficient and concise description
ArabiclFrench codeswitching in Algeria and elsewhere in North Africa, of codeswitching data to be made. The syntactic position in which elements
another striking difference concerns the way French and Dutch verbs are from two languages are juxtaposed can be largely accounted for by
integrated: embedded French verbs are inflected by means of attaching reference to the matrix language grammar. The matrix language provides
Arabic prefixes and suffixes to the French verb stem, whereas Dutch verbs, the matrix fora particular structure; and is defined on more than one
if they occur at all, are embedded in a periphrastic do construction. An syntactic level. At the finite clause level the matrix language is the language
explanation for this difference may be sought in language-specific properties of the inflection of the finite verb. In the finite clause constituents from the
of Dutch and French verbs, such as their phonological shape or differences other language, the embedded language, can be embedded. The embedded
in verbal inflection systems. A language-specific explanation seems unlikely, language provides the internal structure of the embedded language
though, if we consider that in the Western Arabic dialects, Arabic constituent. A clausal constituent can also by itself constitute a matrix
inflectional affixes are attached to foreign verbs from various languages, structure that contains elements from the other language. The matrix
including Spanish in Morocco and Sicilian, Italian and, more recently, language at the constituent level is inferred from the internal structure of the
constituent, notably the distribution of morphemes in it. Based on examples constituent of the Superimposed Language finite clause, or clause-externally
where the matrix language on the constituent level can be unequivocally as left-dislocated noun phrases.
established, the generalisation can be made that mainly content morphemes With respect to embedded French and Dutch nouns and verbs we noted
are embedded. Besides, embedded language content morphemes can be two strikingly divergent patterns: the use of embedded language definite and
accompanied by embedded language affixes and clitics. Because the matrix indefinite articles as against bare forms in the case of embedded nouns form
language is defined independently on more than one level, it is possible that French and Dutch, respectively. For this difference an explanation was
an embedded constituent is in turn a matrix structure in which a smaller proposed in terms of the more affixal nture of the French articles as
constituent or a content morpheme is inserted. This is referred to as layered compared to their Dutch counterparts.
embedding. Some challenges to the idea of insertion were identified. Secondly, French and Dutch verbs are incorporated differently in Arabic
However, it was argued that these phenomena and the ensuing theoretical finite clauses. French verbs are inflected by means of Arabic affixes,
problems can be more adequately described and examined by defining a whereas a periphrastic do construction is used in Moroccan ArabicIDutch.
matrix language, even if they appear to undermine the insertional model. It was argued that the periphrastic construction is related to the
Using the principles of the Monolingual Structure Approach, sociolinguistic setting of migrant communities in modem industrial societies,
codeswitching data from various social settings can be uniformly described provided the same (Community) language employs both ways of embedding
and classified into insertion types. The matrix language is defined solely on verbs
the basis of grammatical considerations, and therefore both languages used
by the bilingual community can in principle occur as the matrix language. As
a consequence the Monolingual Structure Approach is suited for Notes
investigating the relationship between insertion types and the social status of 1. The terms "insertion" and "embedding" are used as synonyms.In the main text:
the matrix language. The analysis of codeswitching data within this Language pairs are indicated following the convention Community
framework generates a number of recurrent patterns, at the level of a single Language/Superimposed Language. Fragments quoted from the numbered examples
text corpus and at the crosslinguistic level. These regularities, whether or are rendered in italics in the main text. In the numbered examples: text in the
Superimposed Language is rendered in italics. Curved brackets ( ) mark text
not they affirm the basic principle of insertion, call for explanations. The fragments that facilitate the interpretation of the example, but are not considered in
examination of these regularities pushes the investigation of codeswitching the discussion; square brackets [ ] indicate missing morphemes in the glosses.
behaviour to a new level. 2. The name Hayat refers to a respondent of the Nijmegen corpus, see section 2.1.
In this vein we compared codeswitching in two corpora, Moroccan 3. For a different view on Nishimura's proposal, see Romaine's (1995: 145-6)
ArabicIDutch in the Netherlands and Algerian ArabiclFrench in Algeria, discussion of the same example.
with the emphasis on the insertion of nouns, verbs, adjectives and nominal 4. In this context, Stenson (1990) makes the interesting observation that in
IrishlEnglish, embedded English adjectives follow the Irish (matrix language) post-
constituents. Despite the divergent sociolinguistic settings, it turned out that nominal word order, except for so-called expletive adjectives like fuckin " /riggin'
the Dutch insertions in Moroccan Arabic resemble the French insertions in and bloody. Here the relationship with the pragmatic function of the adjective is
Algerian Arabic and likewise, Moroccan Arabic insertions in Dutch have apparent: expletive adjectives do not modiJY the referential meaning of the head
much in common with Algerian Arabic insertions in French. These analogies noun, but rather express the speaker's attitude toward the topic under discussion.
were generalised in the dichotomy Community Language/Superimposed 5. This phenomenon in codeswitching with Arabic is often referred to as "doubling of
subject pronouns" (Keddad 1986; Eid 1992; 1996; Barhoum 1994). This label is
Language. Insertions from the Superimposed Language (i.e., French or misleading, however, because the co-referent of the topic may fulfill any
Dutch, in our case) are mostly content words and constitute the bulk of grammatical function within the ensuing clause, as (6) shows, and sometimes the
insertional codeswitching; insertions from the Community Language topic pronoun has no co-referent inside the finite clause at all. The impression of
(Arabic) are less frequent. The latter tend to be more grammatical in nature: "subject doubling" emanates because the topic function tends to coincide with the
they are often noun phrase or prepositional phrase constituents, many of participant fulfilling the syntactic function of subject. When the ensuing clause is in
which include a Superimposed Language content word. Moreover, they
English, French or Dutch, i.e., not a "pro-drop" language like Arabic, topic and noun phrases in which the Moroccan Arabic determiners are embedded morphemes.
subject pronouns get juxtaposed, cf. example (80). Such an analysis is unattractive as the insertion of determiners is extremely
6. Situating topic pronouns in the specifier complementizer phrase position also chal- uncommon, as opposed to the insertion of nouns in the analysis advanced here.
lenges the Matrix Language Frame model because this model allows only one matrix 12. Samir, who participated in most of the recordings, produced 135 tokens, and
language for the entire complementizer phrase. Reconsider example (4). In the ori- Abdelkrim and Younes 29 and 9, respectively. For the other respondents the
ginal utterance this finite clause is preceded by a repeated topic pronoun: anaya, numbers are as follows: Nawal 2, Fatima 4, Jamal4, Mustafa 7, Zineb 2.
anaya, mf'a-k ben ik meze/f If Moroccan Arabic is identified as the matrix language 13. Further evidence comes from the codeswitching variety of Hocine, one of the Tarifit
for this complementizer phrase, it will account for the emphatic pronoun anaya but speaking respondents whose data are not described in this article. In Hocine's
not for the Dutch constituent order in mfa-k ben ik meze/f Conversely, if Dutch is to variety, Dutch direct object complements consistently follow the embedded Dutch
be the matrix language, the presence of the Arabic pronoun anaya is not accounted verb. This can be related to Hocine's imperfect mastery of Dutch word order at the
for as this is not a common way to indicate topic shift or contrastive topics in Dutch. time of the data collection.
Furthermore, it remains an intricate task to describe aspects of discourse grammar in melli ka-t-dir beheers-en dik taal
terms of the binary branching hierarchical structures of X-bar theory. This is the when ASP-2-do master-INF DEM language
more so if we consider that various aspects of discourse grammar like sequencing 'When you master that language (.. )' (Hocine)
and foregrounding may co-occur with a single finite clause, and their order relative 14. The word for 'shower' could be either Dutch douche [duS1 or its Moroccan Arabic
to each other allows for some variation. In Moroccan Arabic, for instance, one may cognate dui
find [walakin waJnti + finite clause] 'but QUESTION yOUF, ..' alongside [walakin nti 15. Generalisation lead to the interpretation of een straat mwessxa as being a Dutch
waJ + finite clause], where the finite clause may further contain a topicalised noun phrase. The source language word order of the attributive adjective is a
(fronted) adverb or prepositional phrase. counter-example to Standard Arabic, but one of a notorious kind, see 1.4.1. If the
7. The Tarifit speakers among the respondents of the Nijmegen corpus did diverge from noun phrase were classified as Moroccan Arabic, the presence of the Dutch article
the Arabophones with similar migration histories and educational backgrounds in een would be a counter-example, and a highly uncommon one. Additionally, the
being less fluent in Moroccan Arabic and displaying more Standard Arabic preposition langs would be an insertion of a type not attested in Moroccan
influence. It is possible that imperfect mastery of Moroccan Arabic explains some of ArabiclDutch codeswitching. The insertion of mwessxa, however, fits in well with an
the idiosyncracies in their Moroccan ArabiclDutch codeswitching behaviour. Tarifit established regularity, namely the insertion of Moroccan Arabic words as a result of
speakers will not be considered in the present article, however. repetition.
8. They learnt Arabic mainly from their mother who, though of Rifian descent, was 16. A [xoroto] is a poor guy. Labess is the common salutation la
born and raised near the town of Sig in western Algeria. Features setting off their bas used upon meeting someone 'How are you doing?'. The title Babor 1
variety of Moroccan Arabic from that of the other respondents include the third l'Australie, 'a ship to Australia' refers to the hopes of the Algerian youth to flee the
person masculine singular object suffix -eh instead of -u, gender distinction in the country. In 1989-90, a rumour spread that immigrants were needed in Australia and
second SG of perfect verbs, and absence of the aspectual prefix ka- with imperfect visas would be granted to Algerians. For days, enormous lines of people were
verbs. gathered at the Australian embassy, waiting for the miraculous visas.
9. At least one respondent, Samir, displays an observable tendency to generalise 17. Baaziz, Je m 'enfous, CMM productions, 14 rue de Chartres 75018 Paris.
Moroccan Arabic feminine gender to all nouns with inanimate referents, both 18. Fellag has invented a way to part men from women in order to please
embedded and (less often) masculine Moroccan Arabic nouns. Perhaps the feminine fundamentalists: install the Berlin wall in Algeria. The initial transcription of this
concord of Moroccan Arabic bit 'room' in the first line of (41) exemplifies this, passage was done by Jihane MadOlUli, research assistant at INALCO and Cecile
though it is possible that the feminine gender of bit is a dialectal feature. I conjecture Pascol, a student; Caubet later arranged this present version. '
that generalisation of the feminine gender in Samir's speech variety is due to 19. See note 10.
incomplete acquisition of Moroccan Arabic. 20. Caubet (1993, II: 121) for appreciative modal uses ofwahed "1- in Moroccan Arabic.
10. The terms "definite" and "indefinite" are approximate and do not cover the range of 21. There is a difficulty to produce three consonant clusters, so a [~] is inserted.
meanings conveyed by these articles. For a detailed study of nominal determination 22. For more details on verbs in Moroccan ArabiclFrench, see Heath (1989), Boumans
in Moroccan Arabic, see Caubet (1983) and (1993, II: 253-318). (1997), and Abbassi (1977: 120, on the media-passive).
11. In order to account for such "influence" in terms of an insertion model, strings like 23. We avoid the perhaps more suitable term 'dominant language' as the latter is
wahed cursus and had groente would need to be considered as (embedded) Dutch traditionally associated with linguistic competence.
1998a "Altemance de codes au Maghreb: pourquoi le fran~ais est-il arabise?"

24. On the level of individual speakers, the sociolinguistic situation can be highly Plurilinguismes, 14. C.E.RP.L., Universite Rene Descartes, 121-142.
variable and subject to rapid change, as when people move from one country to 1998b "Humour et defigement des expressions figees au Maghreb chez les
another, or acquire social contacts in another speech community. As a classic humoristes Mohand Fellag et Gad Elmaleh" Le Figement LeXical, sous la
example of the latter, consider the case of children who are raised in the language of direction de Salah Mejri et aL, Tunis: CERES, 351-360.
their immigrant parent(s) or bilingually, and come into contact with another speech Cohen, Marcel
community as soon as they begin to develop activities outside the home. 1912 Le parler arabe desjuift d'Alger. Paris: Champion.
Colin, G.-S.
1945 "L'arabe". In: Initiation auMaroc. Paris: Vanoest, 219-44.
Comrie, Bemard
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180 Louis Boumans and Dominique Caubet
Treffers-Daller, Jeanine
1994
17
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1, Foreward
This paper is based on materials collected in Bactria in August 1975, after
the first Afghan revolution (1972), but before the tragic events which began
shortly thereafter, completely changing the ethnological and linguistic face
of the country. The current state of affairs may be very different from that
described in this paper, as the Afghan languages have been deeply affected
by political turmoil and civil war. It will be interesting, when circum-stances
allow, to compare new data with that presented here.
2. The Arabs of Afghanistan
2,1. History
The presence of Arabic settlements on the Iranian tableland dates back to
the early 7th century AD, when Arab troops, after a lightening-like conquest
(642-3) of Persia, proceeded to occupy Khorasaan (eastern Iran) and
Bactria (northern Afghanistan). In the second half of the 9th century they
extended there hegemony to the south of the Hindu Kush. Kabul to the east
fell in 871 despite the heroic resistance of the Hindushahi. Thereafter
Afghanistan became indelibly Islamic.
For a number of centuries after this Arab colonists and miltary
contingents settled in Afghanistan, though we know almost nothing about
them. In recent centuries many disappeared under the guise of changed
identities. During this time many minority groups began to hide under
adopted tribal labels, in the hope of advantages of various sorts. Because
they were Arabs and could claim access to the priviliged class of saadaat
(PL of sayyid) "direct descendants of the Prophet Mohammad", some
continued to use the Arab ethnic label, while giving up the language in favor
of the language of the region, generally Persian or Pashto.

Modelling Intrasentential Codeswitching

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Modelling Intrasentential Codeswitching

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Arabic as a Minority Language

Louis Boumans and Dominique Caubet

Our contribution addresses grammatical regularities in codeswitching. We

1. The matrix langnage

Collocations of content morphemes Modal and aspectual adverbs

Embedded D.lFr. adjective-noun combination

4.4. Embedded verbs 5. Summary

1998a "Altemance de codes au Maghreb: pourquoi le fran~ais est-il arabise?"

Heath, Jeffrey Muysken, Pieter

Zwi~~2 AmO~?d;;tics'" In: William Bright (ed.), International Encyclopedia of

2. The Arabs of Afghanistan

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