Browsing by Author "Ahmed Malik, Nazir"

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    Code-switching by phases: A minimalist perspective
    (University of Management and Technology, 2016) Ahmed Malik, Nazir
    The study attempts to establish that there is no essential difference between bilingual and monolingual linguistic competence as the negative and positive Urdu/English code-switching data may satisfactorily be accounted for within the provisions of Chomsky’s (2000, 2001, 2005 and 2008) Phase Theory. The inability of the existing CS-models in accounting for the recurring switches in the data necessitates the minimalist account of CS offered in the study. It is proposed that both mixed and unmixed sentences are derived in a similar fashion in two distinct derivational chunks called Phases. Since one phase does not remain accessible to the other due to Phase Impenetrability Condition, switches in each phase are determined independently of each other. As locus of parametric variation, v plays crucial role in interaction between two distinct grammatical systems. As documented in the data, selection of v from one lexicon precludes the selection of T and D from the opposite lexicon due to a mismatch in their feature specifications; however, C, being phase head itself remains out of the control of v, and therefore, may be contributed by either of the lexicons subject to its compatibility with its complement TP. Adopting ‘root’ view of lexical categories, it is argued that lexical categories being unspecified roots may be supplied by either of the lexicons randomly; however, selection of functional categories is subject to their correspondence to the feature specifications of v. The difference in switching behavior of adjunct and complement projections also stems from their different structural relation to v. It is further posited that it is v instead of V or head-parameter which determines linear order of constituents. It is concluded that all mixed and unmixed derivations including switches involving different heads and complements adhere to a general condition of well-formedness which restricts any conflict in feature specifications of syntactic objects involved in a derivation; hence no CS-specific postulates required to account for CS-data.