LINGUIST List 9.881

Sun Jun 14 1998

Books: Bilingualism

Editor for this issue: Martin Jacobsen <martylinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Bernadette Martinez-Keck, New Books: Bilingualism

John Benjamins Publishing would like to call your attention to the
following new titles in the field of Language Acquisition:


GOVERNMENT AND CODE SWITCHING
EXPLAINING AMERICAN FINNISH
Helena Halmari
1997 xvi, 276 pp. Studies in Bilingualism, 12
US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 546 X Price: US$89.00
Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 4118 X Price: Hfl. 178,--
John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com
For further information via e-mail: servicebenjamins.com

Bilingual codeswitching is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon, which
calls for explanations on several different linguistic levels. This
volume focuses on one such level: the level of syntax. An explanation
for the regularities and consistencies in the codeswitching patterns
of American Finns in their spontaneous conversations is sought for in
the Universal Grammar-based principle of government as realized in
case-assignment and agreement relations. A bulk of the Finnish-English
intrasentential data get their explanation on the structural,
hierarchical level, but this level of syntax is found to be
interestingly intertwined with sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, and
discourse levels, which all contribute to variation in codeswitching
patterns. The proposed principle of government is seen as one
important explanation in typologically certain kinds of language pairs
such as Finnish and English; however, this principle is not treated as
a monolithic constraint, bur rather as the leading tendency which is
occasionally overridden by other than syntactic forces. The volume is
intended as a complement - not as a contradiction - to earlier
explanations of codeswitching phenomena. Its main message is: while
all linguistic levels contribute to the construction of bilingual
speech, the importance of syntax can not be ignored.




- ------------------------------------------------------------
Bernadette Martinez-Keck Tel: (215) 836-1200
Publicity/Marketing Fax: (215) 836-1204
John Benjamins North America e-mail:berniebenjamins.com
PO Box 27519 
Philadelphia PA 19118-0519 

Check out the John Benjamins web site:
http://www.benjamins.com

The following contributing LINGUIST publishers have made their backlists available on the World Wide Web:

1998 Contributors