LINGUIST List 12.1550

Tue Jun 12 2001

Review: Muysken, Bilingual Speech (2nd review)

Editor for this issue: Terence Langendoen <terrylinguistlist.org>


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  • Nkonko Kamwangamalu, Re: Book Review: Muysken (2000)

    Message 1: Re: Book Review: Muysken (2000)

    Date: Sat, 02 Jun 2001 13:33:27 +0200
    From: Nkonko Kamwangamalu <KAMWANGAnu.ac.za>
    Subject: Re: Book Review: Muysken (2000)


    Muysken, Pieter (2000) Bilingual Speech: A Typology of Code-mixing, Cambridge University Press, xvi+306 pp., ISBN 0521771684 Hardback.

    Reviewed by: Nkonko M Kamwangamalu, University of Natal, Durban, South Africa

    BILINGUAL SPEECH: A TYPOLOGY OF CODE-MIXING, is perhaps the latest addition to publications in the ever growing field of codeswitching. The striking feature of this book is the extensive amount of data it covers and the depth of analysis it offers. The central question addressed in the book is "how can a bilingual speaker combine elements from two languages when processing mixed sentences (p. 1). Muysken addresses this question by drawing on various case studies, hence the subtitle "A typology of code-mixing", from recent research on codeswitching. In so doing, he aims to provide a general account, not a single model, of codemixing across languages and cultures. Three types of code-mixing are distinguished, insertion, alternation, and congruent lexicalization. The bilingual's choosing of one type of code- mixing or another is said to depend on the grammatical structures of the languages involved as well as on sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic factors. The book consists of nine chapters, the last of which is followed by an extensive list of references and an author index and a subject index. In what follows I provide a brief summary of each of the chapters. This will be followed by a general evaluation of the book.

    Chapter 1, 'The study of code-mixing', presents the general aim of the book, namely, to explain 'how bilingual speakers switch from one language to another in the course of conversation". In an attempt to address this question, Muysken distinguishes between the three types of codemixing patterns already mentioned: (a) insertion, (b) alternation, and (c) congruent lexicalization. Both 'insertion' and 'alternation' focus on structural constraints on mixing. The former views constraints in terms of the structural properties of one language, the matrix language; the latter [alternation] views constraints in terms of structural equivalence between the languages involved (i.e., switching is possible only where it does not violate the structural integrity of either of the participating languages (Poplack 1980)). 'Insertion' is said to be akin to spontaneous lexical borrowing and, depending on languages, it may consist of single bare nouns, bare noun phrases (p. 95) or adverbial phrases (pp. 3, 5). 'Alternation' entails a true switch from one language to the other, and involves both grammar and lexicon. 'Congruent lexicalization' refers to a 'a situation where the participating two languages share a grammatical structure which can be filled lexically with elements from either language (p. 6). It is said to resemble style shifting and variation within a language. The second half of this chapter presents a typology of constraints on codeswitching, with a focus on Poplack's (1980) Equivalence and Morpheme constraints; Myers-Scotton's (1993) Matrix Language Frame Model, and Di Sciullo, Muysken, and Singh's (1986) government constraint. Also, an attempt is made to bring all these constraints under one roof, or what Muysken calls 'Unification and the escape hatch model', which explains how mixing occurs in the three-way codemixing patterns discussed: insertional codemixing, alternational codemixing, and congruent lexicalization. The chapter concludes with a description of the structure and scope of the book.

    Chapter 2, Differences and similarities between languages, attempts to address questions such as the following, among others: Is language a 'fortress', with clearly defined boundaries both socially and cognitively? If languages are thought of as fortresses, what keep these fortresses intact? How does code-mixing break into these fortresses? And how strong are the fences around a given language, both those deriving from language as an identity carrier and from it being embedded in a processing system? Muysken addresses these issues against the background of the distinction Chomsky (1986) makes between I- language (internal) and E-language (external). He then hypothesizes that E-language and I-language are perhaps the two factors that conspire in the building of fortresses. Viewed from this perspective, the E-language leads to separateness of outer form (defined by vocabulary, pronunciation and morphology), and the I-language to a clearly distinct inner form (marked in the syntax and semantics of the language). However, Muysken presents evidence that I-language does not always correspond to E-language. The evidence, discussed on pp.43-45, consists of the following cases: (a) several E-languages correspond to a relatively coherent I-language (e.g. Hindi and Urdu have one common I-language); (2) several I-languages correspond to something perceived as one E-language (e.g. patois, dialect, Quechua); (c) dialect continuum carved up into E-languages not directly corresponding to I- language borders (e.g., West Germanic continuum); (d) a bilingual E- language (i.e. a combination of modules from different languages) corresponds to components from various I-languages. The chapter then presents a sketch of the dimensions of typological differentiation between languages (e.g. word order, word class, syntactic categories, etc.), and of the history of the generative approach to language differences. It concludes that codemixing patterns, whether insertion, alternation or congruent lexicalization have to do with the linguistic typology of the languages involved.

    Chapter 3 discusses 'Insertion', with a focus on its grammatical dimensions. Two main claims are made at the beginning of this chapter. The first claim is that phenomena such as borrowing, nonce-borrowing, and constituent insertion belong together and so are subject to the same conditions. The second claim is that insertional codemixing can be appropriately accounted for within the government model proposed in DiSciullo, Muysken, and Singh (1986). Before Muysken justifies these claims, he outlines the characteristic features of insertional codemixing, drawing on Spanish-Quechua codemixing. Also, he raises two questions: How is a matrix language defined? What is the relationship between lexical borrowing and insertion? These two questions have been an object of on-going debate in current research on CM (see, for instance, Codeswitching List) and so they are indeed worth raising. With respect to the features of insertional codemixing, Muysken says that insertions tend to be (a) content words rather than function words, (b) morphologically integrated constituents, (c) selected elements (e.g., objects or complements) rather than adjuncts, (d) nested (i.e., the fragment preceding the insertion and the fragment following are grammatically related), (e) single, unique, constituents. The occurrence of either of the features of insertional codemixing is said to be determined by the matrix language. But how is the matrix language determined? Muysken lists a number of approaches that have been proposed in the literature. Some of these include (a) the language of conversation (the question remains of how we go about determining the language in question); (b) left-to-righ parsing, which says that the first word or set of words in the sentence determines the base language; (c) morpheme-counting, i.e. the language with more morpheme in the discourse is the ML. Other possibilities listed include defining the ML from a psycholinguistic or a structural perspective; with the former referring to the most activated language for the speaker, and the latter to the language of INFL. Like many CM researchers before him (e.g. Poplack 1980), Muysken rejects a purely structural definition of the ML because it leads to circularity. It is circular to identify a language as a matrix language and then invoke it to explain the origin of system morphemes such as verbal inflections. I shall return to this point in the final section of this review, critical evaluation.

    Chapter 4, 'Alternation', presents a typology of alternational code- mixing patterns based largely on data from French/Dutch mixing in Brussels (Treffers-Daller, 1994). The patterns identified include, among others, non-nested mixing, long switches, emblematic or tag- switching, peripheral switches (e.g. coordination, clefting, left- dislocation, etc.). Besides these patterns, it is noted that alternational code-mixing does also have other properties, among them embedding in discourse, doubling (repetition of a CM structure in both languages in mixed clauses) and dummy insertion. The first of these three patterns is illustrated with data from Chinese/English, and the second and the third with data from Finnish/English. Halfway into the chapter functional elements such as discourse markers, conjunctions and adpositions are discussed with reference to codemixing involving Spanish and an Amerindian language: the Mexican Otomanguean languages Popoloca and Otomi, and the Andean language Quechua. This is followed by a discussion of discourse markers in Moroccan Arabic/Dutch codemixing and, briefly, in French/Swahili codemixing. Drawing on de Rooij (1996), it is explained that discourse markers occur in alternational codemixing because they are 'highly salient within the discourse which they help structure' (p.114). The chapter concludes with a discussion of word order in alternational codemixing.

    Chapter 5 discusses the third major type of codemixing patterns, 'Congruent lexicalization', with a focus on the following issues: (1) What are the main features of 'congruent lexicalization'? (2) How different is codemixing from language variation and style shifting? Can these phenomena be studied in the same theoretical framework? Additional issues raised in this chapter have to do with language convergence. In particular, (3) does convergence facilitate codemixing or does codemixing pave the way for convergence? Muysken first addresses the question whether there is a difference between variation and codemixing. He argues that there is no difference between the two phenomena and so they must be collapsed. The justification for the proposed collapse, which I will not go into here, is given on pp. 124- 126. As to congruent lexicalization, Muysken notes that it precludes the notion of 'matrix language', that is, the languages involved share the grammatical structure of the sentence; any category can be switched. Against this background, Muysken (pp. 128-134) lists the following as the main features of 'congruent lexicalization', drawing on studies of language variation and style shifting: (a) linear and structural equivalence, (b) mutli-constituent code-mixing, (c) non- constituent or 'ragged' mixing (Poplack 1980), (d) non-nested a b c structures, (e) switching of function words (and any other category), (f) switching of selected elements (e.g. PPs), (g) bi-directional code- mixing, (h) back-and-forth switches, (i) homophonous diamorphs, and (j) morphological integration, (k) triggering (of CM by words from the other language), and (l) mixed collocations and idioms. These features are illustrated with examples from codemixing in several settings.

    Chapter 6 , 'Function words', focuses on the distinction between lexical and grammatical categories or what Muysken calls 'functional elements', and the role of the latter in codemixing. The discussion of function words departs from the assumption that differences between languages derive from different characteristics of functional elements (e.g. agreement, tense, modals, auxiliaries, discourse markers, etc.). In codemixing the functional elements generally 'come' from one language, the matrix language. Two hypotheses are tested concerning the role of the functional elements in codemixing. These run as follows: (a) The functional element effect derives from the special status of functional elements within the mental lexicon and speech production, as argued by Myers-Scotton (1993) and Azuma (1993) on the basis of assumptions made by some psycholinguists. (b) The functional element effect derives from the lack of equivalence of functional elements across different languages.

    Muysken makes the case for the second hypothesis, noting that the evidence he offers for it is not conclusive. The discussion of functional elements begins with the issue of how the elements themselves can be defined. Several criteria are presented, among them 'open' vs. 'closed' class distinction (e.g., functional elements belong to closed class; whereas lexical elements (e.g. nouns and verbs) belong to open class); bound vs. free morpheme distinction (e.g., bound morphemes are functional elements, whereas free morphemes are not); autosemantic vs syn-semantic element distinction (the former [e.g. content words] have concrete meaning and so can be modified, but the latter [function words] have no independent meaning and so cannot be modified) (pp. 157), to list just a few. Muysken then surveys a number of areas in which he says the distinction between lexical and functional elements plays an important role. These areas include language mixing, speech production, agrammatic speech, language development, foreign talk, language change, creolization, and lexical borrowing. In surveying these areas, Muysken distinguishes between three different types of functional elements: shifters (e.g., pronouns, demonstratives, quantifiers, question words), functional categories proper (e.g. articles, tense markers, agreement, auxiliaries, modals), and linkers (prepositions, conjunctions, complementizers, connectives). The discussion then moves on, disjunctively, to the difference between content and system morphemes, with a focus on plural markers, past and present participles, and pronouns. The main claim here is that the distinction between content and system morphemes (i.e. between lexical and functional elements) should be made in terms of equivalence. (p. 172).

    Chapter 7, 'Bilingual Verbs', examines the difference between alternation, insertion, and congruent lexicalization, with a focus on the verb. Four types of bilingual complex verbs are distinguished, (a) inserted verbs: a guest verb is inserted into a position ordinarily reserved for a host, native, verb; (b) nominalized verbs in a compound: a guest verb is a nominalized complement to a causative helping host verb; (c) adjoined verbs: a guest verb is adjoined to a helping verb; and (d) infinitive verbs: a guest verb is an infinitive and the complement of a host auxiliary. Data is drawn from several language pairs to provide evidence for the proposed typology of bilingual complex verbs. The author points out that no single analysis can account for all the bilingual complex verb constructions. The chapter concludes by raising the question whether there exists a 'bilingual grammar', a question that has been raised in earlier studies of codemixing (Poplack 1980, Myers-Scotton 1993, Kamwangamalu 1997).

    Chapter 8, Variation in mixing patterns, summarizes what is known about the relation between mixing patterns and extralinguistic factors. The summary focuses on three key issues: (a) What are the relevant grammatical and extralinguistic factors influencing the choice of a mixing pattern? (b) Is it possible to differentiate between bilingual corpora in terms of the proposed three-way distinction between insertion, congruent lexicalization, and alternation? (c) What factors explain best why an individual speech community shows one pattern of codemixing rather than another one? In order to address these questions, the author says, and I agree with him (see last section: critical evaluation), that one must take into account the various settings in which codemixing takes place: (i) the social definition of the bilingual situation on the macro-level (e.g., colonial language/dominated language, migrant communities, bilingualism of native elites, etc.); (ii) the sociolinguistic difference between communities on the meso-level (e.g. attitudes towards bilingualism and codemixing, structure of linguistic domination (transplanted or endogenous bilingual community), etc.); (iii) duration of language contact; and (iv) the interactional setting on the micro-level (e.g. classroom, marketplace, etc). With respect to attitudes, it is suggested that insertion and congruent lexicalization occur mostly in communities that are invariably favorable to language mixing. As to bilingual proficiency, it is noted that more fluent bilinguals tend to display congruent lexicalization and more complex insertional (intrasentential) codemixing; while alternation is said to be characteristic of less fluent bilingual. In terms of dominance in use, it is suggested that in migrant communities, styles of codemixing will develop from insertion to alternation to congruent lexicalization. In this case, there is possibility for shift from one matrix language to another across generations. And in terms of structural factors, codemixing involving typological similar languages will tend to lead to congruent lexicalization; whereas in the reverse case (i.e. dissimilar languages) insertional patterns will occur. A key point made in this chapter is that of directionality in codemixing: insertional mixing tends to be unidirectional (from the host language to an alien one), alternational mixing tends to be bi-directional (see page 236).

    Chapter 9, 'Codemixing, bilingual speech, language change, discusses codemixing and language change, the relationship between codemixing and other language contact phenomena (e.g., borrowing, interference, etc.), and bilingual language use/processing. With respect to bilingual processing, the author rejects theories that analyze codemixing (understood as clause internal switching) as an on/off phenomenon; that is, that the participating languages are accessed sequentially, when one language is on the other is off and vice versa (e.g. Poplack 1980, Myers-Scotton 1993). He cites evidence from psycholinguistic research (e.g. Grosjean, 1996) that calls for the 'bilingual mode' of speech production during codemixing, in which both languages are active simultaneously. He stresses modularity, that is, both languages are accessed at the same time, but different modules of each. The author presents data from several language pairs in support of the 'bilingual mode' approach to codemixing processing. In the data he examines phenomena such as idioms and collocations in bilingual compound verbs, pro-drop, and delayed lexicalization. He concludes this section on bilingual processing by explaining how simultaneous access to both languages may be realized: (a) both languages are fully present; (b) any one module can be selected from either language, but not from both. He seems to favor the second option, which he likens to Grosjean's idea of 'chamber orchestra', "where different languages play different instruments, as it were, in the chamber orchestra of sentence- production" (p. 262). The idea of chamber orchestra of sentence- production entails division of labor for different modules (syntax, function words, phonology, lexicon, semantics). The author next discusses language contact and language change, followed by a sketch of the relation between codemixing and other language contact phenomena. With respect to language change, Muysken focuses on the notion of asymmetry between the languages involved in codemixing. Following Thomason and Kaufmann (1988), he explains that in contact-induced language change, there is interference from the dominant language within the subordinate language (i.e., borrowing under maintenance of L1), or retention of features of the subordinate language while shifting to the dominant language (i.e. interference under shift to L2). The chapter concludes with a survey of diachronic aspects of language contact research, with a focus on relexification, language genesis, lexical borrowing, second language learning and substrate influence, convergence due to prolonged existence, and calquing and imitation of the prestige patterns (pp. 266-274). This is followed by suggestions for further research in the area of bilingual processing.

    CRITICAL EVALUATION: "Bilingual Speech" provides codemixing researchers with a wealth of data on codemixing patterns across languages. It is, to my knowledge, the second study that offers such a comprehensive typology of codemixing, the first one (again to my knowledge) being Kamwangamalu's (1989) doctoral dissertation entitled "Codemixing across languages: structure, functions, and constraints." I would like to comment on one issue and then raise another. My comment concerns the issue of determining the matrix language in codemixing. I agree with Muysken that a structural approach to the matrix language is inappropriate because it leads to circularity, as explained earlier. However, it is not clear what the author's own position is concerning this issue. Muysken concludes the discussion of the matrix language on a rather ambiguous note: "a generally valid criterion for defining the ML ... is hard to find, but researchers have no trouble identifying it ... There is much evidence that CM is asymmetrical and involves a dominant, base or matrix language." In a recent study, motivated by the debate on this issue in the Linguist List (Vol. 10.1759, 30 November 1999), Kamwangamalu (2000) explains that studies that attempt to define the matrix language in codemixing do not take into account the sociolinguistic context in which codemixing takes place. He proposes that in codemixing in a diglossic context (e.g. multilingual communities in Africa), the language identified as 'Low' (e.g., an African language) tends to be the matrix language, and the one identified as High (e.g., English, French or Portuguese) the embedded language. It seems that diglossia is a useful theoretical construct in attempts to define the matrix language: the distinction between High language and Low language parallels the distinction between the matrix language and the embedded language. In codemixing involving English, French or Portuguese with an African language the latter is usually the matrix language, and the former the embedded language (for details, see Kamwangamalu 2000: 200-204).

    The question I would like to raise concerns the three-way distinction that Muysken makes between 'insertional codemixing', 'alternational codemixing', and 'congruent lexicalization'. Is there really a need for introducing these 'new' concepts? To what extent does the introduction of these concepts advance our knowledge in the field of codeswitching (a concept that I am using as cover term for both intrasentential as well as intersentential switching). How different is the three-way distinction between 'insertion', 'alternation', and 'congruent lexicalization' from the classical distinction between 'codemixing', 'codeswitching', and 'lexical borrowing'? Muysken is not the first codeswitching scholar seeking to introduce new terms into the study of codeswitching/codemixing. For instance, in a study of Mexican-American children's codeswitching, McClure (1977: 97) distinguishes between two dimensions of codeswitching, namely, 'codemixing' and 'code-changing'. In particular, McClure writes that "The children's codeswitching appears to reflect the operation of two linguistic devices: 'code- changing' and 'code-mixing'. 'Code-changing', generally motivated by situational and stylistic factors, is the alternation of languages at the level of the major constituent (e.g. NP, VP, S). The code-change is a complete shift to another language system". She then defines 'code- mixing' as "the individual's use of opposite language elements which cannot be considered to be borrowed by the community" (McClure, 1977: 98). Rather than shed light on children's codeswitching, McClure's and related studies added to the complexity of an already complex phenomenon, codeswitching. In this regard, Baker (1980:1), in an article aptly titled 'Categories of codeswitching in Hispanic Communities: untangling the terminology', observes that "the research which has been done on 'codeswitching' in Hispanic communities of the United States is confusing and difficult to understand, not only because of different samples and methods but also because of the overlapping terminologies employed to describe codeswitching categories". Baker's point, made twenty years ago with regard to codeswitching in American Hispanic communities, applies equally to current studies of codeswitching, including "Bilingual Speech". In my view, there seems to be no need to rename existing codeswitching categories. The distinction between 'insertion' and 'alternation' is parallel to the classical distinction between 'code-mixing' and 'codeswitching', where the former refers to intrasentential switching, and the latter to 'intersentential switching'. Likewise, 'congruent lexicalization' corresponds to 'borrowing' (since one of the features of 'congruent lexicalization' is 'morphological integration'). In this regard, Muysken writes: "a frequent feature of 'congruent lexicalization' is the incidence of MORPHOLOGICAL INTEGRATION" (p. 134, emphasis added). Now, compare this statement with the following, which Muysken makes about 'insertion': ".. another diagnostic feature of insertion [is] MORPHOLOGICAL INTEGRATION*" (p. 63, emphasis added). "Insertions tend to be single* often MORPHOLOGICALLY INTEGRATED CONSTITUENTS (p. 64, emphasis added). If 'insertion' and 'congruent lexicalization' involve morphological integration, why is it necessary to distinguish between the two in the first place? There are several instances in "Bilingual Speech" that show that the book simply recycles existing codeswitching categories, namely intrasentential and intersentential codeswitching.. Consider, for instance, the following: "Bilinguals dispose of two grammars and lexicons, and the lexicons can be viewed as one large collection that consists of several subsets. THUS LEXICAL BORROWING COULD BE TERMED LEXICAL SHARING (p. 69, emphasis added). Note that it is this 'sharing' that constitutes the basis for one of the proposed three 'new' categories of codeswitching, namely, 'congruent lexicalization'. Further, consider the distinction between the other two categories, 'insertion' and 'alternation'. In this regard, Muysken writes, "Insertion is mostly a form of unidirectional language influence, while alternation often goes both ways. INSERTION IS CONSTITUENT-INTERNAL, ALTERNATION IS PHRASE- OR CLAUSE-PERIPHERAL" (p. 75, emphasis added). "'Insertion' is akin to (spontaneous) lexical borrowing, which is limited to one lexical unit." "In the case of alternation, there is a TRUE SWITCH FROM ONE LANGUAGE TO THE OTHER, involving both grammar and lexicon" (p. 5, emphasis added). This definition of 'alternation' echoes McClure's (1977) definition of what she terms 'code-changing', which also entails a complete shift/switch from one language to another. Another point that concerns me is that, Muysken appears to lump style-shifting and codemixing together. The author writes: "The phenomenon of style shifting can be seen as one subtype of code-mixing, namely congruent lexicalization". My question is: doesn't codemixing presuppose competence in at least two languages? If so, in what ways can codemixing be equated with style-shifting. Also, the two terms, style shifting and codemixing, make totally different claims about the competence of the individual speaker: 'style shifting' can occur in both monolingual and bilingual speech, but as Pfaff (1979:295) rightly points out, codemixing is necessarily a product of bilingual competence. In spite of my skepticism about the usefulness of the three-way distinction Muysken makes between 'insertion, alternation, and congruent lexicalization', I must say that his book, "Bilingual Speech", is a welcome addition to publications on codemixing, especially in terms of the amount and variety of data it makes available to professionals in this field.

    References

    Azuma, Shoji (1993) The frame-content hypothesis in speech production: evidence from intrasentential codeswitching. Linguistics 31: 1071-94.

    Baker, Opal R. (1980) Categories of codeswitching in Hispanic communities: Untangling the terminology. Working Papers in Sociolinguistics, 74-80.

    Chomsky, Noam (1986) Knowledge of language: its nature, origin, and use. New York: Praeger.

    DiSciullo, Anne Marie, Muysken, Pieter and Singh, Rajendra (1986) Codemixing and government. Journal of Linguistics 22: 1-24.

    Grosjean, Fran�ois (1996) Processing mixed language: issues, findings, models. In Annet de Groot and Judith Kroll (eds.), Tutorials in bilingualism: psycholinguistic perspectives, 225-54. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Kamwangamalu, Nkonko M. (1989) Codemixing across languages: Structure, Functions and Constraints. Doctoral dissertation. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

    Kamwangamalu, Nkonko M. (1996) Sociolinguistic aspects of siSwati- English bilingualism. World Englishes 15, 3: 295-306.

    Kamwangamalu, Nkonko M. (1997) Language contact, codeswitching, and I- languages: evidence from Africa. South African Journal of Linguistics 15, 2: 45-51.

    Kamwangamalu, Nkonko (2000) INFL as a marker of matrix language in codeswitching in a diglossic context. In Arika Okrent and John P. Boyle (eds.) The Proceedings from the Main Session of the Chicago Linguistic Society's Thirty-sixth Meeting, Vol. 36, 1: 197-207.

    Myers-Scotton, Carol (1993) Duelling languages: grammatical structure in codeswitching. Oxford: Clarendon.

    Pfaff, Carol W. (1979) Constraints on language mixing. Language 55: 291-318.

    Poplack, Shana (1980) Sometimes I'll start a sentence in Spanish Y TERMINO EN ESPANOL. Linguitics 18: 581-618.

    Rooij, Vincent de (1996) Cohesion through contrast. French-Swahili codeswitching and Swahili style shifting in Shaba Swahili. Doctoral dissertation, Universiteit van Amsterdam/IFOTT.

    Sankoff, David and Poplack, Shana (1984) Borrowing: the synchrony of integration. Linguistics 22: 99-136.

    Thomason, Sarah G. and Kaufmann, Terence (1988) Language contact, creolization and genetic linguistics. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Traffers-Daller, Jeanine (1994) Mixing two languages: French-Dutch contact in a comparative perspective. Berlin: Mouton.

    About the reviewer: Nkonko M Kamwangamalu holds a PhD in linguistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. He has taught English language and linguistics at the National University of Singapore and the University of Swaziland and is currently Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Natal in Durban, South Africa. His main areas of research interests include multilingualism, codeswitching and codemixing, language policy and planning, new Englishes, and African linguistics.