Syntactic Constraints in Chichewa/English Code- Switching

Syntactic Constraints in Chichewa/English Code-Switching






Syntactic Constraints in Chichewa/English Code-
Switching

Christopher Batteen
University of Minnesota, Department of Linguistics



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Introduction

I have been receiving email from a Yahoo group named Ntchezi, which includes
many young, elite, and educated Malawians. An important aspect of this group
involves the incredible amount of English that is used in conjunction with
Chichewa. The data that I use come from basic emails that are exchanged among
the Ntchezi group. I believe that Chichewa and English code-switching, although
seemingly sporadic, is syntactically constrained. I will discuss the various types of
code-switching that is utilized. There are five main categories that I will divide
these constraints into, which include: borrowings (or English spelling), head
switches, phrasal switches, wh-phrase switches, and English syntactically
structured sentences.

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Borrowing

Borrowing tends to be specific words that appear in Chichewa sentences that are
translated into English. Many of these words have been translated into English,
because there are no equivalent words in Chichewa for the English gloss. They
tend to borrow at the head level as opposed to the phrasal level (but not always).
An example of this kind of borrowing is: Tachitani download Picasa2 kuti
muzichitira edit zithunzi zanuzi.

(1A) Ta-chitani download Picasa2 kuti mu-zi-chitira edit zithunzi zanuzi
1PL.PST-do download Picasa2 that 2SG-must-do edit pictures news

‘We have downloaded Picasa2 so that you must edit the news pictures.’

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The interesting aspect of this sentence involves the head choice that is borrowed.
Only noun heads are borrowed for this example, although both ‘download’ and
‘edit’ are commonly used as verbs in English. The syntactic structure would
appear like below. I do not differentiate between DPs and NPs in the examples.

(1B)
[CP[IPTa[VPchitani[NP[Ndownload][PPPicasa2]]-
[CPkuti[IPmuzi[VPchitira[NP[Nedit][PPzithunzi[PPzanuzi]]]]]]]]]]

This example shows some constraints involved in borrowing. First of all, only the
head switches to English, and not the entire phrase. The NPs do not entirely
switch, because the embedded PPs remain as Chichewa. (Picasa2 is a computer
program, thus a proper name.) The other interesting aspect of this example
involves the lack of inflection used to indicate prepositions for the borrowed noun
heads. The complements of the borrowed words do not contain any phonetic
content for the preposition heads. If there would be phonetic content in the
preposition head positions, ‘edit yazithunzi’ would surface. The morpheme ‘ya-’
would indicate agreement with the noun ‘edit’. This is in contrast with
prepositional inflection for non-borrowed words such as ‘zithunzi’. The PP
‘zanuzi’ includes the marker ‘za-‘ to indicate agreement with the noun ‘zithunzi’.
The word ‘zanuzi’ may seem like a “borrowed” word, but it has been entirely
integrated into Chichewa and would not be recognized necessarily as English,
because of the fact that it is used with non-English speakers of Chichewa. Other
examples of borrowing include English spellings of Chichewa words that have
been adopted; for example:

(2)
U-ka-funa number ndi-ku-patsa

2SG-COND-want number 1SG-2SG-give

‘You are going to want a number for me to give you.’

The Chichewa orthography would be ‘nambala’ due to pronunciation. The
pluralization of English words is also common, for example:

(3) Kungoti ma-camera ake-wo Lu.
To just PL-camera OSS-3SG Lu

‘To just her cameras (of Lu)’

The morpheme ‘ma’ makes ‘camera’ plural in Chichewa. This also shows that
borrowing switches frequently at the head level of syntax.

Chichewa speakers tend to borrow only lexical categories such as nouns,
and possibly adverbs and adjectives but no verbs. I believe that function words
like prepositions, complementizers, determiners, and tenses are rarely borrowed.

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Syntactic Constraints in Chichewa/English Code-Switching

An example of a head-switch for an adverb involves the sentence: Ine ndili
busy kuwelenga pano...

(4A) Ine ndi-li busy ku-werelenga pano

I 1SG-be busy INF-reading now
‘I am busy reading now.’

(4B)
[CP[IPIne ndi[VPli[AP[Abusy][CP[IPku[VPwerelenga[APpano]]]]]]]]


Another borrowing, although rare, appears to be a conjunction. The
example:

(5)
Plus kodi …

Plus denotes question

‘Plus…?’

‘Plus’ appears to be functioning as a conjunction like ‘and’ or ‘but’.

Verbs, on the other hand, do not appear to be borrowed or switched at all.
Chichewa speakers tend to turn the verbs into nouns in order to properly switch
them into a Chichewa syntactic construction. This might be due to the affixation
present on all verbs and the lack of inflection on nouns. The verbs tend to be
agglutinating while the nouns, adjectives, and adverbs tend to isolate. For
example: Tangopanga check apa.

(6)
T-ango-panga check apa.

1PL-have.just-make check there

‘We have just made a check there.’

The subject, the tense, and aspect markers, are all prefixed to the verb, for this
example. Another example, sunandipeze:

(7)
S-u-na-ndi-pez-e

NEG-2SG-PST-1SG-find-SUBJ

‘You could not find me.’

The verb is very much embedded in this example and the utterance,
*sunandifinde, would never surface. The affixation of the agglutinating verbs
appears to disallow any V head switches or VP switches in general from
occurring.
Nouns, on the other hand, isolate themselves from affixation. For
example:

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(8)
System ya-thu

System POSS-1PL

‘Our system’

The NP contains the possessive ‘yathu’ (ours). The noun is borrowed from
English, but the possessive does not need to be switched into English.

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Head-switches

Borrowed words from English into Chichewa syntactic structure seem to switch
most frequently for head positions, as opposed to phrasal categories. There are a
few examples where Chichewa words are translated directly into English words,
which have equivalent meanings. One example involves the sentence fragment:
Fridaytu lero,….

(9)
Friday-tu lero

Friday-EMPH today

‘Friday(with emphasis) today.’

This example here involves an English noun being affixed with a Chichewa
enclitic that reinforces the statement. Although there is the equivalent word in
Chichewa, lachisanu, for Friday, it seems like it has been borrowed and adopted
fully into the language. Many Chichewa speakers would not hesitate to use
‘Friday’ as opposed to ‘lachisanu’, which could explain the affixation of ‘Friday’
by a Chichewa enclitic. This is more evidence that borrowings or near-borrowings
change frequently at the head level.

Another possible head switch involves prepositions. The sentence:

(10)
Panopa ndi-ku-ngo-dikila Yankho from Lucy osati...

Now 1SG-HAB-just-wait answer from Lucy and not

‘Now I’m just waiting for an answer from Lucy and not…’

The difficulty here involves the use of the proper name ‘Lucy’. ‘Lucy’ is ‘Lucy’
and it should not matter whether it is an ‘English’ proper name or not, but the
‘from’ preposition might have been influenced by ‘Lucy’ to switch into English.
One can construe this construction to switch either at the head level or at the
phrasal level, due to the complicated nature of this specific proper name.

4
Phrasal-switches


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Syntactic Constraints in Chichewa/English Code-Switching
More of the code-switching occurs at the phrasal level. This usually indicates
Chichewa speakers who are very educated in English and choose to switch back
and forth between the two languages. When code-switching occurs at the phrasal
level, more freedom is allowed for switching. The only phrasal category, which
definitely does not switch for Chichewa constructions, is the VP. The heavily
affixed verbs in Chichewa reveal much difficulty for the switches to occur.
Here is a simple example of two conjoined CPs: Chabwino mwawina.
Koma what a stinker!!!!!

(11)
Chabwino mwa-wina Koma what a stinker

Good 2SG.PST-win but what a stinker

‘Good, you’ve won, but what a stinker.’

This shows that a Chichewa structured CP can be conjoined with an English
structured CP. Another example shows the switch occurring at the IP. Here is an
example: …kuti your winning the knock out stage…

(12A) kuti your winning the knock out stage

that your winning the knock out stage’

‘that you are winning the knock out stage.’

(12B) [CPkuti[IPYour[VPwinning[NPthe knock out stage]]]]


The NP/DP can also switch to English quite easily. Here is an example of
this: …amapezeka mu the last 8…

(13A) A-ma-pezeka mu the last 8

3PL-HAB-be.found in the last 8

‘They are found in the last 8.’

(13B) [CP[IPama[VPpezeka[PPmu[NPthe last 8]]]]]

For this example the entire NP clearly switches to English from a Chichewa
sentence structure. The determiner and the adjective switch from Chichewa into
English along with the noun. This shows that the entire NP switched and not just
the head noun.

Another category, which may switch to English from Chichewa, is the AP.
An example of an AP switch involves the sentence: …ndilipo full time.




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(14A) …ndi-lipo full time.

1SG-be.around full time

‘…I am around always.’


(14B) [CP[IPTa[VPimbatu[APlero][CP[IPndi[VPlipo[APfull time]]]]]]]

‘Full time’ means that they will be around always. It works as a noun in English,
but functions like an adverb in Chichewa.

The PP, as stated above, can be construed as either a head switch from
Chichewa to English or a phrasal switch. The evidence for either case is not
particularly strong, because proper names could be considered English or
Chichewa.

Besides the VP, most phrasal categories seem to be able switch from
Chichewa to English. What about wh-phrases?

4
Wh-phrase switching

Another interesting aspect of code-switching between Chichewa and English
involves wh-phrases. For Chichewa syntactic sentences, there is no movement for
wh-phrases. Here is a Chichewa sentence: Kodi Felix Chidotheyu bwanji?

(15)
Kodi
Felix Chidotheyu bwanji?

denotes question Felix Chidotheyu how

‘Felix Chidotheyu…How?!’

The tendency for code-switching for a Chichewa based structure involves no
movement of the wh-phrase. For example, the sentence: Nanga kumangotumiza
mdima wokhawokha, how?

(16A) Nanga ku-mango-tumiza mdima wokhawokha how?

well.then INF-just-send darkness alone how

‘Well, then, why is one just sending someone alone in the dark?!

(16B) [CPnanga[IPkumango[VPtumiza[[NPmdima[AP[wokhawokha]][APhow]]]]]]

An approximate translation of this sentence into English would be: ‘Well, then,
why send someone by themselves at night?’ The above example shows that
movement does not need to occur for a Chichewa construct even if the wh-phrase
is changed into English.

When the syntactic structure is based in English, movement does occur.
For example, the sentence:

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Syntactic Constraints in Chichewa/English Code-Switching

(17A) How is ma truck a fodya supposed to transport fodya ngati ku-li-be
msewu?
How is my truck of tobacco supposed to transport tobacco if INF-be-NEG
road
‘How is my tobacco truck supposed to transport tobacco if there is no
road?’

The wh-phrase actually moves from an embedded clause and switches to English
during the movement to the front of the sentence. It would look like this:

(17B) [CPHowi[IPisj[NPma truck a fodya][VPtj[VPsuposed[CPt’i[IPto[VPtransport
fodya[APti][CP[C’ngati][IPku[VPlibe[NPmsewu]]]]]]]]]]]

This construction shows the wh-phrase moving to accommodate the English
sentence. The matrix CP and the first embedded CP are constructed based on
English syntax, thus allowing movement, but the deepest embedded CP relies on a
Chichewa structure. The wh-phrase originates in the first embedded clause, which
is English, and moves to the front of the matrix clause, which is also English. This
sentence is also a good example of code-switching from English based structures
into Chichewa.

5
English Based Structures

Sometimes the sentence begins in English, but then switches to Chichewa.
It is messier to say that a group of head positions have switched to English, but
the sentence is syntactically Chichewa based. For example the sentence: I love
you kwambiri.

(18A) I love you kwambiri
I love you much

‘I love you very much.’

The structure would appear like this:
(18B) [CP[IPI[VPlove[NPyou[APkwambiri]]]]]

It is much simpler to say that this sentence is syntactically English based and only
the AP switches to Chichewa. If one would say that it is primarily a Chichewa
construct, then it is essential to say the specifier to the IP switches to English as
well as the V head, and the N head. This analysis is messy; therefore it is more

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logical to assume that it is an English sentence. Another interesting part of
English based sentence code-switching involves the switch of complementizers
into Chichewa. For example the sentence: Ask yourself kuti in the past 10 years…

(19A) Ask yourself kuti in the past 10 years…
Ask yourself that in the past 10 years

‘Ask yourself that in the past 10 years…’

(19B) [CP[IP[VPask yourself[CP[C’kuti][IPin the past 10 years…

There is a complementizer head switch from English to Chichewa for this
example. This does affect the entire embedded clause.

6
Conclusions

Code-switching of Chichewa and English have certain constraints. There seems to
be switching from Chichewa to English at the head level especially for borrowed
words. Chichewa speakers tend to avoid borrowing English VPs or V heads, but
manage to transform them into nouns if needed. The inflection on the PPs
following many borrowed words are absent, especially when an English verb is
used as a Chichewa noun. Most all phrasal category switches are definitely
possible, and easier to prove. Evidence is definitely lacking for VPs due to
agglutinating verbs with many affixes. The only possible verbal switch involves
an English based structure switching to Chichewa, then back to English for
another layer of VP. This is shown in example (17). I have never seen a Chichewa
based structure switch a VP phrase or V head into English. Wh-phrases are very
interesting especially in regards to movement. Wh-phrases tend to move if the
sentence is syntactically English, but do not move if the structure is Chichewa
based. Sometimes the English sentence does not move the wh-phrase. More
research on code-switching between Chichewa and English is necessary, but I
believe that much of this evidence should hold true with other data. It would be
interesting to hear an English-speaker code-switch to Chichewa.


References

Ntchezi Yahoo Group. Emails from September 20th-October 4th 2005.
Salaun, Rev. Fr. N. 1993. Chichewa: Intensive Course. Likuni Press and
Publishing House. Lilongwe.



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Syntactic Constraints in Chichewa/English Code-Switching
Christopher Batteen
2850 Quebec Ave. So.
St. Louis Park, MN 55426

batteenc@umn.edu

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