Table Of ContentNEW APPROACHES TO
ENGLISH HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS
Code-Switching
Unifying Contemporary and
Historical Perspectives
Mareike L. Keller
New Approaches to English Historical Linguistics
Series Editors
Sara Pons-Sanz
School of English, Communication and Philosophy
Cardiff University
Cardiff, UK
Louise Sylvester
Department of English, Linguistics and Cultural Studies
University of Westminster
London, UK
The field of historical linguistics has traditionally been made up of the
theoretical study of the various levels of linguistic analysis: phonology,
morphology, syntax, vocabulary and semantics. However, scholars have
increasingly become aware of the significance of other methods of applied/
culturally aware research which were initially introduced to examine pres-
ent day English, e.g. stylistics, sociolinguistics, pragmatics, code- switching
and other language contact phenomena. This has produced exciting new
avenues for exploration but has inevitably led to specialization and frag-
mentation within the field.
This series brings together work in either one or several of these areas,
thus enabling a dialogue within the new conceptualization of language
study and English historical linguistics. The series includes descriptive
and/or theoretical work on the history of English and the way in which it
has been shaped by its contact with other languages in Britain and beyond.
Much of the work published in the series is engaged in redefining the dis-
cipline and its boundaries.
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15079
Mareike L. Keller
Code-Switching
Unifying Contemporary and Historical Perspectives
Mareike L. Keller
Anglistik IV
University of Mannheim
Mannheim, Germany
New Approaches to English Historical Linguistics
ISBN 978-3-030-34666-9 ISBN 978-3-030-34667-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34667-6
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A
cknowledgments
This little book has emerged out of several years of post-doctoral research
on code-switching in historical texts. It could not have come together
without the professional feedback and friendly encouragement of a num-
ber of people and the support of different organizations.
I want to express my gratitude above all to Patrick Horner for his
remarkable edition of MS Bodley 649 and his helpful comments on my
first steps toward this book, as well as to the Pontifical Institute of
Mediaeval Studies, Toronto, for providing me with a searchable PDF ver-
sion of this edition. I am very grateful to Rosemarie Tracy for access to the
data collected for the project “Sprachkontakt Deutsch-Englisch: Code-
switching, Crossover & Co” (DFG project number 5466620) and permis-
sion to use examples. All images from MS Bodley 649 are reproduced by
kind permission of The Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford.
Images from Balliol MS 149 are reproduced by kind permission of the
Master and Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford. In this context I also thank
librarians Daryl Green and Anne Chesher from Magdalen College, Oxford,
and Amy Boylan from Balliol for providing me with images of their unique
manuscripts and assisting me during my onsite research.
My deep thanks go to Herbert Schendl, Richard Ingham, and Theresa
Biberauer for their open-minded interest, giving me the confidence to
present my ideas to a wider audience; Marigold Norbye for introducing
me to the secrets of paleography and for helping me to solve some of the
most challenging paleographical riddles in my data; the series editors, Sara
Pons-Sanz and Louise Sylvester, for inviting me to write this little book,
and for their careful feedback on the manuscript; the reviewers of the book
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
proposal for their insightful suggestions and comments; the editorial team
at Palgrave Macmillan for their expert advice and assistance; and last but
not least my mother and my brother for their unfaltering support during
the writing process, helping me to organize my thoughts and keeping me
focused on my goal.
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
References 8
2 Understanding the Grammar of Mixed Language 11
2.1 The Study of Code-Switching Structures 14
2.1.1 Constraint-Based Approaches 15
2.1.2 The MLF Model: Relevant Detail 19
2.1.3 Critical Voices 23
2.2 Historical Multilingualism and Code-Switching 26
2.2.1 Studying Historical Mixed Texts: A Contrastive
Overview 27
2.2.2 Challenges of Mixed Language Manuscripts 30
2.2.3 Exploring the Diachronic Trajectory of Code-
Switching 32
References 34
3 Early English Code-Switching 39
3.1 Mixed Language Sermons 40
3.2 Variation Within the Noun Phrase 49
3.2.1 Data and Methodology 50
3.2.2 The Curious Case of Case Marking 52
3.2.3 Three Quirky Examples 54
3.2.4 Intermediate Summary 61
vii
viii CONTENTS
3.3 Stability Within the Verb Phrase 61
3.3.1 Data and Methodology 65
3.3.2 The Pivotal Role of the Finite Verb 66
3.3.3 Two Morphological Riddles 71
3.3.4 Intermediate Summary 74
References 75
4 Code-Switching Across Time and Space 79
4.1 Assessing the Results 80
4.2 Theoretical Implications 83
4.3 Outlook 87
References 89
Index 93
A
bbreviAtions
CP Complementizer phrase
CS Code-switching
DP Determiner phrase
EL Embedded language
IP Inflectional phrase
ML Matrix Language
MLF Matrix Language Frame (model)
ix
