%0 Journal Article 
%A Balam, Osmer
%T Code-switching and Linguistic Evolution: The case of ‘Hacer + V’ in Orange Walk, Northern Belize

%D 2015
%@ 1889-5425
%U http://hdl.handle.net/10017/22744
%X This paper provides an insight into the syntactic evolution of bilingual
light verb constructions in Northern Belize Spanish/English/Kriol
code-switching. Quantitative analyses of syntactic verb type and
pronoun type were conducted to examine the cross-generational use
of these hybrid structures in the spontaneous oral production of 62
bilingual/trilingual speakers from Northern Belize. Results revealed
that participants in the younger age groups employed ‘hacer + V’
markedly more than the eldest consultants. Whereas bilingual light
verb constructions amongst first generation speakers were attested
only with transitive, intransitive and ditransitive verbs, there was an
expansion of these constructions to other syntactic contexts in the
discourse of second and third generation speakers. For pronoun
type, the incorporation of clitic and pronominal forms was particularly
attested among younger generations. The analysis discusses
changes in the use of these syntactic innovations vis-à-vis Belize’s
sociohistorical milieu and highlights some features of ‘hacer + V’
which do not conform to mainstream views on what constitutes
‘nonce borrowings’.

%K Northern Belizean Spanish
%K Bilingualism
%K Code-switching
%K Language change
%K Syntactic evolution
%K Bilingual light verb constructions
%K El español en el norte de Belice
%K Bilingüismo
%K La alternancia de código
%K Cambios lingüísticos
%K Evolución sintáctica
%K Perífrasis verbales bilingües con hacer
%K Lingüística
%K Linguistics
%K Sociología
%K Sociology
%~ Biblioteca Universidad de Alcala