Building verbs in language mixing varieties

This paper discusses two patterns of language mixing involving verbal predicates produced by bilingual speakers, the so-called light verb construction and the so-called affixal pattern. The empirical focus of the study is on Greek-German and Cypriot Greek-English varieties, which are contrasted to t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inZeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft Vol. 36; no. 1; pp. 165 - 192
Main Author Alexiadou, Artemis
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published De Gruyter Mouton 01.06.2017
De Gruyter
Subjects
affixal pattern
distributed morphology
language-mixing
light verb construction
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ISSN0721-9067
1613-3706
DOI10.1515/zfs-2017-0008

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Summary:This paper discusses two patterns of language mixing involving verbal predicates produced by bilingual speakers, the so-called light verb construction and the so-called affixal pattern. The empirical focus of the study is on Greek-German and Cypriot Greek-English varieties, which are contrasted to the Spanish-German variety discussed in González-Vilbazo and López (2011). An analysis of the constructions is offered using the tools of Distributed Morphology and Minimalist Syntax. The paper shows that bilingual speakers have very detailed knowledge of fine properties of their two linguistic systems that become apparent in the context of building verbs.
ISSN:0721-9067
1613-3706
DOI:10.1515/zfs-2017-0008