Semantic Categories and Gender Assignment in Contact Spanish: Type of Code Switching and its Relevance to Linguistic Outcomes
The present study examines two aspects of determiner phrases DP s) that have been previously investigated in Spanish/English code switching; namely, the openness of semantic domains to non native nouns and gender assignment in monolingual versus code switched speech. The quantitative analysis of naturalistic, oral production data from 62 native speakers of Northern Belizean Spanish revealed both similarities and notable differences vis a vis previous findings for varieties of Spanish/English code switching in the U.S Hispanophone context. Semantic domains that favoured non native nouns in Spanish/English DP s included academia, technology, work/money related terms, abstract concepts, linguistics/language terms and everyday items. In relation to gender assignation, assignment patterns in monolingual DP s were canonical whereas an overwhelming preference for the masculine default gender was attested in mixed DP s. Biological gender was not found to be deterministic in switched DP s. The analysis highlights the important role that type of code switching has on contact outcomes in bi/multilingual communities, as speech patterns are reflective of the status and resourcefulness that code switching is afforded at a societal and idiolectal level.