Asymmetries in L2 Spanish learners' processing of Spanish-English code-switching

Code-switching, or the rapid alternation from one language to another, is of particular interest to linguists because bilinguals can rapidly code-switch without causing any difficulties in communication. Previous research into Spanish-English code-switching has found that Spanish-English code-switchers from the southeastern United States demonstrate a robust preference for code-switches between the auxiliary verb estar and an English present participle (i.e., está eating) relative to switches between the light verb hacer and an English lexical infinitive (hizo eat) despite the light verb switch being syntactically plausible. Similarly, studies on the processing of Spanish-English code-switching have determined that these bilinguals predict the identity of an English noun based on the grammatical gender of the Spanish determiner. This prediction occurs with switches containing feminine nouns (i.e., la ball) but not masculine nouns (i.e., el bone). Despite this wealth of research, research on Spanish-English code-switching has largely ignored how late L2 learners of Spanish process Spanish-English code-switching, and if simply being exposed to but not necessarily participating in code-switching guides processing.

To investigate L2 Spanish learners’ processing of Spanish-English code-switching, we conducted an eye-tracking while reading study. Participants read sentences containing switches in between the two verbs of the bilingual verb complex (está eating; ha eaten) and also before the first verb of the complex (…is eating; …have eaten). Similarly, participants read sentences containing code-switches where the determiner and English translation equivalent had congruent grammatical gender (la ball, el bone) and incongruent grammatical gender (el ball, la bone).

This project was guided by the following research questions:

1. To what degree do late L2 Spanish learners demonstrate processing difficulties with light verb switches relative to progressive switches?
2. To what degree do late L2 Spanish learners engage in prediction based on grammatical gender, and does this prediction occur solely with feminine determiners?

This project found that with bilingual verb switches, participants processed light verb and progressive switches similarly with early reading measures but demonstrated difficulties processing the light verb switches in late processing measures. Additionally, participants experienced longer reading times in the spillover region (two words after the code-switch) with switches preceded by masculine but not feminine determiners, indicating that the prediction may have occurred with the feminine determiner. There were especially long reading times with incongruent code-switches with a masculine determiner (el ball).

These findings highlight that being exposed to particular asymmetries in code-switching, like the reliability of feminine translation equivalents after la and switches occurring more frequently after progressive but not light verbs, is sufficient to guide L2 learners’ processing. Put differently, one does not need to be a native Spanish speaker nor an active participant in code-switching to demonstrate processing aligned with these asymmetries.

Project concluded- Co-authored manuscript published in the proceedings of Bilingualism in the Hispanic and Lusophone World 4

I collaborated with PhD Candidate Hannah Treadway, who led the project, and Dr. Jorge Valdés Kroff on this project.