Adjective Placement In Code-Switched Determiner Phrases

The present study examines the relative order of noun-adjective sequences within code-switched Determiner Phrases. Several hypotheses have been considered: is this a property defined by the determiner (Bartlett, 2013), the noun (Arnaus et al., 2012) or the adjective (Cantone & MacSwan, 2009)? Or on the contrary, if a carrier phrase is present, does it influence the N/A order (Balam & Parafita Couto, 2019; Parafita Couto et al, 2015; Parafita Couto et al 2017)? Several studies have reviewed this issue, however, none of them has taken into account an accurate division of Spanish adjectives in regards to its position in relation to the noun. I propose a new way of examining the problem by looking at the adjective placement in code-switched DPs by implementing this adjective division. I conducted a total of two experiments with two different language pairs. For the first one, a total of twenty-four Basque/Spanish bilinguals took part. In Basque, adjectives are rigidly postnominal, while in Spanish adjectives can be obligatorily prenominal, obligatorily postnominal or can appear both pre and postnominally. In this first study, my results align with the predictions made by the adjective hypothesis. A second experiment was carried out improving the methodological consideration of the previous experiment and with a new language pair so that results can be generalizable and not specific to one language pair. For this experiment, the language pair chosen was English and Spanish (English adjectives being prenominal). Results also align with the adjective hypothesis, although further research is required in order to determine the extent to which some factors can influence participants’ ratings. Thus, my results confirm Cantone and MacSwan (2009).