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The Syntax of Arabic
and French Code
Switching in Morocco
Mustapha Aabi
The Syntax of Arabic and French Code
Switching in Morocco
 Mustapha Aabi

The Syntax of Arabic

and French Code
Switching in Morocco
Mustapha Aabi
Department of English Studies
Université Ibn Zohr
Agadir, Morocco

ISBN 978-3-030-24849-9 ISBN 978-3-030-24850-5 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24850-5

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
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 Preface

Contact between different speech communities represents one breeding

ground for change and accommodation which can affect the forms as
well as the functions of language. Code switching (CS), as one result
of this contact situation, is an important setting in which to display the
dominance of one language over another, or to witness the resolve of a
speech community to incorporate another language so as to satisfy their
needs, be they syntactic, lexical or pragmatic. The aim of this book is
to trace the formal manifestations of this type of language negotiation
whereby switching occurs between two or more languages. It will be
shown that, in a CS situation, collision of languages is highly regular-
ized by specific syntactic features. A number of different approaches to
CS structural constraints are considered, and a model, the Functional
Parameter Constraint (FPC), based on the analysis of selectional prop-
erties of the functional heads is advocated. The underlying assumption
of the FPC, which owes its theoretical motivation to recent syntac-
tic research (e.g., Chomsky 1995; Ouhalla 1991, 1999; Ouhalla and
Shlonsky 2002; White 2003; Borsley 2016), is that inter-language
parameters, as opposed to language universals, constrain CS. Parameters
are restricted to the features of functional categories, given that their

v
vi      Preface

lexical counterparts are conceptually selected entries which are drawn

from an invariant universal vocabulary, and, therefore, are not to be
parameterized (Chomsky 1995).
Three selectional properties for which functional categories can be
parameterized cross-linguistically are identified, namely c-selection,
m-selection and grammatical features. A corpus consisting of naturally
occurring data was collected to provide the empirical evidence to test
the tenets of the book. The inquiry undertaken has shown that selec-
tional requirements for Spec and complement largely account for code
switching patterns in the Moroccan situation.

Agadir, Morocco Mustapha Aabi

References
Borsley, R. 2016. Syntactic Theory: A Unified Approach, 2nd ed. London:
Routledge.
Chomsky, N. 1995. The Minimalist Program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Ouhalla, J. 1991. Functional Categories and Parametric Variation. London:
Routledge.
———. 1999. Introducing Transformational Grammar: From Principles and
Parameters to Minimalism. London: Edward Arnold.
Ouhalla, J., and U. Shlonsky, eds. 2002. Themes in Arabic and Hebrew Syntax.
Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
White, L. 2003. Second Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
 Acknowledgements

A special word of gratitude is due to Prof. Joseph Bell for his reading,
reviewing and editing which brought this book to its present shape. I
would also like to express my thanks to my family and to my friends
and colleagues for their unwavering support and encouragement. This
journey would not have been possible without the little big inspiration
of Rayan.

vii
 Contents

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Background and Motivation 1
1.2 Theoretical Framework 2
1.3 Organization of the Book 4
References 5

2 Defining Code Switching 7

2.1 Introduction 7
2.2 Interference, Borrowing and Code Switching 8
2.3 Code Switching: Diglossia or Bilingualism? 16
2.4 Code Switching: Alternational, Insertional or Fusional? 20
2.4.1 Switching Boundaries 21
2.4.2 Insertional Code Switching 24
2.4.3 Alternational Code Switching 27
2.4.4 Fusional Code Switching 29
2.5 Conclusion 31
References 31

ix
x      Contents

3 The Moroccan Linguistic Profile 37

3.1 Introduction 37
3.2 Languages 38
3.2.1 Standard Arabic 38
3.2.2 Moroccan Arabic 41
3.2.3 French 42
3.2.4 Berber 43
3.3 Earlier Work on CS in the Moroccan Context 44
3.4 Conclusion 55
References 56

4 Different Proposals for Constraining Code Switching 59

4.1 Introduction 59
4.2 The Equivalence Model 61
4.2.1 The Equivalence Constraint 61
4.2.2 The Free Morpheme Principle 66
4.2.3 Nonce Borrowing: A Rescue for the
Equivalence and Free Morpheme Principles 69
4.3 The Matrix Model 72
4.3.1 System Morphemes in the MLF Model 74
4.3.2 Content Morphemes in the MLF Model 77
4.3.3 Word Order in the MLF Model 80
4.4 The Syntactic-Theory Model 83
4.5 Conclusion 90
References 91

5 Syntactic Theory and Code Switching: The Functional

Parameter Constraint 95
5.1 Introduction 95
5.2 Theoretical Framework of the FPC 96
5.2.1 Parameterization Theory 97
5.2.2 Functional Categories and Code Switching 104
5.2.3 Functional Categories vs. Lexical Categories 108
5.3 Setting the Parameters 113
5.3.1 The Syntax of Arabic and French 113
5.3.1.1 VSO/SVO Word Orders 113
 Contents     xi

5.3.1.2 Noun-Adjective Phrases 121

5.3.1.3 Adverbs 124
5.3.1.4 Prepositions 126
5.3.2 Code Switching Constraints 128
5.4 Conclusion 136
References 137

6 Introducing the Data and the Participants 141

6.1 Introduction 141
6.2 Looking for Fluent Bilinguals 142
6.3 Bilingual Groups in Morocco 143
6.4 Procedures of Data Collection 144
6.5 Data Sets of the Present Study 147
6.5.1 Data Set One 147
6.5.2 Data Set Two 148
6.5.3 Data Set Three 149
6.6 Data Selection and Transcription 150
6.7 Data Analysis 151
6.8 Conclusion 153
References 154

7 Code Switching Between Moroccan Arabic and French 157

7.1 Introduction 157
7.2 The Role of Functional Categories in Constraining
Moroccan Arabic/French Code Switching 158
7.2.1 Code Switching of DP 158
7.2.2 Code Switching of IP 173
7.2.3 Code Switching of CP 179
7.3 The Role of Lexical Categories in Constraining
Moroccan Arabic/French Code Switching 182
7.3.1 Code Switching of Prepositions 183
7.3.2 Code Switching of Adjectives 190
7.3.3 Code Switching of Nouns 194
7.3.4 Code Switching of Adverbials 197
7.4 Conclusion 199
References 200
xii      Contents

8 Code Switching Between Moroccan and Standard Arabic 203

8.1 Introduction 203
8.2 The Role of Functional Categories in Constraining
Moroccan/Standard Arabic Code Switching 204
8.2.1 Code Switching of DP 204
8.2.2 Code Switching of IP 209
8.2.3 Code Switching of CP 217
8.3 The Role of Lexical Categories in Constraining
Moroccan/Standard Arabic Code Switching 219
8.3.1 Code Switching of Prepositions 220
8.3.2 Code Switching of Adjectives 222
8.3.3 Code Switching of Nouns 226
8.3.4 Code Switching of Adverbs 228
8.4 From Code Switching to Code Mixing: The Case
of Middle Moroccan Arabic 230
8.4.1 A New Phono-Templatic Structure 231
8.4.2 A New Morphosyntactic Structure 233
8.4.3 A New Lexicostylistic Structure 239
8.5 Conclusion 241
References 242

9 Code Switching: The FPC and Beyond 245

9.1 Introduction 245
9.2 Accounting for Asymmetries 246
9.3 The FPC: A Way Forward 249
9.4 Summary 252
9.5 Implications for Further Research 254
References 256

Index 259
 Symbols and Abbreviations

[] One-to-one translation
{} Idiomatic translation
// Phonemic transcription
/ Switchable syntactic position
// Prohibitive syntactic position
* Ungrammatical or unacceptable
acc Accusative
Adj Adjective
Adv Adverb
AGR Agreement
AGRg Gender agreement
AGRn Number agreement
AGRP Agreement phrase
AGPp Person agreement
AGRs Agreement subject (structural subject)
ASP Aspect
Comp Complementizer
COP Copula
CP Complementizer phrase
CS Code switching
dat Dative

xiii
xiv      Symbols and Abbreviations

Det Determiner
DP Determiner phrase
DS Data set
EL Embedded language
FC Functional category
fem Feminine
FH Functional head
FPC Functional parameter constraint
Fr French
GB Government and binding
gen Genitive
HP Head parameter
I/INFL Inflection
IND Indefinite article
INE Inessive
IP Inflection phrase
LC Lexical category
Lq Language index
MA Moroccan Arabic
masc Masculine
ML Matrix language
MLF Matrix language frame (model)
MMA Middle Moroccan Arabic
N Noun
NEG Negation
neg Negation specifier element
NEGP Negation phrase
nom Nominative
NP Noun phrase
obl Oblique
PP Prepositional phrase
p Person
P Preposition
PART Partitive
perf Perfective
plr Plural
pre Present
 Symbols and Abbreviations     xv

REF Reflexive
S Sentence
SA Standard Arabic
sing Singular
Spec Specifier
SS Style shifting
subj Subjunctive
TNS Tense
UG Universal grammar
In each switching example, one language and its corresponding symbol in
the citation (e.g., SA or Fr) will be italicized. Bold print will indicate corefer-
entiality between two elements or refer to parts of words or sentences that are
uttered identically in two languages, and a decision as to which language they
belong to cannot be reached.
 Notations

a; ā Lower and more centralized in the presence of pharyngeal sounds, front

and half open with plain consonants
b Labial, plosive
ḅ Pharyngealized b
d Dental, plosive
ḍ Pharyngealized d
ḏ Dental, fricative
ḏ̣ Pharyngealized ḏ, Arabic ‫ظ‬
e Mid-close front vowel
ə Schwa
f Labiodental
g Velar, plosive
ġ Velar, fricative
h Glottal, fricative
ḥ Pharyngealized h
ḫ Velar, fricative
i; ī Generally, front lip-spread, but exhibit a range of allophonic variation
which depends on consonantal environment
j Palatal, fricative
k Velar, plosive
l Dental, liquid

xvii
xviii      Notations

ḷ Pharyngealized l
m Labial, nasal
ṃ Pharyngealized m
n Alveolar, nasal
q Uvular, plosive
r Alveolar, liquid
s Dental, fricative
ṣ Pharyngealized s
š Alveolar, fricative
t Dental, plosive
ṭ Pharyngealized t
ṯ Dental, fricative
u; ū Generally back, lip-rounded, but may vary depending on its sound
environment
w Lip-rounded, fricative
y Palatal, approximant
z Dental, fricative
ʿ Pharyngeal consonant
ʾ Glottal plosive
In rendering the languages with which we are primarily concerned,
Moroccan Arabic, Standard Arabic and French, the following practice will be
observed. French, whether in stock and invented examples or in transcriptions
from my corpora, will be presented in accordance with the standard orthog-
raphy of the French of France. Standard Arabic, in stock or invented exam-
ples, will be represented by the system given above in accordance with the
normative rules of Modern Standard Arabic. Thus, a distinction will be made
between hamzat al-waṣl for helping vowels (by omitting the sign /ʾ/ before the
vowel) and hamzat al-qaṭʿ, the glottal plosive otherwise considered to be pres-
ent before initial vowels (by displaying /ʾ/). Likewise, the distinction between
all short and long vowels will be shown. In transcribing Standard Arabic from
the corpora, on the other hand, glottal plosives will be represented wher-
ever they are realized by my informants, and long vowels and gemination of
/w/ and /y/ will be marked only where they are clearly audible on the tapes.
Moroccan Arabic will be represented in accordance with the above system as it
is heard on the tapes, or, in invented examples, in a way typical of the speech
of the informants. For the sake of uniformity, transcriptions of Arabic in cita-
tions from other authors will be made to conform to these principles. Other
languages will be represented as in the sources from which they are quoted.
 List of Tables

Table 3.1 Attitudes toward practicality (based on Bentahila 1983, 32) 40

Table 3.2 Attitudes toward identity (based on Bentahila 1983, 32) 40
Table 4.1 Inhibiting points for CS 61
Table 5.1 Two-argument thematic grid 104
Table 5.2 One-argument thematic grid 104
Table 7.1 MA/Fr CS within DP 158
Table 7.2 MA/Fr CS within CP 180
Table 7.3 MA/Fr CS of PP 184
Table 7.4 MA/Fr CS of adjectives 191
Table 7.5 MA/Fr CS of nouns 195
Table 7.6 MA/Fr CS of adverbs 198
Table 8.1 MA/SA CS within DP 205
Table 8.2 MA/SA CS within CP 217
Table 8.3 MA/SA CS of PP 221
Table 8.4 MA/Fr CS of adjectives 223
Table 8.5 MA/SA CS of nouns 226
Table 8.6 MA/SA CS of adverbs 228
Table 8.7 Arabic templatic structures 233

xix
 1
Introduction

1.1 Background and Motivation

The words of Labov (1972, 457) illustrate the issue of how grammati-
cal rules govern switching from language to another: ‘no one has been
able to show that such rapid alternation is governed by any systematic
rules or constraints and we must therefore describe it as the irregular
mixture of two distinct systems’. An issue which has involved research
over several decades, and has become known as code switching (CS).
Indeed, CS is no longer considered as an idiosyncratic linguistic behav-
ior. Rather, it is full of apparent and hidden patterns. Code switching is
not simply a set of sounds, words and structures. It emanates from the
larger domain of society and culture, and at the same time reaches into
of human interaction. CS is not simply a structural property of the col-
lectivity—a lect used exclusively by members of particular group. It is
manipulated by the individual producer of multiple discourses through
intentional ideology (Aabi and Karama 2019).
Every use of language reflects its speaker’s social and linguistic
experiences characteristic of his/her own sociolinguistic background.
Therefore, CS instances must draw their structure and function upon

© The Author(s) 2020 1

M. Aabi, The Syntax of Arabic and French Code Switching in Morocco,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24850-5_1
2    
M. Aabi

the discourse types and linguistic mosaic, which are realized in them.
Every discourse, social and linguistic, consists of a set of schemes that
plan a systematic structuring of two or more languages following
the particular social, pragmatic and cognitive organization of, what
Muysken (2013, 716) calls, the ‘intention to switch’ expressed in the
code switching instance.
As to what underlines or regulates these patterns, it has not been set-
tled by researchers. A great deal of CS research to identify or explain
these patterns has roots in syntactic, sociolinguistic and psycholinguis-
tic approaches. While each approach rather complements the other,
any attempt to describe CS naturally calls on distinctively different per-
spectives. Thus, the main aim of this book is to carry out a syntactic
study of code switching in the Moroccan situation. It intends to exam-
ine the grammatical constraints governing Moroccan Arabic/French and
Moroccan/Standard Arabic bilingual conversations and to integrate and
develop a framework for the study of code switching.
Although work on code switching in the Moroccan situation has been
ongoing for over four decades, none has researched the subject of syn-
tactic constraints in the Moroccan/Standard Arabic situation. As to the
Moroccan Arabic/French situation, several studies have been carried out,
but only few of them have dealt with the subject of syntactic constraints,
and these will be discussed in the course of this book as a contribu-
tion to the ongoing research on the study of code switching in general
and code switching in the Moroccan context in particular. The book
reviews syntactic constraints that regulate the code switching occur-
rences between different language sets and expands the discussion to the
Moroccan context. It provides another brick to build on in understand-
ing the grammatical constraints of code switching, specifically between
Moroccan Arabic/French and Moroccan Arabic/Standard Arabic.

1.2 Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework of the analysis to be undertaken in the pres-
ent book is the assertion guiding much work on language contact that
equivalence between the grammars of two languages facilitates code
 1 Introduction    
3

switching. Underlying this assertion is the assumption that in language

contact situations, code switching is constrained in the same way, and
only by cross-linguistic variation. Proposals to define cross-linguistic
variation or equivalence in the case of code switching have generated
different views establishing both language specific constraints and uni-
versal constraints (Yi Du 2016, 49). Along this divide, researchers either
posited constraints which tend to be specific to code switching or advo-
cated rules that follow from the general principles which govern lan-
guage as a whole.
The view adopted in this regard is uniform in its conception of con-
straints for both monolingual and bilingual constructions. It follows
from syntactic theory that language is a set of principles and parameters.
It also builds on the assumption that code switching is governed by the
equivalence paradigm, which requires some kind of congruity between
the two languages involved in the switch. Given these two assumptions,
principles will not, therefore, constrain code switching, in view of the
fact that they are universals innately and identically endowed in all
speakers of any natural language. Parameters, on the other hand, repre-
sent the cross-linguistically variant (i.e., non-equivalent) areas between
two or more languages, and must therefore be constraining in nature
to code switching (Aabi 2004). Parameters are associated with specific
properties of functional categories, such as determiners and inflections,
as opposed to lexical categories, which are conceptually selected entries
existing invariantly in all human languages and which therefore belong
to the set of universals rather than parameters (Ouhalla 1991; Roberts
and Roussou 2003; Morapedi 2018).
Naturally occurring data from conversations of Moroccan
Arabic/French and Moroccan/Standard Arabic bilinguals has been col-
lected in order to examine these issues within this book. The choice
of the two language sets is motivated by the fact that the author is a
speaker of three languages, which allows him to have a sense of language
and code switching, a sense which often translates into accurate intui-
tions about the way languages work in contact situations.
The approach adopted for the analysis of the corpus is largely inter-
pretive in nature. Quantitative data is presented to support the qual-
itative results and illustrate statistically the switching frequency of
4    
M. Aabi

specific categories in order to discard what some researchers (Goldrick

et al. 2016) refer to as atypical instances. Although frequencies are pre-
sented, the approach remains primarily qualitative as the data is ana-
lyzed against the pre-posed hypothesis, and in comparison with what
has been advanced in previous studies of code switching. In this regard,
as Grewswell (2009) posits, a qualitative approach or design must
demonstrate that the context of data collection is natural. In the context
of the present corpus, criteria to ensure favorable conditions for natu-
rally occurring bilingual conversations are set and rigorously observed.
When identifying the language of a category is not straightforward in
the process of data description, the criterion of monolingual accessibil-
ity is used by relying on judges who are native speakers of Moroccan
Arabic with no formal education whatsoever and rarely exposed to other
languages.

1.3 Organization of the Book

The book consists of nine chapters including the present introduc-
tion. In Chapter 2, I will take the controversial issue of the distinction
between (i) code switching and the other language contact phenomena
of interference, borrowing and dialect switching, and (ii) between dif-
ferent types of code switching, namely insertional, alternational and
fusional, with the aim to unify some of the earlier views on the subject.
Chapter 3 will sketch briefly the background against which the book is
set by introducing the linguistic situation in Morocco and a review of
earlier studies on code switching in the Moroccan context. Chapter 4
will present a critical review of different approaches to code switching
in the light of the Moroccan corpus as well as language sets from other
studies. Chapter 5 will provide the theoretical foundations for the anal-
ysis to be carried out later in Chapters 7 and 8. It will set out the main
theoretical tenets of the study as the Functional Parameter Constraint:
The FPC, arguing that code switching, like monolingual construc-
tions, is constrained by parametric values of functional categories.
Chapter 6 will report on the nature of the participants and reflect on
the findings from practice. Chapter 7 will be devoted to the analysis of
 1 Introduction    
5

Moroccan Arabic/French switching found in the corpus using the the-

oretical framework laid out in Chapter 5. A similar analysis will be car-
ried out on Moroccan/Standard Arabic switching in Chapter 8, which
will also explore the applicability of the concept of code mixing in the
Moroccan/Standard Arabic contact situation. The findings obtained
from the analysis will lead to the final chapter, which will provide a
restatement of the strengths as well as the challenges of the FPC.

References
Aabi, M. 2004. On Parametrization and the Syntax of Code Switching.
Languages and Linguistics 13: 67–83.
Aabi, M., and L.A. Karama. 2019. On Shifting Languages and Moving
Ideologies in Migrant Code Switching: The Case of Greeting Speech Acts.
In Trans-Linguistica—Multilingualism and Plurilingualism in Europe, ed.
R. Pletl and G. Kovács. Cluj–Napoca, Romania: EME-Scientia Publishing
House.
Creswell, J.W. 2009. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed
Methods Approaches. Los Angeles: Sage.
Goldrick, M., M. Putnam, and L. Schwarz. 2016. Coactivation in Bilingual
Grammars: A Computational Account of Code Mixing. Bilingualism:
Language and Cognition 19 (5): 857–876.
Labov, W. 1972. Sociolinguistic Patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press.
Morapedi, S. 2018. Journal for Studies in Humanities & Social Sciences 7 (2):
106–120.
Muysken, P. 2013. Language Contact Outcomes as the Result of Bilingual
Optimization Strategies. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 16 (4): 709–730.
Ouhalla, J. 1991. Functional Categories and Parametric Variation. London:
Routledge.
Roberts, I., and A. Roussou. 2003. Syntactic Change: A Minimalist Approach to
Grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Yi, Du. 2016. The Use of First and Second Language in Chinese University EFL
Classrooms. Singapore: Springer.
 2
Defining Code Switching

2.1 Introduction
Although code switching has been an increasingly attractive area of
research, it remains one of the least defined manifestations of language
contact. This is because the study of the phenomenon of CS borrows
heavily from a variety of linguistic disciplines, each of which has con-
tributed to it from a different perspective. Nonetheless, it is generally
agreed that CS involves the alternation of two or more languages. The
level of alternation can occur at intra-sentential as well as inter-sen-
tential boundaries. The distinction between intra- and inter-sentential
CS will be discussed in Chapter 4, which will also review the common
assumption that CS grammaticality does not go beyond the sentence/
clause boundaries.
For now, the definition of CS as the alternation of two languages will
have to be examined in relation to other language contact phenomena
such as interference and borrowing which are often thought to be moti-
vated by different needs and undergo different linguistic processes (Clyne
1967; Romaine 1995; Southern 2005). It follows that only by singling
out CS from other phenomena, can we successfully determine its specific

© The Author(s) 2020 7

M. Aabi, The Syntax of Arabic and French Code Switching in Morocco,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24850-5_2
8    
M. Aabi

characteristics. In the section that follows, I will review the already existing
accounts that have been suggested for this purpose. I will then argue that,
in the process of determining CS grammatical constraints, interference
needs to be distinguished from CS, while borrowing does not.

2.2 Interference, Borrowing and Code

Switching
Within the scope of language contact, the distinction between inter-
ference and CS has often drawn less attention than that between CS
and borrowing. Interference reflects ‘deviations from the language being
spoken (or written) stemming from the influence of the deactivated lan-
guage’ (Grosjean 2010, 68). This view presupposes a strictly monolin-
gual context in which only one language must be operational. If traces
from the other language which are supposed to be deactivated appear,
interference will take place. CS, on the other hand, involves a bilingual
context which assumes the activation of two languages although they
may have different levels of operationality in the sense that one language
is less activated than the other but never completely deactivated (cf.
Myers-Scotton 2006; Grosjean 2010, 2013).
Interference also differs from borrowing mainly in that the former is
individual and contingent while the latter is collective and systematic
(Mackey 1968, 569). That is, interference is an idiosyncratic feature of
the individual which cannot be predicted systematically despite the fact
that the various factors contributing to its production may be traced
back. By contrast, borrowing is a property of the speech community
rather than the individual. It is not sporadic and is highly regularized.
While interference can touch all levels of language, phonological, syn-
tactic, lexical, semantic and/or pragmatic, borrowing is often restricted
to the lexical level1 wherein a word or short expression is taken from
another language and adapted morphosyntactically (Grosjean 2001, 5).

1According to Muysken (2000, 75), lexical borrowing is equally constrained in terms of

government.
 2 Defining Code Switching    
9

The phenomenon of interference has been more widely investigated

in the field of inter-language studies (e.g., Loutfy 2015). More neutral
terms such as transfer and cross-linguistic influence have been adopted
to refer to the same phenomenon. Although no consensus definition
of interference has emerged, there is general agreement that it can be
divided into two types: positive and negative transfer. Positive transfer
refers to cases where the knowledge of one language (usually L1) facil-
itates the learning of another (L2). Negative transfer relates to cases
where previous learning hinders the learning of new skills.
Grosjean (1995, 262) postulates a different typology for interference:
static and dynamic. Static interference is a reflection of permanent traces
from one language onto the other such as permanent accent and the
meaning extensions of particular words. Dynamic interference is associ-
ated with ephemeral influence from the other language not being spoken
such as accidental slips on the stress pattern of a word and momentary
use of a syntactic structure. In either case, Grosjean notes that it is easier
to study interference within a monolingual rather than a bilingual mode.

(1) šefti    l-qamar          yak Il          est beau?

[you-saw  the-moonmasc   ya?    Itmasc  is    beautifulmasc?]
{Did you see how beautiful the moon is?}
(MA/Fr, Lahlou 1998)

The clause il est beau in (1) above, if produced in a monolingual con-

text, would clearly count as a case of interference from Moroccan Arabic
into French. The French pronoun il should bear the property [+fem-
inine] of its language anaphoric reference la lune (moon: +feminine).
Instead, it has negatively transferred the gender property [+masculine]
from the Moroccan Arabic l-qamar (the anaphoric noun in example
(1)). The same goes for the predicative adjective beau which should be
feminine as in belle according to the French syntax.
In a bilingual context, such as (1), it would be difficult to argue that
it is a case of ‘sporadic’ occurrence of interference. That the pronoun il
takes the property [+masculine] follows from the fact that the syntac-
tic rules of anaphora are observed. Instances like (1) are also reported
in other language sets, not to reflect a lack of competence in either
10    
M. Aabi

language but rather are assumed (cf. Franceschini 1998; Auer 1999,
2005b) to indicate a case of ‘code mixing’ or ‘fusion’, thus, supporting
the hypothesis that CS may become a stable variety used as a consistent
code in its own right referred to by different names including ‘code mix-
ing’2 (e.g. Muysken 2000), ‘fused lect’ (Auer 1999), ‘language alloying’
(Alvarez-Càccamo 1998; Auckle 2015), or a specific language-set mix-
ing such as Spanglish (Casielles-Suárez 2017).
Permanent accents, when they are characteristic of a speech commu-
nity rather than the individual, may also indicate the existence of an
independent code or dialect. For instance, Gumperz (1982) reports
some prosodic features that are common only to Pakistani and Indian
minorities in Britain (in Romaine 1995, 54). Accounting for these fea-
tures as a type of interference will raise the question as to whether
non-standard dialects of English should be considered as types of interfer-
ence too. Alternatively, these features can simply be said to refer to a dif-
ferent ethnolect (Blommaert and Backus 2013), such as Indian English,
which might lead to a controversy over the existence of a multitude of
Englishes: French English, German English, Finnish English and so on.
At one end of the continuum, cases of permanent accent are clearly
distinguished from CS forms on the basis that the former is usually a
recurring phonological or prosodic feature. On the other end, they are
so intertwined that they come to indicate almost the same language
contact phenomenon. Elias et al. (2017), using a controlled narration
test, reported that the quality and duration of Spanish vowels among
the same bilingual participants vary depending on whether the text read
is monolingual (in Spanish only) or ‘code-switched’ (i.e., involving both
Spanish and English). The change in the quality and duration of the
Spanish vowels could well be a case of interference, a manifestation of
the emergence of new mixed code or both as an instance of interfer-
ence which has become a mixed language through a diachronic process
of language change.

2Muysken (2013, 718) classified code mixing into four categories assuming that different mixed

languages have different properties. The problem with Muysken’s typological model is that the
line between his taxonomies is not a neat one, and must take into account the continuum along
and within all types of what he calls ‘new linguistic forms arising out of contact ’.
 2 Defining Code Switching    
11

Clearly, language-contact products—whether conscious or uncon-

scious, individual or collective—tend to be interdependent with no clear
demarcations between them. The borderline between CS and borrowing
can be even more blurred. In attempting to distinguish between CS and
borrowing, reference is generally made to phonological and/or morpho-
syntactic integration (Poplack, 1980, 2012, 2018). Thus, ‘borrowings are
paradigmatically incorporated and follow the syntagmatic relations of the
R[eceptive] L[anguage]’ (Onysko 2007, 36). CS is said to consist of alter-
nations of two languages à usage momentané (Nait M’Barek and Sankoff
1988, 144) whereby elements from one language will be used to cater for
immediate communicative rather than lexical needs without being assimi-
lated into the other language. By contrast, borrowing is thought to involve
the integration of elements or structures from one lexicon into another
such as bwaṭa, s-salūn and shmendifir which are integrated forms of the
French boite, le salon and chemin de fer, respectively (Nait M’Barek and
Sankoff, 1988, 143). Phonological assimilation is considered as the chief, if
not the only determining feature of borrowing (Halmari 1997, 173).

(2) oli     putter  klöntti
     [was   butter  lump]
     {That was a lump of butter}
(Finnish/English, Halmari 1997, 47)

A prominent feature of the borrowed form putter in (2) is its com-

plete assimilation into the phonological system of Finnish. In fact,
a large number of borrowed forms reported in other languages follow
the same type of integration, which is also characteristic of French and
Standard Arabic forms borrowed into Moroccan Arabic. Nonetheless,
defining borrowing in terms of phonological adaptation per se is not
without limitations, because, as Myers-Scotton (1992, 31) explains,
‘while most established forms may be well phonologically integrated to
the ML,3 by no means do all B[orrowed] forms show such integration’.
For example, Romaine (1995, 601) reports that the word chips, without

3ML refers to the Matrix Language. Suffice it to define it at this stage as the host language. More
discussion of the notion of ML will follow in Sect. 4.3.
12    
M. Aabi

undergoing any structural assimilation whatsoever, has become a bor-

rowing in the speech of many Punjabi/English bilinguals.
The total phonological assimilation of borrowing implies the com-
plete non-assimilation of CS. Yet, the criterion of ‘phonological
purity’ for CS, as conceded by Halmari (1997, 173), can be blurred
by bilingual permanent accents. For instance, Pickles (1999) reports
a cross-linguistic influence in the pronunciation of the sound /r/ by
Maghrebi pupils in France which clearly is not a case of borrowing; oth-
erwise, every French category, be it functional or lexical, containing the
sound /r/ would be considered a borrowing. The fact that switches can
equally have traces of phonological influence from another language has
been noted in other language sets. For example, Sobin (1976, 42) men-
tions cases from Spanish/English data where phonologically assimilated
items are CS forms rather than borrowings.
Despite the fact that borrowed forms tend to be phonologically inte-
grated to their host language, their distinction from CS on the basis
of this principle alone does not provide a clear-cut boundary between
the two, hence the need for new criteria. Morphosyntactic features
have therefore been postulated (e.g., Poplack and Meechan 1995) as a
complementary criterion in an attempt to account for CS as a separate
language contact phenomenon. In accordance with similar studies by
Bentahila and Davies (1983, 1991) and Heath’s (1989) characterizing
the relevance of morphosyntactic features to borrowings in Moroccan
Arabic, my data shows supportive evidence for the correlation between
morphosyntactic integration and borrowings. One example of this is:

(3) šrīt       waḥed  l-aṇaṇaṣa
[I-bought   one      the-pineapplefem]
{I bought a pineapple}
(MA/Fr, Heath 1989)

The EL lexeme4 aṇaṇaṣa has undergone full integration at the phono-

logical, morphological and syntactic levels. At the phonological level,

4EL is another case of Myers-Scotton’s terminology, standing for Embedded Language. It refers

to elements from the guest language that are inserted into the ML. More discussion of EL and
Myers-Scotton’s Matrix Language Frame model will follow in Sect. 4.3.
 2 Defining Code Switching    
13

the sounds /n/ and /s/ have been pharyngealized into /ṇ/ and /ṣ/, phar-
yngealization being a property of Moroccan Arabic but not French. At
the morphological level, integration caused the inflection of the French
lexeme with the Moroccan Arabic feminine morpheme /-a/. At the syn-
tactic level, the form aṇaṇaṣa has been integrated into the Moroccan
Arabic system, thus producing a type of structure that would be
ungrammatical in French. Note here that in stark contrast to Moroccan
Arabic, French syntax allows nouns such as ananas to be preceded by
strictly one definite or indefinite article. Moroccan Arabic nouns, on the
other hand, can be modified by a double determiner (numeral + definite
article) to indicate indefiniteness.

(4)*j’ai  acheté  une l’ananas
[I-have  bought one the-pineapple]
{I bought a pineapple}

Accordingly, scholars usually set their prototype borrowed forms in

contrast with CS forms, which are thought to preserve the morpho-
syntax of their source language. Yet, not all borrowed forms are mor-
phosyntactically integrated. For example, the syntax (as well as the
phonology5) of some French expressions such as bon voyage and eau
de toilette remains intact when borrowed into English. Besides, not
all morphosyntactically integrated categories are borrowed forms. In
fact, a large number of elements with this type of integration found in
Moroccan Arabic/French bilingual conversations fall within the cate-
gory of CS.

(5) qali         ‘tu    pisses ’  w     kayn msāken ta-y-mši-w

[he-told-me  ‘you pee’     and   was  poorplr    TNS-AGRp-go-AGRn
    l-la        toilette   baš      y-pissi-w
    to-the toilet    so that TNS/AGR-pee-AGR]
{He told me ‘you pee [here?] while poor others have to go all the way
to the toilet’ (translation mine)}
(MA/Fr, Bentahila and Davies 1991, 384)

5The phonology of the borrowed form may change, but a native-like pronunciation is more
desirable.
14    
M. Aabi

Despite the morphosyntactic integration of forms like y-pissi-w in (5),

they are to be considered as switches rather than borrowed forms. This
is because borrowing is a process that is open to monolinguals as well
as bilinguals, whereas the meaning or communicative function of the
alternation in (5) is hardly recognizable to the Moroccan Arabic mono-
lingual. Such occurrences are the preserve of bilinguals and, therefore,
must not be equated with borrowed forms unless we are to add another
category of borrowing that is specific to bilinguals only. These are nor-
mally idiosyncratic productions of the individual bilingual rather than
the speech community. Their frequency of occurrence would, therefore,
be very limited compared with established borrowings or native forms.
Myers-Scotton (1992, 35) points out in this respect that ‘borrowed
forms, as “naturalized” ML forms, should have a similar frequency to
indigenous ML forms’.
To maintain the validity of the criterion of integration, but most
importantly to save the equivalence constraint (see Sect. 4.2.3), Poplack
et al. (1988) identify another type of borrowing which does not satisfy
the conditions of accessibility and/or diffusion among monolinguals.
This new type of borrowing is called ‘nonce borrowing’ as opposed to
established (frequent) borrowing. The addition of the category of nonce
borrowing, however, as Myers-Scotton (1992, 32) argues, is extrane-
ous and does not add any significant explanatory value to the study
of CS. Occurrences of this type, at least in Moroccan Arabic/French
bilingual conversations, are found to be bound in the same manner
as non-integrated CS forms. For example, the mixed form y-pissi-w in
(5) should be considered, in terms of Poplack and associates’ definition,
as a nonce borrowing since it contains a single French lexeme that has
been morphosyntactically assimilated into the ML (Moroccan Arabic).
However, the structural integration of such forms is grammatically moti-
vated in the same way as that of other non-integrated forms, as will be
illustrated in Chapter 5. Bentahila and Davies (1983, 322–324) attrib-
ute similar instances to the requirements of subcategorization rules.

(6) *nqra   šwiya  baš        réussir        à  l’examin
     [I-work a bit  so that  to succeed at the-exam]
     {I work a bit harder to pass my exams}
 2 Defining Code Switching    
15

(7) nqra   šwiya  baš    n-réussir           à  l’examen
       [I-work a bit   so that TNS/AGR-succeed  at the-exam]
       {I work a bit harder to pass my exams}
(MA/Fr, Bentahila and Davies 1983, 323)

According to Bentahila and Davies (1983, 323), the hypothetical

example in (6) is an impossible switch because it violates the Moroccan
Arabic subcategorization rules which require that baš introduces a finite
clause. The acceptability of (7), on the other hand, follows from the sat-
isfaction of the subcategorization constraint.6
What the category of nonce borrowing shows us, in any event, is that
CS and borrowing may undergo the same morphosyntactic ­procedures
as illustrated in examples (3) and (5). Evidence from other languages
strongly supports this conclusion. In this context, Myers-Scotton
(1993a, 163) claims that

they [CS and borrowing] undergo largely the same morphosyntactic proce-
dures (of the ML) during language production. Therefore, it turns out, the
motivation for distinguishing them in order to assess models of morpho-
syntactic constraints seems to evaporate, at least for content morphemes.

Syntactic constraints governing CS must therefore govern borrowing

in the same way if we assume that they ‘are part of the same developmen-
tal continuum, not unrelated phenomena’ (Myers-Scotton 1993a, 163),
which is the case in the Moroccan context. As Saib (1989, 48) observes,
‘MC (mélange de codes), dans le contexte marocain, a trait à un continuum
allant de l’emprunt à PC (permutation de codes)’ [Trans: mixing of codes,
in the Moroccan context, relates to a continuum ranging from borrowing
to the alternation of codes]. At the end of the continuum, particular lin-
guistic structures of one language are adopted at the total or partial exclu-
sion of competing word forms from the other language (Séguis 2013, 82).
In the Moroccan context, the continuum process is observable not
only within Moroccan Arabic/French alternations but also, and most

6Switching instances such as in (11) will be explained in Chapters 3 and 4. Some objections to
the subcategorization constraint will be raised in Sect. 3.3.
16    
M. Aabi

particularly, between Moroccan Arabic, Standard Arabic and Berber.

The Moroccan/Standard Arabic situation is often referred to as diglossic
(Ferguson 1959; Bentahila 1983; Heath 1989). It is a bidialectal situ-
ation where the overwhelming number of shared features between the
two makes transparent boundaries between CS and borrowing almost
impossible.
Berber, on the other hand, is a genetically and structurally different
language although in intense contact with, if not shift toward Arabic
varieties in a way that illustrates what Croft (2003) calls ‘death by bor-
rowing’. My concern in this book does not regrettably extend to Berber.
None of my informants used Berber in the recorded conversations
which mainly involve switching between Moroccan Arabic, Standard
Arabic and French.

2.3 Code Switching: Diglossia or Bilingualism?

The two varieties of Arabic used in Morocco, as well as other Arab
countries referred to as High variety (H) and Low variety (L) by
Ferguson (1959), are said to stand in a diglossic relationship that is
stable, binary and multifunctional. Auer (2005a), on the other hand,
identified five types of diglossia equating his second type ‘Type A reper-
toires: Medial diglossia with an endoglossic standard’,7 while the Arabic
linguistic situation falls within the scope of Auer’s Type C diglossia
(Bidaoui 2017). The import of Auer’s model is that it accounts for the
significance of intermediate and exoglossic forms. Therefore, it allows
accounting for the emerging codes along the continuum of H and L
varieties as in the case of Middle Moroccan Arabic (see discussion in
Sect. 8.4) as well the exoglossic forms which are not structurally related
but consists part of the linguistic situation of Morocco.
Using Ferguson’s L and H labels, Bentahila (1983, 4–5) claims that
Moroccan Arabic (L) is not socially valued in the same way as Standard

7This type according to Auer (2005a, 10) refers to a linguistic repertoire which is not bilingual

but contains a genetically related standard variety in addition to the vernacular varieties.
 2 Defining Code Switching    
17

Arabic (H). This statement implies, unlike CS, that when alternating
between the two varieties of Arabic,8 we are in reality switching func-
tions rather than codes just as when we switch styles according to the
formality of the context. It is often held among Moroccan sociolinguists
(e.g., Bentahila 1983; Youssi 1995) that Moroccan Arabic is reserved for
informal conversations while Standard Arabic is strictly used in formal
contexts. Moroccan/Standard Arabic alternations become in this respect
a type of style shifting (SS), what the variationist would refer to as the
alternative way(s) of saying the same thing in the same language. Labov
(1972, 188) states that:

It is common for a language to give many alternate ways of saying the

same thing. Some words like car and automobile seem to have the same
referents, others have two pronunciations like working and workin’. There
are syntactic options such as Who is he talking to? vs. To whom is he talk-
ing? or It’s easy for him to talk vs. For him to talk is easy.

Here, car and automobile in English, the same as the Standard Arabic
and Moroccan Arabic z-zawja wa l-’awlād and l-mra u ddrari in (8) and
(9), respectively, are similar in terms of their propositional content. I
propose to treat cases of Moroccan/Standard Arabic alternations such as
(8) as CS rather than SS forms.

(8) ndiru  taḥna z-zawja   w-l-’awlād

     [we-do too    the-wife  and-the-children]
     { I’d like to have a wife and children }
(MA/SA, DS 2A, 39)
(9) ndiru    taḥna l-mra       w-d-drari
[                           the-wife  and-the-children]

The fact that (8) and (9) share the same propositional content does not nec-
essarily mean that (8) is an instance of SS. The Moroccan Arabic/French

8For purposes of brevity, the term Arabic will be used as a cover term for both varieties of Arabic
unless the analysis or discussion requires otherwise.
18    
M. Aabi

alternation in (10) has the same content as the monolingual Moroccan

Arabic counterpart in (11) and would still be clearly identified as a CS form.

(10) bḥal  un professeur marocain

        [like   a   teacher    Moroccan…]
        {Like a Moroccan teacher}
(MA/Fr, Heath 1989, 34)
(11) bḥal waḥed l-ʾustad       meġribi
        [like   one    the-teacher  Moroccan]
        {Like a Moroccan teacher}

Propositional similarity or even equivalence at the discourse level is

not a solid criterion for the distinction between CS and SS. Romaine
(1995, 170) notes in this respect that style shifting accomplishes for
the monolingual what code-switching does for the bilingual. A choice
between forms of one language, for example, lexis, phonology, etc.,
can convey the same kinds of social meanings as a choice between lan-
guages. According to Romaine’s definition here, Moroccan/Standard
Arabic alternations would not fall under the category of SS. The two
varieties are not mutually intelligible (Pereltsvaig 2012, 92–98), and
therefore switching between the two is not a process that is open to the
Moroccan Arabic monolingual. Counterevidence to Labov’s claim that
alternating dialects is a shifting of styles and not codes, comes also from
varieties he studied such as Black English/Standard English. DeBose
(1992, 157) states that the interaction between Black English and
Standard American English is governed by the same principles as CS.
She claims that instances like (12) point toward considering the two
varieties as two separate systems with autonomous grammars.

(12) He done lost his poor mind out there, huh?

(Standard English/Black English, DeBose 1992, 161)

The done-VERB subconstruction of the Black English subject–predicate

construction is incompatible with the grammar of Standard English,
which indicates a switching between two systems rather than a shifting
of two styles from the same code. Evidence attesting the hypothesis that
Moroccan Arabic/Standard Arabic alternations are governed in the same
 2 Defining Code Switching    
19

way as CS forms comes from dialects of other languages such as Spanish

(Alvarez-Càccamo 1990, 1998) and Italian (Giacalone Ramat 1995;
Alfonzetti 1998). For instance, Giacalone Ramat reports the existence
of switches between Italian dialects that satisfy different structural con-
straints, such as the equivalence and government constraints.

(13) venticinque  anni  avi
       [twenty-five  years has]
       {He is twenty-five years old}
(Standard Italian/Southern Italian, Alfonzetti, in Giacalone Ramat
1995, 57)
(14) *Mio frattello non l-e    riva
       [my   brother  not  he-is arrived]
       {My brother has not arrived}
(Standard Italian/Milanese Italian, Giacalone Ramat 1995, 57)

According to Giacalone Ramat, the grammaticality of (13) and the

ungrammaticality of (14) find justification in the equivalence constraint
(see Sect. 4.2 for discussion of the equivalence and other constraints).
The word order of Milanese Italian and Standard Italian with respect to
negation is parametric. Negation follows the copula be in Milanese but
precedes it in the Standard dialect, which explains why switches like (14)
are disallowed on account of the violation of the equivalence condition.
It seems that the autonomy of the linguistic systems both in the
American and Italian context discussed above provides support for
describing their alternations as CS rather than SS forms. In his com-
ment on a similar situation originally investigated by Thelander (1979),
which involves Burtrask (a Northern Swedish dialect) and Standard
Swedish, Trudgill (1986, 91) also associates switching with language dis-
tance. He writes:

Burtrask is an area where there is a considerable amount of distance

between the local dialect and the national standard. In divergent dialect
communities, it is quite normal to find situational dialect switching.

Similarly, Moroccan and Standard Arabic fulfill the criterion of

autonomy (distance) not only in terms of their syntax (cf. Aoun et al.
20    
M. Aabi

1994), but also in terms of the extent to which one is comprehensible

to the other (see Sect. 3.2). It is reasonable to assume at this stage that
alternations between Moroccan Arabic and Standard Arabic are code
switched forms of language contact. The argument that diglossic switch-
ing between the ‘H’ and ‘L’ varieties are instances of CS is also sup-
ported in other studies of Standard Arabic and Dialectal Arabic (e.g.,
Albrini 2010) and similar diglossic situations such as between Standard
German and Swiss German (e.g., Siebenhaar 2006).

2.4 Code Switching: Alternational,

Insertional or Fusional?
Much of the debate on CS grammatical constraints still evolve around
the question of whether the interaction of a pair of languages is organ-
ized according to the internal rules of one or both grammatical systems.
Should the switch be formed according to the rules of one grammatical
system (ML), the guest (EL) constituents will simply be inserted into
the frame of the ML. The resulting switch will therefore be insertional
and the identification of the ML will be obvious and automatic. On the
other hand, if the switch is formed according to the rules of two gram-
matical systems, the configuration of the CS will be alternational in the
sense that the constituents of each language preserve the frame specific
to their system.9 There has been a shift from the insertional/alterna-
tional paradigm to one that accounts for CS as a code in its own right
(Auer 1998; Grosjean 2008; Gardner-Chloros 2009). Taking a ‘holis-
tic view’ of bilingualism, Grosjean proposes that the bilingual is not the
sum of two complete or incomplete monolinguals; rather, he or she has
a unique and specific linguistic configuration. The coexistence and con-
stant interaction of the two languages in the bilingual has produced a
different but complete language system (Grosjean 2008, 13–14).

9It is worth mentioning here Muysken’s (2000) typology attempting to reconcile both models and

adding a third concept of ‘Congruent Lexicalizaion’. In her review of the book, Poplack (2003)
pointed out several pertinent methodological problems with his typology.
 2 Defining Code Switching    
21

CS is therefore viewed as a sort of an ‘alloy’ or ‘code mixing’ of two

systems that creates a new code in its own right. More research is still
needed to examine how the grammar of this new code operates and
at what level it is constrained. That said, the concept of code mix-
ing will be examined in Chapter 8 for the Moroccan/Standard Arabic
corpus.
Within the insertional/alternational framework, the search for gram-
matical constraints on CS (Sankoff and Poplack 1981; Poplack et al.
1988; Myers-Scotton 1993a, 2002; Myers-Scotton and Jake 2017) is
confined to a maximal unit of analysis. In syntactic theory, grammati-
cal rules and principles are generally set within the sentence boundaries,
that is, grammar is not subject to any constraints beyond the sentence
level. In much the same way, syntactic analysis of CS necessitates the
determination of the maximal unit of analysis within which constraints
on CS should be defined.

2.4.1 Switching Boundaries

CS occurs beyond as well as within the sentence boundaries. However,

alternations like Poplack’s famous example (1980) below are often
thought to be irrelevant to the study of CS grammatical constraints.

(15) Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in English y      termino en español

[                                                                        and  finish it in  Spanish]
(English/Spanish, Poplack 1980)

The switch in Poplack’s example above is not constrained at any

point, because the utterance consists of two clauses that are independ-
ent of each other in terms of grammatical rules. Myers-Scotton and Jake
(1995, 982–983) point out in this respect that regardless of whether
the conjunction relating them belongs to one language or the other, CS
between the two clauses involves the alternation of two monolingual
grammatical frames which makes the distinction between ML and EL
in this case inappropriate.
22    
M. Aabi

In the opinion of Myers-Scotton and Jake, any search for grammat-

ical constraints on this type of language alternation, called an inter-
sentential/clausal CS, is deemed unnecessary. Inter-sentential/clausal
CS, irrespective of how different the structures of the two clauses are,
is thought to be free and grammatical as far as each clause satisfies sep-
arately the well-formedness conditions of the language in which it is
uttered. In consequence, most studies of CS constraints have focused
on those alternations that occur within the syntactic boundaries of the
clause, commonly known in the CS literature as intra-sentential CS.
Example (16) is a prototypical instance of intra-sentential CS where
the clause is dominantly Moroccan Arabic with a single switch of the
French preposition.

(16) ka-ta-kl-u  jusqu’à     l-meġrb
        [you-eat    until-to    the-nightfall]
        {You eat until the nightfall}
(MA/Fr, Heath 1989, 40)

Myers-Scotton and Jake (1995) choose the complementizer10 phrase (CP)

as the unit of analysis relevant for the determination of CS constraints.
They identify the CP as ‘a syntactic structure expressing the predicate
argument structure of a clause’ (Myers-Scotton and Jake 1995, 982). The
CP is roughly the technical term for clause within the Government and
Binding (GB) model with the following tree representation:
 &3 &3ĺ6SHF &¶

6SHF  &¶ RU &¶ ĺ&,3

& ,3
11

10The term complementizer (Comp) will be used throughout this book to refer to what is tradition-
ally known as relative pronouns that normally refer to an antecedent as well as categories that do
not have this referential relation but are used to introduce a clause (Radford 1997).
11Spec refers to specifier. In English, Spec is the grammatical function fulfilled by certain types of

constituents that specify and precede the head of their containing phrase (Radford 1997, 90, 91,
 2 Defining Code Switching    
23

Using the same line of analysis, Jake (1994, 279–281) explained the
grammaticality of some Moroccan Arabic/French CS forms such as (18)
and the unacceptability of others, such as (19) that first appeared in
Bentahila and Davies (1983).

(18) [CP moi [IP  e [VP  dḫlt]]]

                 I                 went in
(19) *[CP  [moi] [ana] [IP  e  dḫlt]]
                    I        I           went in

According to Jake, the grammaticality of (18) derives from the

fact that the Spec position of CP is empty, hence the insertion of
the French pronoun. By contrast, the same position in (19) is filled by
the Moroccan Arabic ana and the insertion of the French pronoun moi
caused a double filling of the same slot which violates the syntactic rules
of Moroccan Arabic.
The focus on the CP or sentence boundaries in much of the litera-
ture on CS seems to indicate a lack of interest in inter-sentential CS
which is often excluded as unconstrained. Moroccan Arabic/French CS
instances, reported in other works, show, however, a reasonable arrange-
ment of grammars beyond the sentence level, that is, at the inter-sen-
tential level.

(20) šefti         šaʿrising?    Je lesing laisse comme ça?

        [you-saw  hair-my?   I   it     leave  like     this?]
        {Have a look at my hair, do you think I should leave it like this?}
(MA/Fr, Lahlou 1998)
(21) *šefti       šaʿrising?    Je lesplr    laisse comme ça?
        [                                  them                       ]

CS can be said to be constrained in (20), given that the French pro-

noun le (it) has to agree in number with the Moroccan Arabic šaʿri (hair)

528). In a sentence like Mary is studying languages, the noun Mary is the specifier of the phrase
is studying languages. Spec has also to agree with the head of the phrase containing it, under what
is referred to as Spec-Head agreement.
24    
M. Aabi

in the preceding sentence, despite the fact that cheveux (hair), which the
pronoun is actually substituting, is plural in French. Switches like (21),
where a pronoun borrows its phi-features from the syntax of its language
rather than the syntax of its coreferent in cases of cross-linguistic vari-
ation do not appear in my corpus. This implies that the frame within
which CS is constrained may go beyond the boundaries of a single CP or
sentence.

2.4.2 Insertional Code Switching

The interaction of two linguistic systems within the CP/intra-­sentential

boundaries is supposed to take one of two directions: insertional or
alternational (Field 2011, 116). In the first, one language (ML) sets the
grammatical frame of the clause while the other language (EL) has to
meet the syntactic conditions of this frame.

(22) ma-y-mkenni-š    n-defini-ha

[I-can-not                    TNS/AGR12-define-it]
{I can’t define it myself }
(MA/Fr, Bentahila and Davies 1991, 394)

Example (22) is a prototypical insertional CS. The sentence consists

mainly of Moroccan Arabic constituents in a Moroccan Arabic morpho-
syntactic frame which incorporates a single French lexeme (verb).
The insertional hypothesis is associated in the first place with Joshi’s
(1985, 192) asymmetry model, which assumes that CS is unidirec-
tional. It postulates that switching is asymmetrically allowed from EL
into ML and not vice versa. The distinction between ML and EL is
essential to this model in order to determine the constraints imposed
by the ML on EL insertions. Joshi (1985, 190–191) claims in this
respect that ‘speakers and hearers generally agree on which language the
mixed sentence is “coming from”’. We can call this language the matrix

12A more detailed discussion of tense (TNS) and agreement (AGR) in Arabic and French will

follow in Chapter 3.
 2 Defining Code Switching    
25

language and the other language ‘the embedded language’ (see also Sect.
4.3). However, instances like (23), in which both systems are equally
represented in the sentence, led proponents of the model (e.g., Myers-
Scotton 1993a, 36) to rethink the notion of asymmetry.

(23) on doit      avoir waḥed l-ḫuṭṭa    f-l-bda              dyal  l-ʿam

          [we should have  one     the-plan in-the-beginning of       the-year]
         { We will need a plan of work for the beginning of this year}
(MA/Fr, DS 3C, 55)

(23) consists of an instance of switching in both directions. French ele-

ments such as the impersonal pronoun on do not have an equivalent
in Moroccan Arabic, and the same holds true for Moroccan Arabic
elements such as the double determiner (Det) waḥed l- in French.
Commenting on Joshi’s model, Myers-Scotton (1993a, 36) says:
First, there is no switching of categories at all in the MLF model, but
rather a switching of procedures from those of the ML to the EL. This
happens only when EL islands are formed. Second, there is no obvi-
ous motivation to restrict the direction of the inhibition and activation
procedures.
According to her, (23) would be a case of ML + EL islands where pro-
cedures are switched, i.e., two morphosyntactic systems are alternated.
The theoretical motivation and validity of the notion of islandhood will
be discussed in Sect. 4.3.
With the exception of EL islands, CS is considered within the MLF
model as an insertional process, given that the switching of EL elements
still has to satisfy syntactic rules imposed by the ML Hypothesis, such
as the Morpheme Order Principle and the System Morpheme Principle
(see Sect. 4.3). While the notion of ML is essential in insertional models
of CS, its identification is often controversial. Myers-Scotton (1993a,
66–69) proposes criteria based on individual proficiency or dominance
within the social community. She states that the ML tends to be the
L1 in which the bilingual is normally more proficient, or the unmarked
language which dominates the number of types of interaction across
the speech community. Such a claim seems to be incompatible with her
assertion that the CP is the maximal unit within which CS insertions
26    
M. Aabi

are constrained. It is unlikely the CP alone can reflect the bilingual pro-
ficiency of the individual or the dominant language in the community.
Examples like (24), in which the CP is dominantly French with sin-
gle insertions from Moroccan Arabic, are frequent in my corpus. Yet,
French is only a second language for my informants, while Moroccan
Arabic, clearly predominant in their overall interaction, is their L1.

(24) Chaque type de jeu    a     une  grande  importance     dyalu13

       [each    type of game has a       big       importance      its]
       {Each kind of game has its own importance}
(MA/Fr, DS 2, 19)

If using Myers-Scotton’s criterion of social dominance, the ML in

(24) should be Moroccan Arabic, in which case the principles of the
ML hypothesis would be violated. For example, the French adjec-
tive grande occupies a prenominal position despite the fact it must be
positioned postnominally in conformity with the syntax of the ML
(Moroccan Arabic). But again, Myers-Scotton (1993a, 70) claims that
the ML assignment is dynamic, and a change in its identity is possi-
ble within the same conversation or sentence. There is, however, as
Bentahila and Davies point out, a danger of circularity with this type of
argument, as it will become ‘all too easy to end up saying that each time
the language changes, the matrix language has changed too’ (1998, 29).
Myers-Scotton (1993a, 68) goes further to postulate another crite-
rion, which she calls the Frequency-Based Criterion, stating that ‘the
ML is the language of more morphemes in interaction types including
intra-sentential CS’. She adds that the frequency counts must be based
on a ‘discourse sample’ rather than sentences and that borrowed forms
must be excluded from the counts. The criterion does not seem to be
valid, at least in the Moroccan context. In all conversations recorded for

13Literally, dyalu can be translated as of it or of his. It has the same function in Moroccan Arabic

as the possessive clitics and will be translated as such throughout the book. The only difference
between clitic possessives and this type of PP is that the clitics are always adjoined to a bare noun,
whereas dyal + clitic can specify for either a bare or determined noun. Examples involving this
type of pronoun in switching will be discussed in Chapters 6 and 7.
 2 Defining Code Switching    
27

the purpose of this study, the number of morphemes is predominantly

Moroccan Arabic; nevertheless, CS forms like in (24) do not seem to
have Moroccan Arabic as their ML. In fact, neither Moroccan Arabic
nor French represents the ML in Myers-Scotton’s sense; (24) consists of
an alternation or mixing of both systems. The French adjective precedes
its head noun despite it not being a syntactic property of Moroccan
Arabic, and the Moroccan Arabic possessive pronoun post-modifies its
head NP, which is not a syntactic feature of French either.

2.4.3 Alternational Code Switching

The claim that CS is alternational is particularly associated with local

models of CS (see Sect. 4.2). It is held that both grammars are repre-
sented in the sentence producing an alternational configuration of both
systems. A prototypical instantiation of alternation is the one occurring
between clauses or sentences as in (15) above. But alternation can also
happen within the clause boundaries as in (25) below.

(25) John gave a book ek  larakii ko

       [                              a    girl      to]
       {John gave a book to a girl}
(Hindi/English, Pandit 1990, 45)

The configuration of the adpositional phrase in (25) has been formed

according to the Hindi syntactic frame as a postposition. In English, on
the other hand, a verb such as give would require in the case at hand
that the second internal argument (indirect object) takes the form of a
prepositional phrase.
In the same context, Guowen Huang and Milroy (1995) provide
a more precise distinction between insertional and alternational CS
in relation to which parts of the clause have been switched. Basically,
their claim is that the switch is alternational if it involves a whole
clause element, and insertional if it involves only part of it. By clause
element, they mean any of Leech and associates’ (1982; in Guowen
Huang and Milroy 1995) five categories of Subject, Predicator, Object,
28    
M. Aabi

Complement and Adverbial. They illustrate their claim by the following

examples:

(26) nei  yeo mo    any older relatives?

(27) nei   yeo mo    dig older relatives a?
{Do you have any older relatives?}
(Cantonese/English, Guowen Huang and Milroy 1995, 37)

Here the clause element Object is any older relatives. In (26) the
whole clause element has been switched, providing therefore an alter-
national structure. By contrast, in example (27) only part of Object has
been switched into English while the remainder is in Cantonese, which
yields an insertional structure. Guowen Huang and Milroy’s claim
implies that switching is insertional when occurring at a smaller level
than the clause element, such as the phrasal level. One thing we know
is that the phrase has its own internal structure governed by phrasal
rules that reflect the grammar of its language. For instance, although
the switch in (25) is not at the level of Guowen Huang and Milroy’s
clause element, it involves the alternation of English and Hindi systems
because the grammars of both languages surface in the same sentence.
From what precedes, it seems that, apart from giving some proto-
typical illustrations of the two CS configurations, it is hard to draw a
fine definition for each of them. The reason for this may be that CS is
both insertional and alternational and that devising CS constraints on
the basis of this typology may therefore be invalid. Evidence from other
languages shows that CS can be blocked regardless of whether it is inser-
tional as in (28), where only a single English lexeme has been inserted
into a Spanish frame, or alternational as in (29), where both languages
contribute to the verb’s inflection.

(28) *Estoy eat-iendo

       [am     eat-ing]
       {I am eating}
(29) *The students had visto  la   pelicula italiana
       [the students had   seen  the movie   Italian]
{The students had seen the Italian movie}
(Spanish/English, Belazi et al. 1994, 224–225)
 2 Defining Code Switching    
29

As will be shown in Chapter 5, syntactic requirements of CS are satis-

fied regardless of whether the example is a singly inserted lexeme or an
alternated grammatically formed string of constituents. I will argue that
selectional requirements of specific grammatical categories are responsi-
ble for the constrained nature of CS, be it insertional or alternational.

2.4.4 Fusional Code Switching

Looking at CS from this perspective, the main concern is not the distinc-
tion between insertional and alternational switching but rather between
code switching and code mixing. Code mixing refers to the emergence
of a new code from the mixing of two languages as is the case with pidg-
ins and inter-languages. Franceschini (1998, 62) finds that code mixing
and inter-language are similar as neither is etymologically established as a
language in the sense that they are not passed from one generation to the
other; they are, however, different in that code mixing develops group
norms and functions and expresses group identity. It is also ‘often char-
acteristic of second-generation immigrant communities which develop a
pride in their mixed identity’ (Gardner-Chloros 2009, 27).
It naturally follows that in the case of a new code, we are also deal-
ing with an independent grammar or at least a grammaticalization process
which is accompanying the emerging new code, what Auer calls a ‘hybrid’
language (Auer 2005b). In an earlier study, Auer (1998, 16) pointed
out that ‘the continuum from code-alternation to a mixed code seems
to represent one possible path of development in the course of time. It
may be an example of a “cline” from pragmatics to grammar, i.e., a case
of grammaticalization’. Studies indicating the ‘suspension of syntax’ in CS
(Nortier 1995, 89) and the use of CS as a ‘strategy of neutrality’ (Heller
1988; Myers-Scotton 1993b) have been taken as examples illustrating the
convergence toward a new code (cf. Alvarez-Cáccamo 1998, 35).
Bolonyai (1997) reports a similar case of code mixing in childhood
bilingualism which she calls a Composite Matrix Language. In her
study of a Hungarian American bilingual child, she notices a process of
‘convergence’ whereby bilingual speech passes disguised in the form of
monolingual speech.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 'That is the story of Finella of Fettercairn,' said she, closing the book.

'And to this awful legend of the dark ages, which only wants blue-fire,
lime-light, and a musical accompaniment to set it off, you owe your name?'
said he, laughingly.

'Yes—it was grandfather's whim.'

'It is odd that you—the belle of the last London season, should be named
after such a grotesque old termagant!'

She looked up at him smilingly, and then, as their eyes met, the
expression of that glance exchanged beside the well on the hills came into
them again; heart spoke to heart; he bent his face nearer hers, and his arm
went round her in earnest.

'Finella, my darling!' escaped him, and as he kissed her unresisting lips,

her blushing face was hidden on his shoulder.

And this tableau was the result of the two days' shooting—a sudden
result which neither Shafto nor Hammersley had quite foreseen.

Of how long they remained thus neither had any idea. Time seemed to
stand still with them. Finella was only conscious of his hand caressing hers,
which lay so willingly in his tender, yet firm, clasp.

Hammersley in the gush of his joy felt oblivious of all the world. He
could think of nothing but Finella, while the latter seemed scarcely capable
of reflection at all beyond the existing thought that he loved her, and though
the avowal was a silent and unuttered one, the new sense of all it admitted
and involved, seemed to overwhelm the girl; her brightest day-dreams had
come, and she nestled, trembling and silent, by his side.

The unwelcome sound of voices and also of carriage-wheels on the

terrace roused them. He released her hand, stole one more clinging kiss, and
forgetful of his fall and all about it started with impatience to his feet.
 Lady Fettercairn and her lady guests had returned from the flower-show,
and to avoid them and all the world, for a little time yet, the lovers, with
their hearts still beating too wildly to come down to commonplace, tacitly
wandered hand in hand into the recesses of a conservatory, and lingered
there amid the warm, flower-scented atmosphere and shaded aisles, in what
seemed a delicious dream.

Finella was conscious that Vivian Hammersley was talking to her

lovingly and caressingly, in a low and tender voice as he had never talked
before, and she felt that she was 'Finella'—the dearest and sweetest name in
the world to him—and no more Miss Melfort.

****

It would be difficult, and superfluous perhaps, to describe the emotions

of these two during the next few days.

Though now quite aware that Finella and Hammersley had met each
other frequently before, Shafto's surprise at their intimacy, though
apparently undemonstrative, grew speedily into suspicious anger. He felt
intuitively that his presence made not the slightest difference to them,
though he did not forget it; and he failed to understand how 'this fellow' had
so quickly gained his subtle and familiar position with Finella.'

It galled him to the quick to see and feel all this, and know that he could
never please her as she seemed to be pleased with Hammersley; for her
colour heightened, her eyes brightened, and her eyelashes drooped and
flickered whenever he approached or addressed her.

Shafto thought of his hopes of gaining Finella and her fortune against
any discovery that might be made of the falsehood of his position, and so
wrath and hatred gathered in his heart together.

He was baffled at times by her bright smiles and pretty, irresistible

manner, but nevertheless he 'put his brains in steep' to scheme again.
 CHAPTER XV.

AT REVELSTOKE AGAIN.

Meanwhile sore trouble had come upon Dulcie Carlyon in her

Devonshire home.

Her father had been dull and gloomy of late, and had more than once laid
his hand affectionately on her ruddy golden hair, and said in a prayerful
way that 'he hoped he might soon see her well married, and that she might
never be left friendless!'

'Why such thoughts, dear papa?' she would reply.

Dulcie had felt a sense of apprehension for some time past. Was it born
of her father's forebodings, or of the presentiment about which she had
conversed with Florian? A depression hung over her—an undefinable dread
of some great calamity about to happen. At night her sleep was restless and
broken, and by day a vague fear haunted her.

The evil boded was to happen soon now.

With these oppressive thoughts mingled the memory of the tall and
handsome dark-eyed lad she loved—it seemed so long ago, and she longed
to hear his voice again, and for his breast to lay her head upon. But where
was Florian now? Months had passed without her hearing of him, and she
might never hear again!

Little could she have conceived the foul trick that Shafto had played
them both in the matter of the locket; but, unfortunately for herself, she had
not seen the last of that enterprising young gentleman.

She felt miserably that her heart was lonely and heavy, and that, young
as she was, light and joy, with the absence and ruin of Florian, had gone out
of her life. She was alone always with her great sorrow, and longed much
for tears; but as her past life had been a happy and joyous one, Dulcie
Carlyon had been little—if at all—given to them.

One morning her father did not appear at breakfast as usual. As yet
undressed her red-golden hair, that the old man loved to stroke and caress,
was floating in a great loose mass on her back and shoulders, and her blue
eyes looked bright and clear, if thoughtful.

She had, as was her daily wont, arranged his letters, cut and aired the
morning papers for him, adjusted a vase of fresh flowers on the table, with a
basket of delicate peaches, which she knew he liked, from the famous south
wall of the garden, with green fig leaves round them, for Dulcie did
everything prettily and tastefully, however trivial. Then she cut and buttered
his bread, poured out his tea, and waited.

Still he did not appear. She knocked on his bedroom door, but received
no answer, and saw, with surprise, that his boots were still on the mat
outside.

She peeped in and called on him—'Papa, papa!' but there was no

response.

The room was empty, and the morning sun streamed through the
uncurtained window. The bed had not been slept in! Again she called his
name, and rushed downstairs in alarm and affright.

The gas was burning in his writing-room; the window was still closed as
it had been overnight; and there, in his easy chair, with his hands and arms
stretched out on the table, sat Llewellen Carlyon, with his head bent
forward, asleep as Dulcie thought when she saw him.

'Poor papa,' she murmured; 'he has actually gone to sleep over his horrid
weary work.'

She leaned over his chair; wound her soft arms round his neck and
bowed grey head—her lovely blue eyes melting with tenderness, her sweet
face radiant with filial love, till, as she laid her cheek upon it, a mortal chill
struck her, and a low cry of awful dismay escaped her.
 'What is this—papa?'

She failed to rouse him, for his sleep was the sleep of death!

It was disease of the heart, the doctors said, and he had thus passed away
—died in harness; a pen was yet clutched in his right hand, and an
unfinished legal document lay beneath it.

Dulcie fainted, and was borne away by the servants to her own room—
they were old and affectionate country folks, who had been long with
Llewellen Carlyon, and loved him and his daughter well.

Poor Dulcie remained long unconscious, the sudden shock was so

dreadful to her, and when she woke from it, the old curate, Mr. Pentreath,
who had baptized Florian and herself, was standing near her bed.

'My poor bruised lamb,' said he, kindly and tenderly, as he passed his
wrinkled hand over her rich and now dishevelled tresses.

'What has happened?' she asked wildly.

'You fainted, Dulcie.'

'Why—I never fainted before.'

'She don't seem to remember, sir,' whispered an old servant, who saw the
vague and wild inquiring expression of her eyes.

'Drink this, child, and try to eat a morsel,' said the curate, putting a cup
of coffee and piece of toast before her.

'Something happened—something dreadful—what was it—oh, what was

it?' asked Dulcie, putting her hands to her throbbing temples.

'Drink, dear,' said the curate again.

She drank of the coffee thirstily; but declined the bread.

 'I beat up an egg in the coffee,' said he; 'I feared you might be unable to
eat yet.'

Her blue eyes began to lose their wandering and troubled look, and to
become less wild and wistful; then suddenly a shrill cry escaped her, and
she said, with a calmness more terrible and painful than fainting or
hysterics:

'Oh, I remember now—papa—poor papa—dead! Found dead! Oh, my

God! help me to bear it, or take me too—take me too!'

'Do not speak thus, child,' said Mr. Pentreath gently.

'How long ago was it—yesterday—a month ago, or when? I seem—I

feel as if I had grown quite old, yet you all look just the same—just the
same; how is this?'

'My child,' said the curate, with dim eyes, 'your dire calamity happened
but a short time ago—little more than an hour since.'

Her response was a deep and heavy sob, that seemed to come from her
overcharged heart rather than her slender throat, and which was the result of
the unnatural tension of her mind.

'Come to my house with me,' said the kind old curate; but Dulcie shook
her head.

'I cannot leave papa, dead or alive. I wish to be with him, and alone.'

'I shall not leave you so; it is a mistake in grief to avoid contact with the
world. The mind only gets sadder and deeper into its gloom of melancholy.
If you could but sleep, child, a little.'

'Sleep—I feel as if I had been asleep for years; and it was this morning,
you tell me—only this morning I had my arms round his neck—dead—my
darling papa dead!'

She started to her feet as if to go where the body lay under the now
useless hands of the doctor, but would have fallen had she not clutched for
support at Mr. Pentreath, who upheld and restrained her.

The awful thought of her future loneliness now that she had thus
suddenly lost her father, as she had not another relation in the world,
haunted the unhappy Dulcie, and deprived her of the power of taking food
or obtaining sleep.

In vain her old servants, who had known her from infancy, coaxed her to
attempt both, but sleep would not come, and the food remained untasted
before her.

'A little water,' she would say; 'give me a little water, for thirst parches
me.'

All that passed subsequently seemed like one long and terrible dream to
Dulcie. She was alone in the world, and when her father was laid in his last
home at Revelstoke, within sound of the tumbling waves, in addition to
being alone she found herself well-nigh penniless, for her father had
nothing to leave her but the old furniture of the house they had inhabited.

That was sold, and she was to remain with the family of the curate till
some situation could be procured for her.

She had long since ceased to expect any letter from or tidings of Florian.
She began to think that perhaps, amid the splendour of his new relations, he
had forgotten her. Well, it was the way of the world.

Never would she forget the day she quitted her old home. Her father's
hat, his coat and cane were in the hall; all that he had used and that
belonged to him were still there, to bring his presence before her with fresh
poignancy, and to impress upon her that she was fatherless, all but
friendless, and an orphan.

The superstitious people about Revelstoke now remembered that in

Lawyer Carlyon's garden, blossom and fruit had at the same time appeared
on more than one of his apple-trees, a certain sign of coming death to one of
his household. But who can tell in this ever-shifting world what a day may
bring forth!
 One evening—she never forgot it—she had been visiting her father's
grave, and was slowly quitting the secluded burial-ground, when a man like
a soldier approached her in haste.

'Florian!' She attempted to utter his name, but it died away on her
bloodless lips.

CHAPTER XVI.

''TIS BUT THE OLD, OLD STORY.'

A poet says:

'Not by appointment do we meet delight

And joy: they need not our expectancy.
But round some corner in the streets of life,
They on a sudden clasp us with a smile.'

Florian it was who stood before her, but though he gazed at her earnestly,
wistfully, and with great pity in his tender eyes as he surveyed her pale face
and deep mourning, he made no attempt to take the hands she yearningly
extended towards him. She saw that he was in the uniform of a private
soldier, over which he wore a light dust-coat as a sort of disguise, but there
was no mistaking his glengarry—that head-dress which is odious and
absurd for English and Irish regiments, and which in his instance bore a
brass badge—the sphinx, for Egypt.

He looked thin, gaunt, and pale, and anon the expression of his eye grew
doubtful and cloudy.
 'Florian!' exclaimed Dulcie in a piercing voice, in which something of
upbraiding blended with tones of surprise and grief; and yet the fact of his
presence seemed so unreal that she lingered for a moment before she flung
herself into his arms, and was clasped to his breast. 'Oh, what is the
meaning of this dress?' she asked, lifting her face and surveying him again.

'It means that I am a soldier—like him whose son I thought myself—a

soldier of the Warwickshire Regiment,' replied Florian with some bitterness
of tone.

'Oh, my God, and has it come to this!' said Dulcie wringing her
interlaced fingers. 'Could not Shafto—your cousin——'

'Shafto cast me off—seemed as if he could not get rid of me too soon.'

'How cruel, when he might have done so much for you, to use you so!'

'I had no other resort, Dulcie; I would not stoop to seek favours even
from him, and our paths in life will never cross each other again; but a time
may come—I know not when—in which I may seek forgiveness of enemies
as well as friends—the bad and the good together—for a soldier's life is one
of peril.'

'Of horror—to me!' wailed Dulcie, weeping freely on his breast.

'This tenderness is strange, Dulcie! Why did you cast me off in my utter
adversity and return to me my locket?'

Dulcie looked up in astonishment.

'What do you mean, Florian—have you lost your senses?' she asked in
sore perplexity. 'Where have you come from last?'

'Plymouth; in a paper there I saw a notice of your terrible loss, and

resolved to see, even if I could not speak with you.'

'And you came——'

 'To see you, my lost darling, once again. Oh, Dulcie, I thought I should
die if I left England and sailed for Africa without doing so. I got a day's
leave and am here.'

'But why have you done this?'

'This—what?'

'Soldiering!'

'Penniless, hopeless, what else could I do?—besides, I thought you had

cast me off when you sent me back this locket,' he added, producing the gift
referred to.

'That locket was stolen from me on the night you left Revelstoke—
literally wrenched from my neck, as I told you in my letter—the letter you
never answered.'

'I received no letter, Dulcie—but your locket was taken from you by
whom?'

'Shafto.'

'The double villain! He must have intercepted that letter, and utilised the
envelope with its postmarks and stamps to deceive me, and effect a breach
between us.'

'Thank God you came, dearest Florian!'

'I thought you had renounced me, Dulcie, and now I almost wish you
had.'

'Why?'

'It is little use to remember me now—I am so poor and hopeless.'

'After all,' said she, taking his face between her hands caressingly, 'what
does poverty matter if we love each other still?'
 'And you love me, Dulcie—love me yet!' exclaimed Florian
passionately.

'And shall never, never cease to do so.'

'But I am so much beneath you now in position, Dulcie—and—and——'

his voice broke.

'What, darling?'

'May never rise.'

'Would I be a true woman if I forsook you because you were

unfortunate?'

'No; but you are more than a woman, Dulcie—you are a golden-haired
angel!'

'My poor Florian, how gaunt and hollow your cheeks are! You have
suffered——'

'Much since last we parted here in dear old Devonshire. But Shafto's
villainy surpasses all I could have imagined!'

'And where is Shafto now?'

'With his grand relations, I suppose. I am glad that we have unravelled

that which was to me a source of sorrow and dismay—the returned locket.
So you cannot take back your heart, Dulcie, nor give me mine?' said
Florian.

'Nor would I wish to do so,' she replied, sweetly and simply. 'Though
poor, we are all the world to each other now.'

'Hard and matter-of-fact as our every-day existence is, there is—even in

these railway times—much of strange and painful romance woven up with
many a life; and so it seems to be with mine—with ours, Dulcie.'
 'Oh that I were rich, Florian, or that you were so!' exclaimed the girl, as a
great pity filled her heart, when she thought of her lover's blighted life, their
own baffled hopes, and the humble and most perilous course that was
before him in South Africa, where the clouds of war were gathering fast. 'I,
too, am poor, Florian—very poor; dear papa died involved, leaving me
penniless, and I must cast about to earn my own bread.'

'This is horrible—how shall I endure it?' said he fiercely, while regarding

her with a loving but haggard expression in his dark eyes.

'What would you have done if you had not met me by chance here?'

'Loafed about till the last moment, and then done something desperate. I
would have seen you, and after that—the Deluge! In two days we embark at
Plymouth,' he added, casting a glance at the old church of Revelstoke and
its burying-ground. 'There our parents lie, Dulcie—yours at least, and those
that I, till lately, thought were mine. There is something very strange and
mysterious in this change of relationship and position between Shafto and
myself. I cannot understand it. Why was I misled all my life by one who
loved me so well? How often have I stood with the Major by a gravestone
yonder inscribed with the name of Flora MacIan and heard him repeat while
looking at it—

'A thousand would call the spot dreary

Where thou takest thy long repose;
But a rude couch is sweet to the weary,
And the frame that suffering knows.
I never rejoiced more sincerely
Than at thy funeral hour,
Assured that the one I loved dearly
Was beyond affliction's power!

Why did he quote all this to me, and tell me never to forget that spot, or
who was buried there, if she was only Shafto's aunt, and not my mother?'

Florian felt keenly for the position of Dulcie Carlyon, and the perils and
mortifications that might beset her path now; but he was too young, too
healthy and full of animal life and spirits, to be altogether weighed down by
the thought of his humble position and all that was before him; and now
that he had seen her again, restored to her bosom the locket, and that he
knew she was true to him, and had never for a moment wavered in her
girlish love, life seemed to become suddenly full of new impulses and
hopes for him, and he thought prayerfully that all might yet be well for
them both.

But when?

To Dulcie there seemed something noble in the hopeful spirit that, under
her influence, animated her grave lover now. He seemed to become calm,
cool, steadfast, and, hap what might, she felt he would ever be true to her.

He seemed brave and tender and true—'tender and true' as a Douglas of

old, and Dulcie thought how pleasant and glorious it would be to have such
a handsome young husband as he to take care of her always, and see that all
she did was right and proper and wise.

A long embrace, and he was gone to catch the inexorable train. She was
again alone, and for the first time she perceived that the sun had set, that the
waves looked black as they rounded Revelstoke promontory, and that all the
landscape had grown dark, desolate, and dreary.

What a hopeless future seemed to stretch before these two creatures, so

young and so loving!

Florian was gone—gone to serve as a private soldier on the burning

coast of Africa. It seemed all too terrible, too dreadful to think of.

'Every morning and evening I shall pray for you, Florian,' wailed the girl
in her heart; 'pray that you may be happy, good, and rich, and—and that we
shall yet meet in heaven if we never meet on earth.'

On the second morning after this separation, when Dulcie was pillowed
in sleep, and the rising sun was shining brightly on the waves that rolled in
Cawsand Bay and danced over the Mewstone, a great white 'trooper' came
out of Plymouth Sound under sail and steam, with the blue-peter flying at
its foremasthead, her starboard side crowded with red coats, all waving their
caps and taking a farewell look at Old England—the last look it proved to
many—and, led by Bob Edgehill, a joyous, rackety, young private of the
Warwickshire, hundreds of voices joined chorusing:

'Merrily, my lads, so ho!

They may talk of a life at sea,
But a life on the land
With sword in hand
Is the life, my lads, for me!'

But there was one young soldier whose voice failed him in the chorus,
and whose eyes rested on Stoke Point and the mouth of the Yealm till these
and other familiar features of the coast melted into the widening Channel.

Dulcie was roused to exertion from the stupor of grief that had come
upon her by tidings that a situation had been found for her as companion—
one in which she would have to make herself useful, amiable, and agreeable
in the family of a lady of rank and wealth, to whom she would be sent by
influential friends of Mr. Pentreath in London.

The poor girl thought tearfully how desolate was her lot now, cast to
seek her bread among utter strangers; and if she became ill, delicate, or
unable to work, what would become of her?

Her separation from Florian seemed now greater than ever; but, as Heine
has it:

'Tis but the old, old story,

Yet it ever abideth new;
And to whomsoever it cometh
The heart it breaks in two.'

To leave Revelstoke seemed another wrench.

 Dulcie had been born and bred there, and all the villagers in Revelstoke
loved and knew Lawyer Carlyon well, and were deeply interested in the
future of his daughter; thus, on the day of her departure no one made any
pretence of work or working. Heads were popping out and in of the
windows of the village street all morning, and a cluster—a veritable crowd
—of kindly folks accompanied Mr. Pentreath and the weeping girl to the
railway station, for she wept freely at all this display of regard and
sympathy, especially from the old, whom she might never see again.

When the train swept her away, and she lost sight of the last familiar
feature of her native place, a strange and heavy sense of utter desolation
came over poor Dulcie, and but for the presence of other passengers she
would have stooped her head upon her hot hands and sobbed aloud, for she
thought of her dead parents—when did she not think of them now?

'Oh!' exclaims a writer, 'if those who have loved and gone before us can
see afar off those they have left, surely the mother who had passed from
earth might tremble now for her child, standing so terribly alone in the
midst of a seething sea of danger and temptations?'
 CHAPTER XVII.

AT CRAIGENGOWAN.

With the new understanding—the tacit engagement that existed between

herself and Vivian Hammersley—Finella writhed with annoyance when
privately and pointedly spoken to on the subject of her 'cousin' Shafto's
attentions and hopes.

'Grandmamma,' said she to Lady Fettercairn, 'I don't see why I may not
marry whom I please. I am not like a poor girl who has nothing in the
world. Indeed, in that case I am pretty sure that neither you nor cousin
Shafto would want me.'

'She must settle soon,' said Lady Fettercairn, when reporting this plain
reply to Lady Drumshoddy. 'I certainly shall not take her to London again,
yet awhile.'

'You are right,' replied that somewhat grim matron; 'and when once this
Captain Hammersley, who, to my idea, is somewhat too èpris with her, is
gone, you can easily find some pretext for remaining at Craigengowan; or
shall I have her with me?'

'As you please,' replied Lady Fettercairn, who knew that the
Drumshoddy mènage did not always suit the taste of Finella; 'but I think she
is better here—propinquity and all that sort of thing may be productive of
good. I know that poor Shafto's mind is quite made up, and, as I said before,
she must settle soon. We can't have twenty thousand a year slipping out of
the family.'

Finella thought little of their wishes or those of Shafto. She thought only
of that passionate hour in the lonely drawing-room, where she was alone
with Vivian, and his lips were pressed to hers; of the close throb of heart to
heart, and that the great secret of her young girl's life was his now and hers
no longer, but aware of the opposition and antagonism he would be sure to
encounter just then, she urged upon him a caution and a secrecy of the
engagement which his proud spirit somewhat resented.

He thought it scarcely honourable to take advantage of Lord Fettercairn's

hospitality, and gain the love of Finella without his permission; but as both
knew that would never be accorded—that to ask for it would cut short his
visit, and as he was so soon going on distant service, with Finella he agreed
that their engagement should be kept a secret till his return.

And to blind the eyes of the watchful or suspicious he actually found

himself flirting with one of the Miss Kippilaws, three young ladies who
thought they spoke the purest English, though it was with that accent which
Basil Hall calls 'the hideous patois of Edinburgh;' and, perceiving this, Lady
Fettercairn became somewhat contented, and Finella was excessively
amused.

Not so the astute Shafto.

'It is all a d——d game!' muttered that young gentleman; 'a red herring
drawn across the scent.'

'Why do you look so unhappy, dearest?' asked Finella one evening, when
she and her lover found themselves alone for a few minutes, during which
she had been contemplating his dark face in silence.

'My leave of absence is running out so fast—by Jove, faster than ever
apparently now!'

'Is that the sole reason?' asked the girl softly and after a pause, her dark
eyes darkening and seeming to become more intense.

'No,' he replied, with hesitation.

'Tell me, then—what is the other?'

'You know how I love you——'

'And I—you.'
 'But in one sense my love is so liable to misconstruction—so hopeless of
proof.'

'Hopeless, Vivian—after all I have admitted?' she asked reproachfully.

'I mean because I am almost penniless as compared to you.'

'What does that matter? Surely I have enough for two,' said she,
laughing.

'And I fear the bitter opposition of your family.'

'So do I; but don't mind it,' said the independent little beauty.

'I have heard a rumour that one of the Melforts who made a pure love-
marriage was cut off root and branch.'

'That was poor Uncle Lennard, before I was born. Well—they can't cut
me off.'

'They will never consent; and when I am far away, as I soon shall be, if
their evil influence——'

'Should prevail with me? Oh, Vivian!' exclaimed the girl, her dark eyes
sparkling through their unshed tears. 'Think not of their influencing me, for
a moment.'

'Thank you a thousand times for the assurance, my love. It was vile of
me to think of such things. I have a sure conviction that your cousin Shafto
dislikes me most certainly,' said Hammersley, after a pause.

'I don't doubt it,' said she.

'They mean you for him.'

'They—who?'

'Your grandparents.'
 'I know they do—but don't tease me by speaking of a subject so
distasteful,' exclaimed Finella, making a pretty moue expression of disdain.

He pressed a kiss on her brow, another on her hair, and his lips quickly
found their way to hers, after they had been pressed on her snow-white
eyelids.

'I love you with my whole heart, Finella,' he exclaimed passionately.

'And I you,' said the artless girl again, in that style of iteration of which
lovers never grow weary, with an adoring upward glance, which it was a
pity the gathering gloom prevented him from seeing.

As they walked slowly towards the house, she quickly withdrew her
hands, which were clasped clingingly to his arm, as Shafto approached
them suddenly. He saw the abrupt act, and drew his own conclusions
therefrom, and, somewhat to Finella's annoyance, turned abruptly away.

'So that is the amiable youth for whom they design you,' said he in a
whisper.

'Did I not say you were not to speak of him? To tell you the truth, I am at
times somewhat afraid of him.'

'My darling—I must give you an amulet—a charm against his evil
influence,' said Hammersley, laughing, as he slipped a ring on her wedding-
finger, adding, 'I hope it fits.'

'What is this—oh, Vivian! actually a wedding-ring—but I cannot wear,

though I may keep it.'

'Then wear this until you can, when I return, darling,' said he, as he
slipped a gemmed ring on the tiny finger, and stooping, kissed it.

'My heart's dearest!' cooed the girl happily. 'Well, Vivian, none other
than the hoop you have now given me shall be my wedding-ring!'

Had Lady Fettercairn overheard all this she would have had good reason
to fear that Finella's twenty thousand a year was slipping away from the
Craigengowan family, all the more so that the scene of this tender interview
was a spot below the mansion-house, said to be traditionally fatal to the
Melforts of Fettercairn, the Howe of Craigengowan—for there a terrible
adventure occurred to the first Lord, he who sold his Union vote, and of
whom the men of the Mearns were wont to say he had not only sold his
country to her enemies, but that he had also sold his soul to the evil one.

It chanced that in the gloaming of the 28th of April, 1708, the first
anniversary of that day on which the Scottish Parliament dissolved to meet
no more, he was walking in a place which he had bought with his Union
bribe—the Howe of Craigengowan, then a secluded dell, overshadowed by
great alders and whin bushes—when he saw at the opposite end the figure
of a man approaching pace for pace with himself, and his outline was
distinctly seen against the red flush of the western sky.

As they neared each other slowly, a strange emotion of superstitious awe

stole into the hard heart of Lord Fettercairn. So strong was this that he
paused for a minute, and rested on his cane. The stranger did precisely the
same.

The peer—the ex-Commissioner on Forfeited Estates—'pulled himself

together,' and put his left hand jauntily into the silver hilt of his sword—a
motion imitated exactly, and to all appearance mockingly, by the other,
whose gait, bearing, and costume—a square-skirted crimson coat, a long-
flapped white vest, black breeches and stockings rolled over the knee, and a
Ramillie wig—were all the same in cut and colour as his own!

Lord Fettercairn afterwards used to assert that he would never be able to

describe the undefinable, the strange and awful sensation that crept over
him when, as they neared each other, pace by pace, he saw in the other's
visage the features of himself reproduced, as if he had been looking into a
mirror.

A cold horror ran through every vein. He knew and felt that his own
features were pallid and convulsed with mortal terror and dismay, while he
could see that those of his dreadful counterpart were radiant with spite and
triumphant malice.