Carol Myers-Scotton

Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Office: 310 Humanities Office Building
(803) 777-2258
myerssc3@msu.edu

Full Vita

Education

Ph.D., University Wisconsin, Madison, 1967

Current Research Project(s)

• Grammatical aspects of language contact phenomena, especially codeswitching
• Bilingualism
  Negotiating social identities through language or stylistic choices
• Language in society
  

Publications and Presentations

Books:
Multiple voices: Introduction to bilingualism. (2006). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. 
Contact linguistics: Bilingual encounters and grammatical outcomes. (2002). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Codes and consequences: Choosing linguistic varieties. (ed.) (1998). Also author of “Introduction” pp. 3-17 and two other chapters (see below).  New York: Oxford University Press.
Social motivations for codeswitching: Evidence from Africa. (1993). Oxford: Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press). Paperback edition 1995.
Duelling languages: Grammatical structure in codeswitching. (1993). Oxford: Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press).  Second edition (1997) with new “Afterword”.
Learning Chicheëa. (1981). Three-volume set of grammatical and cultural materials and teacher's manual. Prepared for U.S. Government Printer for U.S. Peace Corps. Republished 1982: Michigan State University African Studies Center. (Co-author: Gregory J. Orr).
Choosing a lingua franca in an African capital. (1972). (211 pp., Monograph Series in Sociolinguistics). Edmonton: Linguistic Research, Inc.

Editing:
Special issue of International Journal of Bilingualism 3/1. (2001).  Title: “Testing a model of morpheme classification with language contact data”.  (Co-editor of issue with Janice L. Jake; co-author of “Introduction”). 

Aarticles in Press:
2006.   Natural codeswitching knocks on the laboratory door.  To appear in special issue of Bilingualism, Language & Cognition (Albert Costa and David Green, eds.) (in press for 2006).
2006.  Grammatical aspects of potential language shift.  To appear in Proceedings, 2nd International Conference on Attrition.  Benjamins.
2006.  Reply to review of Contact Linguistics (2002) by Davies & Bentahila.  Language in Society 35, 3. (In press for 2006).

Articles ( book chapters (generally refereed) and refereed journals):
2006    How codeswitching as an option empowers bilinguals.   In Neff,-Van Aertselaer, J.A., Pütz, M. and Fishman, J.A. (eds.) Along the routes to power, pp. 73-86.  Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
2005a.  A reply to MacSwan: A Matrix Language still needed.  Bilingualism, Language and Cognition 8,3 (with Janice L. Jake, and Steve Gross).
2005b.  Supporting a differential access hypothesis: Codeswitching and other contact data.. In Kroll, J.L. and A De Groot (eds.), Handbook of Bilingualism, Psycholinguistic Approaches, pp. 326-48.   New York: Oxford University Press..
2005c.  Uniform Structure: Looking beyond the surface in explaining codeswitching.  Special issue on codeswitching, Rivista di Linguistica 17: 15-34..
2004a.  Precision tuning of the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) Model of Codeswitching. Sociolinguistica 18: 110-17. 
2004b. Predicting and explaining codeswitching and grammatical convergence across linguistic varieties.  Journal of Chinese Sociolinguistics 2: 1-17.
2003a.  The out-of-sight in codeswitching and related contact phenomena.  In Mondada, Lorezna & Doehler, Simona P. (eds.), Plurilinguisme, Mehlsprachigkeit, & Plurlilingualism. 221-33.  Tübingen & Basel: A Francke.  (with Janice L. Jake).
2003b.  Code-switching: Evidence for both flexibility and rigidity in language.  In Dewaele, Jean-Marc, Alex Housen, and Li Wei (eds.), Bilingualism” Beyond Basic Principles. 189-203.  Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
2003c.  What lies beneath: Split (mixed) languages as contact phenomena. In Matras,Y. and P. Bakker (eds.), The mixed language debate: Theoretical and empirical advances, pp. 73-106.  Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
2002a.  Making a minimalist approach to codeswitching work: Adding the Matrix Language. Bilingualism, Language and Cognition 5: 69-91. (with Janice L. Jake and Steven Gross).
2002b  Second generation shifts in sociopragmatic orientation and codeswitching patterns.  In Language contact and language conflict in Arabic, Aleya Rouchdy (ed.), pp. 317-30. London: Routledge. (with Janice L. Jake).
2002c  Frequency and intentionality in (unmarked/marked choices in codeswitching: “This is a twenty-four hour country”. International Journal of Bilingualism 6: 205-19.
2001a.  Explaining aspects of codeswitching and their implications. In One mind, two languages: Bilingual language processing ed. by Janet Nichol, pp. 84-116.  Oxford: Blackwell. (with Janice L. Jake).
2001b.  Why bilingualism matters. American Speech 75. 290-91.
2001c.  The matrix language frame model: Developments and responses. In Codeswitching Worldwide II  Jacobson, Rodolfo (ed.), pp. 23-58.  Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
2001d.  Calculating speakers: Codeswitching in a rational choice model. Language in Society 30. 1-28. (with Agnes Bolonyai).
2001e.  Implications of abstract grammatical structure: Two targets in creole formation.  Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 16. 217-73.
            2000a.  Comparing verbs in Swahili/English codeswitching with other data sets. In Lugha za Tanzania, Kahigi, Kulikoyela, Y.Kihore, and M. Mous, (eds.), pp. 203-214. Leiden: Universiteit Leiden.
2000b.  Four types of morpheme: Evidence from aphasia, code switching, and second-language acquisition. Linguistics 38.1053-1100. (with Janice L. Jake).
2000c.  What matters: The out of sight in mixed languages. Bilingualism, Language and Cognition 3. 119-21.
2000d.  Three approaches to language contact. Rivista di Linguistica 11. 367-86.
1999a.  Putting it all together: the Matrix Language and more.  In  Language encounters across time and space, Brendemoen, Bernt, E. Lanza and E. Ryen (eds.), 13-28. Oslo: Novus Press.
1999b.  Chicheëa and ‘Do’ constructions in codeswitching.  In African Mosaic, Finlayson, Rosalie (ed.), pp. 406-17.  Pretoria: University of South Africa Press. (with Janice L. Jake).
1999c.  Explaining the role of norms and rationality in codeswitching. Journal of Pragmatics 32. 1259-71.
1998a.  Orderly mixing and accommodation in South African codeswitching.  Journal of Sociolinguistics 2.395-420.  (with Rosalie Finlayson and Karen Calteaux).
1998b.  A theoretical introduction to the markedness model.  In Codes and consequences, Myers-Scotton (ed. see above), pp. 18-38.  New York: Oxford University Press.
1998c.  Marked grammatical structures: Communicating intentionality in The Great Gatsby and As I Lay Dying.  In Codes and consequences, Myers-Scotton (ed. see above), pp. 62-88.  New York: Oxford University Press.
1998d.  Codeswitching and the nature of lexical entries. Plurlinguismes 14. 219-46. (with Janice L. Jake).
1998e.  A way to dusty death: The Matrix Language turnover hypothesis.  Endangered Languages, Grenoble, Lenore and L. Whaley (eds.), pp. 289-316. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
1998f.  Rational actor models and linguistic choices.  In Language, linguistics, and leadership, Joseph  O’Mealy, H.and L. Lyons (eds.), pp. 76-88. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i and East-West Center Press.
1998g.  Compromise structural strategies in codeswitching. In Bilingualism and migration, Extra, Guus and L. Verhoeven (eds.), pp. 211-228. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
1997a.  Codeswitching and compromise strategies: Implications for lexical structure. International Journal of Bilingualism 1. 25-39.  (with Janice L. Jake).
            1997b.  The structure of Tsotsitaal and Iscamtho: Code switching and in-group identity in South African townships.. Linguistics 35. 317-42. (with Sarah Slabbert).
1997c.  Rational actor models and social discourse analysis. Discourse analysis, proceedings of the first international conference on social discourse analysis, Pedro, Emilia R. (ed.), pp.177-99. Lisbon: Edicoes Colibri/Associacao Portuguesa de Linguistica.      
            1997d.  Relating interlanguage to codeswitching: The Composite Matrix Language.  Proceedings, the 1996 Boston University Conference on Language Development, pp. 319-30. Brookline, MA:  Cascadilla Press. (with Janice L. Jake)
1997e.  On safari with sociolinguistics.  In The Early Days of Sociolinguistics Tucker, G.Richard and   and C.B. Paulston (eds.), pp.189-99.  Arlington, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
1997f.  Structural uniformities vs. community difference in codeswitching.  In Codeswitching Worldwide  Jacobson, Rodolfo (ed.) pp. 91-108.  Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
1997g.  ‘Matrix Language choice’ and ‘Morpheme sorting’ as possible structural strategies in
            pidgin/creole formation. In Pidgins and creoles: Structure and status, 
            Spears, Arthur andD. Winford (eds.), pp. 151-74. Amsterdam: Benjamins.      
1997h.  Codeswitching.  In Handbook of sociolinguistics,  Coulmas, Florian (ed), pp. 217-37. Oxford: Blackwell.
                        1996a.  Arabic and constraints on codeswitching.  In Perspectives on Arabic linguistics IX, 
            Eid, Mushira and Dilworth Parkinson (eds), pp.9-43. Amsterdam: Benjamins (with Maha Okasha and Janice L. Jake).
1996b.  Afterword. (Comments on papers given at Symposium on Code-Mixing). World Englishes 15.395-404.
1995a.  Matching  lemmas in a bilingual language competence and production model: evidence from intrasentential code switching. Linguistics 33: 981-1024. (with Janice L. Jake). Reprinted in The bilingualism reader, Li Wei (ed), pp. 281-320.  London: Routledge.
1995b. A lexically-based production model of codeswitching. In One speaker, two languages: Cross-disciplinary perspectives on code-switching, ed. byLesley Milroy and Pieter Muysken, 233-56. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
1995c.  Language processing and the mental lexicon in bilinguals. In New approaches to the lexicon, Rene Dirven and J. Vanparys (eds.), pp.73-100. Frankfurt: P. Lang.
1995d. What do speakers want? Codeswitching as evidence of intentionality in linguistic choices. In Salsa 2, Papers from Symposium about Language and Society at Austin, Pamela Silberman and J. Loftin (eds.), pp. 1-17. Austin: University of Texas Department of Linguistics.
1993a.  Common and uncommon ground: Social and structural factors in codeswitching. Language in Society 22.475-503.
1993b.  English loans in Shona: Consequences for linguistic systems. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 100/01.125-48. (with Janice Bernsten).
1993c.  Elite closure as a powerful language strategy: the African case. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 103.149-63.
1993d.  Building the frame in codeswitching: evidence from Africa. Topics in African linguistics,  Salikoko Mufwene and L.Moshi (eds.), pp.253-78. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
                        1992a.  Constructing the frame in intrasentential codeswitching. Multilingua 11.101-27.
1992b.  Codeswitching in Africa: a model of the social functions of code selection. Sociolinguistics in Africa,Robert K. Herbert (ed.), pp.165-80. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand Press.
1992c.  Codeswitching as a mechanism of deep borrowing, language shift, and language death. Language Death in East Africa, Matthias Brenzinger (ed.), pp.31-58. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
1992d  Codeswitching as socially-motivated performance meets structurally-motivated constraints. Thirty years of linguistic evolution, Martin Putz (ed.), pp. 417-28. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
1992e.  Comparing codeswitching and borrowing. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 13. 19-39.
1992f.  Sociolinguistics: An overview. South African Journal of African Languages 12 (supplement 1).1-10.
1992g.  Simplification: Not the best explanation for two language changes in Nairobi Swahili. Swahili studies, essays in honour of Marcel Van Spaandonck, Jan Blommaert (ed.), pp.45-56. Ghent: Academia Press. 
            1990a.  Codeswitching and borrowing: interpersonal and macrolevel meaning. In Codeswitching as a worldwide phenomenon, Rodolfo Jacobson (ed.), pp.85-110. New York: Peter Lang.
1990b.  Accounting for structure in Swahili/English codeswitching. Working Papers in Kiswahili No. 9. Ghent: State University Ghent (Belgium) Seminar for Swahili. 22 pp.
1990c.  Elite closure as boundary maintenance: the evidence from Africa. In Language policy and political development, Brian Weinstein (ed.), pp. 25-41. Norwood NJ: Ablex.
1990d.  A frame-based model of codeswitching. In Papers from the 25th Regional Meeting, Chicago Linguistic Society, Michael Ziolkowsi at al.(eds.), pp. 307-21. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society. (with Shoji Azuma).
1989.  Code-switching with English: switching types, communities types. World Englishes 8.333-46.
1988a.  Self-enhancing codeswitching as interactional power.  Language & Communication 8.199-211.
1988b.  Differentiating borrowing and codeswitching. In Linguistic change and contact: N-WAV XVI,  Kathleen Ferrara et al (eds.). pp.318-25. Austin TX: University of Texas Department of Linguistics.
1988c.  Codeswitching as indexical of social negotiation. In Codeswitching: Anthropological and sociolinguistic perspectives, Monica Heller (ed.), pp.151-86. The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter.  Reprinted 2000. In The bilingualism reader, Li Wei (ed.), pp.137-65.  London: Routledge.
1988d.  Patterns of bilingualism in East Africa. In International handbook of bilingualism and bilingual education, Christina Bratt Paulston (ed.), pp. 203-24. Westport CT:GrnwdPress.
1988e.  Codeswitching and types of multilingual communities. In Georgetown University Round Table on languages and linguistics 1987,  Peter Lowenberg (ed.). pp. 61-82. Washington: Georgetown University Press. 61-82.
            1988f.  Natural conversations as a model for textbook dialogue. Applied Linguistics 9.372-84. (with Janice Bernsten).
1986.  Diglossia and codeswitching. In The Fergusonian impact, Vol.2, Joshua A. Fishman et al.(eds.), pp.  403-15. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
1985.  What the heck, sir? Style shifting and lexical colouring as features of powerful language. In Sequence and pattern in communicative behavior, Richard L. Street Jr. and J.N. Cappella (eds.), pp. 103-19. London: Edward Arnold.
1984a.  The multiple meanings of Shi.fu in Chinese: a semantic change in progress. Anthropological Linguistics 26.326-44. (with Zhu Wanjin).
1984b.  Conversational expression of power by television interviewers. Journal of Social Psychology 123.261-71. (with Heidi Owsley)
.           1983a.  Comment: markedness and code choice. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 39.119-28.
1983b.  The negotiation of identities in conversation: a theory of markedness and code choice. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 44.11
.           1983c.  Tongzhi in Chinese: conversational consequences of language change. In Language in Society 12.477-94. (with Zhu Wanjin).  Translated into Chinese for Readings in sociolinguistics).
1982a.  Learning lingua francas and socio-economic integration: evidence from Africa. In Language spread,  Robert L. Cooper (ed.). pp. 63-94. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press.
1982b.  An urban-rural comparison of language use among the Luyia in Kenya. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 34.121-36.
1982c.  The linguistic situation and language policy in Eastern Africa. In Annual review of applied linguistics, Robert B. Kaplan (ed.). pp. 8-20. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House.
1982d.  What about powerful questions? In Papers from parasession on non-declaratives, Chicago Linguistic Society,  Schneider, Robinson et al.(eds.) pp. 219-27.(with H. Owsley).
.           1982e.  The possibility of codeswitching: motivation for maintaining multilingualism. Anthropological Linguistics 24.432-44.
1981.  Extending inalienable possession: the argument for an extensive case in Swahili. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 3.159-74.
1980.  Explaining linguistic choices as identity negotiations. In Language, social psychological perspectives, Howard Giles et al. (eds.), pp. 359-66. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
1979a.  National and personal ambition in language choice. In Studies in honor of A.A. Hill (Vol. IV), Edgar Polome et al. (eds.), pp. 361-69. The Hague: Mouton.
            1979b.  The context is the message: syntactic and semantic deletion in Nairobi and Kampala varieties of Swahili.  In Readings in creole studies, Ian Hancock (ed.). pp.111-28. Gent: Story-Scientia.
1979c.  Codeswitching as a ‘safe choice’ in choosing a lingua franca.  In Language and society,  William McCormack and S. Wurm (eds.), pp. 71-88. The Hague: Mouton.
1978.  Language in East Africa: Linguistic patterns and political ideologies. In Advances in the study of societal multilingualism, Joshua A. Fishman (ed.), pp.719-60. The Hague: Mouton.
1977a.  Linguistic performance as a socioeconomic indicator.  Journal of Social Psychology 102.35-45.
1977b.  Review article: Language in Kenya. Language 53.174-89.
1977c.  Linguistic performances as subjective measure: some findings and implications.  Studies in African Linguistics 8, supplement. 199-210.
.           1977d.  Bilingual strategies: the social function of codeswitching.  International Journal of the Sociology of Language 13.5-20. Also in Linguistics 193. (with William Ury). Reprinted in Zhu, Wanjin. (ed.) 1985. She-hue u-ian-xue i uen ji (Edited Translations on Sociolinguistics), pp.199-217. Peking University Press. 199-217. Also reprinted in Raith, Joachim et al. (eds.) 1986. Grundlagen der Mehrsprachigkeitsforschung (Basic Research in Multilingualism), pp. 163-82. Stuttgart: Franc Steiner. 
1976a.  The role of norms and other factors in language choice in work situations in three African cities (Lagos, Kampala, Nairobi). In Language and Society, Kjolseth, R. and A. Verdoodt (eds.), pp. 201-32. Louvain: editions Peeters.
1976b.  Strategies of Neutrality: Language choice in uncertain situations. Language 52.919-41.
1975a.  Multilingualism in Lagos--what it means to the social scientist. Ohio State Working Papers in Linguistics 19.78-90.
1975b.  Loan words and the borrowing process in two Ateso dialects. Journal of the Language Association of Eastern Africa 3.27-48.
1973.  Neighbors and  lexical borrowings: a study of two Ateso dialects. Language 49.871-89. (with John Okeju).
1972.  Loan word integration in Ateso. Anthropological Linguistics 14.358-82.
1971.  Towards a linguistic theory of choosing a lingua franca.  Studies in African Linguistics 1, supplement 2.109-29.
1969.  The perception of Swahili of two up-country groups of speakers. Swahili 39.101-11.
1967.  Semantic and syntactic subcategorization in Swahili causative verb shapes. Journal of African Languages 6.249-67.
1965.  Some Swahili political words. Journal of Modern African Studies 3.527-42.

Major Academic Grants/Honors (Post-PhD):
6/2004-11/2005.  National Science Foundation (Linguistics Division) “Steps in Grammatical Turnover/Shift”.  Principal Investigator. Field work in South Africa and data analysis.
5/96- 5/2003.  Carolina Distinguished Professor (of Linguistics), University of South Carolina..
Summer 2000.  University of South Carolina College of Liberal Arts, CLASS grant.
1/99.  Invited instructor, Consortium of Dutch Universities “Winter School”, Amsterdam.
7/98.  Invited instructor, Australian Linguistics Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane.
5/97-12/97.  University of South Carolina All-University Venture Fund Grant.
            4/94-4/97.  National Science Foundation (Linguistics Division). “Congruency in codeswitching and the nature of lexical entries.” Field work and analysis. (Principal Investigator with Janice L. Jake).
6/95.  Distinguished Alumni Award, Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa.
5/95.  Human Sciences Research Council Research Award, Republic of South Africa.. (Support for month of research in South Africa).
1993-94.  Russell Research Award (College of Humanities and Social Sciences), University of South Carolina. 
1993-94.  Outstanding Graduate Teacher Award, Graduate English/Linguistics Club, University of South Carolina.
                        1992-93.  University of South Carolina Research and Productive Scholarship Grant.
1988.  Social Science Research Council Grant.  Nine weeks sociolinguistic fieldwork, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
1988-89.  University of South Carolina Research and Productive Scholarship Grant.
6-7/86.  Director, Intensive Swahili Language Pedagogy Institute, Michigan State University. Students: ten Swahili instructors from U.S. universities and colleges. Topic: current second language acquisition theory and applications to Swahili teaching. (Funded by U.S. Department of Education).
1984.  MSU Research Completion Grant.. Analysis of data on urban dialects of Swahili and Shona, considering: patterns of borrowing universals in pidginization processes.
1983.  Fulbright Research Grant.. To Kenya and Zimbabwe to study urban dialects and simplification as an urban phenomenon (in reference to hypotheses concerning language universals). Seven months.
1980.  Project director, ACTION contract #79-043, 1033 to prepare Chicheëa grammar teaching materials for Peace Corps in Malaëi.
1997.  Joint Committee on African Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council.  10 weeks sociolinguistic research in Kenya.
                        1970-71.  American Association of University Women post-doctoral fellowship.
1968-70.  East African Language Survey (Ford Foundation). Sociolinguistic research in Kampala and field study of borrowing in Ateso.

Conference presentations:

Non-finite verbs in Acholi/English codeswitching. Fourth International Symposium on Bilingualism, Arizona State University, May 2003. (with J.L.Jake).
Comparing the Markedness Model and Relevance Theory. Fourth International Symposium on Bilingualism, Arizona State University, May 2003.