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Personal webpage: http://www.myers-scotton.com

Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Linguistics Program and Department of English, University of South Carolina.

Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa (B.A.),
University of Wisconsin-Madison (M.A. and Ph.D.)

(1) Language contact phenomena. Major concern: grammatical consequences of bilingualism for languages, especially codeswitching and convergence, but also attrition, pidgin and creole development (Matrix Language Frame model and model of Matrix Language Turnover). Implications of such data for models of language competence and production.
(2) Sociolinguistics in general. Special interests: sociolinguistic theory and field methodology; interpersonal negotiations, especially as they are realized in switching languages or styles; language and gender; factors promoting bilingualism, language spread, and language shift.
(3) Models of grammar and language production (as related to studies of the structural constraints on language contact phenomena). Special interest: evidence for a production-based classification of morphemes (4-M model).
(4) Discourse analysis and stylistics. Study of the structure and content of both literary texts and natural conversation.
(5) Study of African languages, particularly with regard to multilingualism and related issues. Specialization: Swahili and the Bantu group of languages in general.

August 1986 - July 2003. Professor of Linguistics and English, appointed in Department of English, University of South Carolina. (Teaching graduate courses in sociolinguistics and discourse, and undergraduate courses in linguistics).

Director, Interdepartmental Linguistics Program, 8/86-8/90; 7/96-6/98.

September--November 1992. Visiting Fellow, Max-Planck Institut fur Psycholinguistik, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. (Consulting with the language production group).

January 1989--May 1989. Visiting Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Texas, Austin, Texas. (Teaching graduate courses in sociolinguistics).

September 1976--July 1986. Professor, Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Oriental, and African Languages, Michigan State University. (Appointed Professor 1980. Teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in sociolinguistics and African linguistics).

September 1982--January 1983. Visiting Professor, Department of Foreign Languages, Peking University, Beijing, the People's Republic of China.

Books:

Contact linguistics: Bilingual encounters and grammatical outcomes. 2002.  Oxford: 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). Paperback edition 1997 with new "Afterword".

Learning Chichewa. 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.

1998. Codes and consequences: Choosing linguistic varieties. (ed.) New York: Oxford University Press.

2000. Special issue of International Journal of Bilingualism . Title: "Testing a model of morpheme classification with language contact data". (Co-editor of issue with Janice L. Jake; co-author of "Introduction"). 3/2000.

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, ed. by Aleya Rouchdy, pp. 317-30. London: Routledge. (with Janice L. Jake).

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 ed. by Rodolfo Jacobson, pp. 23-58.  Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

2001d.  “ Implications of abstract grammatical structure: Two targets in creole formation.”  Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 16. 217-73.

2001e. "Calculating speakers: Codeswitching in a rational choice model." Language in society 30: 1-28. (with Agnes Bolongyai).

2001f. "The matrix language frame model: Developments and responses." In codeswitching worldwide II, ed. by R. Jacobson, 23-58. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

2000a. "Explaining aspects of codeswitching and their implications." In One mind, two languages: Bilingual language processing ed. by Janet Nichol, pp. 91-125 . Oxford: Blackwell. (with Janice L. Jake). To appear late 2000.

2000b. "Four types of morphemes: Evidence from aphasia, codeswitching and second language acquisition." Linguistics 38,6 (2000). 1053-1100. (with Janice L. Jake). To appear late 2000.

2000c. "Comparing verbs in Swahili/English codeswitching with other data sets." In Lugha za Tanzania ed.by Kulikoyela Kahigi, Y. Kihore, and M. Mous, pp. 203-214. Leiden: Universiteit Leiden.

2000d. "What matters: the out of sight in mixed languages." Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 3. 119-21.

1999a. "Putting it all together: the Matrix Language and more." In Language encounters across time and space ed. by Bernt Brendemoen, Elizabeth Lanza and Else Ryen, 13-28. Oslo: Novus Press.

1999b. "Chichewa and 'Do' constructions in codeswitching". In African Mosaic, edited by Rosalie Finlayson, 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 ed. by Myers-Scotton (see above), 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 ed. by Myers-Scotton (see above), 62-88. New York: Oxford University Press.

1998d. "Codeswitching and the nature of lexical entries". Plurlinguismes 14. 219-46. Revised version of paper given at 1996 Colloque: Alternance des Langues. St. Cloud, France. (With Janice L. Jake).

1998e. "A way to dusty death: The Matrix Language turnover hypothesis". Endangered Languages ed. by Lenore Grenoble and Lindsay Whaley, 289-316. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Version of paper given as invited speaker, Dartmouth Conference on Endangered Languages, Dartmouth College. 2/95).

1998f. "Rational actor models and linguistic choices". In Language, linguistics, and leadership ed. by Joseph H. O'Mealy and Laura E. Lyons, 76-88. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i and East-West Center Press.

1998g. "Compromise structural strategies in codeswitching." In Bilingualism and migration ed. by Guus Extra and Ludo Verhoeven, 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).

1997h. "Codeswitching". In Handbook of sociolinguistics ed. by Florian Coulmas, 217-37. Oxford: Blackwell.

1995a. "Matching lemmas in a bilingual language competence and production model: evidence from intrasentential code switching". Linguistics 33: 981-1024. Reprinted 2000 in The Bilingualism Reader, ed. by Li Wei, 281-320. (with Janice L. Jake). London: Routledge.

1988. "Codeswitching as indexical of social negotiation". In Codeswitching: Anthropological and sociolinguistic perspectives, ed. by Monica Heller. 151-86. The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter. Reprinted 2000 in The bilingualism reader, ed. by Li Wei, 137-65. London: Routledge.

1999-2000. Bilingualism: Multiple Voices. Undergraduate textbook. Oxford: Blackwell. Completion date 2001. (co-author: Janice L. Jake).

October 2001. "Constraints on bilingual speech: you can't just say what you want to say". Paper given at NWAV 30 conference (New Ways of Analyzing Variation). Raleigh NC. (With Janice L. Jake).

November 2001. "With a little help from my friends: how two new sub-models enhance the MLF model". Main address at invited international conference on Migration and Multilingualism. University of Bayreuth, Germany.
January 2002. "Sources of inflection: testing the creold system morpheme hypothesis". Paper given at annual conference, Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics. San Francisco.

Feb. 28, 2002. "Extending the Predictive Power of the Matrix Language Frame Model". Main address at the workshop on codeswitching that was part of the annual meeting of the German Linguistic society (Deutsche Gedsellschaft fur Sprachwissenschaft) at the University of mannheim, Germany. I also gave two seminars for PhD students and faculty at the university.

March 13-15, 2002. Served as an external evaluator for the Linguistics Program at Louisiana State University.
2002. "Implications of abstract grammatical structure: Two targets in creole formation". Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 16:217-73.

April 2002. "Speaking two at once: a feat bilinguals manage every day". Main speaker at the symposium on language contact at the University of Texas - San Antonio.

2000. "Implications of looking at morphemes from the standpoint of language production." Invited colloquium. University College (London) 12/2000.

2000. "The inside story on mixed languages." Workshop on stable mixed languages. Manchester (England). 12/2000.

2000. "New developments in grammatical constraints on codeswitching and other language contact phenomena." Main speaker. Colloquium on Miltilingualism. Hamburg (Germany). 12/000.

2000. "Negotiating an identity through codeswitching: 'This is a twenty-four hour country'." International Pragmatics Conference. Budapest. 7/2000.

2000. "Only early system morphemes need apply." Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics annual meeting. Chicago. 1/2000. (with Janice L. Jake).

2000. "A minimalist approach to codeswitching." Linguistic Society of America annual meeting. Chicago. 1/2000. (with Janice L. Jake).

2000. "Minimalism meets matrix language: variation in codeswitching." NWAV annual meeting. East Lansing MI. 10/2000. (with Janice L. Jake).

1999. "Morpheme organization in the mental lexicon: Evidence from language contact phenomena." Plenary address. 2nd International Bilingualism Symposium. Newcastle (England). 4/99.

Editorial board member, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition; International Journal of Bilingualism; Language in Society; Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development.

Recent Grants: NSF grant (1994-97); Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa (1995). USC Venture Grant (1998); USC College of Liberal Arts Grant (2000).