Mixed verbs in code-switching: The syntax of light verbs

Abstract

This study investigates word order variation in Korean-English and Japanese-English code-switching, with specific focus on the relative placement of the object and the verb in two contrasting word orders, Object-Verb (OV) vs. Verb-Object (VO). The results of an experiment eliciting code-switching judgment data provides strong evidence indicating that the distinction between heavy vs. light verbs plays a major role in deriving different word orders in mixed verb constructions in Korean-English and Japanese-English code-switching. In particular, an explanation pursued in this research supports the hypothesis that parametric variation is attributed to differences in the features of a functional category in the lexicon, as assumed in Minimalist Syntax.