EXTENDED ABSTRACT
Codeswitching refers to mixing languages within an utterance.
Bilingual individuals use this linguistic practice frequently in
their everyday lives to communicate certain meanings coded in the
act of switching itself or in the language that is made salient by the
codeswitch. Because of the ubiquitous nature of codeswitching
among certain populations like Hispanics in the U.S. or French
speakers in Switzerland, advertisers targeting those populations
have also adopted this practice.
For example, Latina is a magazine
targeting young Hispanic women that is well known for its frequent
use of codeswitching. The following two ads recently appeared in
that magazine: “Redefine fuerza. Presentamos el totalmente nuevo
Chevy Trail Blazer” (Redefine power. We present the totally new
Chevy Trail Blazer); and “Sweet sonrisa: We found four ways to
brighten your teeth and make the most of your radiant smile”
(sonrisa means smile). The first ad differs from the second in the
language that serves as a frame for the codeswitch.
Linguistic Constraints in Codeswitching
This paper examines the linguistic structural constraints in the
practice of codeswitching in advertising. That is, it examines the
rules that make a particular code switch correct or incorrect linguistically.
We extend a linguistic model, the Matrix Language Frame,
or MLF, model (Myers-Scotton 1995). The MLF model specifies
certain structural rules that govern the production of codeswitched
speech, in a sense laying out a grammar of codeswitching. The MLF
model emerged through the analysis of extensive corpora of interactional
speech and was developed to understand how codeswitched
speech is produced. The present research tests the rules delineated
by the MLF model in an experimental setting, applying them to
speech perception, not speech production, since language perception
is crucial for ad processing.
We expect that codeswitched ads that do not follow the
linguistic rules of the MLF model (i.e., ungrammatical ads) will be
less persuasive than ads that follow them (i.e., grammatical ads).
That effect, however, should be moderated by the type of processing
in which consumers engage.
Type of Processing as a Moderator
Roediger (1990) distinguishes between data-driven and conceptually
driven tasks. Data-driven processes (e.g., reading each of
a list of words) involve processing of perceptual cues. These
processes are triggered directly by external stimuli and engage
individuals in mostly bottom-up processing. On the other hand,
conceptually driven processes (e.g., imagining the content of an
expression or generating associates) involve semantic elaboration
and are initiated by the subject. This type of processing generally
leads to top-down processing.
From a linguistic standpoint, the question to be addressed in
our research is whether individuals will overlook grammatically
incorrect codeswitching when they process a slogan conceptually.
Previous research has examined the possibility that individuals may
not notice a codeswitched element. For example, Altarriba, Kroll,
Sholl, and Rayner (1996) show that high semantic constraint
sentences make people “skip” a codeswitched word. That is,........
(CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE TEXT)
Codeswitching refers to mixing languages within an utterance.
Bilingual individuals use this linguistic practice frequently in
their everyday lives to communicate certain meanings coded in the
act of switching itself or in the language that is made salient by the
codeswitch. Because of the ubiquitous nature of codeswitching
among certain populations like Hispanics in the U.S. or French
speakers in Switzerland, advertisers targeting those populations
have also adopted this practice.
For example, Latina is a magazine
targeting young Hispanic women that is well known for its frequent
use of codeswitching. The following two ads recently appeared in
that magazine: “Redefine fuerza. Presentamos el totalmente nuevo
Chevy Trail Blazer” (Redefine power. We present the totally new
Chevy Trail Blazer); and “Sweet sonrisa: We found four ways to
brighten your teeth and make the most of your radiant smile”
(sonrisa means smile). The first ad differs from the second in the
language that serves as a frame for the codeswitch.
Linguistic Constraints in Codeswitching
This paper examines the linguistic structural constraints in the
practice of codeswitching in advertising. That is, it examines the
rules that make a particular code switch correct or incorrect linguistically.
We extend a linguistic model, the Matrix Language Frame,
or MLF, model (Myers-Scotton 1995). The MLF model specifies
certain structural rules that govern the production of codeswitched
speech, in a sense laying out a grammar of codeswitching. The MLF
model emerged through the analysis of extensive corpora of interactional
speech and was developed to understand how codeswitched
speech is produced. The present research tests the rules delineated
by the MLF model in an experimental setting, applying them to
speech perception, not speech production, since language perception
is crucial for ad processing.
We expect that codeswitched ads that do not follow the
linguistic rules of the MLF model (i.e., ungrammatical ads) will be
less persuasive than ads that follow them (i.e., grammatical ads).
That effect, however, should be moderated by the type of processing
in which consumers engage.
Type of Processing as a Moderator
Roediger (1990) distinguishes between data-driven and conceptually
driven tasks. Data-driven processes (e.g., reading each of
a list of words) involve processing of perceptual cues. These
processes are triggered directly by external stimuli and engage
individuals in mostly bottom-up processing. On the other hand,
conceptually driven processes (e.g., imagining the content of an
expression or generating associates) involve semantic elaboration
and are initiated by the subject. This type of processing generally
leads to top-down processing.
From a linguistic standpoint, the question to be addressed in
our research is whether individuals will overlook grammatically
incorrect codeswitching when they process a slogan conceptually.
Previous research has examined the possibility that individuals may
not notice a codeswitched element. For example, Altarriba, Kroll,
Sholl, and Rayner (1996) show that high semantic constraint
sentences make people “skip” a codeswitched word. That is,........
(CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE TEXT)
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