Osmer Balam
Biographic Data
| ID | 3531119 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Osmer Balam |
| GIVEN NAMES | Osmer |
| FAMILY NAME | Balam |
| SIGNATURE | BALAM O |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Florida |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4507-7779 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 12 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Spanglish in the US, Belize and Gibraltar
Even though it has been previously suggested that Spanglish is not exclusive to the US, research on this sociolinguistic phenomenon has focused on the US Hispanophone context, thus providing a limited understanding of how the US compares to Belize and Gibraltar, two language contact situations where Spanglish is also attested. This paper fills this gap by bringing together insights from scholarship on these three contexts where Spanish has been i…
On the grammaticality of passivization in bilingual compound verbs
Objectives/research questions: We examined stative and eventive passive bilingual compound verbs (BCVs) in Spanish/English code-switching. Of particular interest to us was the availability of passivization in bilingual eventive passive hacer “do” constructions, purportedly banned in bilingual speech due to a universal syntactic restriction. Methodology: A total of 119 bilinguals from Northern Belize and 36 from Southwest United States completed a…
Gender Assignment Strategies Among Simultaneous Spanish/English Bilingual Children from Miami, Florida
We examined gender assignment patterns in the speech of Spanish/English bilingual children, paying particular attention to the influence of three gender assignment strategies (i.e., analogical gender, masculine default gender, phonological gender) that have been proposed to constrain the gender assignment process in Spanish/English bilingual speech. Our analysis was based on monolingual Spanish nominals ( n = 1774), which served as a comparative …
Bilingual verbs in three Spanish/English code-switching communities
Objectives/research questions: We investigate two understudied bilingual compound verbs that have been attested in Spanish/English code-switching; namely, ‘ hacer + V Inf ’ and ‘ estar + V Prog ’. Specifically, we examined speakers’ intuitions vis-à-vis the acceptability and preferential use of non-canonical and canonical hacer ‘to do’ or estar ‘to be’ bilingual constructions among bilinguals from Northern Belize, New Mexico and Puerto Rico. Meth…
Adjectives in Spanish/English code-switching
The current study investigates DP-internal adjectives in Spanish/English code-switching (CS). Specifically, we analyze two concomitant phenomena that have been previously investigated; namely, the distributional frequency and placement of adjectives in mixed determiner phrases (DPs). A total of 1680 DPs (477 monolingual Spanish and 1203 Spanish/English DPs), extracted from sociolinguistic interviews with 62 consultants from Northern Belize, were …
Attitudes Toward Spanish and Code-Switching in Belize
Through the analysis of survey and interview data, we investigated the attitudes and perceptions of 32 multilingual teachers of Spanish in Belize, a code-switching (CS) context where Spanish is in intense contact with English and Belizean Kriol. More specifically, we examined teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward Spanish and CS and teachers’ perceptions vis-à-vis students’ attitudes toward Spanish instruction. The study revealed that whereas s…
Addendum
In [1] (p. 2), we highlight that Deuchar and Stammers [2] postulate that their data does not support Poplack and Meechan's assumption that the distinction between code-switching and borrowing is categorical [3].[...]
Semantic Categories and Gender Assignment in Contact Spanish
The present study examines two aspects of determiner phrases ( dp s) that have been previously investigated in Spanish/English code-switching; namely, the openness of semantic domains to non-native nouns and gender assignment in monolingual versus code-switched speech. The quantitative analysis of naturalistic, oral production data from 62 native speakers of Northern Belizean Spanish revealed both similarities and notable differences vis-à-vis pr…
Mixed Verbs in Contact Spanish
The present study provides a quantitative analysis of mixed verbs in the naturalistic speech of 20 Northern Belize bi/multilinguals of two different age groups (ages 14-20 and ages 21-40). I examined the relative frequency of Spanish/English mixed verbs vis-à-vis syntactic verb type and phrasal verbs in mixed verbs. Results showed that the token frequency of mixed verbs was a predictive measure of the relative frequency of 'hacer + V' in code-swi…
Introducing the Special Issue
In introducing this inaugural Special Issue for the open access journal Languages, it is important to understand the concept of linguistic creativity and how this relates to code-switching (henceforth CS)1, a common practice in bi/multilingual communities
A congruence approach to the study of bilingual compound verbs in Northern Belize contact Spanish
Attested in a wide variety of contact situations, bilingual compound verbs (BCVs) have baffled linguists, as they are innovative hybrid constructions that appear superfluous. In the current study, we examine BCVs in Northern Belize, where Spanish/English language alternation occurs alongside the pervasive use of Belizean Kriol, Belize’s lingua franca. We analyze Northern Belize code-switchers’ acceptability judgments and use of BCVs in oral produ…
Overt Language Attitudes and Linguistic Identities among Multilingual Speakers in Northern Belize
The current study examines Mestizo adolescent and post-adolescent speakers’ overt language attitudes towards their language varieties and bilingual/trilingual codeswitching. Results show that contrary to previous studies where code-switching has typically been negatively perceived even by the speakers themselves, codeswitching has thrived in Belize, particularly among post-adolescent speakers, because they are positively predisposed to code-switc…
Mixed Verbs in Contact Spanish
The present study provides a quantitative analysis of mixed verbs in the naturalistic speech of 20 Northern Belize bi/multilinguals of two different age groups (ages 14-20 and ages 21-40). I examined the relative frequency of Spanish/English mixed verbs vis-à-vis syntactic verb type and phrasal verbs in mixed verbs. Results showed that the token frequency of mixed verbs was a predictive measure of the relative frequency of 'hacer + V' in code-swi…
Semantic Categories and Gender Assignment in Contact Spanish
The present study examines two aspects of determiner phrases ( dp s) that have been previously investigated in Spanish/English code-switching; namely, the openness of semantic domains to non-native nouns and gender assignment in monolingual versus code-switched speech. The quantitative analysis of naturalistic, oral production data from 62 native speakers of Northern Belizean Spanish revealed both similarities and notable differences vis-à-vis pr…
Introducing the Special Issue
In introducing this inaugural Special Issue for the open access journal Languages, it is important to understand the concept of linguistic creativity and how this relates to code-switching (henceforth CS)1, a common practice in bi/multilingual communities
Attitudes Toward Spanish and Code-Switching in Belize
Through the analysis of survey and interview data, we investigated the attitudes and perceptions of 32 multilingual teachers of Spanish in Belize, a code-switching (CS) context where Spanish is in intense contact with English and Belizean Kriol. More specifically, we examined teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward Spanish and CS and teachers’ perceptions vis-à-vis students’ attitudes toward Spanish instruction. The study revealed that whereas s…
Overt Language Attitudes and Linguistic Identities among Multilingual Speakers in Northern Belize
The current study examines Mestizo adolescent and post-adolescent speakers’ overt language attitudes towards their language varieties and bilingual/trilingual codeswitching. Results show that contrary to previous studies where code-switching has typically been negatively perceived even by the speakers themselves, codeswitching has thrived in Belize, particularly among post-adolescent speakers, because they are positively predisposed to code-switc…
A congruence approach to the study of bilingual compound verbs in Northern Belize contact Spanish
Attested in a wide variety of contact situations, bilingual compound verbs (BCVs) have baffled linguists, as they are innovative hybrid constructions that appear superfluous. In the current study, we examine BCVs in Northern Belize, where Spanish/English language alternation occurs alongside the pervasive use of Belizean Kriol, Belize’s lingua franca. We analyze Northern Belize code-switchers’ acceptability judgments and use of BCVs in oral produ…
Addendum
In [1] (p. 2), we highlight that Deuchar and Stammers [2] postulate that their data does not support Poplack and Meechan's assumption that the distinction between code-switching and borrowing is categorical [3].[...]
Semantic Categories and Gender Assignment in Contact Spanish
The present study examines two aspects of determiner phrases ( dp s) that have been previously investigated in Spanish/English code-switching; namely, the openness of semantic domains to non-native nouns and gender assignment in monolingual versus code-switched speech. The quantitative analysis of naturalistic, oral production data from 62 native speakers of Northern Belizean Spanish revealed both similarities and notable differences vis-à-vis pr…
Mixed Verbs in Contact Spanish
The present study provides a quantitative analysis of mixed verbs in the naturalistic speech of 20 Northern Belize bi/multilinguals of two different age groups (ages 14-20 and ages 21-40). I examined the relative frequency of Spanish/English mixed verbs vis-à-vis syntactic verb type and phrasal verbs in mixed verbs. Results showed that the token frequency of mixed verbs was a predictive measure of the relative frequency of 'hacer + V' in code-swi…
Introducing the Special Issue
In introducing this inaugural Special Issue for the open access journal Languages, it is important to understand the concept of linguistic creativity and how this relates to code-switching (henceforth CS)1, a common practice in bi/multilingual communities
Attitudes Toward Spanish and Code-Switching in Belize
Through the analysis of survey and interview data, we investigated the attitudes and perceptions of 32 multilingual teachers of Spanish in Belize, a code-switching (CS) context where Spanish is in intense contact with English and Belizean Kriol. More specifically, we examined teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward Spanish and CS and teachers’ perceptions vis-à-vis students’ attitudes toward Spanish instruction. The study revealed that whereas s…
Adjectives in Spanish/English code-switching
The current study investigates DP-internal adjectives in Spanish/English code-switching (CS). Specifically, we analyze two concomitant phenomena that have been previously investigated; namely, the distributional frequency and placement of adjectives in mixed determiner phrases (DPs). A total of 1680 DPs (477 monolingual Spanish and 1203 Spanish/English DPs), extracted from sociolinguistic interviews with 62 consultants from Northern Belize, were …
Bilingual verbs in three Spanish/English code-switching communities
Objectives/research questions: We investigate two understudied bilingual compound verbs that have been attested in Spanish/English code-switching; namely, ‘ hacer + V Inf ’ and ‘ estar + V Prog ’. Specifically, we examined speakers’ intuitions vis-à-vis the acceptability and preferential use of non-canonical and canonical hacer ‘to do’ or estar ‘to be’ bilingual constructions among bilinguals from Northern Belize, New Mexico and Puerto Rico. Meth…
Gender Assignment Strategies Among Simultaneous Spanish/English Bilingual Children from Miami, Florida
We examined gender assignment patterns in the speech of Spanish/English bilingual children, paying particular attention to the influence of three gender assignment strategies (i.e., analogical gender, masculine default gender, phonological gender) that have been proposed to constrain the gender assignment process in Spanish/English bilingual speech. Our analysis was based on monolingual Spanish nominals ( n = 1774), which served as a comparative …
On the grammaticality of passivization in bilingual compound verbs
Objectives/research questions: We examined stative and eventive passive bilingual compound verbs (BCVs) in Spanish/English code-switching. Of particular interest to us was the availability of passivization in bilingual eventive passive hacer “do” constructions, purportedly banned in bilingual speech due to a universal syntactic restriction. Methodology: A total of 119 bilinguals from Northern Belize and 36 from Southwest United States completed a…
Spanglish in the US, Belize and Gibraltar
Even though it has been previously suggested that Spanglish is not exclusive to the US, research on this sociolinguistic phenomenon has focused on the US Hispanophone context, thus providing a limited understanding of how the US compares to Belize and Gibraltar, two language contact situations where Spanglish is also attested. This paper fills this gap by bringing together insights from scholarship on these three contexts where Spanish has been i…
Linguistics (11 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (11 works) · Psychology (11 works) · Code-switching (9 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (9 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Neuroscience of multilingualism (6 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Spanish Linguistics and Language Studies (5 works)