Using the variationist comparative method, the
status of ambiguous lone Spanish-origin nouns in Catalan
discourse is determined by analyzing their distribution
and conditioning and by comparing them to their counterparts
in unmixed Spanish or in multiple-word code-switches. Some
areas of the nominal grammar have been selected for contrastive
purposes (determination, complementation, gender, number)
because they represent sites of coincidence as well as
conflict between the two languages in contact, Spanish
and Catalan. The main conclusion of this research is that
Spanish-origin nouns in an otherwise Catalan context present
grammatical variability similar to that of Catalan nouns,
and that they behave differently from Spanish nouns in
a monolingual context. In short, the grammar of these nouns
is Catalan, and their categorial status is that of loanwords
and not that of code-switches.