Notes On Code-Switching

NOTES ON CODE-SWITCHING (unparaphrased stuff)
1-WHAT IS CODE SWITCHING
From one point of view, it is good to encourage students to code-switch. But, if they don’t respect
the syntactic rules when they alternate between languages in conversation, this code-switching
won’t be useful for educational purposes. The question to be asked now, does code-switching
pollutes our mother tongue?
-Gumperz as cited by Price (2010) opines code switching as “juxtaposition within the same speech
exchange of passages belonging to two different grammatical systems or subsystems”
-Code-switching is a widespread multifunctional characteristic of the speech of bilinguals in formal

and informal settings
2-HISTORY OF CODE SWITCHING
“Use this in the introduction”
-Code-switching has been known since the early twentieth century, when the first recognizable
observations concerning bilingual research were recorded (Ronjat 1913, and later Leopold 1939-49).
However, the phenomenon was not investigated for a long time.
- In the entire first half of the twentieth century and in large parts of the second half, code-switching
was considered something that occurred randomly, without a logical pattern behind it, as a result of
imperfect second language learning.
- The perspective on code switching began to change in the nineteen seventies when Blom and
Grumperz (1972) published an article in which they presented a survey of their studies of a
Norwegian village.
-Blom and Grumperz discovered that members of the village spoke two dialects of Norwegian and
used them according to specific situations.
-In the 1940s and 1950s, many scholars considered code-switching to be a sub-standard use of
language.
-Since the 1980s, however, most scholars have come to regard it a normal natural product of
bilingual and multilingual language use (en.wikipedia.org).
(A Sociolinguistic Survey on Code Switching & Code Mixing by the Native Speakers of Bangladesh by
Ahmad Mahbub-ul-Alam & Shaima Quyyum
3-TYPES OF CODE SWITCHING
Several researchers have attempted to provide a typological framework that accounts for
the phenomenon of CS
-bloom & Gumberz (1972) defines two types of CS: ‘Situational CS’ and ‘Metaphorical CS’. Situational
CS happens when the languages used change according to the situations the conversant are in. On
the other hand, metaphorical code-switching occurs when the topic is needed to be changed in the
language used.( Discourse strategies)
-Hughes also defines three types of CS: Borrowing, referring to using words from the secondary
language in the same grammatical format, but words unavailable in the primary language; Calque,
referring to literally translating a phrase without regard to proper context; and Inter-sentential,
referring to inserting an entire phrase from the secondary language into a conversation using the
other language .
- Muysken (2009) mentions three types of CS: insertion, alternation and congruent lexicalization.
- Poplack (1980:
*Inter-sentential CS: happens into in a sentence boundaries
*Intra-sentential CS: in the middle of a sentence, with no interruptions, hesitation or pause indicating
a shift
*Extra-sentential CS: an insertion of a tag from one language into an utterance of another language
Gumperz, J (1982) clarifies that CS is divided into three types, the first one is intra-sentential switch,
it occurs within the sentence, elements of language A are used as elements of the sentence in
language B, for example, in Spanish-English switching “LA ONDA is to fight YJAMBAR” . The second
type is the inter-sentential switch, takes place between sentences; sentences from another language
are inserted in the same discourse, for instance “ANI WIDEILI. What happened” The third type is
emblematic switch, and it takes the form of tags, and exclamations from one language to another,
for instance, here in Morocco, people utter a string of words such as, “the new constitution
is somehow modified, wla la”. This switching affects the syntactic form of both languages; but,
they implicitly share something in common, which is preserving the same meaning of utterances of
both languages. Thus, the process of combining them together creates some kind of variation in
language use.
FACTORS OF CODE-SWITCHING:
FUNCTIONS OF CODE SWITCHING

Different researchers have listed many different functions of code switching. Malik (1994) raised
attention to several functions; which he named the communicative functions as to attract attention,
the lack of facility, lack of register, emphasizing a point, habitual experience mood of the speaker,
semantic significance, showing identity with a group, addressing a different audience, pragmatic
reasons. Another researcher, Johnson (2000), illustrate another types of functions of code-switching,
and basically they are five. The first one is to announce specific identities, create meanings, and
facilitate particular interpersonal relationship; the second one is to put speakers with others in
specific situations; the third one is to exercise control, especially between parents and children; the
fourth one is the using of the second or foreign language in order to mark switching from informal
situations to formal situations and the last one is to conceal fluency or memory problems in the
second or foreign language
REFERENCING
-Malik, L. (1994). Sociolinguistic: A Study of Codeswitching. New Dhlhi: Anmol
-Muysken, Pieter.(2000). Bilingual Speech: A Typology of Code mixing. Cambridge and New
York: Cambridge University Press.
- Maniruzzaman, M. (2013). Introduction to Linguistics. (First published: 2013)
- Hughes et al. (2006). Retrieved from http//www.en.wikibooks.org
-Noge, Desidaria Maria. ( 2011). A Study On The Code Switching In Conversation Between The Second
Year Students Of SMPK Sapienta (Thesis). Kupang: Widya Mandira Catholic University.

Notes On Code-Switching

Uploaded by

Notes On Code-Switching

Uploaded by

NOTES ON CODE-SWITCHING (unparaphrased stuff)

1-WHAT IS CODE SWITCHING

-Code-switching is a widespread multifunctional characteristic of the speech of bilinguals in formal

2-HISTORY OF CODE SWITCHING

“Use this in the introduction”

*Inter-sentential CS: happens into in a sentence boundaries

FUNCTIONS OF CODE SWITCHING

-Malik, L. (1994). Sociolinguistic: A Study of Codeswitching. New Dhlhi: Anmol

York: Cambridge University Press.

- Maniruzzaman, M. (2013). Introduction to Linguistics. (First published: 2013)

- Hughes et al. (2006). Retrieved from http//www.en.wikibooks.org

You might also like