Code Switching

Code-switching

Code-switching is the practice of moving between variations of languages in different contexts. Everyone who speaks has learned to code-switch depending on the situation and setting. In an educational context, code-switching is defined as the practice of switching between a primary and a secondary language or discourse.

Code SwitchingCrystal code, or language switching occurs when an individual who is bilingual alternates between two languages during his/her speech with another bilingual person.

code switching entails that the language codes are used inter sentential code switching is the alternation of the use of at least two languages or their varieties or styles in the same conversation in a bilingual community, and structurally it is inter-sentential. It is also functional (done on purpose)

Types of switchingInter-sentential switching is switching outside the sentence or clause level, for example at sentence or clause boundaries.

Intra-sentential switching is switching within a sentence or clause.

Tag-switching is switching a tag phrase or word from language B into language A. (This is a common intra-sentential switch.)

Intra-word switching is switching within a word itself, such as at a Morpheme boundary.

Functions Of Code-switchingFirst, people may use code-switching to hide fluency or memory problems in the second language (but this accounts for about only 10 percent of code switches). Second, code-switching is used to mark switching from informal situations (using native languages) to formal situations (using second language). Third, code-switching is used to exert control, especially between parents and children. Fourth, code-switching is used to align speakers with others in specific situations (e.g., defining oneself as a member of an ethnic group).  Code-switching also 'functions to announce specific identities, create certain meanings, and facilitate particular interpersonal relationships'

The kinds of code switching

Metaphorical topic change (formal to informal, official to personal, serious to humorous, and politeness to solidarity)

Situational based on the situations where the speakers find that they speak one language in one situation and another in different one, no topic change

Functions of Code Switching in Conversation

Code switching not only fills a momentary linguistic need but it can also be used as a very useful communication tool. Its use has a variety of purposes or aims and it usually varies according to who is in the conversation, what is the topic and in what kind of context the conversation occurs.

In addition, social and political factors can influence code switching in a particular country. For instance, competition amongst language groups and the norms of a community may have a major effect on the use of code switching.

Purposes of Code Switching Code switching may be used to emphasis a particular point in a sentence.

Individuals may code switch when they lack the facility or appropriate jargon inone language when speaking about a particular topic. For instance one may code switch when talking about work because the technical terms associated with work are only known in one language.

Code switching can also occur to fill a linguistic need for a lexical item. For instance, the bilingual may switch to one language to express a concept that has no equivalent in the culture of the other language.

Code switching may also be used to exclude people from a conversation. For instance, when travelling individuals may opt to switch to their nativelanguage to talk about private matters thus excluding others from the conversation. Bilingual parents may also code switch to excuse their monolingual children from a private discussion

Code-switching in Practice Language response: The constructivist approach

Wheeler and Swords maintain that the primary principle of the constructivist approach is that “language comes in diverse varieties.” This “linguistically-informed model” recognizes that the student’s home language is not any more deficient in structure than the school language.In this approach, teachers “help children become explicitly aware of the grammatical differences” between the formal “Standard English” and the informal home language. “Knowing this, children learn to code-switch between the language of the home and the language of the school as appropriate to the time, place, audience, and communicative purpose. When an educator prepares a student to code-switch, the student becomes explicitly aware of how to select the appropriate language to use in the given context.

Code-switching in PracticeLanguage response: The creationist approachRebecca Wheeler and Rachel Swords contend that the creationist approach to language response “diagnoses the child’s home speech as ‘poor English’ or ‘bad grammar,’ finding that the child does not know how to show plurality, possession, and tense,’ or the child ‘has problems’.This approach assumes that “Standard English” is the only proper form of language and tries to do away with the child’s home language. Because classrooms are not culturally or linguistically monolithic, this approach tends to exclude those students who are not fluent in “Standard English.”

"In a relatively small Puerto Rican neighborhood in New Jersey, some members freely used code-switching styles and extreme forms of borrowing both in everyday casual talk and in more formal gatherings. Other local residents were careful to speak only Spanish with a minimum of loans on formal occasions, reserving code-switching styles for informal talk. Others again spoke mainly English, using Spanish or code-switching styles only with small children or with neighbors."

Estella (1997) offers the following example of code-switching from her work with Spanish speakers in New York city. In this example, Marta and her younger sister .Lolita speak both Spanish and English with Estella (ACZ) outside of their apartment building.Lolita: Oh, I could stay with Ana?Marta: - but you could ask papa and mama to see if you could come down.Lolita: OK.Marta: Ana, if I leave her here would you send her upstairs when you leave?ACZ: I’ll tell you exactly when I have to leave, at ten o’clock. Y son las nueve y cuarto. ("And it’s nine fifteen.")Marta: Lolita, te voy a dejar con Ana. ("I’m going to leave you with Ana.") Thank you, Ana.Estella explains that the children of the predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood speak both English and Spanish: "Within the children’s network, English predominated, but code-switching from English to Spanish occurred once every three minutes, on average.