ENG 4120:

Sociolinguistics

Dr. Christine Moonkyoung Cho

Fall 2024
Key concepts/terms
• Choosing your variety or code
- Domain of language use
- Other social factors affecting code choice

• Diglossia
- Attitudes to H vs L in a diglossia situation
- Diglossia with and without bilingualism
 Today’s topics

• Poly glossia
• Code-switching or code-mixing
-Types of code-switching
-Participants, solidarity and status
-Topic
-Switching for affective functions
-The article
Poly Glossia
• "Poly" means many
• This is a situation where more than two languages
are used in a community.
• Example of a polyglossic country Singapore, where
one can speak a dialect of Chinese to her/his
parents, speak English with friends at school,
speak Mandarin with the shopkeeper at the
market.
Poly Glossia_example

A: 你今天去唔去公司呀? (Are you going to the office today?)

B: 哦, 我下午有个meeting。 (Oh, I have a meeting in the
afternoon.)
A: 那个project搞掂未呀? (Is the project finished yet?)
B: 快了，almost done. 还差一点。(Almost, just a little more
to go.)
A: 好，加油！ (Alright, keep it up!)
Poly Glossia_explanation
In this conversation, speaker A and B demonstrate polyglossia by switching between three different
languages: a Chinese dialect (likely Cantonese), Mandarin, and English. Here's a breakdown:
1. Dialect (Cantonese):
1. A: 你今天去唔去公司呀? ("Are you going to the office today?")
2. "去唔去" is a classic Cantonese structure for asking "go or not go."
2. Mandarin:
1. B: 哦, 我下午有个meeting。("Oh, I have a meeting in the afternoon.")
2. Mandarin is used in this sentence, though with "meeting" in English.
3. Dialect (Cantonese):
1. A: 那个project搞掂未呀? ("Is the project finished yet?")
2. "搞掂" is a Cantonese expression meaning "finish" or "complete."
4. English + Mandarin:
1. B: 快了，almost done. 还差一点。("Almost done, just a little more to go.")
2. B mixes English ("almost done") into the Mandarin sentence.
5. Mandarin:
1. A: 好，加油！("Alright, keep it up!")
2. A closes with Mandarin, using "加油" which means "keep it up" or "keep going."
What is code-switching?
• Code-switching refers to the practice of
moving back and forth between two
languages, or between two
dialects/registers of the same language

• Code-switching means that the speaker

is actively using both languages. He or
she is, in effect, thinking bilingually, and
using all the available language skills for
self-expression.
Code switching example
In a café in Seoul, Jina, a Korean-English bilingual software engineer, meets her friend Minji. As they discuss
their latest project, Jina switches between the two languages fluidly.

Jina: "Minji, 이번에 우리가 새로 만든 앱 있잖아, the user interface needs to be more intuitive.”

Minji: "응, 맞아. 근데 내가 어제 debugging 해봤는데, there’s a problem with the login
function.”

Jina: "진짜? 그럼 내가 error logs 한 번 확인해볼게.”

Minji: "Okay, 그리고 우리가 next week까지 그 database integration 끝내야 해.”

Jina's code-switching reflects her bilingual proficiency, effortlessly mixing Korean and English to
communicate efficiently. Her use of English for technical terms like "user interface,"
"debugging," and "database integration" is common among bilingual professionals in tech, while
Korean conveys casual conversation.
Types of code-switching

Inter-sentential Code Switching

• This type occurs when the language switch happens between sentences. A speaker
completes a sentence in one language and switches to another for the next.

Intra-sentential Code Switching

• This switch happens within the same sentence, where parts of the sentence are in
different languages.

Tag Switching
• This switch happens within the same sentence, where parts of the sentence are in
different languages.
Types of code-switching

1. Inter-sentential Code-Switching
Example: Jina: "오늘 너무 바빠. I have a project deadline tomorrow."
(Translation: "I'm so busy today. I have a project deadline tomorrow.")

2. Intra-sentential Code-Switching
Example: Jina: "내가 그거 좀 더 쉽게 만들었어, so it’s more user-
friendly." (Translation: "I made it a bit easier, so it’s more user-friendly.")

3. Tag Switching
Example: Jina: "그거 괜찮지, right?" (Translation: "That’s good, right?")
Activity#1
• Pick one of the three types of code-switching and create an
example sentence for a Chinese-English bilingual.
Participants, solidarity, and status
• A speaker may similarly switch to another language as a signal of group
membership and shared ethnicity with an addressee.

• Even speakers who are not very proficient in a second language may use brief
phrases and words for this purpose.

• Switches motivated by the identify and relationship between participants

often express a move along the solidarity/social distance dimension.
Topic
• For many bilinguals, Which code would you predict the speaker will
certain kinds of switch from and which code will they switch to
referential content are in the following situation and why?
more appropriately or
more easily expressed “Three students from the Chinese province of
Guangdong are sharing a flat together in
in one language than
London. They are discussing the ingredients of
the other.
the stir fry vegetable dish they are cooking. One
of them starts to discuss the chemical
composition of the different ingredients.
 Switching for affective
functions
In a busy café in Beijing, Li, a Chinese-English bilingual, is
chatting with her friend Mei. They’re discussing a recent stressful
work project.

Li: "最近工作太累了, I just feel so overwhelmed."

Mei: "真的吗? 那你需要休息一下."
Li: "I know, but 我没办法, there’s so much pressure to
meet deadlines.”

Li switches to English when expressing her emotions, using it to

convey feelings of being overwhelmed. Her use of Chinese
maintains the flow of conversation, but English allows her to
express more personal, emotional nuances. This code-switching
highlights how bilinguals often use different languages to convey
emotional depth.
Switching for affective functions

“언니 (Unni; meaning an older sister), I’m like so frustrated!”

-A Korean-English bilingual (English being dominant)

“ It’s like 완전 열받어!”

-A Korean-English bilingual (Korean being dominant)
Switching for affective functions

[ Bilinguals experience emotional detachment or

distance when they use emotion words in their L2.
This happens even for proficient speakers who
understand the meaning very well ]
Switching for
affective functions

• The bilingual mental lexicon

- Common vs. Separate

: A fixed structure approach (earlier models)

- The Shared Model and Word type effects

: Different types of words are represented
differently in the mental lexicon(recent
accounts)
•
The article
Why do Mandarin speakers code-switch? A case study of conversational code-switching
in China

Code-Switching Factors influencing code-switching

- Insertion - Participant-related factors
- Linguistic-related factors
- Backglaggin
- Sociophsyholgocial factors
- Alteration - Convenience
- Situational factors
The article
Why do Mandarin speakers code-switch? A case study of conversational code-switching
in China

In this conversation, insertion code-switching occurs when

In insertion code- English words are inserted into a primarily Chinese conversation:
switching, the speakers 1. Chinese + English:
insert individual English 1. A: 你吃过 lunch 了吗? ("Have you had lunch?")
words or phrases into 2. A uses Chinese but inserts the English word "lunch" instead of
otherwise Chinese its Chinese equivalent.
sentences. This kind of 2. Chinese + English:
code-switching often 1. B: 还没, 我在忙这个 project. ("Not yet, I'm busy with this
occurs when the English project.")
term is more familiar or 2. B uses the English word "project" while speaking mostly in
commonly used than the Chinese.
Chinese equivalent in 3. Chinese + English:
certain contexts. 1. A: 要不要 order something 一起吃? ("Do you want to order
something and eat together?")
2. A switches to English for "order something" but continues in
Chinese.
The article
Why do Mandarin speakers code-switch? A case study of conversational code-switching
in China

In this conversation, backflagging code-switching is

Code-Switching: Backflagging demonstrated by the speakers seamlessly blending Korean
and English within the same conversation.
1. Korean:
1. A: 어제 영화 봤어? ("Did you watch the movie
The term backflagging refers to the technique
yesterday?")
where the speaker shifts back to the original
2. A starts the conversation fully in Korean.
language (Korean here) after introducing words or
2. English + Korean:
phrases from another language (English). The
1. B: Yeah, I did. 완전 재밌었어! (It was really fun!)
speakers use code-switching to express
2. B switches to English with “Yeah, I did” to affirm the
themselves fluidly, mixing both languages based
question, but then switches back to Korean to describe
on convenience and context.
the experience.
3. English:
1. A: I know, the action scenes were crazy!
2. A continues the conversation in English to express
excitement.
The article
Why do Mandarin speakers code-switch? A case study of conversational code-switching
in China

Code-Switching : Alteration
In alternation code- In this conversation, alternation code-switching is
switching, the speakers demonstrated by the speakers switching entire segments
switch between of the conversation between Chinese and English.
languages at clause or 1. Chinese:
sentence boundaries, 1. A: 今天你去上班吗? ("Are you going to work today?")
maintaining a clear 2. English:
distinction between the 1. B: No, I’m working from home.
two languages. Each 2. B fully responds in English.
language remains 3. Chinese:
relatively separate but 1. A: 真的? 那么好! ("Really? That’s great!")
alternates fluidly based 4. English:
on context. 1. B: Yeah, it's more convenient for me today.
Activity #2
• Pick one of the three types of code-switching in the article and
create an example sentence for a Chinese-English bilingual.
Next class
• Metaphorical code switching
• Lexical borrowing
• Language shift in different
communities