CODE-SWITCHING

What is code-switching?
-Code-switching or language alternation occurs when a speaker
alternates between two or more language or language varieties in the
context of a single conversation or situation.
- Speaker use code-switching when they are each fluent in two languages
or more than two languages.
-Bilinguals often switch between their two languages in the middle of
their conversation. For example:
Receptionist: Welcome to our resort
Customer: J’ai fait une réservation ici.
Receptionist: D’accord, je vais verifier, attendez une minute!
This is an example of the receptionist code-switching from English to
French, changing languages within the same speech event, because she
has identified the customer as a French speaker.
Here are some examples of code-switching:
1) You have to answer question. Mỗi đứa ghi 1 câu
2) Trước khi đi ngủ thì tôi thường skincare. Vietnamese-English
3) Nǐ hǎo, Where are you going? Chinese-English
4) Cô ấy đang định celebrate một cái party. Vietnamese-English

Types of code-switching
There are seven types of code-switching.
1)Intersentential switching.
-Intersentential switching is sometimes called extrasentential switching occurs
outside the sentence or the clause level. For example,
“Making friends plays an important role in people’s life. Bây giờ mình cho ví dụ.”
“What are the effects of space exploration? Đề tài này hơi khó đó! “
2) Intrasentential switching.
-Intrasentential switching occurs with a sentence or a clause. For example,
“What do you like to draw?
Tôi chưa có cơ hội, but in the future I will draw a portrait.”
“I will collect smart phone, because it là phương tiện duy nhất, to contact
other people”
3) Tag-switching.
-Tag switching is the switching of either a tag phrase or a word , or both, from
one language to another. For example
“DD2 tháng rồi mình chưa gặp nhau rồi đấy, you know”
“We have to finish this assignment before 25th, phải không?”

4) Intra-word switching.
-Intra-word switching occurs within a word itself such as at a morpheme
boundary. For example,
“ Today, tôi phải do housework mới được go out”
“NO, mẹ tôi dislike nuôi dog”
5) Situational code-switching.
-Situational code-switching occurs when the language used change according
to the situations in which the conversants find themselves: they speak one
language in one situation and another in a different one. For example, in
Singapore has four official languages: English, Chinese, Tamil and Malay, so
people change languages according to the situation.

6) Metaphorical Code-switching.
-Metaphorical code-switching occurs within a single situation, buts adds
meaning to such components as the role-relationships which are being
expressed.

7) Discourse contextualization switching.

-“Discourse contextualization switching are switches which do not co-occur
with external changes in the context or significant shifts in sociocultural
framework” as defined by Bailey.
 II. Style shifting

Style-shifting is a term in sociolinguistics referring to

an alternation between styles of speech. Style
shifting is a method of altering your speech to suit a
particular situation.
Style-shifting is a manifestation of intra-speaker
(within-speaker) variation, in contrast with inter-
speaker (between-speakers) variation. It is a
voluntary act which an individual effect in order to
respond to or changes in the sociolinguistic situation
(e.g., relate interlocutor, setting, topic).
William Labov, while conducting sociolinguistic interviews,
designated two types of spoken style: casual and formal.

Consider the following examples:

- I would be grateful if you made less noise. (Formal)
- Please be quiet. (Casual)
Three types of reading style:
+ a reading passage
+ a word list
+ a minimal pair list
Labov postulated that "styles can be arranged along a single dimension,
measured by the amount of attention paid to speech".

Ex: casual style requiring the least amount of conscious self-

monitoring.
Such style-shifting is often referred to as responsive (response to normative
pressures).
Scholars such as Allan Bell, Barbara Johnstone, and Natalie Schilling-
Estes have been focusing on the initiative dimension of style-shifting,
which occurs when speakers proactively choose between various
linguistic resources (e.g. dialectal, archaic or vernacular forms) in order
to present themselves in a specific way.
 A number of suggested motivations for
this phenomenon

 Attention to speech model

+ In the attention to speech

model it is proposed that
the style a speaker uses is
dependent on how much
attention the speaker is
paying to their own speech,
which in turn is dependent
on the formality of the
situation.
Communication accommodation theory

Communication accommodation theory (CAT) seeks to

explain style-shifting in terms of two processes:
+ Convergence: the speaker attempts to shift their speech
to match that of the interlocutor to gain social approval.
Ex: Mirroring your speech to match the professionalism of
your boss.
+ Divergence: the speaker attempts to distance themselves
from the interlocutor by shifting their speech away from
that of the interlocutor.(e.g. employer-employee).
Ex: A teacher scolds a student for misbehaving.
Audience design model
The audience design model
proposes the existence of non-
present reference groups, with
which a speaker may converge
or diverge
Style-shifting as an act of
identity
This theory proposes that
speakers shape their speech to
associate or disassociate
themselves with specific social
groups.
 Footing and framing model

+ Central to this model is the frame of the discourse, which is

the feeling of the interactants about what kind of interaction
is occurring

Formal interview Casual conversation Political discussion

 III. Code mixing

 Code-mixing refers to the mixing of two or more languages

or language varieties in speech.
 Some scholars use the terms "code-mixing" and "code-
switching" interchangeably, especially in studies of syntax,
morphology, and other formal aspects of language. Others
assume more specific definitions of code-mixing, but these
specific definitions may be different in different subfields of
linguistics, education theory, communications,...
FOR EXAMPLE: Vào những ngày se lạnh, những chiếc quần short với chất
liệu dạ thô hay mang gam màu tối được mix theo phong cách layering chính là
sự lựa chọn dành cho bạn!”

 If I know English as well as Vietnamese, for example, there will be times when I
will mix some English words in my Vietnamese sentences. That’s, in fact, very
common. Languages have this kind of effect on other languages. It is also very
rare for Bilinguals to utter sentences that belong to purely one language.
Code-mixing is similar to the
use or creation of pidgins;
but while a pidgin is created
across groups that do not
share a common language,
code-mixing may occur
within a multilingual setting
where speakers share more
than one language
 What are the reasons for code-switching?

The reasons for code-switching are:

for group identification, solidarity, distancing, redefinition of a situation, or humorous effect, real
lexical need, as an avoidance strategy.
to soften or strengthen a request or a command.
to give additional force to part of an utterance.
to express a closer or more informal relationship.
to establish authority in a confrontation situation.
to indicate that a referential comment is not to be taken seriously.
to exclude other people within hearing if a comment is intended for only a limited audience.
 to function as a repair strategy.
 to make an ideological statement.
 to establish new identities.
 to intensify or to eliminate ambiguity.

Whatever specific functions are served by code-mixing

within and across communities, it adds to the verbal
strategies that speakers have at their command, and
is to be recognized as a dimension of communicative
competence.
Pidgin
When two or more people from
different languages meet and
tried to communicate, what
should they do?
--->They may try to communicate by hand and body language
but in the end what happens is they both develop a new
language that combines elements of both mother tongues.
I. Definition:

What is pidgin?
 A pidgin (/ˈpɪdʒɪn/), or pidgin language, is a simplified language that
develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that
do not have a language in common.

Types of pidgin: jargon, stable pidgin, extended pidgin, and creole.

People use pidgin for trade or perhaps administration
Ex: buying and selling grain, animal hides rather than to signal
social distinctions or express politeness.
2. Etymology & Terminology

 Etymology
 The origin of pidgin is uncertain.
 First appeared in print in 1850.
 The most widely accepted etymology is from the Chinese pronunciation of
the English word business.
 Pidgin has variously called “makeshift”, “marginal”, or “mixed language”.
 Terminology
 The word pidgin originally used to refer to Chinese pidgin English and may
also be used as the specific name for local pidgins or creole.

 Ex: The name of the creole language Tok Pisin derives from the English
words talk pidgin.
Some common
pidgins are :
Chinese
English
(chinglish),Ha
waiian Pidgin,
Portugese
Pidgin,
Chinese Pidgin
(cantonese),et
c.,
Distribution map of pidgin and creole in the world
3. Characteristic of Pidgin

Product of multi-
lingual

Simplified structure

Characteristic Low prestige

Main function-
of Pidgin trading

Limited vocabulary

Short lived
Possible outcome of Pidgin

Die out (when original reason for communication diminishes or

disappears)
Ex: The pidgin French and pidgin English which was used during the
American Vietnam campaign

 Develop to more formal roles (lingua franca); which is called an

‘expanded pidgin’

 Develop into a creole

Example of Pidgin in Vietnam before 1975 from the
movie “Sad Song of Yellow Skin” directed by Michael
Rubbo
CREOLE

1. A creole is a pidgin which has acquired native speakers. Many of the languages which are called pidgins are in
fact now creole languages
2. They are learned by children as their first language and used in a wide range of domains.
3. A creole is believed to arise when a pidgin, developed by adults for use as a second language, becomes the
native and primary language of their children — a process known as nativization.
4. Example:
+ Many Afro-Caribbean Englishes are creole.
+ Some pidgins like Nigerian Pidgin English, West African pidgin can also be referred to as a creole.
 creoles also differ from pidgins in
their range of functions, in their
structure and in some cases in the
attitudes expressed towards them.

1. A creole is a pidgin which has expanded in structure and

vocabulary
2. Once a creole has developed it can be used for all the
functions of any language
3. Creoles have become accepted standard and even
national and official languages. Once developed there is
no evidence in their linguistic structure to reveal their
pidgin origins
list of features to indicate a creole
prototype:
 There are various features that are shared by creoles as
follows
3
1 Creoles have relatively restricted vocabulary but more
than a pidgin language. A single word is used for various
Creoles have simplified vowel things. This is an issue found in many languages.
systems. Generally they have Eg: I run to the store
only five vowels. You can’t run such a complicated business
Rivers run downhill
Children’s noses run in the winter
2
Creoles place the verb 4
between the subject and the - Creoles express variations in time by
object (like English) having string for helping verbs rather
than by having complicated word
formation rules.
Four types of creoles

● Plantation creoles
● Fort creoles
● Maroon creoles
● Creolized pidgins.
 Pidginization and Creolization
Two opposed processes
⁕ Pidginization generally involves some kind of ‘simplification’ of a language,
reduction in morphology and syntax, tolerance of considerable phonological variations,
reduction in the number of functions for which the pidgin is used, and extensive borrowing of
word from local mother-tongues.
 

⁕ Creolization involves expansion of the morphology and syntax, regularization of

the phonology, deliberate increase in the number of functions for which the language is used,
and development of a rational and stable system for increasing vocabulary.
 DISTRIBUTION
Pidgin and creole languages are distributed mainly in the equatorial belt around
the world, usually in places with direct or easy access to the oceans.
 Their distribution appears to be fairly closely related to
long-standing patterns of trade, including trade in slaves.

• Pidgins becomes creoles when it is adopted as the native language.

• Nativization is when pidgin passed onto new generations and became a mother
tongue which is acquired by children.
• They are often classified as English/French/Spanish/Dutch/… based.
• Hancock (1977) lists 127 pidgins and creoles: 35 English-based, 15 French-based, 14
Portuguese-based, 7 Spanish-based, 5 Dutch-based, 6 German-based, 3 Italian-based,
and the rest are based on a variety of other languages.
 The name given to pidgin and creole languages by
linguists refer to their location and their principal lexifier
language.

Patois (Jamaica) Chavacano ( Philippines) Haitian (Haity)

 ORIGIN
There are a variety of theories on the origin of creole languages,
all of which attempt to explain the similarities among them.
• Theories focusing on European input:
* Monogenetic theory of pidgins and creoles.
* Domestic origin hypothesis.
* European dialect origin hypothesis.
* Foreigner talk and baby talk.
* Imperfect second language learning.
• Theories focusing on non-European input.
• Gradualist and developmental hypotheses.
• Universalist approaches.