The causes of code-switching in bilinguals speech

It can be argued that the use of code-switching has a diverse set of reasons and motivations, whether it is unintentional or not. The most prominent causes of using more than one languages in an utterance seem to be the following: a) the intention of acheiving humourous and artistic effects; b) the effort to preserve multilingualism and ones own culture; c) the need to persuade someone in the case of advertising; and concerning children, its role in d) playing and disputing. One example of using code-switching with a specific intention is humour. In his study, Siegel (1995) examines Fijian-Hindi code-switching with the purpose of joking in Fijian society, and states that code-switching may be a signal for joking, that the switching itself may be considered humorous, and that the variety to which one switches may be used for humorous mockery or parody (p. 95). He also points out, that the only time Fijians use Hindi among themselves is for joking (p. 96). In this particular case, the use of Hindi is a marked choice, since it is not normally used among Fijians (p. 101). In the article this way of making fun is observed in other societies as well, and it is stated that code-switching can signal the coming of humourous remarks; the language variety can be regarded funny, since it may become stereotyped, ridiculed and laughed at by users of other varieties; or the switching itself can be the resource of humour for being an instance of creative and unusual language use. Probably this feature of creativeness in code-switching is what makes it possible to use it in artistic writing, in poetry as well as in prose. This issue has been examined by a number of studies, for example in that of Mendieta-Lombardo and Cintron (1995), where the marked or unmarked nature of the choices of code-switching in poetry was in focus. The authors of the

article explain that a marked choice of discourse mode is made when the writer wishes special consideration from the reader, but apart from this, the switching can be unmarked, that is expected, when it is the type that could be used in oral in-group communication as well (p. 565). Another distinction is made in regard to the readership, whether it is required that the reader is bilingual or not, in which latter case the the poem contains culturally loaded words of the other language that are familiar to those outside the bilingual community (p. 567). The second prominent motivation for the use of code-switching in bilingual speech discussed in this paper is the intention to maintain multilingualism and to preserve cultural identity. An important question arised in the survey of Scotton (1982) concerns the reason of the existence and remaining of mulitilingual communities whereas the use of only one language may seem a lot more efficient in practice, and it is claimed that "different codes are maintained because they serve as social markers for different subgroups (p. 432). Another study (Callahan, 2001) cites some of the findings regarding the issue of code-switching (Gumperz and Hernindez-Chaivez 1975: 154; Gumperz 1982: 72; Sanchez: 1983; Blommaert 1992: 67; Woolard 1989: 89-90; Milroy and Milroy 122-125 ), namely when it is taking place in order to signal ethnic group membership and as a technique to see if the speakers have shared background knowledge. The same study also discusses the use of the native language of an ethnic group, namely the use of Spanish in the United States, as a means to express solidarity and as a symbol for the duality of value systems (p. 422). Among Puerto Rican writers in the US. it has been a source of conflict between writers whether one uses English for literature, and in this problem assimilationism (as a charge) is also a relevant aspect. Thirdly, the use of code-switching as a tool for persuasion in advertising is also an interesting idea as a motivation for the appearance of this phenomenon, and it is clearly the type when it is intentionally applied. In the survey of Luna and Peracchio (2005) it is

mentioned that a code-switching direction effect such that minority-language slogans switching to the majority language result in greater persuasion than majority-language slogans switching to the minority language (p. 760). Again, the markedness of the choice of language use is relevant here, just like in the case of literary texts, since it is a way of communicating group membership, and it is a specific intended meaning. It is suggested that a majority-to-minority code-switching makes the minority language term of a slogan salient, or marked. In turn, this leads to the activation of the minority culture and language schemas, which include negative associations toward the minority language, and the result is lower product evaluation (p. 761). Another hypotehsis of the paper is: For individuals with positive attitudes toward the minority language, majority-to-minority slogans will lead to higher product evaluations than minority-to-majority slogans (p. 762). Finally, let us take a look at the use of code-switching in the speech of bilingual children, in whose case it is probably mostly an unintentional phenomenon. A survey has been conducted examining childrens disputes emerging during play activities from this aspect, and another one of the same kind was carried out focusing on multilingual play. Cromdal (2004) shows that code-switching can work to escalate social oppositions, and that it may be used to constrain opponents opportunities to engage in further adversative interactions. Paugh (2005) carried out a survey concerning Dominican childrens use of the Frech-based creole Patawa to enact particular adult roles during play instead of the official language which is English and is favoured by their parents. The childrens knowledge of roleand place-appropriate language use was also viewed in this light (p. 63). As we can see, there is a huge number of motivations and reasons for mixing two languages in speech in some situations, and so the type and the function of it is also numerous. This issue is an important field in applied linguistics, since in the largest part of

the world bi- or multilingualism is present, and it has a significant importance in social life of the countries where more than one culture lives side-by-side.

References: Callahan, L. (2001). Metalinguistic References in a Spanish/English Corpus. Hispania, 84(3), 417-427. Cromdal, J. (2004). Building Bilingual Oppositions: Code-Switching in Children's Disputes. Language in Society, 33(1), 33-58. Luna, D. & Peracchio, L. A. (2005). Advertising to Bilingual Consumers: The Impact of Code-Switching on Persuasion. The Journal of Consumer Research, 31(4), 760-765. Mendieta-LombardoE., & Cintron, Z. A. (1995). Marked and Unmarked Choices of Code Switching in Bilingual Poetry. Hispania, 78(3), 565-572. Paugh, A. L. (2005). Multilingual Play: Children's Code-Switching, Role Play, and Agency in Dominica, West Indies. Language in Society, 34(1), 63-68. Scotton, C. M. (1982). The Possibility of Code-Switching: Motivation for Maintaining Multilingualism. Anthropological Linguistics, 24(4), 432-444. Siegel, J. (1995). How to Get a Laugh in Fijian: Code-Switching and Humor. Language in Society, 24(1), 95-110.