1.

Introduction

1.1 Background

Code-switching is a common phenomenon in bilingual or multi-lingual society.

Code-switching refers to a natural phenomenon of alternating two or more languages

in a discourse. Since Malaysia is a multilingual country and almost all of its

populations are bilingual, code-switching is very common. A bilingual person refers

to a person who has some functional ability in second language (Spolsky, 1998). For

this matter, Malaysian speakers are constantly faced with the options of making

meaningful language choices when interacting with other people (Zuraidah, 2003).

Therefore, the ability of large number of Malaysians to code-switch is very common

and even acceptable in educational setting.

Code-switching in Malaysian context is not new to linguistics study. However, most

of the studies limit its scope to oral production and very little research has focused in

writing. Previous research on bilingual individual’s journal has identified that code-

switching as very common phenomenon in journal’s writing due to its confidentiality

(Montes, 2000). With the advance of technology, blog has now taken over the role of

journals. The term "weblog" or more commonly known as blogs describes as a

personal website that offers "frequently updated observations, news, headlines,

commentary, recommended links or diary entries, generally organized

chronologically (Barger, 1997). Blogs serves as Internet journals where writers post

entries that range from random rambling about blogger’s personal life or experience

1
 or personal opinions on variety of topics such as politics, social issues, events and

others.

1.2 Statement of problem

Although code-switching is a very common phenomenon but focused has been

given to code-switching in oral production. After the turn of the millennium, it

seems obvious that technology has rapidly transformed the more traditional means

of communication and written expression where people communicate more

frequently through internet than face to face. Therefore, this study is an attempt to

take a further step in the less investigated area of code-switching which is writing.

1.3 Purpose of study

The study aims to investigate several Malaysian blogs written in Malay that

alternately code-switch in English. It is hoped that the study sheds light towards

code-switching of Malaysian bilingual speakers in writing.

1.4 Research questions

The study seeks to investigate (i) the linguistic patterns and (ii) reasons code-

switching occur in the personal blogs written by several Malaysian bloggers.

2
2 Scope and Limitations

This study focuses only on personal blogs of bilingual writers of Malay –English

blogs in Malaysia. Therefore, the study should not be generalized to multilingual

speakers or bilingual speakers of languages other than Malay and English.

Besides, entries chosen are entries where the matrix language is Malay language

and English as its embedded language. Blogs selected are only personal blogs and

therefore findings cannot be related to blogs of other domains or fields. The study

analyzed English items alone but some English items were not considered to be

code-switched elements for instance; emoticons, website addresses and a person’s

English names.

3 Literature Review

3.3 The Usage of Malay Language and English Language in Malaysia

The majority of population in Malaysia is Malays and natives (62%) so the dominant

language in is Malay language. Malay language seems to have a significant control in

every aspect such as in political or educational systems. Furthermore, Paramasivam

(2010) in his research states that the language policy in Malaysian government has made

it mandatory for every citizen in Malaysia to learn both Malay Language and English

Language since they are in their primary school. Thus, this enables the students to code-

switch with ease and confidence during communication.

3
3.4 Code-switching Theories

3.4.1 Terminology

The history of code-switching research is often dated from Blom and Gumperz’s

(1972), Myers- Scotton (1993) and Rampton (1995). This work is certainly crucial

and influential, not least to introduce the terms situational and metaphorical

switching. The former is related to the speaker’s experience; the latter is related to

the situation. However, Nilep (2006) clarifies that by 1972 the term ‘code-

switching’ was well attested in the literature. Generally, code- switching occurs

when speakers use more than one language during a conversation. It is agreed that

the terms ‘code-switching’ and ‘code-mixing’ refer to inter-sentential and intra-

sentential switching respectively (Thomason, 2001: 132). Some scholars prefer to

use code-switching as the cover term to include switching at both inter-sentential

and intra-sentential levels (e.g. Gumperz, 1982; Clyne, 1991; Romaine, 1989;

Appel and Muysken, 1987), and there are also scholars who think that ‘code-

mixing’ is an undesirable term because it ‘implies unprincipled chaos’ (Myers-

Scotton, 1988: 158). Nevertheless, there are still a few scholars who are inclined to

use code-mixing as the generic term for the use of more than one language during a

conversation (e.g. Bhatia, 1992; Grosjean, 1982). On the other hand, there are other

researchers still who maintain that it is necessary to distinguish code-switching

from code-mixing (e.g. Holmes, 1992; Wardhaugh, 2002). Spolsky defines

bilingual person as a person who has some functional ability in second language. 1.

4
Multilingual is another terminology for the ability to speak more than one

language. According to Wikipedia, a multilingual person is a person who can

communicate in more than one language, be actively (through speaking, or writing)

or passively (through listening, reading or perceiving). In short, code-switching is

the ability to switch language quickly.

3.4.2 Reasons, Types and Patterns for Code- Switching

Spolsky (1997) agrees that bilinguals like to shift their language for convenience.

This might be the fundamental reason of why people code-switch. Hoffman (1991)

mentions that there are seven reasons for bilinguals to switch their language. The

seven reasons are as follows:

i. Talking about a particular topic

ii. Quoting somebody else

iii. Being emphatic about something

iv. Interjection

v. Repetition used for clarification

vi. Intention of clarifying the speech content for the speaker

vii. Expressing group identity.

Moreover, Saville- Troike (1986) suggests other reasons for code-switching. They

are:

5
i. Softening and strengthening request or command

ii. Because of real lexical need, either if the speaker knows the desired

expression in one language cannot be satisfactorily translated into second

iii. To exclude other people when a comment is intended for only a limited

audience.

Fangfang Li (2005) in his research states four causes for code-switching in Short

Message Service (SMS) in which the four are for its special communicative

functional of the code- switching, to emphasize some elements or to cause one’s

attention, to understand special expressions between familiar people, and lastly by

the psychological factors. McClure (2000) and Montes-Alcalá (2000) indicate that

written code-switching seems to be more of an identity marker and stylistic device,

while in spoken conversation code-switching appears to serve a wider range of

functions. However, sometimes the differences between spoken code-switching

and written code-switching are not so clear-cut. According to Tannen (1982),

orality (properties of spoken discourse) and literacy (properties of written

discourse) are two ends of the same continuum, and therefore there are some

written genres which contain typical characteristics of spoken discourse (e.g.

blogging, instant messaging, etc.) and some spoken genres which carry typical

characteristics of written discourse (e.g. scripted news reports, public speech, etc.)

(Chan, 2009: 108). Paramasivam (2009) mentions that habit as the main reason for

the switch. In other words, they felt that code- switching was a normal practice in

their speech as they were accustomed to this kind of language use. Habit formation

is closely related to the psychological aspect of behavior. This is to say, the

6
individual’s habit formation includes the choice of language, the selection of

lexical forms, and the use of grammatical structure and are idiosyncratic in nature

of the person depending on the sociolinguistic environment in which he/she is

brought up from early childhood. This has very clearly been reflected in the

linguistic behavior of the respondents as they select a language for interaction and

engage in switching codes.

Paramita (2010) characterizes code- switching in four patterns. First, its intra-

linguistic manifestation may extend from the insertion of single words to the

alternation of languages for larger segments of discourse. Second, it is produced by

bilinguals of differing degrees of proficiency who reside in various types of

language contact settings and as consequences their CS patterns may not be

uniform. Finally, it may be deployed for several of reasons. According to

Wikipedia, there are four basic distinction of code- switching. They are:

i. Inter-sentential switching (outside the sentence or the clause level)

ii. Intra- sentential switching (within the sentence or the clause level)

iii. Tag- switching (the switching of either a tag phrase or word, or both, from

one language to another language.

iv. Intra- word switching (within a word itself, such as at a morpheme

boundary)

Furthermore, Poplack (1980) states that there are three types of code-switching in

which that are inter-sentential switching, tag-switching (the insertion of an

exclamation or a tag phrase into the host language) and intra-sentential switching.
7
Poplack suggests that this typology of code-switching indicates the bilingual

competence of the speaker. According to Wikipedia, there are several hypotheses

and models which have been used in analyzing code-switching. Basically, the

major five hypotheses and models are:

i. The Close Class Constraint (closed class items such as pronouns,

preposition, conjunctions cannot be switched)

ii. The Matrix Language Model (model which distinguishes the roles of the

participant languages.

iii. The Functional Head Constraint (code-switching cannot occur between a

functional head such as a determiner and its complement such as sentence

level, noun phrase and verb phrase)

iv. The Free Morpheme Constraint (code- switching cannot occur in bound

morpheme)

v. The Equivalence Constraint (code-switching can occur only in positions

where the order of any two sentence elements, one before and one after the

switch, is not excluded in either language)

The first three hypotheses make general presumptions about the nature of syntax,

are controversial among linguists positing alternative theories. In contrast, the latter

two make description based on empirical analyses of corpora, but the codes-

witching patterns they describe vary among speech communities, even among

those sharing the same language patterns. In spite of the diversity of the above

mentioned hypotheses and models, one constant model is the Matrix Language

Model (MLM) by Myers Scotton (1993), whose two principal are as follows:

8
 i. The morpheme Order Principal: in Matrix Language + Embedded

Language constituents consisting of Embedded Language lexemes and any

Number of Matrix Language Morphemes, surface morpheme order will the

Matrix Language)

ii. The system Morpheme Principal: in Matrix Language + Embedded

Language constituents, all system Morphemes which have grammatical

relations external to their head constituent will come from Matrix

Language.

In short, code-switching can also be categorized in two divisions which are matrix

language and embedded language. Matrix language is the dominant language in a

speech while embedded language is a change of language in the same speech

uttered by individual.

3.5 Code- switching in Blogs

One useful approach in the study of code-switching is the consideration of the text genre.

It is necessary, therefore, to spend some time in the discussion of computer-mediated

communication, especially blogs. Computer-mediated communication is a comparatively

new means of communication. It is faster than written exchanges but much slower than

spoken exchanges (Herring, 2001: 614); it is a kind of communication which sometimes

involves an unknown audience, while simultaneously creating direct and even private

exchanges (King, 1996). In discussing language usage in computer-mediated

communication, Crystal (2006: 11-15) differentiates seven broad situations in which the

9
Internet is used: electronic mail (e-mail), synchronous chat groups, asynchronous chat

groups, virtual worlds, world wide web (www), instant messaging and blogging. The

languages used in these situations are different, but they are not mutually exclusive. As

has Crystal describes, the use of language on the Internet (what he calls ‘Netspeak’) is a

new species of communication and a hybrid: ‘something genuinely different in kind –

‘speech + writing + electronically mediated properties’ (51). This ‘Netspeak’ is generally

less correct, complex and coherent than standard written language (Herring, 2001: 616).

Placing the different types of language used in these seven situations on the spoken-

written continuum, Crystal has pointed out that the web has the least amount of spoken

features; chat group and virtual world interactions have more written features; instant

messaging has even more; and e-mails and blogging occupy the middle of the continuum

(2006: 44). English is the global language of the Internet (Herring, 2001; Graddol, 2006),

but, according to some researchers, its dominance is being threatened by the native

languages of different users (Graddol, 2006). According to Calvert (2002), the anonymity

within virtual worlds offers adolescents more flexibility and freedom in establishing and

exploring their identity. Communication through Netspeak is bound to the computer.

When people chat on the Internet, they can only exchange linguistic characteristics with

each other and a lot of extra-linguistic characteristics, such as personal features (voice,

tone, accent, emotions, facial expressions, body gestures, etc.) cannot be conveyed. This

makes everyone on the Internet appear indistinguishable, and thus creates difficulty when

one wishes to establish a unique identity (Poon, 2005: 14). However, this phenomenon

also provides users with the opportunity to experiment with their online identity, and this

identity can be very flexible (Huffaker and Calvert, 2005).

10
According to Macao (2009) code-switching is a strategy applied by bilingual internet-

users. Warschauer et al. (2002) discovered that in informal emails and online chats the

subjects tended to use a mixed language composed of English and Egyptian Arabic,

which, according to the authors, is a product of the internet-users’ ‘localness’ and

‘globalness’. Another example of code-switching on the Internet is Su’s (2003)

observation of the mixture of stylized English, stylized Taiwanese-accented Mandarin and

stylized Taiwanese in the Chinese writing system on college-affiliated BBSs. As

Hongladarom (2000) suggests, although the Internet is responsible for the homogenization

of cultures, it still provides a platform for the promotion and maintenance of local culture

and also the negotiation of identities as they move between local and global cultures. It is

this dynamic between ‘localness’ and ‘globalness’ which creates the linguistic hybrid of

computer-mediated communication.

Blog is a type of website which blends terms of Web Log. Blogs are usually maintained

by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other

material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-

chronological order. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content

to a blog. Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even

message each other via widgets on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes

them from other static websites. According to Blood, there are basically three types of

blogs: filters6, personal journals and notebooks7. After analyzing the content of over 200

randomly-selected blogs, Herring et al. (2005) reported that personal journal is the

overwhelmingly prototypical type of blog in the blogging community and that there are

more female and teenage bloggers than male and adult bloggers. According to Herring et

11
 al. (2005), blogs are a hybrid of genres; many blogs are a combination of public and

private, personal and professional. A personal blog covers various kinds of linguistic

activity (Crystal, 2006: 242). It can be a diary/journal or it can be used to catalogue

creative writing. In order to explain the writing style used in personal blogs, Crystal (243-

4) has given two excerpts from blogs and indicated that their style lies between standard

and non-standard English. He comments that the language used in personal blogs (what he

calls ‘free prose’) is a kind of written language in its most naked form as there is

completely no copy-editing undertaken in the writing process. Thus, blogs are a new

variety of writing which show cases linguistic idiosyncrasy.

Macao (2009) indicates that in order to give a description of the patterns of code-switch

language in the blog entries written by the participants, the English elements are

categorized into six groups: nouns/noun phrases, verbs/phrasal verbs, adjectives/adjective

phrases, adverbs/adverbial phrases, idiomatic expressions/interjections/discourse markers,

and incomplete sentences/sentences. The first four groups indicate the syntactic categories

to which the code-switch elements belong, and the remaining two groups are used to

describe the elements which cannot be clearly assigned a word class.

4 Research Design

4.4 Theoretical Framework

The study employs Hoffman (1991), and Troike (1986) and Li (2000) reasons bilinguals

switch their language to identify reasons code-switching phenomena in blogs. The study

is largely based on Li (2000) reasons of code-switching. The 7 reasons as proposed by

12
Hoffman (1991), and Troike (1986) and Li (2000) are availability, specificity, expedient,

softening and strengthening meaning, emphatic, quotes and trigger. Availability refers to

lexical items that are code-switched due to the items non-availability in the matrix

language. On the other hand, specificity is lexical items that refer to a specific item such

as name of brands, title of movies, songs, books and others. Expedient language mixing

occurs in informal writing when the Malay language translation is too formal in style and

higher frequency of exposure of an item in a specific language and when the expression

can only be satisfactorily translated in the other language. Quotes refer to code-switch

that happens when a person quotes someone else’s words in the other language. Idiomatic

expressions refer to a phrase that carries a specific meaning. Emphatic refers to a

situation where a person code-switch to repeat the same or a similar sentence in both

languages. Sometimes, code-switching also occurs when a person intends to soften or

strengthen meaning of the words. Lastly, triggered switch occurs when a switched word

or expression trigger a switch in what follows or precedes it.

4.5 Respondents

The data are collected from active bloggers that are among researchers’ social circle as

for example friends, siblings, relatives and colleagues. Respondents are approached

directly and agreed to participate with the research. However, their information

remains anonymous.

4.6 Instruments

13
 The instrument used in this research is the researcher themselves as the key-human

instrument in selecting active Malay language bloggers as the respondents. The

ultimate instrument will be weblog itself. In this study, blogs from google is chosen.

Personal blogs are specifically chosen for the reasons that:

1) Weblogs are easily accessible

2) The text consist of a very diverse nature

3) The language used in personal blogs is very close to spoken languages and

highly similar to natural conversation.

4.7 Research Methodology

The study uses a quantitative methodology.

5 Data Analysis

5.5 Data collection

The study analyzes 8 entries of 8 personal blogs written in Malay and consists of English

code-switch. The entries are pre-selected before ready to analyze. The pre-selection

criteria taken into account are length of the entries which consist of 100-120 words,

written over the course of one year; 2009-2010 and entries that contain apparent

alternation of both languages. The data are analyzed by classifying forms of code

switching based on 7 tokens of linguistics forms and reasons of the code-switching

phenomenon which employs Hoffman (1991), Troike (1986) and Li (2000) reasons of

14
 bilingual language switching. The entries are quoted and presented in the result and

appendix.

The first step of the research methodology is converting the samples’ format into texts.

Taking personal blogs as research samples naturally will bring about several problems for

instance; irregular text formatting, typography, grammatical mistakes and shorts forms.

However, the typography, grammatical mistakes and short forms are not changed

when quoted in the result to retain the text authenticity.

6 Result

Table 1.1 : Number of code switching based on linguistics forms

Entry Nouns/ Verbs/ Adjectives Adverbs Discourse Preposition Linkers/

Pronoun Phrasal/ Markers Conjunc-
Modal tion

15
 Verbs

1 7 - 2 1 - - 1
2 17 8 - 4 - 3 -
3 24 8 2 2
4 9 - 7 - - - 2
5 15 2 - 4 - 1 -
6 13 10 5 2 - 2 -
7 18 14 8 4 - 1 5
8 13 14 3 3 - 1 4
Total 116 56 25 20 0 10 12

The collected data presented in Table 1.1 above shows distribution of the code-switched items in

terms of their linguistic forms. The linguistics elements are segregated into 7 forms namely;

noun/pronoun, verbs/phrasal verbs/ modal verbs, adjectives, adverbs, discourse markers,

prepositions and linkers/conjunctions. According to the table, noun/pronoun is the most code-

switched element compares to other elements with 116 code-switched in total.

Adjectives and adverbs have approximately the same total of code-switched where 25 adjectives

and 20 adverbs were code-switched to English.

Preposition and linkers/conjunctions also have more or less similar number of code-switched. 10

preposition and 12 linkers/ conjunctions were code-switched to English. Discourse markers were

not code-switched by any of the bloggers in their writing.

16
 Strengthening
Entry Availability Specificity Expedient /Softening Emphatic Quotes Trigger
meaning
1 - 11 7 - 2 - -
2 - - 3 2 2 - 1
3 1 1 3 2 - - 1
4 1 - 8 3 - - 1
5 2 3 2 1 - 1 3
6 - - 5 - - 4 -
7 - - 7 1 - 1 -
8 2 - 5 3 - 2 1
Total 6 15 40 12 4 8 7

Table 1.2: Number of switches per entry and category.

Table 1.2 shows reasons for the bloggers code-switching behavior. Based on the table, expedient

was the ultimate reason bloggers code-switched to English which appeared 40 times in total in

all the 8 entries. Another reason that led bloggers to code-switch was to strengthen and soften

meaning of words which presented 12 times in total. Availability and specificity of lexical items

were also appeared approximately in the same total in which 6 for availability, 9 specificity and

12 for strengthening/softening meaning. A quote also was one of the reasons bloggers code-

switched which happened 8 times in total. Bloggers also tend to code-switch for the reason of

trigger where it was evident 7 times in all the 8 entries. Lastly, some bloggers also code-switched

for emphatic reason where it appeared 4 times in total.

17
7 Discussion

The collected data from Table 1.1 and Table 1.2 has clearly shown linguistics patterns and

reasons Malaysian bloggers code-switched. According to the table, noun/pronoun is the most

code-switched element compares to other elements with 116 code-switched in total. The most

common code-switch words were basic pronouns of I and you as quoted from the entry:

‘I love how your voice sounded walaupun tadi you sakit tekak’

‘susahnya..because I know, kawan yang dahulunya sangat rapat’

‘Lebih suka menggunakan I ataupun you.’

‘Sekian, terima kasih. Apa kata you guys?’

Code-switched for pronouns are very common in Malaysians communication and this can be

evident in writing as well. Apart from pronouns, words that are more commonly used and

expressed in English are always code-switched to English. As for example:

‘Mengenakan lipstick berwarna merah jambu, ditambah dengan lipgloss’

18
 ‘Pernah ditanya pendapat tentang parents yang tengok porn.’

‘Aku baca SMS boyfriend sepanjang perjalanan balik tadi.’

‘Korang try lah layan mana-mana website PDRM atau PDRM negeri and semuanya good
news.’

This is also a major reason of bloggers code-switch behaviour as presented in Table 1.2 where

bloggers code-switched when the Malay language translation is too formal and uncommon in

usage. The word ‘lipstick’ for example is available in Malay language which is translated as

‘gincu bibir’ but the Malay translation is not common and too formal in usage. This is similar to

the word ‘lipgloss’ (pengilat bibir) ‘power’ (kuat) ‘boyfriend’ (teman lelaki), ‘parents’ (ibu

bapa),‘porn’ (lucah) and ‘website’ (laman sesawang). All these nouns seldom appear in spoken

language and can only be seen in a very formal writing.

Another reason to explain the large number of nouns being code-switched is due to unavailability

of the items in the matrix language. In Table 1.2 it is evident that non-availability of several

lexical items is the reason of code-switching among bloggers. As for example:

‘Meneman K buat assignment’

‘Rindu siut nak tengok jumping smash Heryanto Arbi.’

‘Joko Suprianto control court’

19
 ‘untuk ujian matematik hingga ke jadi superhusband/wonderwife.’

The word assignment as presented above is not available in Malay. It goes the same with the

word ‘jumping smash’, control court, superhusband and wonderwife. The word ‘super’ is

very common in English to refer to powerful in nature. This connotation is not available in

Malay language.

According to Table 1.2 specificity of lexical items is also a reason for code-switching of

these bloggers. For example:

‘DVD kegemaran : Fast And Furious, Too Fast Too Furious, Fast And Furious :

Tokyo Drift.’

‘Rancangan tv kegemaran : Melodi, Nona, Desperate Housewives, America’s Next Top

Supermodel.’

‘Beramai-ramai dalam satu kumpulan untuk membeli satu klip rambut di kedai

Forever21 dan di kopitiam. DVD kegemaran.’

‘Seperti Christian Dior atau Louis Vuitton (sekali lagi, ia disebut seperti ‘lu-wi’, bukan

‘lu-is’, terima kasih) tapi jenama-jenama seperti Zara, MNG, Guess, Gap, Esprit (yang

tak hebat pun) dan Armani Exchange. (yeah A/X jenama murahan, bukan Armani

sebenar).

20
The above words refer to a specific name of an English movie, TV programs and brands.

Translating these to Malay would be unnecessary.

Verbs/ phrasal verbs/modal verbs are the second most code-switched form as presented in the

table with 56 words in total. Most of these verbs were either presented in a fully English sentence

or combined together Malay suffix and prefix. Example as follow:

‘Who gives a fuck about kes jenayah jalanan when we have motherfuckers throwing acid

on their children?’

‘sengaja dibuat buat atau sengaja dipublishkan’

Most of these verbs were code-switched for expedient reason. As for example:

‘PDRM Terengganu apabila membaca part KEJAYAAN mereka.’

‘Korang try lah layan mana-mana website PDRM.’

‘Aku decide untuk letak kategori "Entri meluat.’

21
As presented above, verbs such as ‘part’ ‘try’ and ‘decide’ were code-switched solely in a

Malay sentence as these verbs are common to be expressed in English than Malay. For example

the word ‘part’ is (bahagian) in Malay, decide (putuskan) and try (cuba). All these words

although available in Malay language but seldom appears in spoken language and as personal

blogs have the elements of spoken language, therefore, to use Malay language is not only

uncommon but too formal.

They were also code-switch for the purpose of strengthening and softening bloggers intended

meanings. Curse words for example were very common as examples below:

‘who gives a fuck about kes jenayah jalanan.’

‘fuckkk off la weh.kau tercabar ke tak tercabar ke aku pedulik ape?’

‘pity on u la slut. aku bukan buat cerita kelaka’

‘bila buat salah, bila fucked up, kita selalu lupa.’

Adjectives and adverbs which have approximately the same total of code-switched , similar to

the pattern of verbs, adjectives and adverbs can appear in a complete English sentence or alone

in a fully Malay sentence. As for example:

‘Betapa power Joko Suprianto control court, Rexy & Ricky are still the greatest pair in

my eyes’

22
 ‘Mereka gemar berpakaian jenama sederhana mahal, bukan high fesyen’

One of the reasons of code-switching of adjectives is due to their expediency. High-fesyen for

example is commonly known as high-fashion instead of the Malay language version (fesyen

bertaraf tinggi).

Preposition and linkers/conjunctions were also frequently code-switched to English. This is very

common in Malaysian context. Linkers like ‘because’ and ‘and’ are the most common linkers as

in the example below:

‘Melayu, berumur around 20s, and tinggal di kawasan Ampang Hilir’

‘susahnya..because i know, kawan yang dahulunya sangat rapat’

Surprisingly discourse markers that are very common code-switched elements in speech, were

not code-switched at all in any of the entries. This may be because, comparatively to speech

production, writing is not spontaneous. Unlike speech production where speakers have no

opportunity to think or plan their speech, writers have an ample of time to do so.

Bloggers also code-switched from Malay to English when they quote another person’s saying or

writing. For example:

‘isn't truth better than comfort? makanya, aku lalu berhenti mencari sempurna.’

‘Aku baca SMS boyfriend sepanjang perjalanan balik tadi. I love the way you put your

hands around me, I love how your voice sounded walaupun tadi kau sakit tekak, I love
23
 how we hold hands sepanjang hari, I love the way you sit in front of me on the stairs

and cakap.’

‘why girls & boys cant just be friends?’

Emphatic and trigger were also evident in the entries. For example:

‘ada garisan called 'friend'….usually end up, one of them ada extra feelings’

‘betapa power Joko Suprianto control court, Rexy & Ricky are still the greatest pair in my

eyes.’

‘You want to know the truth? You can't handle the truth! Ini tentang kebenaran &
HAKIKAT.’

8 Conclusion

Based on the observation, Malay- English code- switching seems to be very familiar for

Malaysians. This habit, for the most part, is a result of Malaysians is mandatory to learn English

and Malay Language in schools. This study serves to study the code-switched language patterns

and reasons used by Malaysians young people blogger in Web Log. At present, English is still

the dominant language used on the Internet and compared with other traditional media. The

Internet contains more frequent occurrences of code-switching. In this study, the data were

collected from active bloggers that were among researchers’ social circle as for example friends,

siblings, relatives and colleagues. The instrument used in this research is the researcher

themselves as the key-human instrument in selecting active Malay language bloggers as the

respondents. The ultimate instrument would be weblog itself. The study analyzes 8 entries of 8
24
personal blogs that written in Malay and consist of English code-switch. The entries were pre-

selected before ready to analyze. The pre-selection criteria taken into account were length of the

entries which consist of 100-120 words, written over the course of one year; 2009-2010 and

entries that contain apparent alternation of both languages. According to Table 1.1,

noun/pronoun is the most code-switched element compares to other elements with 116 code-

switched in total. Adjectives and adverbs have approximately the same total of code-switched

where 25 adjectives and 20 adverbs were code-switched to English. Preposition and

linkers/conjunctions also have more or less similar number of code-switched. 10 preposition and

12 linkers/ conjunctions were code-switched to English. Discourse markers were not code-

switched by any of the bloggers in their writing. As mention in the discussion, Table 1.2 shows

reasons for the bloggers code-switching behavior. Based on the table, expedient is the ultimate

reason bloggers code-switched to English which appeared 40 times in total in all the 8 entries.

Another reason that led bloggers to code-switch was to strengthened and softened meaning of

words which presented 12 times in total. Availability and specificity of lexical items were also

appeared approximately in the same total in which 6 for availability, 9 specificity and 12 for

strengthening/softening meaning. Quotes are also one of the reasons bloggers code-switched

which happened 8 times in total. Bloggers also tend to code-switch for the reason of trigger

where it evident 7 times in all the 8 entries. Some bloggers are also code-switched for emphatic

reason where it appeared 4 times in total. Finally, this study is only a preliminary attempt to

investigate Malay- English code-switching in Macao. More studies involving larger research sets

will be needed to present a more accurate picture of this phenomenon. In addition, Malaysians

attitudes towards Malay- English code-switching are also worth studying, and comparative

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studies of the code-switched languages used across a variety of different genres should also be

looked into.

References

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review, World Englishes 19, 305–22.

Liu, (2000) Evaluation of the Matrix Language Hypothesis: Evidence from Chinese-English Code-

switching Phenomena in Blogs: Journal of Chinese Language and Computing 18 (2): 75-92

Montes, (2007) Blogging in Two Languages: Code-Switching in Bilingual Blogs: Cascadilla Press

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Gumperz, John. “Conversational Code-Switching.” Discourse Strategies. Ed. John Gumperz.

Cambridge, UK: Cambridge U Press, 1982. 59-99.

Zuraidah Mohd Don. (2003). Dialect - dialect codeswitching: a study of Kelantanese in a multilingual

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Namba, (2002), An Overview of Myers- Scotton’s Matrix Language Frame model:

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