Discussion
According to Hudson (1998), code switching is used by teachers as a result of their poor proficiency in the foreign language. The same author adds that teachers use this linguistic technique (code switching) in order to help their students achieve a desired understanding. The results in table 5 complement the author’s findings since the frequency of respondents who agreed to using code switching because of the convenience in explanation was forty percent. This could also imply that multilingual speakers apply code switching when communicating cultural concepts that can only be understood in their native languages. In a different study, Bassiouney (2009) argues that code switching is used to exhibit solidarity. The fact that 23.3 percent of the study population used code switching for solidarity purposes is a clear indication that Bassiouney (2009) was right. It is also clear that some speakers apply code switching for social purposes because of a percentage frequency of 13. 4 in table 5. This argument is shared by Haliza et al., (2011).
The results also indicate that 46.6 percent of the study population preferred to communicate in Arabic, 6.8 percent in English, and 46.6 percent in both English and Arabic. It should be noted that the frequency of the study population that preferred to use English is relatively low while that of Arabic or both Arabic and English is high. This is a possible reason for the study population to practice code switching because it is evident that the population is not proficient in English. While examining the effects of code switching on multilingual speakers, the results indicated that 26.7 percent of the population under study received positive outcomes from code switching. Another 26.7 percent of the study population highlighted that code switching has negative effects, while 46.6 percent did not experience the effects of code switching. This reveals that code switching has both positive and negative effects because it could weaken one language and strengthen another language.
It is clear that the results from this study highlight the idea of using code switching to facilitate a better understanding, which is present in Hudson’s 1998 publication on sociolinguistics. The same results also stress different ideas from the US Department of Defense (2013), Haliza et al., (2011), Bassiouney (2009), and Flyman-Mattsson, and Burenhult (1999) that have been stated in the literature review.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this paper has made significant progress in the field of social linguistics owing to the fact that this knowledge is applicable to teachers and policy makers in Bahrain High School.
It is interesting for Lisa Kanae to use three different voices in her book, Sista Tongue. The structure of Sista Tongue is different from standard books as if to make her words flow and become active. Her message still holds truth in today’s society. In many homes, younger generations face the inadequacy of being unable to understand their mother tongues while their parents struggle with learning English. Code-switching is natural for bilingual people and those that speak to other sub-cultures. Lisa Kanae’s different voices are similar to
When people in todays society code-switch, we enhance our character and overall roundness to ourselves. There are instances where people code-switch to communicate with others in a different language, or we change our tone with certain groups of people. Speaking multiple languages in a household, can lead to a lot of code-switching because you can have that one relative who can’t speak english, so you become a “translator” to help them with daily tasks. Even though code-switching can happen with different languages, the most common code-switching is used when speaking to different groups of people. Talking to an adult would have a different type of tone, rather than speaking to one of your friends. Code-switching is used to help strengthen
Everyone has various styles of speaking and various ranges of vocabulary that they utilize depending upon with whom they speak. This concept, known as code switching, portrays an integral part of our lives in today’s society. The fact that different groups of people speak in different ways necessitates the use of code switching. One would not speak to a group of high school students in the manner that one would speak to a scholar, or speak to a prison inmate in the same regard that one would speak with the President of the United States. Speaking in standard American English and then in African American Vernacular English (AAVE), or Ebonics, portrays the most prominent use of code switching in today’s society, especially among American youths. Today, people utilize code switching to associate better amongst a group of people. In William Wells Brown’s Clotel, code switching plays an important role in the escape of two slaves, outwitting a train employee, and simply showing the difference between a slave’s behavior with other slaves and the slave’s behavior in the presence of his owner.
When you are eating food, you have taste buds-which are sensitive. The taste buds are on your tongue, which then they send a message to the brain, where the brain receives it. This action tells you what is happening with your body. Looking at Richard Rodriguez And Bell Hooks essays, which they show the struggles that they went through during their time, when they were growing as a people. The ability to code-switch was a struggle for Rodriguez and Hooks, who came from a different discourse community, which the power of language had already perceived their identity. The term code switching means switching personalities among certain discourse communities, and the use of language to define us in every day life. We often face code switching in everyday life, but we must acknowledge- when it is happening. Having the ambition to overcome our struggles is already hard enough, even though it could be in school: work: among our own family. Doesn’t the power of language perceived our identity?
Code-switching is the switch between two or more languages or dialects, also referred to as codes, that occur when different languages coexist within the same community. I believe that code-switching is part of the everyday life for bilingual speakers in every community, which is very evident in the Hispanic communities in the United States, where code-switching is a part of their identity. When we use the term Hispanic communities we refer to a general community, as there are Hispanic communities from different parts of the Hispanic wor...
Many linguists define CS as “the use of two different languages or language within a single conversation or written text” (Benson, 2001). We are using the term in a much broader sense to highlight how a speaker may express themselves in conversation. For the purpose of our research we will describe the phenomenon of code-switching (CS) as “the practice of shifting languages you use or the way you express yourself in conversation” (NPR, 2013). CS expands across many cultures as there is code-switching between languages, dialects, race, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. There are many factors that motivate a speaker to switch from one language, dialect, style, or register to another. Depending on the situation, a speaker may CS consciously
Education has a significant effect on African American variations of code-switching, and whether they are able to code-switch at all. African American who are uneducated will have a difficult time with code-switching. Uneducated African Americans have limited mobility within the society (Seymour & Seymour, 1979). This hinders them from being able to affectively switch between Ebonics and Standard English. On the other hand, those who have higher levels of education are able to code-switch effortlessly. There are instances where an African American can become so emerged in the Standard American lifestyle and reach a point where they can no longer subside to the level of
America is home for thousands of cultures and languages. Most people can speak at least two different languages either because of the environment and family or simply by taking another world language class in school. One of the advantages with knowing more than one language is that code-switching becomes a part of you and it happens naturally. In “‘ I Don’t ‘Code-Switch’ to Hide my Identity. I ‘Code-Switch’ to celebrate It,”’ Vaidehi Mujumdar states that code-switching is enriching and exciting based on her personal experience. In “learning How to Code-Switching: Humbling, But Necessary,” Eric Deggans claims that code-switching is valuable and necessary in everyday lifestyle and it is lot more than just being about cultural differences. If one were to put Deggans and
Code switching can occur not only during social situations where the same language is spoken, but ethnicities may be different. Kumea Shorter-Gooden, co-author of “Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America,” and chief diversity officer at the University of Maryland argues that code switching is used for survival, stating that its roots date back to pre-antebellum slavery times. Modern examples include people of color in predominantly white cultures or women in male-dominated situations, have had to “quickly figure out ‘How do I manage?’ and read situations that ‘they weren’t set up for in the first place,’” (O’Neal). Caucasians, who may normally speak in Standard American English, can be perceived as racist if they use AAVE. This is because whites have not had to communicate using AAVE in order to survive in society, unlike African-Americans and other people of color that feel pressured to use SAE to fit into society. When Caucasian people use AAVE, it can sound forced or offensive. In contrast, African-Americans who use SAE may be perceived as more intelligent and better fitting into society if they code-switch from AAVE to SAE. Also, problems can arise in the classroom, where many young people who are competent in English and children who have not been sufficiently exposed to both languages (Pfaff). One mainstream example is trying to “sound white.” Speaking “proper,” or Standard American English, in black or ghetto areas can get you bullied (O’Neal). In contrast, sounding “black” in white places can make you feel “alienated and unheard,” (O’Neal). Rather than fulfilling a new role, code switching marks these conversational functions. In addition, code-switching research focuses usually on the code-switcher, but not how it influences the person, or persons, for whom the code switching is
In Verhsawn Ashanti Young’s article titled, “Nah, We Straight: An argument Against Code Switching,” he makes his objectives clear as he argues against people Right to their own language. The author questions the advantage of standard American English as opposed to other types of English. He refers to those aspect as code switching, which he believes can lead to racist thinking. Code switching, according to Young, calls out for one way of speaking to be omitted in favor of others, based on one's rhetorical situations. The author points out that students are required to translate from Afro-American English or Spanglish to standard English and not the other way around, which is concerning. Youngs method to get around this segregation is the usage
As a result of many negative stereotypes associated with certain variations of English many students have adapted codeswitching. When this concept came up in the book it made me think about my own language. I realized that I code switch quite often between what is seen as Standard English and African American English or Ebonics. Usually with family or other friends that speak Ebonics I use that Ebonics to communicate, but when I am in school, in a
Most people who grow up with a foreign language spoken in there house grow up with an advantage in society. This advantage can only occur once the individual learning that foreign language also learns the dominant language spoken in that country. Once both of these languages are learned and mastered, the individual has now placed them se...
Sociolinguists such as Eckert (2000) and Milroy (2004) have made provocative efforts to incorporate linguistic-anthropological concepts into sociolinguistic explanation (Woolard, 2008) and foundational studies by Creese (2008) include major works describing the paradigm. Rampton (2007), described the methodological tenants behind LE. LE research is yet a developing discipline that serves as a way of enriching a fundamentally linguistic project. In fact, the formulation of LE covers a large and older body of scholarship on language and culture (Rampton, Maybin, & Roberts, 2014), while simultaneously necessitating and interdisciplinary collaboration of theories and skills, thus blurring the boundaries between branches of variationist, sociological and ethnographic sociolinguistics (Tusting & Maybin, 2007). LE research on language change (Ekert, 2000) and a cultural model of cognition (Levinson, 1996) are worthwhile examples. However, the examples in the following sections serve more as a focus on contributions of LE to the field of
Language is a means of human communication whether verbally or nonverbally. In everyday life we use language to express our thoughts, feelings ,attitudes,etc.A great amount of social interactions takes place every day over the telephone ,by online chats, face –to face interaction or at workplaces .We use language of different forms for different functions as in to inform, question , and sometimes to strengthen social relationships or just to keep the social wheels turning smoothly. Moreover, understanding one's own language and even other cultures’ language is important to arrive at a successful and effective communication with others . The study of language can be undertaken in various ways .Semantics and pragmatics are two branches of linguistics which are concerned with the study of meaning.
Being multilingual has great importance. As previously presented, it keeps cultural diversity alive and creates better communication with the rest of the ...