Is Code-Switching: Limited Linguistic Knowledge, or a Useful Discourse Device - Essay Example

Switching: Limited Linguistic Knowledge, or a Useful Dis Device? Do speakers switch because of limited linguistic knowledge, or can codeswitching constitute a useful discourse device? Here it will be attempted to show that codeswitching indeed is a useful tool for people of various backgrounds to be able to communicate within their respective communities. Codeswitching is ultimately useful because it is: unmarked; and community-specific in that it reflects multiple identities. Codeswitching takes place in “many of the world’s bilingual communities, [where] fluent bilinguals sometimes produce discourses which, in the same conversational turn or in consecutive turns, include morphemes from two or more of the varieties in their linguistic repertoire.”1 In fact, “When the speakers are sufficiently bilingual to produce monolingual utterances in either of the languages, although they may well speak one language better than the other, the product is called codeswitching.”2 Codeswitching is primarily an unmarked medium. “Multilingual urban communities in Africa and India often show codeswitching as their unmarked informal medium (e.g., Swigart 1992a [unpublished] refers to Wolof/French codeswitching in Dakar/Senegal as “Urban Wolof”).”3 “Immigrant communties or families in Europe and North America also may use codeswitching as their unmarked medium (e.g., in most Hispanic communities in the United States, a major ingroup variety is Spanish/English codeswitching.”4 “Spanglish [the mixing of Spanish and English] will instantly become the estándar text.”5 Spanglish is a popular choice among Spanish/English bilinguals because it is easy, fun, and offers an interesting way to communicate. Within the Hispanic community, Spanglish is sometimes a good way to integrate the language of one’s own native culture (Spanish) with the culture of the United States through its dominant language (English). Code-switching in the Hispanic community, or using Spanglish, is an easy way to navigate Latin culture in a foreign land. Spanglish is not only simple to use, but it’s fun, too, to use words that are sometimes your own, and sometimes that of your new country. Borrowed phrases of English sprinkled in with Spanish make Spanglish an easily recognizable way to speak. In addition, people within the Hispanic community can extend their social circle wider when speaking Spanglish, letting in other people into their social circle as the need arises, by simply choosing English when appropriate or necessary. As an unmarked choice, in code-switching, “no meaning need be attached to any particular switch: it is the use of both languages together that is meaningful, drawing on the association of both languages and indexing dual identities. “6 In fact, code-switching is most likely not used by people who are limited linguistically, but rather the opposite—it is usually used by people who are adept or gifted at speaking at least one or more languages other than their native tongue. Therefore, this debunks the myth that people who code-switch are somehow relying on code-switching because of their linguistic incapabilities. Rather, it is quite the contrary. Often, code-switchers are linguistically very capable of pulling off entire conversations in both languages which are being switched between, and at a very rapid rate. This feat is not unusual, nor is it rare. However, it would take an individual of low linguistic capability great effort to pull off such a stunt. But such antics can be expected from someone who is highly intelligent, and is multilingual. The typical person who could be expected to code-switch probably lives in Asia or one of the Americas, Africa, or Europe, and speaks three or more languages. He or she need not be very educated, although he or she might be, but he or she has a solid knowledge of linguistic varieties between various groups and can solidly navigate between these groups with ease, especially linguistically. He or she may have personal knowledge of the various ethnic or religious subgroups and be able to navigate them with relative ease due to his or her cognition of the locals and familiarity with the general geographic area. For teachers, “Code-switching should not be a way of covering their own lack of understanding in the subject they are teaching. It should rather be a way of promoting learner understanding and attaching a value to languages other than English. Students should also be required to reflect on their own forms of code-switching to ensure that using English is not an avoidance strategy, which they adopt when they are not sure of the concepts that are being discussed.”7 Code-switching as an unmarked medium may show up in the classroom as well. In a study done of “code switching in bilingual classrooms (grades K-3) in Los Angeles…the type of language lesson (English or Spanish and teacher language use greatly influenced the language behavior of pupils. Code switching was more frequent among both teachers and students during Spanish language lessons than during English language sessions. The tendency was to introduce a concept in Spanish and then to elaborate in English. During the English lessons, teachers used only English and expected students to communicate in English only. She noted in her conclusions that ‘the contrast between the pattern of teacher code-switching during the language lessons may be signaling to students that English functions more effectively than Spanish for ‘important’ messages, in the classroom, and that the teacher’s language use itself ‘may be signaling their [negative] attitude toward the functional efficiency of Spanish.’”8 Codeswitching can also reflect the “patterns…in a community… referred to as reflecting the sociopolitical and psycholinguistic profiles of speakers.”9 Because a speaker speaks English and Spanish, for example, that person may identify on many different levels with certain groups, depending on the person’s ethnic heritage. Usually members of the group agree beforehand on when codeswitching will be used and how: “Code-switching occurs in conditions of change, where group boundaries are diffuse, norms and standards of evaluation vary, and where speakers’ ethnic identities and social backgrounds are not matters of common agreement. Yet, if it is true that code-switching styles serve as functioning communicative systems, if members can agree on interpretations of switching in context and on categorizing others on the basis of their switching, there must be some regularities and shared perceptions on which these judgments can be based.”10 For example, some people who claim Mexican heritage while living in the United States may have very real fears. Depending on whether or not they are American citizens, they may fear deportation. Communication is a major issue within the Mexican-American community. It is certain that many Mexican families disagree with the current state of affairs in Mexico and how the drug cartels are killing people all over. This is sure to carry over into conversations had in Spanish, or English, or Spanglish, with Mexicans. Code-switching may be the only form of security speakers may have to trivialize important facts when talking about sensitive topics such as these. Mexicans generally had to deal with the PRI for many years (a political party in Mexico), and they may still worry about it taking over Mexico again. One excerpt from “an important contribution… to Spanglish culture [was] made by [a] Mexican American in the ‘50s: the novel Pocho, by Jose Antonio Villareal, [quoted here]: “They had a burning contempt for people of a different ancestry, whom they called Americans, and a marked hauteur toward Mexico and toward their parents for their old-country ways… The result was that they attempted to segregate themselves from both their cultures, and became a truly lost race. In their frantic desire to become different, they adopted a new mode of dress, a new manner, and even a new language. They used a polyglot speech of English and Spanish syllables, words, and sounds.”11 In this case, it sounds as if Spanglish was used as the order of the day because it was acculturation to the dominant culture (the United States). Mexican culture was “out,” and American culture was “in.” Speaking Spanglish, or codeswitching between Spanish and English, was a culturally acceptable form of discourse that was a bridge between the two cultures. It was a distinctive enough way of speaking so that Americans could recognize some of the English, yet Mexicans could retain some of their Spanish, thereby blending the two languages and keeping the best of both worlds. “Spanglish is a complex, variable, and limited code… The difference between English, which is the most inclusive of all languages on earth, and Spanglish is that Spanglish has no core. It does not adopt words into a grammatical and syntactical structure, and it has no standard vocabulary…[t]here are as many versions of Spanglish as there are national origins of Latinos and geographical variations in English vocabulary and diction. The tragedy of Spanglish is more social than linguistic, for it does not signal the death of either English or Spanish. People who use Spanglish exclusively, many of whom are young and living in ghetto circumstances, are excluded from full participation in the general society.”12 Within a certain community of speakers, it is usually common knowledge between the speakers themselves which language has precedence over the other within the context of the conversation. “Since the general preference is therefore for monolingualism, code-switching in conversation is always purposeful, if sometimes unconscious. In other words, speakers generally know what the preferred language is for an ongoing interaction, and they choose a different language in order to draw the attention of addressees to some specific discourse structure, so that that part of the conversation could be interpreted differently from the rest of the interaction.”13 One author, Sharad Rajimwale, “observed code-switching common among speakers in the [Indian] city of Nagpur where Marathi and Hindi are the two dominant languages. Most of the Marathi speakers can, with equal felicity, use Hindi also. Code-switching between Hindi- Marathi is common as non-participating observation in restaurants, colleges, schools, market places, buses, trains, and other public places reveals. Among the educated people trilingual code switches between Hindi-Marathi-English is also common.”14 There are many “Indian words/phrases [which] present the socio-cultural identity of India which is essentially unique in the world. ‘Indian English’ is known for ‘code switching’ and code-mixing’. India is a multi-cultural and multi-lingual country. [In India] people tend to mix up their codes in their conversation.”15 Obviously, within Indian culture, there are many languages, and thus many possible combinations of code-switching to be had. Naturally, the more educated and gifted with languages the people are, the more likely they are to code-switch with those languages. Here we have seen that people who speak languages within certain communities generally seem to fare well when they code-switch. Why? Code-switchers are bringing the best in from blended worlds. Whether it be a fusion of Indian languages and English or Spanish and English to form Spanglish, code-switchers are here to stay. Their ease at navigating unmarked social territory makes it easy for them to escape into uncharted waters with their identities intact as part of their social group. Sociopolitically and psycholinguistically they are equipped to face a new barrage of challenges which awaits them armed with the best of two or more worlds. Language is on their side. With a world that is changing pace at a breakneck speed, it is these people who are at the cutting edge of languages that have the potential advantage of being one step ahead of all of us. REFERENCES Gamble, Jeanne. Curriculum Responsiveness in FET Colleges. USA: HRSC Press, 2004. Jackson, Rodolfo. Codeswitching Worldwide. New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1998. Morales, Ed. Living in Spanglish: The Search for Latino Identity in America. USA: MacMillan, 2003. Mesthrie, Rajend, et. al. Introducing Sociolinguistics. The Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2000. Prasad, Amar Nath. Critical Response to V.S. Naipaul and Mulk Raj Anand. India: Sarup & Sons, 2003. Rajimwale, Sharad. Handbook of Linguistic Terms. India: Ivy Publishing House, 2009. Ramirez, Arnulfo G. Bilingualism Through Schooling: Cross Cultural Education for Minority and Majority Students. New York: State University of New York Press, 1985. Shorris, Earl. The Life and Times of Mexico. USA: W.W. Norton & Co., 2004. Wardhaugh, Ronald. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. USA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. Wei, Li. Three Generations, Two Languages, One Family: Language Choice and Language Shift In a Chinese Community in Britain (Multilingual Matters). UK: Multilingual Matters Limited, 1994. Read More