Code Switching and Mixing PDF

Code switching and mixing Code-switching or code-mixing is a linguistic feature whereby the user switches or mixes linguistic codes in such a way as to fulfil a communicative purpose in a conversation (Wardhaugh, 1986:100). These purposes can be, amongst other factors, governed by social, cultural,...

Code switching and mixing Code-switching or code-mixing is a linguistic feature whereby the user switches or mixes linguistic codes in such a way as to fulfil a communicative purpose in a conversation (Wardhaugh, 1986:100). These purposes can be, amongst other factors, governed by social, cultural, psychological, phonological and morphosyntactic indicators. In many speech communities, code switching and mixing is so commonplace that it has become a linguistic code on its own right. Muysken (2001:1) reflects on the difference of code switching and mixing as follows: I am using the term code-mixing to refer to all cases where lexical items and grammatical features from two languages appear in one sentence. The more commonly used term code-switching will be reserved for the rapid succession of several languages in a single speech event, …. Jamai (2010) uses the terms code switching and mixing to refer to all instances where two or more languages are used in both inter- sentences and intra-sentences situations. Code-switching and mixing is not geo-linguistically dependent. It is usually part of the linguistic behaviour of a speech community. Many Moroccans, whether in Morocco (Bentahila, 1983; Aabi, 1999; Jamai, 2010) or abroad (Nortier, 1990; Jamai, 2010), use code-switching and mixing with ease, as part of their overall multilingual communication strategy. While the overall techniques of code switching and mixing used by both groups of Moroccans may remain the same, the communication strategies for such use may differ to reflect the cultural, social and environmental differences between Moroccans in Morocco and those living abroad or as non- indigenous minority communities. Code switching and mixing reflect the interlocutor’s linguistic strategy and attitude to convey a message. The use of code switching and mixing between Moroccan Arabic and French in Morocco may be seen as a hint by the interlocutor that he or she would like to suggest that they are educated and probably that they are westernised, equating it with open-mindedness and sophistication. For Moroccans living abroad, it is a question of being able to communicate between the first generation who usually have poor command of the host society’s language and the second generation who has a poor knowledge of the community’s ancestral language. For Moroccans living abroad, code-switching and mixing is also used as a strategy to signal and emphasise one’s sense of identity and belonging to the community through partial use of Moroccan Arabic or Tamazight. Code-switchers and mixers are often so skilled in the art of code-switching and mixing that they sense when to switch according to the needs of a successful conversation as the situation dictates. It is the flow of the conversation that directs the process of code switching and mixing. This is known as metaphorical code-switching (Wardhaugh, 1986:103). Code-switching and mixing is a linguistic occurrence that can be found in linguistic areas such as diglossic ones. In fact, code-switching and mixing between H and L varieties as prescribed by Ferguson (1959, in 1996) is becoming more and more a feature of the Moroccan linguistic landscape. However, this form of code-switching and mixing is different from the generally accepted and thought of as code- switching and mixing on one crucial aspect, i.e., that of the degree of consciousness As Wardhaugh (1986:103) points out: Diglossia reinforces differences, whereas code- switching is generally used to reduce them. In diglossia too, people are quite aware that they have switched from H to L or L to H. Code- switching of the kind we are discussing here is often quite subconscious: people may not be aware that they have switched or be able to report, following a conversation, which code they used for a particular topic. Code-switching and mixing is perceived with mixed feelings (Bentahila, 1983). While some see it as a linguistic skill to be able to freely switch and mix codes, others reflect on it as a weakness and the inability to master and fully express oneself in a particular linguistic code. What the critics fail to recognise is that code- switching and mixing is more than a mere tool of communication. It also fulfils socio-cultural functions within a specific community such as solidarity and self-projection. Codeswitching is different from borrowing, which involves the assimilation of foreign lexicon and structures into a language or dialect as defined by Nait M’Barek and Sankoff (1988), Bentahila (1983:39) found that “very few of his respondents (4.63%) admit to code-switching themselves, and those few who do express regret for the habit”, in my findings, my respondents state that 24.7% (graph 2.5: Interlocutor’s code- switching: Classical Arabic/French) and 58.8% respectively (graph 2.6: Interlocutor’s code- switching: Moroccan Arabic/French) of their interlocutors code switch while conversing with their respondents. On the other hand, 34.6% (graph 2.5: Respondent’s code-switching: Classical Arabic/French) and respectively 74.6% (graph 2.6: Respondent’s Language Mixing: Moroccan Arabic/French) of respondents on their part practise such linguistic behaviour, which can be taken as a signal of shift in attitude towards code-switching. In contrast to Bentahila’s (1983) study which reflect a different era, I consider the figures as an implicit positive attitude indicating that codeswitching is an accepted mode of communication behaviour among a growing section of Moroccans. Especially so, as the Pan Arabism and nationalism that prevailed in the 70’s (Abbassi, 1977) and the 80’s (Bentahila, 1983) is no longer the widely held ideology in the early years of the twenty-first century.