Social Meaning in Linguistic Structure: Code Switching and Language Choice, the example of a bilingual Marathi Community in the USA

 

In this paper, the term code-switching is employed in the sense of the alternative uses of two languages, Marathi and English, either within a sentence or between sentences. Code-switching within a sentence includes borrowing and code-mixing, while intersentential code-switching seems to include all the three, borrowing, code-mixing and code-switching. The inter-sentential code-switching often trigger code-shift. Our study of the Marathi-English language alternation is based primarily on spontaneous speeches used by adult members of the first generation Marathi-speaking community to each other in casual or semi-formal conversations and intergenerational conversations, i.e. between bilingual parents and their children in an intimate family situation.

 

The study includes an examination of extra-sentential and intra-sentential code switching, and their relation to various variables, i.e. extra-linguistic factors: sex, age, education, social network membership, ethnic identity, and occupation. The purpose behind this is to see what variables are capable of accounting more generally for patterns of language choice.

 

The code-switching can be studied from a number of perspectives: the grammatical, the socio-linguistic and the conversation analytic . From the grammatical perspective, a number of restrictions on code-switching within the sentence have been formulated ( Clyne, 2000; Gumperz, 1982; Poplack, 1978/81; and others). However, grammatical restrictions do not tell us anything about the interactional value or meaning of intra-sentential or extra- sentential code-switching. The same thing holds true for socio-linguistic perspective. General statements are made about the distribution of code switching in certain situations or among participants holding certain 'roles' and 'statuses' in a given society (Auer, 2000). It says little or nothing about the contribution of code-switching to the ongoing interaction, that is, about its local functioning. Although the value of both the approaches cannot be denied, they need to be incorporated into a third perspective which is to investigate the contribution of code-switching to community members' sense making activities.

 

Our analyses of social and family conversations, taking into account the grammatical restrictions when necessary, will relate to larger sociolinguistic statements. Some fundamental distinctions that are relevant for the production and interpretation of intra-sentential and extra-sentential code-switching in conversation will be presented in this paper.

 

References

 Auer, J.C.P. (1988) A conversation analytic approach to code-switching and transfer. In M. Heller (ed.), Codeswitching. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 187-214.

Clyne, Michael. (2000) Constraints on Code-Switching: How Universals are they? In Li Wei (ed.) The Bilingual Reader. New York: Rutledge, pp. 257-280.

Gumperz, J.J. (1982) Discourse Strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Poplack, S. (1979/80) Sometimes I'll start a sentence in Spanish y termino en espanol: toward a typology of code-switching Linguistics 18: 581-618.