Code Switching Essay

Words: 2649
Pages: 11

Code Switching

Code Switching, in terms of language, is the use of more than one language, by a person or more, during their conversations with each other. Code Switching is done simply because those persons know more than one language and have more than one language in common. This switch may last for a couple of sentences, for only a single phrase or may be only for a single word. It depends on how the persons take it with themselves and the others. In the article Code Switching it is written that “the switch is commonly made according to the subject of discourse, but may be for a variety of other reasons such as the mood of the speaker. For example, a person might only swear in French Language” ( 1 ). As described in the article

For example Roberto R. Heredia and Jeffrey M. Brown have written that “Speakers of more than one language (e.g., bilinguals) are known for their ability to code-switch or mix their languages during communication. This phenomenon occurs when bilinguals substitute a word or phrase from one language with a phrase or word from another language”( code switching net article , 1 ). Since bilinguals mean person who know and can talk in two different languages very fluently so it shows that these persons code switch very often and very fluently because of knowing more than one language and try to express themselves in that way, may be intentionally. According to Trudgill, “speakers switch to manipulate or influence or define the situation as they wish, and to convey nuances of meaning and personal intention” (the internet tesl , 1). From this statement it can be said that code switching is done intentionally to express oneself and it is a way of modifying the language or the conversations for ones own sake. The two writer’s point of view are a bit different in terms of describing this phenomena but they do agree that code switching is done to express ourselves and different languages are mixed up intentionally during our conversations. Now the common people’s views on code switching are different and interesting. Different people have