25 - Intrasentential code-switching in Japanese and English

Summary

Bilingual code-switching

Code-switching, the alternating use of two or more languages in a situation, can be found in many bilingual communities in the world. The alternation between languages can be rapid, taking place even within a sentence boundary. Bilingual code-switching was once considered an exceptional case not practiced by “ideal” bilinguals who switch languages responding to a change in contextual factors such as interlocutors and topics (Weinreich, 1953). Recent studies, however, have shown that code-switching is practiced by those bilinguals who have a high proficiency in both languages (MacSwan, 1999; Nishimura, 1985; Poplack, 1980). It is now generally agreed that code-switching is a discourse mode, an appropriate way of speaking in certain speech situations in many bilingual communities (Gumperz, 1982; Heller, 1988; Myers-Scotton, 1993a; Nishimura, 1995a, 1997; Poplack, 1980).

Examples of code-switching are given in (1) and (2). In example (1) a Puerto Rican woman in New York City switches between English and Spanish; in (2) a nisei (second-generation Japanese) in Toronto, Canada, switches between English and Japanese:

1. (1) And from there I went to live pa'muchos sitios (“in a lot of places”). Despues vivi en la cieto diecisiete (“then I lived on the 117th”) with my husband. (Poplack, 1980)

2. (2) B.C. ni iku toki (“When I went to B.C.”), hikooki de yomoo to omotte kara (“thinking that I would read it on the plane”), I bought it, eh? So, it's not finished yet. (Laughs) And it's hard, 'cause me-nanka (“a person like me”), moo (“really”), hon-nanka yomu to (“when I read a book”), cover-to-cover yomanakattara (“unless I read it cover-to-cover”), if I stop dokka de (“at some point”), I forget the story. One week later you yomu deshoo (“When I read it a week later”), I gotta go back. (Nishimura, 1995a)