Code Switching
PLEASE!!! READ THE FILES I UPLOADED,AND THE DO THE ASSIGNMENT WITH THE INSTRUCTION BELOW!!! Code-switching has often been viewed by non-linguists as a sign of incompetence in one or more languages. For example, some instances of Spanglish are instances of code-switching and Spanglish is often derided as "broken". Linguists have shown that this is not the case - code-switching is done by individuals who are fluent and competent in both languages. Montes-Alcalá (2007) discusses code switching in blogs and identifies the social purposes of the process. Discuss why people engage in code-switching (social & cultural aspects) and why you think code-switching is often viewed negatively by the general public. Use evidence from the reading and from the lecture. You may also use examples from the blogs covered in the article and in class. You cannot summarize the article or the lectures - this will result in a loss of all points from your assignment. Limit your quotes to one. You can use as many linguistic examples as necessary to support your opinion.[2 FULL (or more) pages Double-spaced 1” margins 12 point font Times New Roman] THANK YOU! The paragraph format I donot need to separate to different section, no 1. 2. 3. and maker for intro and conclu and thesis
Introduction
Code-switching, a natural phenomenon that consists of alternating two or more languages in bilinguals’ discourse, has traditionally been examined in its oral production. Much attention has been devoted to its form, meaning, and grammatical patterns. However, very little research has focused on code-switching in writing. After the turn of the millennium, it seems obvious that technology has rapidly transformed the more traditional means of communication and written expression. More specifically, blogs (short for web log) now serve as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual. Typically updated on a daily or weekly basis, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
Montes-Alcala (2000) analyzed a bilingual individual’s journal and examined code-switching in a private diary. The author found that code-switching in a personal manuscript was not uncommon, perhaps due to its confidentiality. How has the Internet affected this type of bilingual texts? Do we encounter language switching in public journals as well? Due to the relative novelty of this mode of communication among bilinguals and monolinguals alike, research on code-switching in the Internet is quite scarce to date. This paper analyzes bilingual blogs in an attempt to take a further step in the less-investigated area of Spanish-English written code-switching.1
The research question is twofold. First, I inquire whether bilingual individuals would freely switch languages when writing in a public journal. Then, I attempt to explain when and why they do it. The underlying hypothesis is that their writing will display social functions similar to those found in oral code-switching research, given that this type of text serves as a means of interaction among bilingual individuals. Furthermore, I intend to expose the cultural nature of code-switching, a component that has often been overlooked in the search for grammatical and pragmatic constraints. The analysis includes data from several Spanish-English bilingual blogs where the language choices reveal how bilingual individuals live in between two worlds, two cultures, and two languages they can and must use to fully express themselves.
Code Switching
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People that have the ability to speak fluently in two or more languages, also have a tendency to interchange between the languages. This is a scenario that is referred to as code switching. It is one of the most studied phenomena on the linguistic fronts, as scholars try to identify the various reasons that cause such people to change their language depending on the situation. To most of the general public, they feel that the bilinguals are simply having linguistic challenges and may even brush it of as being incompetent. However, the linguists understand that this is a rare situation, and most of the people that speak more than one language have an incredible ability. More so, most of the people that use code switching have fluent abilities on the two languages. There are several reasons why bilinguals have moments of code switching (Between Us Bilinguals, 2014). At the same time, the public has their own reasons as to why they get annoyed at people that keep switching from one language to the next(Thompson, 2013).
Thesis: There are fundamental reasons for bilinguals to code switch.
Different cultures have different ways of expressing themselves, however there are some basics that cut across. It is common to find that the bilinguals tend to code switch if they are quoting one of their own. It is common to find that different cultures have had some quotes that have been passed around the ages. When bilinguals are speaking another language and would want to refer to a quote from their culture, they tend to switch (Thompson, 2013). This is a phenomenon that was conducted by Cecilia Montes Alcala (Alcala, 2007). According to the study, more than 8.5% of the people that speak Spanish and English tend to switch if they are referring to quotes from their culture.
Most of the bilinguals also tend to switch between their spoken languages in the event that they want to put a point across. When the bilinguals are speaking in one language, it seems normal for them to set apart what they have been saying with what they want the other party to understand, they switch the languages (Between Us Bilinguals, 2014). For example, if one wanted to state how long they have been working with a certain firm, they may star...