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4
with new German friends, schoolmates and teachers. I think that I was conscious of the
existence of both languages and that it was not difficult to keep them apart. The reason
for telling my personal story is to illustrate that growing up with two languages can also
mean integrating two cultures and maybe also two identities.
In informal conversations between people who are familiar with each other and
have a shared background, code-switching can occur quite often. When I'm talking with
my parents, for instance, we are code-switching all the time. In a formal speech situa-
tion and among people who have little in common, however, code-switching may be
avoided. I recognized this aspect at work. I have a colleague who has a similar back-
ground to me. But switching occurs only very rarely in our conversations even if we
are alone without other monolingual persons participating in the conversation. Accord-
ing to me, this is related to factors such as prestige or formality which influence our
language behaviour. Moreover, I noticed that, if it does occur, and I am the one who
starts talking Russian, he follows my language choice and inserts some Russian expres-
sions into the conversation. Moreover, my impression is that switching signals, in a
sense, a personal relationship with the other bilingual. To conclude, I would say that for
me, as a bilingual, bilingualism is a natural fact of life.
The thesis is divided into three main parts. Apart from introduction and conclusion,
section II and III provide the theoretical part while section IV provides the practical
part. Section II deals with general information on bilingualism and code-switching. The
first chapter presents the introduction to bilingualism. After the definition and the ques-
tion of who is bilingual, the research perspectives on bilingualism are presented in sub-
chapter 1.3. Chapter 2 presents the code-switching research. After the introduction, the
definition and the associated problems in defining code-switching are discussed in sub-
chapter 2.2 and 2.3. In subchapter 2.4, a short research overview is presented. Subchap-
ter 2.5 considers the various types of code-switching. Moreover, subchapter 2.6 presents
the sociolinguistic and pragmatic aspects of code-switching. This subchapter looks at
language choice, reasons and functions of code-switching as well as on attitudes and
feelings about code-switching behaviour.
Section III presents two central theories of code-switching which are introduced in
chapter 3. Clearly, as many studies have also shown, code-switching is not the random
mixing of two languages. Switching is systematic and rule-governed, in other words,
follows some core principles. Accordingly, bilinguals have the capacity to differentiate
between well-formed and ungrammatical patterns of code-switching. First, in chapter 4,
5
the focus is on Shana Poplack's grammatical constraints. The Free Morpheme Con-
straint is described in subchapter 4.1 followed by the Equivalence Constraint in sub-
chapter 4.2. Discussion and formulation of hypotheses are the subjects of subchapter
4.3. In addition, Carol Myers-Scotton's Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model is pre-
sented in chapter 5. After the definition of the Matrix Language in subchapter 5.1, the
hypotheses of the MLF model are the subjects of subchapter 5.2. As in chapter 4, dis-
cussion and formulation of hypotheses are the subjects of the last subchapter 5.3.
After the presentation of the theories, section IV deals with the present case study
on Russian-German code-switching which is introduced in chapter 6. In chapter 7, the
historical immigration background of the participants is provided followed by the re-
search method of the case study in chapter 8. Data collection methods are described in
subchapter 8.1 and the participants are introduced in subchapter 8.2. Chapter 9 demon-
strates relevant characteristics of the participating languages: subchapter 9.1 introduces
the Russian and subchapter 9.2 the German language. The next two chapters, 10 and 11,
deal with the analysis of data. Chapter 10 is focused on the grammatical analysis and
presents the first part of the actual case study. What happens during a language change
in the middle of an utterance? How can this be explained grammatically? This chapter
discusses different types of code-switching and provides an accurate analysis of real
bilingual speech data with respect to the presented theories in chapter 4 and 5: after the
introductory part in subchapter 10.1, subchapter 10.2 discusses intra-sentential code-
switching, subchapter 10.3 tag-switching, subchapter 10.4 inter-sentential code-
switching and subchapter 10.5 summarises the main findings. Chapter 11 represents the
second part of the case study which was carried out with the help of a questionnaire.
The focus is on the analysis of language situation, use and attitudes in a Russian-
German bilingual speech community. Thus, the data will be analysed from a sociolin-
guistic perspective. This part of the case study is introduced in subchapter 11.1. In sub-
chapter 11.2, the questionnaire results are presented. Afterwards, a summary of the re-
sults is given in subchapter 11.3.
In section V, the conclusion will comprise the main points, some suggestions for
further discussion and directions for future research.
6
II
Bilingualism and Code-switching
1
Introduction to Bilingualism
Bilingualism is a world-wide phenomenon today. Because of increased information and
communication technologies as well as several travel possibilities, it is nowadays easier
for people from all over the world speaking different languages and having distinct cul-
tures to get in contact with each other. One consequence of such contacts is that in some
way the speech behaviour and therefore also the languages of the people involved are
influenced. This leads to several language contact phenomena and consequently, bilin-
gualism arises as a result of contact. Due to migrations all over the world people nowa-
days cannot elude the phenomenon of bilingualism and nearly every individual is get-
ting confronted with it.
In contrast to multilingualism, which is seen as a societal phenomenon, bilingual-
ism is regarded as an individual phenomenon. In literature bilingualism is normally used
for individuals and communities in which two languages are present, whereas the term
multilingualism refers to societies where more than two languages are found (cf. Hoff-
mann 1991: 10). Some linguists make a clear distinction between bilingualism and mul-
tilingualism, whereas others, e.g Romaine (1995: 12), use the term bilingualism for
speaking more than two languages as well.
According to Wei (2008: 3) there are 193 countries in the world with over 6,000
different languages. These numbers show that the world is a multilingual society a far
more multilingual society than some centuries ago. Several centuries of political, cultur-
al and economic interaction have made the world a world with widespread bilingualism
and multilingualism. Multilingualism exists as a result of historical events and migra-
tion. All over the world we can find many bilingual communities of migrant origin.
Moreover, new multilingual countries have emerged and many linguistic minorities
have become bilingual "not only in the language of their own social group and the na-
tional language, but often additionally in one of these international languages" such as
English, French or Spanish (Milroy & Muysken 1995: 1).
There are nations which are officially multilingual, such as Belgium or Switzerland
(cf. Wei 2008:4). It is not true that people of multilingual countries are necessarily mul-
tilingual themselves. Belgium or Switzerland may have many monolinguals in their
population, while monolingual countries, e.g. Germany or France, are considered as
countries with a great number of bilingual people. As a consequence, linguists agree
that there is a fundamental distinction between individual and societal bilingualism (cf.
7
Baetens Beardsmore 1982: 36).
With respect to societal bilingualism, language choice and the different domains of
language use have to be mentioned here. One language is often used in a certain do-
main, e.g. family, whereas the other language is used in other domains, e.g. employment
or education (cf. Romaine 1995: 30). This can be compared to a kind of diglossia which
is the term Ferguson (2000: 65) used for "two or more varieties of the same language"
which are used "in many speech communities [...] by some speakers under different
conditions." He distinguished between informal Low (L) and formal High (H) varieties.
Ferguson's term diglossia can also be extended to languages. Fishman refines Fergu-
son's phenomenon of diglossia and tries to connect it with bilingualism. He relates
"these two research traditions to each other by tracing the interaction between [the] two
major constructs: bilingualism [...] and diglossia" (Fishman 2000a: 81). When bilingual-
ism and diglossia interact, the degree of influence is much higher and has considerable
effects on the two languages. Societal bilingualism analyses social structures where two
or more languages or varieties are spoken.
The focus of this thesis will be on languages, not on varieties, mainly on individual
bilingualism and likewise rather on bilingual than on multilingual speakers. The follow-
ing subchapter gives some definitions of bilingualism. The factors which play a role in
defining who counts as a bilingual speaker will be presented afterwards.
1.1
Definition
Till this day there is no standard definition of bilingualism. There does exist a variety of
definitions, interpretations and descriptions of bilingualism which were formulated by
many linguists. Bilingualism can generally be considered as the use or the presence of
two languages. Myers-Scotton (2006: 44) defines bilingualism as "the ability to use two
or more languages sufficiently to carry on a limited casual conversation."
According to Weinreich (1968: 1) "[t]he practice of alternately using two lan-
guages will be called BILINGUALISM, and the persons involved, BILINGUAL."
Bloomfield's interpretation of bilingualism is found in one of the early books on mod-
ern linguistics, Language, which was first published in 1933. It is a definition which
was also often quoted by other linguists (cf. Hoffmann 1991: 15).
In the extreme case of foreign-language learning the speaker becomes so proficient as
to be indistinguishable from the native speakers round him. This happens occasional-
ly in adult shifts of language and frequently in the childhood shift just described. In
the cases where this perfect foreign-language learning is not accompanied by loss of
the native language, it results in bilingualism, native-like control of two languages.
8
[...] Of course, one cannot define a degree of perfection at which a good foreign
speaker becomes a bilingual: the distinction is relative. (Bloomfield 1970: 55-56)
Like Bloomfield, Mackey (2000: 27) amongst others defines bilingualism in connection
to the degree of proficiency: "Since bilingualism is a relative concept, it involves the
question of DEGREE. [...] Bilingualism is a behavioural pattern of mutually modifying
linguistic practices varying in degree, function, alternation, and interference." Moreo-
ver, he states that "[b]ilingualism is not a phenomenon of language; it is a characteristic
of its use" (Mackey 2000: 26). Furthermore, Haugen (1987: 14) rephrased Bloomfield's
definition as "native competence in more than one language" stating that this definition
is an ideal model and only few people actually achieve this. So, he states that the defini-
tions of bilingualism can be classified in narrow and wide definitions.
1.2
Who is Bilingual?
Bilingual people normally use their languages, either separately or together, because of
different reasons, in different domains of life and with different people. It is not quite
clear how well the languages need to be known for counting as bilingual and there exist
several types of bilinguals. There are many factors which have to be taken into account
when describing bilingualism these are factors such as age, context, relationship be-
tween sign and meaning, order and consequence of bilingual language acquisition,
competence or level of proficiency, function or use and attitudes (cf. Hoffmann 1991:
18f).
Multilingual and bilingual speakers can communicate in more than one language.
There are distinct groups of people speaking more than one language. Wei (2008: 4)
distinguishes between early and late bilinguals. People have become bilingual through
different experiences. Early bilinguals have acquired two or more first languages since
birth while late bilinguals have acquired and maintained one language during childhood
and learned other languages later in life. In bilingualism research, the distinction be-
tween early and late bilingualism is a crucial one. The most common way to become
bilingual is being born into a bilingual family. There are, however, many other reasons
like personal, social or cultural reasons why individuals become bilingual. It has to be
distinguished between bilinguals who started their speaking years as monolinguals and
bilinguals who acquired two languages simultaneously as young children. When the
languages are acquired one after the other, the researchers speak of a first language L1,
the language that is acquired first as a child, and a second language L2 which is ac-
9
quired later, either as a child or adult (cf. Myers-Scotton 2006: 2). One central aspect is
the critical age hypothesis which
presents the notion that all children easily acquire any language to which they are ex-
posed up until about the age of puberty; after that, acquiring a language becomes
more arduous and more of a conscious procedure. (Myers-Scotton 2006: 36)
This hypothesis is attributed to Lenneberg (1967) and was discussed by many research-
ers. During the critical period the ability to acquire language reaches its peak, thereafter,
the ability declines. There is a lot of disagreement over the critical age hypothesis. Re-
searchers, however, do agree that "late learners are much less successful in language
learning than young children" (Myers-Scotton 2006: 350). Language learning after a
certain age is effortful and foreign accents are usual. Late acquisition generally means
less proficiency. The study of second language acquisition (SLA) is separately an entire
field of research, but also an aspect of the broad concept of bilingualism.
The two languages may have been learned either in a fused context or in separate
contexts, i.e. it has to be differentiated between both parents using both languages to the
child or the one-parent-one-language principle. The distinction can also be made be-
tween the two languages spoken in the same locality or one language is learnt in one
country and the other in a different one (cf. Hoffmann 1991: 18f).
Another important aspect is the order of bilingual language acquisition and the
consequences which may arise.
Qualitative, as well as quantitative, judgement is expressed by the terms `additive bi-
lingualism' and `subtractive bilingualism' [...]. The former implies that the addition of
a second language to a person's first can result in enriched, or at least complementary,
social, cognitive and linguistic abilities, whereas the latter suggests that the L2 is
learnt at the expense of the L1. [...] This means that, although they are becoming
more proficient in the L2, they are losing skills in the L1; therefore, as the latter is not
being maintained, it is actually being `subtracted' from their bilingual proficiency.
(Hoffmann 1991: 21)
The processes of language maintenance and language shift are possible consequences of
becoming bilingual. An interesting aspect is what happens to the L1 of speakers when
they become bilingual. One possibility is that the L1 is maintained and the L2 is learned
as an additional language. Language shift means that bilingual speakers shift to the new
L2 as their main language.
But in most cases, it takes an entirely different generation for the shift to the L2 to go
to any sort of completion. In fact, shift to an L2 generally doesn't happen until the
third generation, with the second generation bilingual in both languages. (Myers-
Scotton 2006: 68)
As for the purpose of this thesis, the focus is mainly on immigrant communities. There
10
are many factors which influence maintenance or shift of L1.
1
Myers-Scotton classifies
maintenance and shift within a bilingual community by means of a continuum: those
bilinguals "who use only the L1 at one end to those who use only the L2 at the other
end" (2006: 89). Regarding language shift, an interesting aspect is the younger genera-
tion. "[E]specially in immigrant communities, shift by the third generation is almost a
foregone conclusion" (2006: 100). Further research on that aspect will be presented in
chapter 11 of section IV, Case Study on Russian-German Code-switching.
The question of how proficient a bilingual person has to be in both languages for
counting as a bilingual is connected to the notion of relativism and the degree of bilin-
gual competence. In literature there is made a distinction between the two poles of the
continuum, the maximalist and minimalist view of bilingual competence. With respect
to the maximalist view of bilingual competence, linguists speak of perfect bilinguals.
The minimalist view of bilingual competence, however, considers a person who has
only a minimal competence in one of the four language skills, listening, reading, speak-
ing and writing in a language different from his or her mother tongue, as bilingual as
well (cf. Hamers 2005: 34). Somewhere in the middle of the continuum there can be
situated the notion of balanced bilingualism. According to Hoffmann (1991: 22) most
bilinguals tend to be more fluent or proficient in one language which can be considered
as the dominant one, i.e. they have a stronger or preferred language and a weaker one.
Bilinguals talking to each other have to decide which language or languages they
want to use. Most bilinguals, however, seem to know which language is the most ade-
quate in a certain situation. Bilinguals can communicate with each other either using the
one or the other language. Many bilingual speakers, however, tend to switch between
the languages when they are talking to other bilinguals which are also able to speak the
same languages. This linguistic phenomenon, which arises because of the fact that the
structures of two languages are in contact, is known as code-switching. Code-switching
is one of the most studied topics in language contact phenomena.
1.3
Research Perspectives
Research on bilingualism has a long history but especially from the 1970s bilingualism
has become a major focus of research. Bilingualism can be studied from different per-
spectives from a linguistic, a psycholinguistic and a sociolinguistic point of view (cf.
1
Just to name some, the following factors promote the L1: ability to visit the home country easily; radio,
TV and literature available in L1; types of social networks, i.e. strong ties with in-group memberships;
personal emphasis on family ties and psychological attachment to L1 for self-identity (cf. 2006: 90). Their
opposites result in language shift.
11
Wei 2008: 4f). It is, however, not always easy to draw a clear line between the various
research perspectives; there exist complex psychological, linguistic and social interrela-
tionships in bilingualism research. The main aspects of all three research areas will be
presented in this chapter.
With respect to the linguistic perspective, there are three important questions which
play a significant role in linguistics as well as in research on bilingualism. The first
question deals with the nature of language or grammar in the mind of a bilingual person
and with the interaction of different systems of language knowledge. Wei (2008: 5)
points out that one substantial feature is the bilingual speakers' ability to move between
different languages, i.e. to code-switch. This can happen between sentences, in the same
sentence, clause or even in one word. Code-switching takes place at specific points in a
conversation and seems to agree with the grammatical constraints of the languages in-
volved. There are several grammatical constraints on code-switching. The theories sig-
nificant for this thesis will be presented in section III, Theories of Code-switching. The
second question concerns the bilingual acquisition of more than one language, i.e. of
more than one grammatical system. Much of the language acquisition research focuses
on infants. But the aspect of SLA has to be considered as well and "[c]learly one of the
key objectives of second language acquisition is to become bilingual" (Wei 2008: 8).
Additionally, Wei states that SLA is generally considered to be different from the re-
search on bilingualism, but "second language learners and other later-acquired language
users are regarded as an important and distinctive group of bilinguals" (2008: 8). The
third question is about the use of language knowledge how is the knowledge of two or
even more languages used by the same speaker in bilingual interaction. Language
choice is an important aspect here bilinguals choose the language for example accord-
ing to the topic of the conversation, the participants involved or the setting.
While studying bilingualism from the psycholinguistic perspective, psycholinguists
are more concentrated on investigating bilingual behaviour, language choices and the
cognitive processes involved than on the structure of bilingual speech. But they are in-
terested in basically the same three key points from the linguistic point of view name-
ly in bilingual knowledge, acquisition and use (cf. Wei 2008: 9).
Psycholinguistic research on bilingualism was much influenced by the work of
Weinreich, Languages in Contact. Weinreich (1968: 1) describes different language
contact phenomena and puts emphasis on the fact that each individual has to be ana-
lyzed: "[...] two or more languages will be said to be IN CONTACT if they are used
alternately by the same persons. The language-using individuals are thus the locus of
12
the contact." He classified three different types of bilinguals "co-ordinate (systems
kept apart), compound (systems drawing on common mental representations), and sub-
ordinate (one system is represented in terms of the other)" bilinguals (Milroy &
Muysken 1995: 5). For psycholinguists it is important to investigate what is going on in
a bilingual person's mind and to develop models of bilingual mental lexicon. Many
psycholinguistic factors may influence or affect the linguistic behaviour of bilingual
people. One major aspect is the question as to how a bilingual person accesses or selects
words from different languages. Bilinguals are able to produce sentences with elements
from more than one language. Psycholinguists try to find out what the rules that the bi-
linguals seem to follow are and how language is processed in the brain of a bilingual
person.
From the sociolinguistic perspective, bilingualism is seen as a socially constructed
phenomenon and the bilingual person as a social actor. Wei (2008: 13) states that "the
issue of language use that linguists and psycholinguists are concerned with becomes an
issue of identity and identification for the sociolinguist", i.e. every time a bilingual per-
son says something in one language when he or she could also have said it using the
other language, the bilingual person reconnects with situations or people from past in-
teractions. Wei (2008: 13) continues arguing that through language choice, bilinguals
"maintain and change ethnic group boundaries and personal relationships."
Self-identification, i.e. whether a bilingual person feels himself or herself totally
identified with his or her languages, and identification by others, i.e. whether the bilin-
gual is accepted by others as belonging to both linguistic communities, are the two fea-
tures which Hoffmann (1991: 26) uses when talking about attitudes. Attitudes are a sig-
nificant factor when describing bilingualism. Consequently, this leads to the fact that a
bilingual person should be conscious of his or her bilingualism. On the one hand, the
focus of sociolinguistic research is on the bilingual individual and on the other hand on
multilingual communities.
13
2
Code-switching
2.1
Introduction
As has been indicated in previous chapters, one of the most studied and maybe most
important phenomenon in bilingualism research and language contact is code-switching.
Up to now many studies on code-switching have been carried out and often different
terminologies as well as spellings were used. As a consequence, various definitions and
interpretations of code-switching can be found throughout the history of research on
code-switching. Moreover, there are different spellings of code-switching in literature.
Some linguists write `codeswitching', `code switching' or `Code Switching', whereas
others use the hyphenated form `Code-switching' or `code-switching'. The latter
spelling will be used in this thesis.
In many situations bilingual speakers make use of the grammar and lexicon of two
languages.
(2)
Stress ... zum Arzt
krankgeschrieben , am Freitag ... sie nimmt
die Arbeit echt ernst.
She is under a great deal of stress at work... from work she went to a doctor and
he signed her off sick for the whole week and said that she should come again on
Friday... she takes work seriously.
This example is a normal everyday occurrence of bilingual language use. Utterances of
this sort probably occur in most bilingual speakers' conversations regardless of which
languages. Weinreich is of the opinion that the
ideal bilingual switches from one language to the other according to appropriate
changes in the speech situation (interlocutors, topics, etc.), but not in an unchanged
speech situation, and certainly not within a single sentence. (Weinreich 1968: 73)
In literature there are many contradictions to the statement made by Weinreich (cf. Ro-
maine 1995: 124). Firstly, there are many doubts whether the ideal bilingual exists or
what is exactly meant by an ideal bilingual. Moreover, as the example above shows,
switches within a single sentence are not uncommon among bilingual speakers. Ro-
maine (1995: 124) also shows that switching with no apparent change in topic or inter-
locutor is possible.
One important question is what is meant by the term code-switching and how lin-
guists describe this phenomenon. What are other language contact phenomena? Where
does code-switching seem to be possible syntactically? Are there different types of
code-switching? In what kind of situations is code-switching possible or probable? In
which activities do bilingual people tend to switch from one language into the other? Do
14
bilingual speakers behave in another way in different social situations? Another signifi-
cant question which arises is why bilingual speakers are doing this kind of switches.
Thus, what motivates bilingual people to mix two languages? This is related to the bi-
linguals' awareness of switching between the languages in a conversation. What do bi-
linguals think about their language mixing? What are their attitudes about bilingualism
and code-switching? How do they perceive bilingualism and what are their feelings
about bilingualism? Do bilinguals have two identities or personalities or just one? These
are the most important questions which will be discussed in this thesis, particularly in
this chapter and in section III, Theories of Code-switching. In section IV, I will apply
the theoretical background on my case study and try to answer the above listed ques-
tions with respect to my case study.
First, some definitions of the term code-switching will be discussed in this chapter.
As many books have been written about this topic, there are many definitions of various
linguists. Since it is not always easy to find a clear-cut definition for code-switching, it
has to be distinguished between code-switching and other similar language contact phe-
nomena. Subchapter 2.3 will deal with this kind of definition problems. The phenome-
non of code-switching has its origin in bilingualism research and code-switching can
also be examined from different perspectives. So, after a short research overview with
respect to grammatical, psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic and pragmatic approaches to
code-switching, the various types of code-switching will be described. The last sub-
chapter 2.6 considers the sociolinguistic and pragmatic aspects of code-switching.
2.2
Definition
Code-switching is the term for different languages coming into contact with one another
in a conversation. This could be a general definition. Most of the linguists doing re-
search on code-switching refer to it simply as the alternating use of several languages or
the alternation of two or more languages. Thus, general terms for the code-switching
phenomenon are also code alternation and language mixing. Bilingual or multilingual
speakers, who speak two or even more languages, normally tend to code-switch when
speaking to another bilingual person; that means that they often change from one lan-
guage to the other and use words and phrases from distinct languages, even in the same
sentence. Hamers & Blanc (1989: 148) even say that code-switching is "one of the most
common and original strategies used by bilingual speakers among themselves."
Grosjean (1982: 145) defines code-switching as "the alternate use of two or more
15
languages in the same utterance or conversation." According to Wei (2000: 16) code-
switching occurs "when a bilingual talks to another bilingual with the same linguistic
background and changes from one language to another in the course of conversation."
Milroy & Muysken (1995: 7) describe the phenomenon of code-switching as "the alter-
native use by bilinguals of two or more languages in the same conversation." They point
out that switching sometimes "occurs between the turns of different speakers in the
conversation, sometimes between utterances within a single turn, and sometimes even
within a single utterance." Poplack (2000: 224) defines code-switching in a similar way
as "the alternation of two languages within a single discourse, sentence or constituent."
Similar to Poplack, Grosjean shows that code-switching can involve several sentences,
only one sentence, a phrase or a word (cf. Grosjean 1982: 146). For Hamers & Blanc
(1989: 148), code-switching occurs when "two languages are present in the discourse,
chunks from one language alternating with chunks from the other." Moreover, they say
that a "chunk can vary in length from a morpheme to an utterance." These observations
lead to the classification of different code-switching types which will be presented in
subchapter 2.5.
2.3
Problems in Defining Code-switching
In the study of language contact there has been little agreement on the definitions of the
numerous language contact phenomena. Some linguists use, for instance, the term lan-
guage mixing or code-mixing in a more general way for explaining several language
contact effects while others describe code-mixing as switching within a sentence. This
subchapter will deal with these terminology problems and differentiate between code-
switching, interference and borrowing. Haugen distinguishes between switching, inter-
ference and integration. Switching is "the alternate use of two languages", interference
"the overlapping of two languages" and integration "the regular use of material from
one language in another" (1956: 40). Besides code-switching, interference and borrow-
ing are two of the most important phenomena of language contact which will be de-
scribed below. In Haugen's terminology integration is the phenomenon of borrowing.
2.3.1
Interference
"[T]he influence of the bilingual's language systems upon each other" this is how
Hoffmann (1991: 19) defines the phenomenon of interference. Already Weinreich
(1968: 1) has studied the language contact phenomenon of interference.
16
The term interference implies the rearrangement of patterns that result from the intro-
duction of foreign elements into the more highly structured domains of language,
such as the bulk of the phonemic system, a large part of the morphology and syntax,
and some areas of the vocabulary.
Appel & Muysken (1987: 84) subscribe to Weinreich's interpretation and define inter-
ference as "the use of elements, structures and rules from the source language in the
production of the target language." For Mackey (2000: 40) interference is "the use of
features belonging to one language while speaking or writing another." Haugen (1956:
50) describes interference as a "linguistic overlap, when two systems are simultaneous-
ly applied to a linguistic item." In earlier studies there was the tendency to group all
language contact phenomena under the general term interference.
Romaine uses the term cross-linguistic influence. She states that cross-linguistic in-
fluence can occur on different levels of the language and that influence upon one level
can have consequences for other levels of language (cf. 1995: 53). Many other research-
ers, such as Weinreich or Mackey, were of the same opinion and investigated the inter-
ference phenomenon taking place at various levels of language. There is interference at
the phonological, grammatical or syntactic, and lexical level. The syntactic level is
mainly affected with respect to word order divergence, e.g. the placing of adjectives
before or after the noun (cf. Romaine 1995: 55). "The determination of the nature and
occurrence of interference is clearly due to the structure of the languages in contact
which affects the resistance and encouragement of transfer" (Baetens Beardsmore 1982:
63). Lexical interference is also interpreted as lexical borrowing. Furthermore, Mackey
(2000: 44f) examines cultural and semantic interference. We can conclude that interfer-
ence is basically the influence of one language on the other with respect to various lev-
els of language, such as phonology or syntax.
While investigating the phenomenon of interference, as maintained by Weinreich
(1968: 3), different extra-linguistic factors are to be analyzed as well. These are factors
such as the speaker's ability to keep two languages apart, proficiency in each language,
manner of learning each language and attitudes toward each language (cf. Weinreich
1968: 3). He does not only take bilinguals as individuals into account but also groups of
bilinguals.
Interference, "a phenomenon which is also often called `negative transfer'" (Appel
& Muysken 1987: 84). This is another aspect of the expression interference; it has, to
some extent, a negative connotation. For that reason, some linguists also prefer the term
transference instead of interference (cf. Romaine 1995: 52).
17
Negative interference may be used to describe the avoidance of native forms because
of their diamorphic equivalence to foreign ones. In bilingual situations this is most
conspicuous in the case of lexemes which are socially unacceptable in one, but not the
other language. (Haugen 1956: 54)
2.3.2
Borrowing
The phenomenon of interference has to be distinguished from borrowing. Haugen
(1956) made one of the earliest attempts to classify types of borrowing based on inte-
gration.
1
Interference is seen as "individual and contingent", while borrowing is regard-
ed as "collective and systematic" (Mackey 2000: 40). The phenomenon of borrowing
has many similarities with code-switching and it is not always easy to make a clear divi-
sion between the two terms. Moreover, the distinction between intra-sentential code-
switching and borrowing is a far more difficult distinction. Intra-sentential code-
switching often involves only single-word switches. Borrowing normally involves lexi-
cal items which generally also consist of one word. Myers-Scotton (2006: 209) defines
lexical borrowing in the following way: "Words from one language appearing in anoth-
er are lexical borrowings." Moreover, she states that nouns are the category which is
borrowed more frequently. There is a general agreement among linguists that lexical
material is the most easily borrowed and that nouns are freer of syntactic restrictions
than other word-classes.
Halmari (1997: 17) refers, in some way, to Poplack's opinion that "a lexical item is
not a codeswitch, if it is phonologically, morphologically and syntactically integrated
into the host language." This means also that borrowing is used "to refer to the embed-
ded language items that have been integrated to the matrix language" (Halmari 1997:
17). Borrowed items are incorporated into the target language; they become a part of the
other language. The degree of integration of the embedded language items into the ma-
trix language plays a big role with reference to borrowing. This is regarded as a charac-
teristic feature of borrowings. Consequently, a word that has been integrated according
to the phonology and morphology of the target language is called borrowing. Thus, bor-
rowed elements often look quite different in the target language. Many linguists distin-
1
Haugen (1956: 59f) distinguishes between two main types of borrowings between loanwords and
loanshifts. Loanwords are phonologically and morphologically integrated into the target language. They
are further divided into loanwords and loanblends. Loanblends are a kind of hybrid category one part is
borrowed and the other part belongs to the base language (cf. Grosjean 1982: 313f). In loanshifts, howev-
er, the meaning of a word in the base language is extended by an additional meaning in this case
Haugen speaks of extensions. As opposed to loanwords, there is a semantic and not a phonetic influence
from the other language. Creations constitute the second type of loanshifts involving "rearranging words
in the base language along a pattern provided by the other and thus [creating] a new meaning" (Romaine
1995: 57). Bilinguals often borrow whole idioms from one language into another by translating them
literally. These types of borrowings are also called calques or loan translations (cf. Grosjean 1982: 318).
18
guish between these two terms defining that borrowing because of the integration of
two languages belongs to the level of langue of bilingual people while code-switching
is a part of the bilingual's parole
1
(cf. Appel & Muysken 1987: 121).
According to Halmari (1997: 171), phonological assimilation is one important de-
termining factor when distinguishing borrowing from code-switching. Morphologically
assimilated but phonologically unassimilated embedded language items within the ma-
trix language can be treated as either borrowings or code-switches; it is not clear to
which category they can be referred to since they are not integrated on all required lev-
els and we cannot speak of a true borrowing. Most linguists agree on the fact that true
borrowing requires full integration or assimilation at all levels, e.g. borrowed words
from one language are written and pronounced as if they were original words of the
other language. Therefore, cases of only partially assimilated words are often called,
according to Poplack et al. (1990), nonce borrowings an intermediate category (cf.
Halmari 1997: 169). She speaks, however, also of borrowing if it becomes fully a part
of the lexicon of the target language and is no longer subject to code-switching con-
straints. With respect to constraints, as we will see in section III, the distinction between
borrowing and code-switching is not a clear-cut distinction and has to be made explicit.
Otherwise
there is a danger that accounts of codeswitching constraints may end up to be theories
which explain only a subpart of the phenomenon (not explaining all cases of
codeswitching by ruling out too many instances as borrowings), or theories which
cover too much (explanations including instances of borrowings as well, instead of
only codeswitches). (Halmari 1997: 167)
There are also linguists who suggest that code-switching and borrowing could be looked
at as basically the same phenomenon. In some cases it is often only the investigator's
intuition which assigns various mixed items to either the category of code-switching or
borrowing (cf. Halmari 1997: 170).
Appel & Muysken (1987: 172f) noted that there may be "different degrees of pho-
nological adaptation for borrowed items" and refer to Poplack who found out that the
integration of English items into Puerto Rican Spanish is a very gradual process. She is
of the opinion that not only structural integration, but also social integration has to be
taken into account.
In seeking a way to identify full-fledged loanwords, a number of indices measuring
various aspects of the linguistic and social integration of borrowed words were devel-
1
Langue is the abstract system of signs and rules whereas parole is the realisation of langue in a concrete
situation.
19
oped [...] and included measures of frequency of use, native language synonym dis-
placement, morphophonemic and/or syntactic integration, and acceptability to native
speakers. (Poplack 1988: 220)
Poplack (1988: 221) speaks of loanwords or borrowings and not of code-switching
when a word is uttered by many bilingual speakers with the phonology and morphology
of the matrix language, i.e. when it follows the grammatical rules of the other language.
Additionally, borrowings are considered to be words that are used frequently by bilin-
guals and are widespread in bilingual speech communities.
Similar to Poplack's attitude, Myers-Scotton (1988: 159) approaches the problem
of distinguishing code-switching from borrowing in terms of social content and not only
on a structural basis. She does not consider the degree of assimilation because, accord-
ing to her, this does not yield useful results. Her opinion is that code-switching, as op-
posed to borrowing, carries "social significance (as a negotiation)" (1988: 160), i.e. so-
cial meaning. This is the distinguishing feature between code-switching and borrowing
in Myers-Scotton's earlier works. Consequently, social criteria not only the structural
ones and the aspects of how frequent and accepted the borrowed words occur in bilin-
gual speech communities have to be taken into consideration when distinguishing code-
switching from borrowing. In a later work, Myers-Scotton suggests that borrowings can
be distinguished from code-switching with respect to frequency counts.
Borrowed forms, therefore, should be distinguishable by their individual frequencies.
The frequency of borrowed lexical items, for example, will be greater than that of
switched items because borrowed items belong to a specifiable set from the embed-
ded language which speakers know in some abstract sense as part of matrix language
competence. Therefore, borrowings are available to many (or all) speakers in a way
switches are not. (Myers-Scotton 1990: 103)
For many researchers, morphological integration is not quite a good criterion for distin-
guishing borrowing from code-switching. When introducing Myers-Scotton's famous
model in section III, we will see how she subsumes phenomena of code-switching and
borrowing within one model.
Halmari (1997: 169) mentions the important fact that code-switching occurs only in
a bilingual conversation because code-switching implies some degree of competence in
two languages, whereas borrowing can be performed by monolinguals as well. This is
also a reason why single-word switches such as nouns are often borrowed; they are "ac-
cessible to bilinguals with any degree of competence, even minimal, in the language
from which the borrowing is taken" (Gardner-Chloros 2009: 30) and even to monolin-
guals. Thus, borrowing can also occur in the speech of people with only monolingual
competence (cf. Romaine 1995: 124). This leads to the fact that many borrowed words,
20
particularly old widespread borrowings, are probably not even perceived as foreign by
most of the speakers.
Consequently, although they are similar, there is a significant difference between
code-switching and borrowing. Code-switching is a complete switch to the other lan-
guage for a word, a phrase or a sentence. In contrast, borrowing is taking a word or
short expression from one language and adapting it usually phonologically and mor-
phologically to the matrix or base language.
2.4
Short Research Overview
Weinreich and Haugen are considered to be the first linguists focussing on code-
switching research (cf. Milroy & Muysken 1995: 8). Weinreich has first concentrated
especially on lexical issues and for both linguists it was not easy "to understand the rea-
sons for the relative invisibility of code-switching and particularly code-mixing" (Mil-
roy & Muysken 1995: 8). They both recognized the code-switching phenomenon but at
that time they were more concentrated on other language contact phenomena such as
interference and borrowing. For Haugen, speakers
[...] may switch rapidly from one [language] to the other, but at any given moment
they are speaking only one, even when they resort to the other for assistance. The in-
troduction of elements from one language into the other means merely an alternation
of the second language, not a mixture of the two. (Dil 1972: 80)
Haugen considers the code-switching phenomenon as an alternation of the second lan-
guage, i.e. as an insertion of a word into another language, but not as a mixing of both
languages. He approached the code-switching phenomenon with this first definition:
"code-switching [...] occurs when a bilingual introduces a completely unassimilated
word from another language into his speech" (1956: 40).
As already said, research on code-switching started slowly since linguists such as
Weinreich or Haugen were concentrated on other language contact phenomena.
Weinreich already managed to introduce the language-mixing phenomenon, which is
now described as code-switching, from several perspectives from a grammatical, psy-
cholinguistic and sociolinguistic point of view. "Readers will discover that the reasons
proposed for [...] these switching behaviours are as various as the directions from which
linguists approach code-switching" (Milroy & Muysken 1995: 7).
Later studies of code-switching tend to focus on different aspects of code-switching
as well. The main focus, however, was first on sociolinguistics on social motivations
and functions of code-switching. Fishman (2000b: 89) provides an "understanding of
21
who speaks what language to whom and when." He studied code-switching from a soci-
olinguistic perspective and focussed on language choice and domain analysis. Gumperz
has concentrated on bilingual interaction, i.e. on bilingual interactive strategies. He ana-
lysed conversations in Chicano and Afro-American communities and tried to find out
"which alternates are used when and under what social circumstances" (Gumperz 1970:
132). Gumperz's work on code-switching and contextualization has been influential in
the field of sociolinguistics. In their study of a speech community in Hemnesberget,
Norway, Blom & Gumperz distinguished between situational and metaphorical code-
switching between related varieties. They developed a significant and influential
groundwork for various recent models on code-switching functions. Situational switch-
ing is triggered by changes in the situation while metaphorical switching takes place in
order to achieve special communicative and rhetoric effects (cf. Blom & Gumperz
2000: 126f). The descriptions of diglossia by Ferguson and Fishman can be related to
the notion of situational switching. From the pragmatic perspective it is assumed that
"the motivation for switching is basically stylistic and that code-switching is to be treat-
ed as a discourse phenomenon" (Romaine 1995: 121). In the 1980s, Auer modified the
sociolinguistic approach made by Blom & Gumperz extending it by a conversation ana-
lytic approach. Bilingual conversation is the main focus of his studies among German-
Italian bilingual children. He introduces the distinction between discourse-related and
participant-related code-switching with reference to situational and metaphorical code-
switching (cf. Auer 1988: 192). Moreover, he concentrated mainly on code-switching in
dialogues and did not consider written language. In my case study in section IV, the
focus will also be on spoken language, i.e. on bilingual speech. Subchapter 2.6 will pro-
vide more insights into the sociolinguistic and pragmatic aspects of code-switching.
Since 1975 the focus of code-switching research has been put more on grammar
and on the syntactic aspects of code-switching. Grammatical approaches to code-
switching are mainly concerned with linguistic constraints on code-switching. Timm's
research on Spanish-English switching among bilingual Mexican-Americans is a first
attempt to formulate constraints.
However, in examining samples of bilingual talk produced by Mexican-Americans
living in California, I noticed that SOME segments of speech were never internally
switched, though they might occur now wholly in E, now in S from the lips of one
speaker. I followed up these observations with a scrupulous analysis of several S-E
texts [...] emerging with a small set of generalizations about the syntactic limits in S-E
switching. The presentation of these linguistic constraints on switching code consti-
tutes the kernel of this paper. (Timm 1975: 474)
22
One of the strongest restrictions Timm proposes is that the subject or object pronoun
has to belong to the same language as the verb. A second restriction blocks switching
between the auxiliary and the main verb (cf. 1975: 477f). In her studies of Spanish-
English Puerto-Rican bilinguals in New York and French-English bilinguals in Ottawa-
Hull in the early 1980s, Shana Poplack introduced the first universal grammatical con-
straints with respect to code-switching, The Free Morpheme Constraint and The
Equivalence Constraint. In section III, these two constraints will be presented in detail.
There are many other linguists who found counter-examples against these constraints
and started to search for universal constraints themselves as well. There are several the-
ories, explanations and models of code-switching discussed in literature.
The Government Constraint and the MLF model are two important and often dis-
cussed theories of code-switching. The Government Constraint says that if there is a
relation of government between two constituents, i.e. if they are dependent on each oth-
er, they have to belong to the same language and a switch is not possible at that point
(cf. Di Sciullo, Muysken & Singh 1986). Hierarchical relations play a role in that con-
straint. Besides, it was proposed to be a universally valid constraint. The MLF model by
Carol Myers-Scotton (1993) defines a matrix language (ML) and an embedded language
(EL); she speaks of an asymmetrical relation between two languages in code-switching
conversations. The ML typically sets the grammatical framework where elements of the
embedded language are inserted. In addition, another important theory, which is based
on syntax, is Woolford's (1983) theory of code-switching. She proposes a model of
code-switching in which two monolingual grammars cooperate in code-switched sen-
tences and "none of the rules of either grammar are altered in any way" (Woolford
1983: 534). According to her, code-switching is possible when the phrase structure rules
of the two grammars overlap, i.e. are identical. Furthermore, in contrast to Poplack's
variationist approaches to code-switching stating that each grammar has its own rule,
MacSwan (2009) proposes also a theory of mixed grammars where one grammar has to
respect the principles of the other. MacSwan's Minimalist Approach to code-switching
one of the more recent generativist approaches to code-switching tries to find a
model of how to explain the code-switching phenomenon in syntax regarding Noam
Chomsky's minimalistic grammar.
Under the assumptions of the Minimalist Program, the mixing of grammars is effec-
tively the mixing (or "union") of two lexicons, as the significant features of gram-
mars, including the parameters of variation between grammars, are assumed to be lo-
cated in the lexicon. (Gardner-Chloros 2009: 98)
23
In this thesis, I will concentrate on two major theories of code-switching. The first part
of section III, explains Poplack's Two-Constraint Model in chapter 4. In the second part
of section III, Myers-Scotton's MLF model is presented in detail.
The more recent studies are focused on finding a model of how to explain the code-
switching phenomenon. Psycholinguistic approaches to code-switching are concerned
with cognitive processes. Psycholinguists deal with the question of how several lan-
guages are stored and simultaneously processed in one human brain. They try to explain
the operations that take place during language processing. Another important question is
whether bilinguals have one or two internal lexicons. Psycholinguists also focus on bi-
linguals' ability to keep their two languages separate (cf. Grosjean 1995: 260f).
Grosjean distinguishes between a monolingual and a bilingual language mode. These
two language modes are situated at the end points of a continuum. In the monolingual
language mode, bilingual people adopt the language of the monolingual person they are
talking to and deactivate as much as possible the other language. In the bilingual
language mode, however, both languages are activated (cf. 1995: 262). This is the mode
on which researchers mainly focussed and where code-switching plays an important
role. In this case bilinguals have the possibility to switch between the languages.
Grosjean (cf. 1995: 262f) is of the opinion that bilinguals normally select one base lan-
guage when talking to other bilinguals. But in the course of the conversation, they can
decide to switch the base language. This depends on several factors such as situation,
topic or interlocutor. Among psycholinguists, there is a general agreement that "the bi-
lingual is not two monolinguals in one person, but a unique speaker-hearer using one
language, the other language, or both together depending on the interlocutor, situation,
topic, etc." (Grosjean 1995: 261). Since psycholinguistic study is a young research area,
more research on psycholinguistic aspects of code-switching has to be done in order to
be able to present clear-cut results.
For the analysis presented in this thesis, however, only the grammatical, pragmatic
and sociolinguistic approaches are important. The first empirical part of section IV will
consist of a grammatical analysis the mixing of grammatical patterns of German and
Russian in the collected and analysed bilingual speech data whereas the second part is
related to the sociolinguistic aspects of code-switching which are gathered by means of
a questionnaire.
24
2.5
Types of Code-switching
Since code-switching shows some similarities with other language contact phenomena
such as borrowing, code-mixing or interference, the various types of code-switching
will be discussed in this chapter to keep them apart from each other. In literature there
are a lot of different opinions about which types of code-switching exist and what they
mean. Often, however, the researchers agree on the classification of the types of code-
switching and the differences are only terminological.
Woolford (1983: 521) states that a lot of "language switches occur at sentence
boundaries, but others occur in mid-sentence within a smooth stream of speech", i.e. she
points out that code-switching can be inter-sentential as well as intra-sentential. Inter-
sentential code-switching is used for switches between sentences and occurs at sentence
boundaries, i.e. when each sentence is either in one language or the other. Intra-
sentential code-switching is the term for switches within a sentence which is sometimes
also called code-mixing by some linguists. Ritchie & Bhatia (2004: 337), for example,
make a distinction between code-mixing and code-switching with respect to intra- and
inter-sentential features and define the term code-mixing as intra-sentential and code-
switching as inter-sentential. Intra-sentential switches occur in the middle of a sentence.
Nearly all researchers, e.g. Halmari (1997: 16), agree on distinguishing between inter-
and intra-sentential code-switching "when referring to the alternation of codes either
between sentences or within one sentence."
In addition, many linguists, e.g. Poplack (1988: 219) or Appel & Muysken (1987:
118), generally agree on classifying three main types of code-switching in their studies:
inter-sentential switching (cf. (3)), intra-sentential switching (cf. (4)) and tag-switching
(cf. (5)). The following three sentences present each type of code-switching.
(3)
Wir sind alle Langschläfer außer Papa. 6 .
We're all late sleepers except dad. He can even go walking at 6.
(4)
Nach dem Essen Zähne putzen.
After eating we don't have to forget to brush our teeth.
(5)
, weißt?
And they also managed without you, you know?
Tag-switching involves the "insertion of a tag in one language into an utterance which
is otherwise entirely in the other language" (Romaine 1995: 122). Tag-switching is
sometimes also called emblematic switching because the tags "serve as an emblem of
the bilingual character of an otherwise monolingual sentence" (Appel & Muysken 1987:
25
118). Tag-switching can be "an exclamation, a tag, or a parenthetical in another lan-
guage than the rest of the sentence" (Appel & Muysken 1987: 118). Tags can occur at a
number of points in an utterance without violating syntactic rules, whereas intra-
sentential code-switching, i.e. switching of phrases or constituents, is the code-
switching type that involves the greatest syntactic risk. Code-switching is rule-
governed. A sentence with intra-sentential code-switching must conform to the rules of
two languages. Therefore, it is also the most complex switching type. Mixing within
word boundaries is also a typical form of intra-sentential code-switching, e.g. English
words with Panjabi inflectional morphology like in shoppã which means shops (cf. Ro-
maine 1995: 123). As a Russian example we can consider Überstund- which is an ex-
ample out of my recorded data. It is the German word for overtime taking the Russian
plural morpheme. Another typical and frequently used form of intra-sentential code-
switching is the switching of nouns. Romaine's (1995: 125) "reason why nouns are so
frequently borrowed and code-switched is that they are relatively free of syntactic re-
strictions."
The different types of code-switching are not only linked to syntactic risk but also
to bilingual competence or ability. Intra-sentential code-switching shows the greatest
competence because bilinguals have to obey the syntactic rules of both languages while
uttering intra-sentential switches. Tag-switching is the easiest code-switching type.
There is a minor probability that the syntactic rules will be violated because this switch-
ing type only involves exclamations. The characteristic of this code-switching type is
that the switched elements are not much integrated into the sentence. Inter-sentential
code-switching is situated in between since it requires a greater competence in both lan-
guages than tag-switching but not as much as intra-sentential code-switching. Inter-
sentential switching, however, requires the ability to keep the grammatical systems of
both languages apart and to follow the respective grammatical rules of the appropriate
language.
Muysken, for instance, offers the following typology of code-switching. He calls
the phenomenon of code-switching alternation between structures from two languages.
The phenomenon of code-mixing is grouped under insertion and congruent lexicaliza-
tion. He uses insertion when talking about the insertion of lexical items or entire con-
stituents. Congruent lexicalization is the type in which the languages share a grammati-
cal structure and the vocabulary is from two or more languages (cf. Gardner-Chloros
2009: 104f).
To describe the code-switching phenomenon with all its different types various
26
terms have been used in literature. Code-switching, however, is the term which has
gained the widest distribution and acceptance. Thus, it is not always easy to distinguish
between the different types of switches. The different code-switching types, in connec-
tion with different language contact phenomena, could therefore be seen as a "continu-
um ranging from whole sentences, clauses and other chunks of discourse to single
words, which could be inserted into a grammatical structure" (Romaine 1995: 124).
As intra-sentential code-switching involves two grammatical systems and rules, it
is the most complex and most studied switching type. The attention of this thesis es-
pecially in the first part of my case study in section IV will also be mainly on intra-
sentential code-switching because there we can find two grammar systems interacting in
one sentence.
2.6
Sociolinguistic and Pragmatic Aspects of Code-switching
The famous question of Fishman's article "Who speaks what language to whom and
when?" can be expanded by other interrogative pronouns such as `where' and `about
what'. Another important question in research on bilingualism and code-switching is:
"Why and how do bilingual speakers switch from one language to the other in a conver-
sation?" The sociolinguistic and pragmatic aspects of code-switching concerning them-
selves with questions like these will be described in this subchapter. The focus will be
on language choice as well as on reasons, functions, attitudes and feelings about bilin-
gualism, language mixing and code-switching.
2.6.1
Language Choice, Reasons and Functions
Since bilingual speakers are proficient in two languages, they have to decide which lan-
guage they want to use when talking either to monolinguals or to other bilinguals with a
similar historical background. In monolingual conversations, the bilingual speaker nor-
mally adopts the language in which the monolingual speaker is proficient. Language
choice in bilingual interactions is more complex because bilingual speakers can choose
one language, the other language or a mixture of both languages. It has to be distin-
guished between bilinguals talking to monolinguals or to other bilinguals. Bilinguals
speaking to other bilinguals first decide on the base language to use and then whether or
not to code-switch. In literature this is known as the two-stage decision process underly-
ing language choice (cf. Grosjean 1982: 129).
27
bilingual speaking to
monolingual will use
bilingual will use
L1 L2
L1
L2
with or without with or without
code-switching code-switching
Figure 1: Language choice and code-switching
Bilinguals can even change the base language in the middle of the conversation; this is
the second stage of code-switching. Thus, there is a fundamental connection between
language choice and the switching between languages. In addition, this means that lan-
guage mixing in general marks a change of some kind. The bilingual speaker's language
choice is dependent on both linguistic and social factors.
According to Fishman (2000b: 90f), group, situation and topic are the significant
factors in language choice. Bilinguals express their group membership through language
choice. The term situation or setting includes the participants, the physical setting, the
topics and functions of discourse and the style. "[C]ertain styles within every language
[...] are considered by particular interlocutors to be indicators of greater intimacy, in-
formality, equality, etc." (2000b: 91). Topic is a determining factor in language choice.
Bilingual speakers prefer one language when talking about certain topics and another
language for discussing other topics. Fishman (2000b: 92) lists various reasons for the
speakers' preference of one language for specific topics. One reason is that bilinguals
are trained to deal with a specific topic in only or mainly one language, i.e. they are
used talking about a certain topic in the respective language. Another reason is that they
lack the specialised terms of a certain topic in one language. The fact that it is consid-
ered strange to some bilinguals to talk about a special topic in one language is also a
reason for language choice.
Code-switching can be used for many reasons. The factors determining the reasons
for code-switching are similar to those determining language choice. Hence, one of the
most important and often reported reasons for code-switching is that bilingual speakers
cannot find an appropriate word or expression in the language they are speaking. This
can be explained by a lack of appropriate terminology in one of the languages. Another
reason for code-switching is the fact that some notions are better expressed in one lan-
guage than in another. Grosjean (1982: 151) mentions the widespread phenomenon of
"the most available word". It is very often the case that bilinguals know a word in both
28
languages, but when speaking in L1, the word in L2 is more available. Another im-
portant reason mentioned by Grosjean (1982: 152) is triggering. A single word switch
often triggers a continuation in the language of the switch.
1
Hamers & Blanc (1989)
mention the term incompetence code-switching. The fact that bilinguals typically peo-
ple with an immigration background code-switch because they have only "acquired a
limited functional competence in L
2
but have to resort to their L
1
to compensate for their
lack of knowledge of L
2
" (Hamers & Blanc 1989: 149) can be regarded as a reason for
code-switching. They state that there is also the opposite case in which immigrants lost
some of their competence of L1 and use their newly or later acquired L2 in order to be
able to communicate. Thus, the above mentioned competence proportioning can also be
a reason for code-switching. Bilinguals also switch language for emphasis or clarifica-
tion, i.e. they are code-switching for stylistic reasons. This is one aspect of the various
functions of code-switching which will be discussed below.
In their study of bilingual speakers in Hemnesberget in northern Norway, Blom &
Gumperz (2000: 124f) point out that the setting is an important factor for the language
choice of bilinguals of Bokmål, one of the standard languages in Norway, and Ranamål,
a dialect. The setting comprises places such as home, work, shops, public places, school
or church.
In visualizing the relationship between social and linguistic factors in speech events,
it seems reasonable to assume that the former restrict the selection of linguistic varia-
bles in somewhat the same way that syntactic environments serve to narrow the
broader dictionary meanings of words. (Blom & Gumperz 2000: 124)
Blom & Gumperz state that bilingual speakers first prove the social situation, i.e. where
they are talking to whom and about what topic, and afterwards make the appropriate
language choice. This means that in particular social situations some linguistic forms
are more appropriate than others.
Similar to Fishman, Grosjean (1982: 136) lists participants, situation, content of
discourse, i.e. topic, and function of interaction as the major factors that account for
language choice. He states that it is usually "the combination of several factors that ex-
plains language choice" (1982: 135). Furthermore, some factors are usually more im-
portant than others, i.e. have more weight and play a greater role when combined with
other factors.
Ritchie & Bhatia (2004: 339) name four significant factors which determine lan-
guage choice of bilinguals:
1
The notion of triggering was developed by Clyne in 1967. He studied code-switching of Australians of
German origin (cf. Clyne 2000).
29
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participant roles and relationships
-
situational factors: discourse topic and language allocation
-
message-intrinsic factors
-
language attitudes, dominance, and security
They maintain that for most bilinguals, explicit or overt negotiation is rather unnatural
and that in most cases, the unmarked choice is made almost immediately (cf. 2004:
339). The unconscious process of language negotiation often leads to language mis-
matching by participating bilinguals. As for the situational factors, one language is often
viewed as more suited to specific participant groups, topics or settings than the other
one. Thus, many bilinguals organize their two languages according to their public or
private world. Ritchie & Bhatia refer to Gumperz's we-code and they-code distinction.
The public language often serves as the "they" code and the private language as the
"we" code. The "they" code can be used to perform a range of functions, from creat-
ing distance, asserting authority, and expressing objectivity, to suppressing the ta-
booness of an interaction. The "we" code conveys a range from in-group member-
ship, informality, and intimacy, to emotions. (Ritchie & Bhatia 2004: 342)
Moreover, Gardner-Chloros (2009: 57) mentions that both the we-code and the they-
code are often used within the same conversation. Class, religion, gender and particular-
ly age are social variables which are also influential factors for language choice and
code-switching. In the case of second-generation immigrants age is a very important
factor (cf. Ritchie & Bhatia 2004: 343f). The message-intrinsic factors listed by Ritchie
& Bhatia involve quotations, reiteration or paraphrasing, message qualification, topic-
comment function and relative clauses, hedging, interjections and idioms. These factors
can mainly be related to the functions of conversational switching introduced by
Gumperz which will be described below. Language attitudes, which are the last factor
for determining language choice of Ritchie & Bhatia, will be discussed in subchapter
2.6.2 below.
Gumperz (1982) and Blom & Gumperz investigated the conversational functions of
code-switching. They developed the often cited and discussed distinction between situa-
tional and metaphorical switching. Situational switching depends on social variables
whereas metaphorical switching is used for rhetorical effect and has conversational
meaning. Consequently, metaphorical switching depends on discursive variables. Blom
& Gumperz (2000: 126) observed in their study that local community members
switched from the dialect into the standard language when outsiders, e.g. the research-
ers, approached their group. This can be seen as an example for situational switching
involving a clear change in "the participants' definition of each other's rights and obli-
gations" (2000: 126). They developed the concept of situational switching because they
30
assume a relation between language choice and social situation. They investigated that a
new situation or topic shifts trigger a language switch. Moreover, situational switching
and therewith also language choice, as we have seen above, is determined by certain
situations or participants. Thus, situational switching is a consequence of changing situ-
ations.
Metaphorical switching, however, occurs when there is no change in situational
factors such as participants or topic, i.e. it is the use of two varieties or languages within
a single social setting. This is a pragmatic aspect of code-switching explaining why bi-
linguals also switch languages in an unchanged situation.
The semantic effect of metaphorical switching depends on the existence of regular re-
lationships between variables and social situations [...]. The context in which one of a
set of alternates is regularly used becomes part of its meaning, so that when this form
is then employed in a context where it is not normal, it brings in some of the flavor of
this original setting. [...] Similarly, when (R) phrases are inserted metaphorically into
a (B) conversation, this may, depending on the circumstances, add a special social
meaning of confidentiality or privateness to the conversation. (Blom & Gumperz
2000: 127)
Thus, metaphorical switching, later called conversational switching (cf. Gumperz 1982:
60), concerns the communicative effect the bilingual speaker intends to express.
Gumperz defines conversational code-switching as "the juxtaposition within the same
speech exchange of passages of speech belonging to two different grammatical systems
or subsystems" (1982: 59). In his studies of Slovenian-German, Hindi-English and
Spanish-English code-switching, Gumperz (1982: 75f) was able to develop a typology
of conversational functions of code-switching:
-
quotations
-
addressee specification
-
interjections
-
reiteration
-
message qualification
-
personalization versus objectivization
In Gumperz's investigated data many code-switched elements can clearly be identified
as quotations or reported speech. Usually, a message is quoted in the language in which
it was said. But there are also cases where a quoted message is not uttered in the lan-
guage in which it was said but in the other language. Moreover, he observed that many
bilinguals switch language in order to include or exclude participants into or from a
conversation. Thus, a change of participant constellation serves a conversational func-
tion of addressee specification. Interjections serve a conversational function as well;
sentence fillers and side-comments are often found in another language compared to the
rest of the conversation in bilingual speech. This can be compared to Poplack's concept
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