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In the 1940s and the 1950s, many scholars considered code-switching to be a substandard use of language.[1] Since the 1980s, however, most scholars have come to regard it as a normal, natural product of bilingual and multilingual language use.[2][3]

The term "code-switching" is also used outside the field of linguistics. Some scholars of literature use the term to describe literary styles that include elements from more than one language, as in novels by Chinese-American, Anglo-Indian, or Latino writers.[4] In popular usage, code-switching is sometimes used to refer to relatively stable informal mixtures of two languages, such as Spanglish, Taglish, or Hinglish.[5] Both in popular usage and in sociolinguistic study, the name code-switching is sometimes used to refer to switching among dialects, styles or registers.[6] This form of switching is practiced, for example, by speakers of African American Vernacular English as they move from less formal to more formal settings.[7] Such shifts, when performed by public figures such as politicians, are sometimes criticized as signalling inauthenticity or insincerity.[8]

Distinguishing features[edit]

Code-switching is distinct from other language contact phenomena, such as borrowing, pidgins and creoles, and loan translation (calques). Borrowing affects the lexicon, the words that make up a language, while code-switching takes place in individual utterances.[9][10][11] Speakers form and establish a pidgin language when two or more speakers who do not speak a common language form an intermediate, third language. On the other hand, speakers practice code-switching when they are each fluent in both languages. Code mixing is a thematically related term, but the usage of the terms code-switching and code-mixing varies. Some scholars use either term to denote the same practice, while others apply code-mixing to denote the formal linguistic properties of language-contact phenomena and code-switching to denote the actual, spoken usages by multilingual persons.[12][13][14]

Code-switching and Language transfer[edit]

There is much debate in the field of linguistics regarding the distinction between code-switching and language transfer. [15] According to Jeanine Treffers-Daller, “[c]onsidering CS [(code-switching)] and transfer as similar phenomena is helpful if one wants to create a theory that is as parsimonious as possible, and therefore it is worth attempting to aim for such a unified approach, unless there is compelling evidence that this is not possible.” [15] But not all linguists agree on whether they should be considered similar phenomena. In some cases, linguists refer to the benefits and disadvantages of language transfer as two separate phenomena, i.e., language transference and language interference, respectively. [16] In such views, these two kinds of language transfer, along with code-switching can, comprise what is known as cross-linguistic influence. [16]

Part of the debate may be solved by simply clarifying some key definitions. Evidently, linguists sometimes use different terminology to refer to the same phenomenon, which can make it confusing to distinguish between two phenomena from one another in investigative discourse. For instance, psycholinguists frequently make use of the term language switching in reference to the “controlled and willed switching” to another language. However, this term is hardly used by linguists working on natural code-switching. [15]

Some linguists adopt the notion that code-switching involves switching between languages by a multilingual speaker fluent in the languages being alternated, can alleviate the contention behind this debate. This is so because language transfer does not require such a switch between language systems to be done by a multilingual speaker fluent in the alternated languages. As a result, this can explain for transfer errors, when proficiency in one language is lower than the proficiency of the speaker in the other. Others, however, maintain "that CS and transfer are manifestations of the same phenomenon, i.e. the influence of one language on another, is an attractive null hypothesis that can be tested in experimental settings." [15]

Reasons for code-switching[edit]

There are several reasons to switch codes in a single conversation:

  • Clarification: Speakers may alter their speech when listeners have trouble understanding how they communicated a thought or idea before. Same can be said for speakers who do not know of (or don't remember) the appropriate words to use in their native language.
  • To soften or strengthen command: While asking someone to do something, code-switching works to mark emphasis or provide inspiration.
  • Lexical need: People often use some technical terms or words written in another language. In that case, if people try to translate those words, that might distort the exact meaning and value of the word or term. In this case, code-switching occurs to maintain the exact meaning of the word.

Types of code-switching[edit]

Scholars use different names for various types of code-switching.

  • Intersentential switching occurs outside the sentence or the clause level (i.e. at sentence or clause boundaries).[18] It is sometimes called "extrasentential" switching.[19] In Assyrian-English switching one could say, "Ani wideili. What happened?" ("Those, I did them. What happened?").[20]
  • Intra-sentential switching occurs within a sentence or a clause.[18][19] In Spanish-English switching one could say, "La onda is to fight y jambar." ("The latest fad is to fight and steal.")[21]
  • Tag-switching is the switching of either a tag phrase or a word, or both, from one language to another, (common in intra-sentential switches).[18] In Spanish-English switching one could say, "Él es de México y así los criaron a ellos, you know." ("He's from Mexico, and they raise them like that, you know.")[22]


Theories of code-switching[edit]

Social theories[edit]

Code-switching relates to, and sometimes indexes social-group membership in bilingual and multilingual communities. Some sociolinguists describe the relationships between code-switching behaviours and class, ethnicity, and other social positions.[23] In addition, scholars in interactional linguistics and conversation analysis have studied code-switching as a means of structuring speech in interaction.[24][25][26] Some discourse analysts, including conversation analyst Peter Auer, suggest that code-switching does not simply reflect social situations, but that it is a means to create social situations.[27][28][29]

Markedness model[edit]


Sequential analysis[edit]


Communication accommodation theory[edit]



In a diglossic situation, some topics are better suited to the use of one language over another. Joshua Fishman proposes a domain-specific code-switching model[33] (later refined by Blom and Gumperz)[34] wherein bilingual speakers choose which code to speak depending on where they are and what they are discussing. For example, a child who is a bilingual Spanish-English speaker might speak Spanish at home and English in class, but Spanish at recess.[35]

Linguistic theories[edit]


Constraint-based model: Poplack (1980)[edit]

Shana Poplack's model of code-switching is an influential theory of the grammar of code-switching.[22] In this model, code-switching is subject to two constraints. The free-morpheme constraint stipulates that code-switching cannot occur between a lexical stem and bound morphemes. Essentially, this constraint distinguishes code-switching from borrowing. Generally, borrowing occurs in the lexicon, while code-switching occurs at either the syntax level or the utterance-construction level.[9][10][11] The equivalence constraint predicts that switches occur only at points where the surface structures of the languages coincide, or between sentence elements that are normally ordered in the same way by each individual grammar.[22] For example, the sentence: "I like you porque eres simpático" ("I like you because you are nice") is allowed because it obeys the syntactic rules of both Spanish and English.[36] Cases like the noun phrases the casa white and the blanca house are ruled out because the combinations are ungrammatical in at least one of the languages involved. Spanish noun phrases are made up of determiners, then nouns, then adjectives, while the adjectives come before the nouns in English noun phrases. The casa white is ruled out by the equivalence constraint because it does not obey the syntactic rules of English, and the blanca house is ruled out because it does not follow the syntactic rules of Spanish.[22]


Matrix language-frame model[edit]




The three levels of abstraction are:



  • Hindi/English
Life ko face kiijiye with himmat and faith in yourself.  (Code-switching, English in bold)

  • Swahili/English
Hata wengine nasikia washawekwa cell.                   (Code-switching, English in bold)





  • Swahili/English
Sikuona your barau ambayo uliipoteza.      (Code-switching ungrammatical, English in bold)

  • Swahili/English
Nikamwambia anipe ruhusa niende ni-ka-check for wewe.              (Code-switching, ungrammatical, English in bold)


Nikamwambia anipe ruhusa niende ni-ka-check for you.                   (Code-switching, grammatical, English in bold)




The Implication Hierarchy of Embedded Language Islands:

  2. Other time and manner expressions
  3. Quantifier expressions
  5. Agent Noun phrases


  • Wolof/French
Le matin de bonne heure ngay joge Medina pour dem juilli. Suba tee nga fa war a joge.                (Code-switching, French in bold)

  • Swahili/English
Ulikuwa ukiongea a lot of nonsense.    (Code-switching, English in bold)



The constraint-free approach[edit]





Much remains to be done before a more complete understanding of code-switching phenomena is achieved. Linguists continue to debate apparent counter-examples to proposed code-switching theories and constraints.[12][22][42]

The Closed-class Constraint, developed by Aravind Joshi, posits that closed class items (pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, etc.) cannot be switched.[43] The Functional Head Constraint developed by Belazi et al. holds that code-switching cannot occur between a functional head (a complementizer, a determiner, an inflection, etc.) and its complement (sentence, noun-phrase, verb-phrase).[37] These constraints, among others like the Matrix Language-Frame model, are controversial among linguists positing alternative theories, as they are seen to claim universality and make general predictions based upon specific presumptions about the nature of syntax.[12][42]


Examples of code-switching between different languages[edit]


Spanish and English[edit]

Researcher Ana Celia Zentella offers this example from her work with Puerto Rican Spanish-English bilingual speakers in New York City.[5] In this example, Marta and her younger sister, Lolita, speak Spanish and English with Zentella outside of their apartment building. Zentella explains that the children of the predominantly Puerto Rican neighbourhood speak both English and Spanish: "Within the children’s network, English predominated, but code-switching from English to Spanish occurred once every three minutes, on average."[5]

(English is in italic; Spanish is in boldface.)

Lolita:   Oh, I could stay with Ana?


Lolita:  OK.


        Y son las nueve y cuarto. ([in Spanish] "And it’s nine fifteen.")

Marta:    Lolita, te voy a dejar con Ana. ([in Spanish] "I’m going to leave you with Ana.")
        Thank you, Ana.

French and Tamil[edit]

This example of switching from French to Tamil comes from ethnographer Sonia Das's work with immigrants from Jaffna, Sri Lanka, to Quebec.[44] Selvamani, who moved from Sri Lanka to Quebec as a child and now identifies as Québécois, speaks to Das in French. When Selvamani's sister, Mala, laughs, Selvamani switches to Tamil to ask Mala why she is laughing. After this aside, Selvamani continues to speak in French. Selvamani also uses the word tsé ("you know", contraction of tu sais) and the expression je me ferrai pas poigné ("I will not be handled"), which are not standard French but are typical of the working-class Montreal dialect Joual.[44]

(French is in italic; Tamil is in boldface.)

         Alors, TSÉ, je me ferrai pas poigné ([in French] "So, you know, I’m not going to be had.")



Hopi and Tewa[edit]

Researcher Paul Kroskrity offers the following example of code-switching by three elder Arizona Tewa men, who are trilingual in Tewa, Hopi, and English.[45] They are discussing the selection of a site for a new high school in the eastern Hopi Reservation. In their two-hour conversation, the three men primarily speak Tewa; however, when Speaker A addresses the Hopi Reservation as a whole, he code-switches to Hopi. His speaking Hopi when talking of Hopi-related matters is a conversational norm in the Arizona Tewa speech community. Kroskrity reports that these Arizona Tewa men, who culturally identify themselves as Hopi and Tewa, use the different languages to linguistically construct and maintain their discrete ethnic identities.

(Tewa is in italic; Hopi is in boldface.)




Latin and Irish[edit]

Irish annals were written in Ireland between the 8th and 17th centuries by Christian monks and priests. These were fluent in both Irish and Latin and wrote the annals in both languages, often switching between them within a single sentence.[46][47][48][49]

An example is given below, from the 9th-century Martyrology of Óengus:

(Irish is in italic; Latin is in boldface.)

Conadail cli buadach Connadil Essa Macc Neirc hiConnachtaib .i. Conna ise intainm. ⁊tucc sua mater perpietatem additamentum sillabæ dil .i. dil lem Conna
(Conandil victorious prince Connadil of Ess Mac nEirc in Connacht, i.e. Conna, that is the name, and his mother, out of love, joined the addition of the syllable ‘dil’, i.e. dear is Conna to me.)

Here, a spurious etymology of the prince Connadil's name is given.

According to the scholar Nike Stam, "Many switches consisted of inserted Latin fragments: short phrases or single words. Some of these Latin phrases appeared to be of a formulaic nature and seemed to have originated in the medieval catena tradition. They are often used to provide cross-references to other sources or to combine conflicting opinions on a text. These are phrases like ut in proverbio dicitur ["as is said in the proverb"] and ut ferunt peritii ["as experience bears out"]. Most of the language switches, however, consisted of what Muysken called alternation: longer fragments like clauses or long phrases. This type of code-switching has been linked to bilingualism in societies that are strongly diglossic, and thus suggests that the scribes compiling and writing the glosses preferred to use their two languages according to specific norms."[50]

See also[edit]


    • Gutierrez-Clellen, V. (1999). "Language choice in intervention with bilingual children". American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. 8 (4): 291–302. doi:10.1044/1058-0360.0804.291.
  7. ^ DeBose, Charles (1992). "Codeswitching: Black English and Standard English in the African-American linguistic repertoire". In Eastman, Carol (ed.). Codeswitching. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. pp. 157–167. ISBN 978-1-85359-167-9.
  8. ^ Kanngieser, Anja (2012). "A sonic geography of voice: Towards an affective politics". Progress in Human Geography. 36 (3): 336–353. doi:10.1177/0309132511423969.
  9. ^ a b Gumperz, John J. (1982). Discourse Strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521288965.
  11. ^ a b Muysken, Pieter (1995). "Code-switching and grammatical theory" (PDF). In L. Milroy; P. Muysken (eds.). One Speaker, Two Languages: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives on Code-switching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 177–98.
  13. ^ Clyne, Michael (2000). "Constraints on code-switching: how universal are they?". In Li Wei (ed.). The Bilingualism Reader. Routledge.
  14. ^ Genessee, Fred (2000). "Early bilingual language development: one language or two?". In Li Wei (ed.). The Bilingualism Reader. Routledge.
  15. ^ a b c d Treffers-Daller, J. (2009). "Code-switching and transfer: An exploration of similarities and differences". The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Code-switching: 58–74. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511576331.005.
  16. ^ a b Brice, A.E. (2015). "Multilingual Language Development". International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences. 2 (0): 57–64. doi:10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.23126-7.
  23. ^ See:
    • Heller, Monica (1992). "The Politics of Codeswitching and Language Choice". In C. Eastman (ed.). Codeswitching. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
  24. ^ a b Wei, Li (1998). "The 'Why' and 'How' Questions in the Analysis of Conversational Codeswitching". In P. Auer (ed.). Code-Switching in Conversation: Language, Interaction, and Identity. London: Routledge. pp. 156–76. ISBN 978-0415216098.
  29. ^ Musk, Nigel John (2012). "Performing bilingualism in Wales: Arguing the case for empirical and theoretical eclecticism". Pragmatics: Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association. 22 (4): 651–669. doi:10.1075/prag.22.4.05mus.
  30. ^ Myers-Scotton, Carol (1993). Social Motivations for Codeswitching: Evidence from Africa. Oxford: Clarendon. ISBN 9780198239239.
  32. ^ Woolard, Kathryn (2004). "Codeswitching". In A. Duranti (ed.). A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell. pp. 73–94.
  34. ^ Blom, Jan-Petter; John J. Gumperz (1972). "Social meaning in linguistic structures: Code switching in northern Norway". In J. J. Gumperz; D. Hymes (eds.). Directions in Sociolinguistics. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
  35. ^ Reyes, Iliana (2004). "Functions of code switching in schoolchildren's conversations". Bilingual Research Journal. 28 (1): 77–98. CiteSeerX doi:10.1080/15235882.2004.10162613.
  36. ^ Sankoff, David; Shana Poplack (1981). "A formal grammar for code-switching". Papers in Linguistics. 14 (1–4): 3–45. CiteSeerX doi:10.1080/08351818109370523.
  41. ^ Cantone, K. F.; MacSwan, J. (2009). "The syntax of DP-internal codeswitching". In Isurin, L.; Winford, D.; de Bot, K. (eds.). Multidisciplinary Approaches to Codeswitching. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. pp. 243–278.
  42. ^ a b Bhatt, Rakesh M. (1995). "Code-switching and the functional head constraint". In Janet Fuller; et al. (eds.). Proceedings of the Eleventh Eastern States Conference on Linguistics. Ithaca, NY: Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics. pp. 1–12.
  43. ^ Joshi, Aravind (1985). "How much context-sensitivity is necessary for assigning structural descriptions: Tree adjoining grammars". In Dowty, D.; Karttunen, L.; Zwicky, A. (eds.). Natural Language Parsing. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  45. ^ Kroskrity, Paul V (2000). "Language ideologies in the expression and representation of Arizona Tewa identity". In P. V. Kroskrity (ed.). Regimes of Language: Ideologies, Polities, and Identities. Santa Fe, New Mexico: School of American Research Press. pp. 329–59.
  46. ^ "Codeswitching in the Irish-Latin Leabhar Breac" – via
  47. ^ Bisagni, Jacopo (1 January 2014). "Prolegomena to the Study of Code-Switching in the Old Irish Glosses". Peritia. 24-25: 1–58. doi:10.1484/J.PERIT.5.102737 – via (Atypon).
  48. ^ Johnston, Elva (15 August 2013). "Literacy and Identity in Early Medieval Ireland". Boydell Press – via Google Books.
  49. ^ Pahta, Päivi; Skaffari, Janne; Wright, Laura (18 December 2017). "Multilingual Practices in Language History: English and Beyond". Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG – via Google Books.
  50. ^ Stam, Nike. "Irish-Latin Code-switching in a Medieval Irish Commentary".

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