Orderly mixing and accommodation in South African codeswitching

Abstract

Mixed Language,' a characteristic pattern of language use among African township residents in South Africa, may well include words or full constituents from several languages. However, from both a structural and a social perspective, such speech has a systematic nature. In reference to grammatical structure, within any CP (projection of COMP) showing codeswitching, only one language (the Matrix Language) provides the grammatical frame in the data studied. Also, while speakers from different educational levels engage in codeswitching with similar frequencies, the types of codeswitched constitutents they prefer are different. In reference to the social use of language, we argue that specific patterns of codeswitching indicate how language is both an index of identity and a tool of communication in South Africa. In the codeswitching patterns they use, speakers exhibit strong loyalty to their own first languages. Yet, because they recognize that codeswitching facilitates communication with members of other ethnic groups, they use a number of codeswitching strategies as a means of accommodating to their addressees and simultaneously as a means of projecting multiple identities for themselves.

A Systematic Comparison of Factors Affecting the Choice of Matrix Language in Three Bilingual Communities

“…Proficiency: we expect to find a high level of proficiency in the language(s) selected as ML. This is in line with Myers-Scotton's (2002: 25) claims that high proficiency is needed in a language for it to be used as an ML, and is supported by the correlations that have been established between proficiency levels and CS types (Poplack, 1980;Nortier, 1990;Finlayson et al, 1998). 2.…”

“…The results showed that the participants who used monolingual English and more CS were younger, female, had a higher socioeconomic status, and spent more time in the US and in US schools. Other research that has analyzed CS data using the MLF model include a study of Estonian-Russian morphological and phonological integration (Zabrodskaja, 2009), and a study of ‗language mixing' in South African (Finlayson, Calteaux, and Myers-Scotton, 1998). In Finlayson et al (1998), the MLF analysis of CS patterns in the speech of Tembisa residents revealed that there was typically one language as the ML in a mixed CP and one language was usually the ML in each mixed CP in a speaker's turn.…”

“…This prediction is based on the finding that CS can be seen as a tool for projecting or reinforcing identity (cf. Finlayson et al, 1998, Sayahi, 2002. 3.…”

Welsh-English code-switching and the Matrix Language Frame model

“…Silk handkerchief would presumably be classed as an internal EL island since it is part of the Welsh DP [dy silk handkerchief] 'your silk handkerchief' where the determiner is Welsh. Myers-Scotton suggests that the frequent production of EL islands requires considerable proficiency in the embedded language (Finlayson et al, 1998), although there is some evidence to suggest that near equal proficiency in the two languages may lead to reduced frequency in the production of EL islands and more switching between clauses instead (Myers-Scotton, 2002:149;Backus, 1996:334).…”

“…The Matrix Language Principle is also upheld in the study by Finlayson et al (1998) on code-switching involving English and various Bantu languages in South Africa. They find that it is always possible to determine the matrix language in a given CP and that there are no counter-examples to this generalisation.…”