General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI'm an older gal of 51, so forgive my age, but,
Last edited Sun Feb 26, 2017, 07:19 PM - Edit history (1)
can someone explain the term "code-switch" to me? Sometimes, it is an educational thing, sometimes, it is not.
ETA: sometimes I feel like a dunce around here. Thank you for the fun and the info!
DFW
(54,412 posts)1.) I have no idea what it means, either
2.) The last time I was 51 was fourteen years ago. Who're YOU calling old?
tavernier
(12,393 posts)I own fossils of animals that used to be my house pets!
Prostate medicine... does that count?
Edit:because prostate isn't prostrate!
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)bravenak
(34,648 posts)DFW
(54,412 posts)My walking shoes probably have more miles on them!
11 Bravo
(23,926 posts)0rganism
(23,957 posts)cbreezen
(694 posts)Thanks, muchly-
unblock
(52,257 posts)In linguistics, code-switching occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation. Multilinguals, speakers of more than one language, sometimes use elements of multiple languages when conversing with each other. Thus, code-switching is the use of more than one linguistic variety in a manner consistent with the syntax and phonology of each variety.
Code-switching is distinct from other language contact phenomena, such as borrowing, pidgins and creoles, loan translation (calques), and language transfer (language interference). Borrowing affects the lexicon, the words that make up a language, while code-switching takes place in individual utterances.[1][2][3] 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.[4][5][6]
In the 1940s and the 1950s, many scholars considered code-switching to be a substandard use of language.[7] Since the 1980s, however, most scholars have come to regard it as a normal, natural product of bilingual and multilingual language use.[8][9]
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.[10] In popular usage, code-switching is sometimes used to refer to relatively stable informal mixtures of two languages, such as Spanglish, Taglish, or Hinglish.[11] Both in popular usage and in sociolinguistic study, the name code-switching is sometimes used to refer to switching among dialects, styles or registers.[12] 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.[13] Such shifts, when performed by public figures such as politicians, are sometimes criticized as signalling inauthenticity or insincerity.[14]
Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)was flying de flór en flór.
And all of a sudden, se cayó!
Ay jíjo!, se dijo
what stupid I am!
I forgot to open my alitas!
unblock
(52,257 posts)DFW
(54,412 posts)I guess that means we code-switch all the time
pidgeon, pidgen, pigeon. It's a parlour game for my autistic son, Alexsei!
I understand.
ailsagirl
(22,897 posts)but, fka, catabryna.
babylonsister
(171,074 posts)fka is code, no?
(I got it! Welcome back! )
cbreezen
(694 posts)uponit7771
(90,347 posts)cbreezen
(694 posts)Sometimes, however, I think my words, because they are so old school, might be misinterpreted.
samir.g
(835 posts)Nitram
(22,822 posts)cbreezen
(694 posts)I now understand why I hate cell phones!
Hekate
(90,716 posts)...when the Admins were all young. Now they have teenage kids. Like many others, I was in what I considered my robust middle age. Oh myyyy.
Otoh, that means a wealth of cumulative experience exists here if you know where to look.
I'm pleased to see several good responses to your query about code-switching.
HeartachesNhangovers
(814 posts)Especially since I'm 55. This week I had to ask what "dog whistling" means. Apparently it is a coded reference meant to have mean something specific to a specific set of listeners/readers. In other words, when you use the term "dog whistling" you are making a coded reference to a coded reference.
I would prefer if people just said what they meant without coded references. For the record, I also don't know what "gas lighting" or "swift boating" mean. I used to know what "swift boating" means, but it's kind of a lame expression, so I forgot.
Thank you in advance for explaining either "gas lighting" or "swift boating", but you shouldn't bother because I wont remember.
cbreezen
(694 posts)You've been around DU too long if the phrases you hear today no longer mean they used to!
My sympathies. I suffer the same fate.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,748 posts)I don't know what it means, either.
tblue37
(65,409 posts)different communication situations, but maybe you mean the term in a different context?
On Edit: I teach college English, and I have to teach this sort of code-switching to new college students.
cbreezen
(694 posts)but, I don't. Who's code-switching who?
AllaN01Bear
(18,268 posts)code-switch·ing
nounLinguistics
noun: code-switching
the practice of alternating between two or more languages or varieties of language in conversation.
"the conversational code-switching of the German-American bilingual community"