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Erörterung
Englisch

Freiburg im Breisgau

2, 2016

Teresa S. ©
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ID# 54065







Differences in Code-Switching between adults and children


Introduction

In our globalized world, more and more people with different cultures and languages interact with each other on a daily basis. Throughout their encounters, several language phenomena can be observed. One of these phenomena is called code-switching. Over the time various scholars have argued about the definition of code-switching.

According to Esther Albrecht, the concept of code-switching can be determined as a “phenomenon of language contact that is generally defined as the alternate use of two or more languages within a single conversation, usually marked by a clear break between the languages and often fulfilling a specific function.” (26).

People of all ages and cultures use code-switching on different occasions.

An interesting field of research concerning that matter is whether children use code-switching out of a different motivation rather than adults do. For this case we decided to take a closer look at the differences of motivational reasons for code-switching between children and adults by using two different studies which cover both of them.

Analysis

Anna de Fina’s study among Italian adults in a card playing club

Anna de Fina analysed an all Italian card playing club in Washington concerning on what occasion the different members were code-switching between Italian and English. The club consists of 48 male people who meet monthly in order to play traditional Italian card games called briscola and tresette.

Many of them come from different regions of Italy and therefore speak specific Italian dialects. De Fina observed the group as silent spectator, recording video footage and analysing the collected data afterwards. All of the members have different backgrounds concerning their heritage in America.

Amongst them there are some first wave immigrants, some who grew up in America. Many of the participants used code-switching in different situations. According to De Fina code-switching is crucial to the Italians in order to create their identity (cf. 389). Most of the participants used code-switching when they were speaking about traditional Italian food and expressions of their traditional card games.

As de Fina states “linguistic strategies play a central role in this construction of Italian ethnicity…” (389).

Almost all of the participants were using code-switching in order to express their Italian identity, according to de Fina “Linguistic and non-linguistic acts are used to claim membership in the category Italian” (389). In conclusion the participants used Italian in order to express their own Identity as Italians in the United States rather than expressing their specific regional background.

Although all of the participants are able to speak English and express themselves well in this language, they still used Italian terms for specific cultural values as food or terms of the card games.


The DUFDE Project among French- German- bilingual children

The DUFDE Project is a study published in 1994 by Jürgen Meisel which analysed different functions of Code-Switching used by French- German- bilingual children from the age of two to six. Seven of those children were observed for about three years and six other ones for a shorter period.

Figure 1:usage of different functions of Code-Switching among children from 24 to 72 months

Figure 1 illustrates how the bilingual children between 24 and 72 made use of different Code-Switching functions. First of all, the study declares that Code-Switching in general begins to occur among children with the age of 24 months. The reason for that is the fact that they are not able to speak properly before, they are solely babbling instead.

The graph points out that the older the participating children of the study were the much more various the functions of Code-Switching became. Therefore, it seems that at an older age Code-Switching among the children is often used more consciously and intentionally.

This leads to the fact that sociolinguistically determined Code-Switching which needs ingenious and complex knowledge is learned at a more elaborated stage of development of a child. The most frequent motivations of switching at the age of two to six are for reasons of initiated repair, participant- related Code-Switching and to include other participants.

Discussion

After examining both of the studies, Anna de Finas study about Italian men and Jürgen Meisels DUFDE project with French- German- bilingual children, we can definitely ascertain beyond doubt that there is a difference in the motivational use of Code-Switching. Bilingual infants instantly start switching unconsciously between their native languages as soon as they are able to speak properly.

Appearing functions among all of the children between two and six years are for example initiated repair, participant related responses and to include other participants. This proves that those children use Code-Switching as a result of an outward impulse rather than as a conscious action.

Furthermore the DUFDE study illustrates that the older the bilingual children get, the more complex and conscious their motivations for Code-Switching become. In contrast, the study of Anna de Fina shows that male Italian adults use Code-Switching consciously to label their shared Italian identity.

Conclusion

The result of this essay shows that the complexity of motivational usage of Code-Switching increases with the ability to use language as a sophisticated vehicle for conversation. Although that clearly supports our assumption that there is a difference in the motivations for Code-Switching between adults and infants, we only picked two studies out of a wide field of research concerning this phenomena and therefore they only function as examples.

To get clearer results concerning the differences in the usage of Code-Switching studies with a wider range of bilingual adults and children differing in their native languages would be useful. Anyway, it has to be minded that studies which involve people are very complex and so only a small number of participants were observed.


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