Rachel James Instructor Luddow-Mattson ENG 114 October 16, 2013 The Purpose of Code-Switching Imagine you are

meeting someone, maybe a new boss, for the first time. Are you meeting them with friends or colleagues? After meeting them, you have learned how to speak to them that would be deemed appropriate. Continued communication with them allows you transition naturally from any individual in how you speak. This is code-switching. Code switching is the act of changing how you speak depending on the situation. Demby in How Code-switching Can Explain the World, says this is due to the conditioned behavior surrounding that person and people subconscious change, but can code switching also be a means of survival? In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Junior changes his demeanor based on the norms of Reardon and of the reservation to adapt to the norms of each culture. This essay will explore the purposes of code-switching. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Junior is always being harassed at Reardon by the big jocks who throw racial insults at him. One day, he has had enough and punches Roger in the face. These are the rules for his tribe; if anyone insults you or your family, you have to fight them. When Junior gives what seems like a natural response to him, Roger is shocked. Because of this Junior asks What are the rules? and Roger responds with What rules?(Alexie) Through this incident, Junior realizes that to survive at Reardon he has to learn a new set of rules that seem normal to the Reardon kids. Code-switching is about dialogue that spans cultures.(Demby) Alexie and Demby are in accordance with this point. The purpose of

code-switching ultimately is to be successful in each type of group. For example, if you are looking to create a bond with family you would not act professional around them as you would with your boss or a co-worker. The rationale of code-switching, whether natural or a means of survival, is shown through these two quotes by Alexie and Demby. I had no idea Junior was a weird name. (Alexie) The event of Penelope analyzing and criticizing Juniors name, makes him examine his name as well. To combat with the norms of Reardon, Junior starts going by his other name Arnold. This shows an attempt to survive through code-switching because he is adapting to what is expected of him at Reardon and denying the name Junior which is very common on the reservation. When you're attuned to the phenomenon of code-switching, you start to see it everywhere, and you begin to see the way race, ethnicity and culture plays out all over the place. Dembys comment appears to connect code-switching with something as closely embedded with us as race and ethnicity are. In some ways, this is correct. The way we act around our family or friends can be seen as natural if we act that way because of our race. If someone plays into the stereotypes of their culture, that could be seen as code-switching being natural. Seeing how your family acts at Day One and acting upon those sights isnt necessarily a means of survival. Survival and success become synonymous is everyday culture. To be successful, people use code-switching to survive and thrive in different cultures. Junior addresses the feeling of being opposite people when he says I felt like two different people inside of one body. No, I felt like a magician slicing myself in half, with Junior living on the north side of the Spokane River and Arnold living on the south. Code-switching is apparent in all the myriad ways we interact with one another and try to feel each other out.

In conclusion, rather than code-switching being natural or a means of survival, it seems that the two are working together to understand how to act. In the beginning, Alexie is correct in demonstrating that code-switching is a learned behavior for survival. In all aspects of life, whether at school, work or even in the wild, survival has a different meaning. To survive and be successful people have to learn the behavior that will transport them to the higher levels of the food chain. After that behavior is learned, Demby is correct in saying code-switching becomes natural. Learned, or natural, code-switching makes it simple to create a persona that is adaptable to the culture and will provide for success with those individuals.