Republic of the Philippines

Surigao del Sur State University

Tandag Campus
Graduate School

Name: QUENNEE R. ESCOBILLO Date: February 22, 2020

Subject: MAELT 210 – Sociolinguistics Score: ______________

CODE SWITCHING
One of the most intriguing phenomena in modern times is code-switching. Due to
multilingualism of a certain country, speakers, especially those bilingual speakers tend
to use elements of one language with the elements of another language through lexical
borrowing, transferring, interference, calquing, diffusion, reflexification, code switching
and code mixing, etc. But the most common linguistic phenomena found in speakers’
interaction is code switching. This occurs when a speaker switch from one dialect to
another within a single conversation. They use these languages for many reasons
which make them shift from their first language to other languages available in that
place. This study is all about the Iraqi doctors, who used English as a Second language
almost efficiently at work but they are unable to use it with similar efficiency in their
everyday life interactions. Similar with these doctors, language teachers of the
Philippines are having this scenario where we are using English as a Medium of
Instruction but still we are unable to use it with similar efficiency compare to our native
dialect. It is more interacting if are using our native language compare to English
because native language is learned first and at the earlier time. It has been said also to
this research that Iraqi doctors were exposed extensively to the L2 in primary and
secondary schools for 8 years. However, their use of the L2 is limited to classes, clinic
and hospitals. Same as with the Filipinos, though English is introduced from Grade 1 up
to college, still it is limited to school, at work or in office. It happens because the
sincerity to our native language will prevail over the L2.

According to the assumption in Bokamba (1989) that CS emphasizes a

bi/multilingual speakers’ use of language from one grammatical system to another; that
it refers to the juxtaposition of the internal utterance in un-integrated linguistic forms
from two or more languages; CS cannot occur simply at any point of the sentence,
 Republic of the Philippines
Surigao del Sur State University
Tandag Campus
Graduate School

because it is governed by the grammatical constraints of the languages that are used.
So, that means that the fluency of the bilingual speaker is measured mainly by correct
usage of the grammatical rules of both languages. If the bilingual speaker can switch
between languages with correct grammar, then the speaker is fluent of both languages.

Blom and Gumperz (1972), cited in Eldin (2014), claim that there are two types of
CS: situational and metaphorical. But from another viewpoint of Poplack (1980), he
proposed a well-known framework that identifies three different types of switching which
are tag-switching, inter-sentential and intra-sentential. Tag-switching involves inserting a
tag or short phrase in one language into an utterance that is otherwise entirely in
another language. Tags include interjections, fillers and idiomatic expressions. In
classroom setup, the most common tags with both students and teachers are “hmm..”,
“uhm..” and “so”. Example: “Hmm..I think the answer is wrong.” Inter-sentential
switching involves switching at sentential boundaries where one clause or sentence is in
one language and the next clause or sentence is in the other. An example of inter-
sentential between Bisaya and English is, “Good luck dakan sa imu.” And the last type
of switching according to Poplack (1980) is Intra-sentential, possibly the most complex
type among the three, because it can occur at clausal, sentential or even word level. A
good example to cite here might be the one given by Poplack as the title of one of her
papers: e.g. Sometimes I’ll Start a Sentence in English Y termino en espanol.
Translation: Sometimes I’ll Start a Sentence in English and finish it in Spanish
(Cakrawarti, 2011). In the Philippines, the best example is when we finished our class,
we often say “Goodbye class and Mabuhay!” The three types of CS illustrated above
will be considered in the analysis conducted in this study aiming to identify which one of
these is more frequent and also to look for plausible interpretations of low and high
frequencies of CS types as used in the speech of Iraqi doctors.

Code-switching is usually anticipated to be a sign of language knowledge

insufficiency in bilingual speakers. This is because we are using our first L1 if we can’t
find/fulfill the right word of L2, or if we can’t find the corresponding word of L2 to L1 or
vice versa. For example, when we say “Good luck dakan sa imu”, Good luck doesn’t
 Republic of the Philippines
Surigao del Sur State University
Tandag Campus
Graduate School

have an equal and right word to Bisaya; thus, the speaker will switch to another
language which is also available in that certain place. Nevertheless, many researchers
have argued that CS is usually utilized by bilingual speakers to accomplish specific
communicative intentions in their conversations with others (Shin, 2010). Functions of
CS can be understood within the framework of three major functions. These functions
revolve around the social, linguistic and psychological motivations. According to Auer
(2013) and Hawazen (2012), social motivations are the main cause for CS. Speakers
codeswitch because they negotiate a change in social distance between themselves
and other participants in a conversation. Meaning, CS depends on what is the purpose
of the conversation. Mostly, if the conversation is transactional, CS is very seldom
because transactional conversation is formal and CS shows informality. But if the
conversation is just interactional, CS is very often. So, the social conditions determine
the use of certain languages in certain communities (Myers-Scotton, 1997).

CS is a type of skilled performance with communicative intent i.e. speakers use

other languages for the purpose of communication to convey the message easier and
faster. When speakers are unable to remember the information or the words in their
native language, they will take the foreign words instead, sometimes because
these foreign words are widely spread and used in their society more than the
equivalent words in L1(Heredia & Altarriba, 2001). Even those fluent bilingual speakers
experienced CS not because of their incompetence to the language but rather because
it is used in the society more than the equivalent word of the other language.

Sometimes, we unexpectedly forget the word in our native languages, so we will take
the other term in another language.

A functional model for CS has been proposed by Appel and Muysken (2006)
which states that CS is used to achieve different functions in social interactions. As
suggested by Hoffamn (1991), the ultimate reason for CS is to achieve effective
communication between the speaker and receiver. I agree with Appel and Muysken
(2006) and Hoffamn (1991) because it is true that we often code switch in order for us to
 Republic of the Philippines
Surigao del Sur State University
Tandag Campus
Graduate School

deliver our message clearer and easier. It always happens when I teach my Grade 8
students. Even my subject taught to them is English, I often code switch because most
of them are having a hard time to understand pure English. So, for them to understand
what I am saying, I will transfer to the words equivalent in their native language. It can
be concluded that people code-switch from one language to another in a certain
situation on purpose. These purposes vary according to the situation and the type of
interlocutors involved.

The study assumes that Iraqi doctors code switch from Arabic to English very
often when they are at work. Their dominant language is definitely the mother tongue,
Arabic, and their subordinate language is the second language, English.in the opposite,
Philippines language teachers are oblige to use their subordinate language at work and
code switch only depending on the situations and on factors affecting the language such
as the ability of the student to understand L2, the dominant and available languages in
place, the fluency of the speaker, etc. The present study is an endeavor to investigate
the functions Iraqi doctors seek to achieve when they code-switch from Arabic to
English in formal settings. And we, as language teachers, we are also has this endeavor
to understand the meaning and importance of code switching to a better understanding
both languages that we are speaking since our country is a multilingual due to the
different tribes and cultures that we have from the different places.