WILLIAM LABOV THE SOCIAL STRATIFICATION OF ENGLISH IN NEW YORK CITY

- the result of a large scale of the speech of New York. Informants were random selected, random
sample, which meant that though not everybody could be interviewed everybody had an equal chance
of selection for interview. Any individual stands a fair chance of being not too different from the group
as a whole. But it is not possible to select single speaker and to generalize from him to the rest of the
speakers in his social-class group. The speech of New Yorkers appeared to vary in a completely random
and unpredictable manner.

LANGUAGE IS A DEFINING CHARACTERISTIC OF ETHNIC GROUP MEMBERSHIP.

Walt Wolfrum:

-rule of discourse interpretation which says that a HOW COME? Question involves assertion that there
exists a non-obvious proposition which is known to B but not known to A.

A: how old are you?

B: 33

A: How come?

Language by extension- language which trough history developed from dialects into a language.

Political and cultural factors: autonomy and heteronomy. Autonomous languages are those
independent, standardized varieties of language e.g. German and Dutch. Heteronomous are
nonstandard dialects of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Sociopolitical nature of these two forms can
be shown on the example of Scandinavia. Norwegian, Swedish and Danish are all autonomous, standard
languages but corresponding to three distinct nation states. Educated speakers of all three can
communicate freely with each other but you cant say that those are the same languages even though
they are. Also Canadian English and American English are the same.
Differences between American and British English: elevator-lift, I have got-I have gotten..

Received Pronunciation: British English accent (English English), largely confined to England but as well
in Australia, New Zealand, south Africa, parts of Canada. It is non-localized accent.

Sociolinguistics – Language and society

ü The term DIALECT refers to differences between kinds of language which are differences of
vocabulary and grammar as well as pronunciation (Standard English is a dialect)

ü The term ACCENT on the other hand, refers solely to differences of pronunciation, and it is often
important to distinguish clearly between the two

ü STANDARD ENGLISH is that variety of English which is usually used in print and which is normally
taught in schools and to non-native speakers learning the language. It is also the variety which is
normally spoken by educated people and used in news broadcasts and other similar situations.

ü THE SAPHIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS is concerned with the possibility that human beings' views of their
environment may be conditioned by their language.

ü TABOO is associated with things which are not said, and in particular with words and expressions
which are not used. Taboo words occur in most languages, and failure to adhere to the often strict rules
governing their use can lead to punishment or public shame.

ü IDIOLECT – the speech of one person at one time in one style

Language and Social Class

 SOCIAL-CLASS DIALECT and SOCIAL-CLASS ACCENTS – Different social groups use different linguistic
varieties, and as experienced members of a speech community we have learnt to classify speakers
accordingly.

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION is a term used to refer to any hierarchical ordering by groups within a society.
In the industrialized societies of the West this takes the form of stratification into social classes and gives
rise linguistically to social dialects.

SOCIAL-CLASS STRATIFICATION is not universal. In India, for example, traditional society is stratified
into different castes. As far as the linguists are concerned, caste dialects are in some way easier to study
and describe than social class dialects.

DIALECT CONTINUUM – a large number of different but not usually distinct nonstandard dialects
connected by a chain of similarity, but with the dialects at either end of the chain being very dissimilar.
At the other end of the social scale, however, the situation is very different. Speakers of the highest
social class employ the dialect we have called Standard English.

INHERENT VARIABILITY means that the variation is not due to the mixture of two or more varieties but
is an integral part of the variety itself.

Language and ethnic group

- People do not talk the way they do because they are white or black; the speakers acquire the
linguistic characteristics of those they live in close contact with

- Ideas of LINGUISTIC PURITY (defending a language against contamination by loan words from
other languages) may go hand in hand with equally false ideas about racial purity.

- Most frequently cited characteristics of AAVE:

Many black speakers do not have non-prevocalic in cart or car

Many black speakers often do not have as in thing or as in that. In initial position they may be merged
with and respectively, so that this is dis, for example.
 In AAVE, plurals of nouns ending in Standard English in –st, –sp and –sk are often formed on the
pattern of class: classes rather than of clasp: clasps. For example, the plural of desk may be desses, the
plural of test, tesses.

- More central to this argument about the origin of differences between AAVE and other forms of
English are grammatical differences:

Many black speakers do not have –s in third person singular present-tense forms, so that forms such
as he go, it come, she like are usual.

An important grammatical characteristic of AAVE is the absence of the copula – the verb to be – in the
present

The most important characteristic of AAVE is the so-called ‘invariant be’: the use of the form be as a
finite verb form

Three final grammatical characteristics of AAVE worthy of mention are: AAVE question inversion,

Language and Sex

Sex differences in English:

Women on average use forms which more closely approach those of the standard variety or the
prestige accent than those used by men; in other words, female speakers of English, tend to use
linguistic forms which are considered to be ‘better’ than male forms.

It has been pointed out that working-class speech seems to have connotations of or associations with
masculinity, which may lead men to be more favorably disposed to nonstandard linguistic forms than
women.

It has also been pointed out that many societies seem to expect a higher level of adherence to social
norms – better behavior- from woman than they do from men.

New Zealand sociolinguist Elizabeth Gordon suggests that woman may have a tendency to speak in a
more prestigious way so as not to be thought sexually promiscuous.

Gender differentiation in language arises because language, as a social phenomenon, is closely related
to social attitudes. Men and women are socially different in that society lays down different social roles
for them and expects different behavior patterns for them. Language simply reflects this social fact.
 Linguistic differences between younger men and women are statistically smaller than in the case of
older speakers

Problem of sexual discrimination in language: mostly in vocabulary, for example, word chairman. Non-
discriminatory term should be chairperson or chairwomen for women.

English also has a number of pairs of words for males and females which appear, at first sight, to be
equivalent:

gentleman – lady

man- woman

boy – girl

But are NOT equivalent, lady is a euphemism for woman, and it is, in many aspects, equivalent to men
(for example, Ladies wear and Man’s wear)

A word woman has negative sexual connotation in a male dominated society (e.g. compare these two
sentences: She is only thirteen, but she is already a woman. And: She is only thirteen but she is already a
lady.)

Traditionally, man has been used more often than woman, while lady and a girl have been employed
more often than gentleman and a boy.

Language and Context

Language varies not only according to the social characteristics of speakers but also according to the
social context in which they find themselves.

¨ The same speaker uses different linguistic varieties in different situations and for different purpose.
The totality of linguistic varieties used in this way by a particular community of speakers can be called
that linguistic community’s VERBAL REPERTOIRE

.. Linguistic varieties that are linked to occupations, professions or topics have been termed REGISTERS

¨ Linguistic varieties that are linked to the formality of the situation can be termed STYLES, and can be
thought of as being sited along a scale ranging from formal to informal.
¨ Styles and registers are, in principle, independent

¨ DIGLOSSIA is a particular kind of language standardization where two distinct varieties of a varieties
of a language exist side by side throughout the speech community and where each of the two varieties
is assigned a definite social function.

¨ LANGUAGE-SWITCHING takes place in communities where verbal repertoire contains more than one
language (for example, in Luxembourg, switching occurs between German and French)

Language and Social Interaction

Structure of a conversation : it is based on the principle of a turn-taking, and it is organized that to

ensure that only one speaker speaks at the time

There are also points in the structure of a conversation where it is possible, and points where it is not
possible, to interrupt a speaker

There are rules about how and when one is allowed to introduce a new topic of conversation

There are even rules about the silence (in a conversation between two English speakers who are not
close friends, a silence longer than about four seconds is not allowed)

Conversations are structured, rule-governed, non-random sequences of utterances.

ETHNOGRAPHY OF SPEAKING studies rules about the way in which language should be used in social
interaction in all societies all over the world. It also studies cross-cultural differences in communicative
norms.

The American sociolinguist Deborah Tanner has suggested that in many respects communication
between man and women can be regarded as cross-cultural communication; Man and women often fail
to understand one another properly, and that such misunderstandings can lead to friction and tension in
relationships. (one aspect of communication that may cause problems of this type is the relationship
between directness and indirectness)

Language and Nation

 The vast majority of the nation-states of the world have more than one language spoken indigenously
within their frontiers.

Multilingual nations exist in all parts of the world, and very many examples could be cited. Difficulties
only arise when one attempts to locate a country that is genuinely monolingual. There appear to be very
few.

Nearly all European countries contain LINGUISTIC MINORITIES – groups of speakers who have as their
native variety a language other than that which is the official, dominant or major language in the
country where they live.

The rapid increase in the number of the independent European nation-states in the past hundred
years or so has been paralleled by a rapid growth in the number of autonomous, national and official
languages.

The activities of governments having to do with language can be described as instances of language
planning.

A LINGUA FRANCA is a language which is used as a means of communication among people who have
no native language in common.

Problem of multilingualism - suggestions that an artificial language such as Esperanto should be

adopted as a lingua franca

Role of a national government: to select language, establish it, develop and standardize it.

Language and Geography

→ When a linguistic innovation – a new word, a new pronunciation, a new usage – occurs at a
particular place, it may take subsequently spread to other areas, particularly those nearest to it, so long
as no serious barriers to communication intervene

→ There is a difference between urban and rural accents; Reasons for that is that linguistic
innovations, like other innovations, often spread from one urban center to another, and only later
spread out into the surrounding countryside
→ The term LINGUISTIC AREA is used to refer to areas where several languages are spoken which,
although they are not necessarily very closely related, have a number of features in common, as a result
of the diffusion of innovations across language boundaries.

→ Lexical items appear to be able to spread across great distances. Words can be borrowed from one
language to another regardless of proximity. At present, English is source of loan words for many
languages, particularly in Europe.

→ An important method by means of which linguistic forms may spread is for the speakers themselves
to travel. When, as the result of travel, speakers of different languages come into contact with each
other, they may have to communicate by means of a lingua franca (Usually English)

→ When a language is used as a lingua franca it undergoes a certain amount of simplification and
reduction – as well as being subject to the introduction of errors through interference from the native
language of the speaker.

→ The technical term for the process by which languages may be subject, in the usage of non-native
speakers, to simplification, reduction and interference is PIDGINIZATION

→ A PIDGIN LANGUAGE is a lingua franca which has no native speakers. Chronologically speaking, it is
derived from a ‘normal’ language through simplification, reduction and interference or admixture, often
considerable, from the native language or languages of those who use it, especially so far as
pronunciation is concerned.

→ Most of the better known pidgin languages in the world are the result of travel on the part of
European traders and colonizers. They are based on languages like English, French and Portuguese.

→ CREOLE languages are pidgins that have acquired native speakers

Language and humanity

There are about 5,000 languages in the world today

This number is smaller than it is use to be and it is getting smaller all the time

Communities go through a process of LANGUAGE SHIFT. This means that a particular community
gradually abandons its original native language and goes over to speaking another one instead. (e.g. 200
years ago, most of the population of Ireland were native speakers of IrisH Gaelic. Now the vast majority
are the native speakers of English.

REVERSING LANGUAGE SHIFT – the aim of it is to help small culturally threatened communities to
transmit their language to the next generation.

Language in Context

The language as sexist prong of language and gender studies has faded in the last two decades . . .. It
was soon realised that a word could not unproblematically be derided as sexist since it could in principle
be reclaimed by a given speech community (queer probably being the most famous actual example).
Similarly, a superficially gender-neutral word such as people could be used in a sexist way: in an article in
The Independent for example, Richard Adams wrote:

Additionally identification of sexist words did not allow for the fact that these could be used ironically or
in other non-literal ways, or that both sexist and non-sexist words could be interpreted in a whole range
of ways. Perhaps most importantly, the role of context or situatedness as key to both the production of
a given utterance and its interpretation was underestimated.

Diglossia

In sociolinguistics, a situation in which two distinct varieties of a language are spoken within the same
speech community. Adjective: diglossic or diglossial.

Bilingual diglossia is a type of diglossia in which one language is used for writing and another for speech.

Examples and Observations:

"In the classic diglossic situation, two varieties of a language, such as standard French and Haitian
creole French, exist alongside each other in a single society. Each variety has its own fixed functions--one
a 'high,' prestigious variety, and one a 'low,' or colloquial, one. Using the wrong variety in the wrong
situation would be socially inappropriate, almost on the level of delivering the BBC's nightly news in
broad Scots.

"Children learn the low variety as a native language; in diglossic cultures, it is the language of home,
the family, the streets and marketplaces, friendship, and solidarity. By contrast, the high variety is
spoken by few or none as a first language. It must be taught in school. The high variety is used for public
speaking, formal lectures and higher education, television broadcasts, sermons, liturgies, and writing.

"Diglossia reinforces social distinctions. It is used to assert social position and to keep people in their
place, particularly those at the lower end of the social hierarchy. Any move to extend the L variety . . . is
likely to be perceived to be a direct threat to those who want to maintain traditional relationships and
the existing power structure."

(Ronald Wardhaugh, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 5th ed. Blackwell, 2006)

Diglossia in the U.S.

Ethnicity typically includes a heritage language, particularly among groups whose members include
recent arrivals. A heritage language can play a significant role in a community despite the fact that not
all members actually speak it. Relatively balanced, native bilinguals, though being designated native
speakers of English, may have younger siblings or other family members who speak little or no English.
Consequently, they may not use English all the time, particularly in situations of diglossia in which
language varieties are compartmentalized according to situations of usage.

"The home is also one likely place for a social dialect (or vernacular) to develop that can,
consequently, spread throughout the community. Children will undoubtedly bring that language variety
with them into the classroom. Consequently, educators need to consider the relationship of SAE and
nonstandard varieties of English such as Ebonics (African American Vernacular English--AAVE), Chicano
English (ChE), and Vietnamese English (VE), all recognized social dialects. Children speaking these
varieties may be counted as native speakers of English, despite the fact that they may also be
considered LM [language minority] students entitled to certain rights as a result."

(Fredric Field, Bilingualism in the USA: The Case of the Chicano-Latino Community. John Benjamins,
2011)
Gender

Examples and Observations:

"[T]here is now a greater awareness in some parts of the community that subtle, and sometimes not
so subtle, distinctions are made in the vocabulary choice used to describe men and women.
Consequently, we can understand why there is a frequent insistence that neutral words be used as
much as possible, as in describing occupations e.g., chairperson, letter carrier, salesclerk, and actor (as in
'She's an actor'). If language tends to reflect social structure and social structure is changing, so that
judgeships, surgical appointments, nursing positions, and primary school teaching assignments are just
as likely to be held by women as men (or by men as women), such changes might be expected to follow
inevitably. . . . However, there is still considerable doubt that changing waitress to either waiter or
waitperson or describing Nicole Kidman as an actor rather than as an actress indicates a real shift in
sexist attitudes. Reviewing the evidence, Romaine (1999, pp. 312-13) concludes that 'attitudes toward
gender equality did not match language usage. Those who had adopted gender-inclusive language did
not necessarily have a more liberal view of gender inequalities in language.'"

"It is apparent that when friends talk to each other in single-sex groups, one of the things that is being
'done' is gender. In other words, the fact that female speakers mirror each other's contributions to talk,
collaborate in the co-narration of stories and in general use language for mutual support needs to be
considered in terms of the construction of femininity. For many men, by contrast, connection with
others is accomplished in part through playful antagonisms, and this ties in with men's need to position
themselves in relation to dominant models of masculinity."

"Like language, gender as a social category has come to be seen as highly fluid, or less well defined
than it once appeared. In line with gender theory more generally, researchers interested in language
and gender have focused increasingly on plurality and diversity amongst female and male language
users, and on gender as performative--something that is 'done' in context, rather than a fixed attribute.
The whole notion of gender, and identity in general, is challenged when this is seen, rather like language
itself, as fluid, contingent and context-dependent. This is mainly an alternative theoretical conception of
gender, though there are also suggestions that identities are loosening, so that in many contexts people
now have a wider range of identity options."

(Joan Swann, "Yes, But Is it Gender?" Gender Identity and Discourse Analysis, ed. by Lia Litosseliti and
Jane Sunderland. John Benjamins, 2002)
Language change

Definition:

The phenomenon by which permanent alterations are made in the features and the use of a language
over time.

All natural languages change, and language change affects all areas of language use. Types of language
change include sound changes, lexical changes, semantic changes, and syntactic changes.

The branch of linguistics that is expressly concerned with changes in a language (or in languages) over
time is historical linguistics (also known as diachronic linguistics).

Examples and Observations:

"For centuries people have speculated about the causes of language change. The problem is not one of
thinking up possible causes, but of deciding which to take seriously. . .

"We can begin by dividing proposed causes of change into two broad categories. On the one hand,
there are external sociolinguistic factors--that is, social factors outside the language system. On the
other hand, there are internal psycholinguistic ones--that is, linguistic and psychological factors which
reside in the structure of the language and the minds of the speakers."

The Wave Model of Language Change

he distribution of regional language features may be viewed as the result of language change through
geographical space over time. A change is initiated at one locale at a given point in time and spreads
outward from that point in progressive stages so that earlier changes reach the outlying areas later. This
model of language change is referred to as the wave model

Post-creole continuum

In sociolinguistics, the range of dialectal variations found in many creole-speaking communities.

On this continuum, the acrolect is closest to the standard form of a language, the basilect is the most
distant from the standard form, and the mesolect is intermediate between the two.

The term post-creole continuum was coined by linguist David DeCamp ("Toward a Generative Analysis of
a Post-Creole Speech Continuum" in Pidginization and Creolization of Languages, 1971)
"Originally described (but not named) by [Hugo] Schuchardt (1883) . . ., a post-creole continuum is
characterized by a cline of lexical, phonological, and grammatical features ranging from those closest to
a standard form of the creole's lexifier [dominant] language (the acrolect) to those furthest from the
lexifier language, and therefore most 'creole-like' (the basilect). Thus, there is a great deal of variation in
the speech community and the point at which a form of speech is located along the continuum depends
on the context as well as the social characteristics of the speaker. For example, the speech of the urban
professional elite would be towards the acrolectal end whereas the speech of a poor rural villager would
be towards the basilectal end. Intermediate or mesolectal varieties are also found in between."

"In much writing about the creole continuum it is assumed that the mesolect is a product of
decreolisation: i.e. mesolectal varieties arise as intermediaries when the prior-existing basilect and
acrolect come into contact. On the basis of 19th-century Guyanese Creole texts however, suggests that
in the case of Atlantic creoles the full range may have existed from the beginnings of African-European
contact. In this view decreolisation would involve the increase in use

Pidgin

A simplified form of speech formed out of one or more existing languages and used by people who have
no other language in common.

At first a pidgin language has no native speakers, and is used just for doing business with others with
whom one shares the pidgin language and no other. In time, most pidgin languages disappear, as the
pidgin-speaking community develops, and one of its established languages becomes widely known and
takes over the role of the pidgin as the lingua franca, or language of choice of those who do not share a
native language.

Many . . . pidgin languages survive today in territories which formerly belonged to the European colonial
nations, and act as lingua francas; for example, West African Pidgin English is used extensively between
several ethnic groups along the West African coast."

A creole comes into being when children are born into a pidgin-speaking environment and acquire the
pidgin as a first language. What we know about the history and origins of existing creoles suggests that
this may happen at any stage in the development of a pidgin.

Creole

A language that developed historically from a pidgin and came into existence at a fairly precise point in
time.
Decreolization is the process through which a creole language gradually becomes more like the standard
language of a region.

A creole has a jargon or a pidgin in its ancestry; it is spoken natively by an entire speech community,
often one whose ancestors were displaced geographically so that their ties with their original language
and sociocultural identity were partly broken. Such social conditions were often the result of slavery.

"The English variety spoken by descendants of Africans on the coast of South Carolina is known as Gullah
and has been identified as a creole. Of all the vernaculars associated with African Americans, it is the
one that diverges the most from (White) middle-class varieties in North America."

Lingua franca

A language or mixture of languages used as a medium of communication by people whose native

languages are different.

Where a language is widely used over a relatively large geographical area as a language of wider
communication, it is known as a lingua franca--a common language but one which is native only to some
of its speakers. The term 'lingua franca' itself is an extension of the use of the name of the original
Lingua Franca,' a Medieval trading pidgin used in the Mediterranean region.

English as a Lingua Franca

"The status of English is such that it has been adopted as the world's lingua franca for communication in
Olympic sport, international trade, and air-traffic control. Unlike any other language, past or present,
English has spread to all five continents and has become a truly global language."

(G. Nelson and B. Aarts, "Investigating English Around the World," The Workings of Language, ed. by R.
S. Wheeler. Greenwood, 1999)

Social dialect

A variety of speech associated with a particular social class or occupational group within a society. Also
known as sociolect.

Language variety

In sociolinguistics, a general term for any distinctive form of a language or linguistic expression.

Linguists commonly use language variety (or simply variety) as a cover term for any of the overlapping
subcategories of a language, including dialect, idiolect, register, and social dialect.
In The Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992), Tom McArthur identifies two broad types of
variety: user-related varieties, associated with particular people and often places, . . . [and] (2) use-
related varieties, associated with function, such as legal English (the language of courts, contracts, etc.)
and literary English

Dialect

A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary,

especially a way of speaking that differs from the standard variety of the language. Adjective: dialectal.

It is sometimes thought that only a few people speak regional dialects. Many restrict the term to rural
forms of speech--as when they say that 'dialects are dying out these days.' But dialects are not dying
out. Country dialects are not as widespread as they once were, indeed, but urban dialects are now on
the increase, as cities grow and large numbers of immigrants take up residence. . . .

Some people think of dialects as sub-standard varieties of a language. spoken only by low-status
groups--illustrated by such comments as 'He speaks correct English, without a trace of dialect.'
Comments of this kind fail to recognize that standard English is as much a dialect as any other variety--
though a dialect of a rather special kind, because it is one to which society has given extra prestige.
Everyone speaks a dialect--whether urban or rural, standard or non-standard, upper class or lower class.

Idiolect

The distinctive speech of an individual, considered as a linguistic pattern unique among speakers of his
or her language or dialect.

Sexist language

Words and phrases that demean, ignore, or stereotype members of either sex or that needlessly call
attention to gender.

Questions and criticisms of sexist language have emerged because of a concern that language is a
powerful medium through which the world is both reflected and constructed. . . . Some have claimed
that the use of generics (such as 'mankind' to refer to both men and women) reinforces a binary that
sees the male and masculine as the norm and the female and feminine as the not norm.

Sexist language also presents stereotypes of both females and males, sometimes to the disadvantage
of males, but more often to the disadvantage of females. This sexism is seen universally in all languages.
In English, Robin Lakoff uses the example of master vs mistress to make the point: there are unequal
connotations that surround these two matching terms--and to the detriment of those born female--
Master has strong and powerful connotations, while mistress does not not
 Sexist language also includes the depiction of women in the position of passive object rather than
active subject, such as on the basis of their appearance or domestic roles when similar depictions in
similar contexts would not be made of men. These representations of women

The following practices, while they may not result from conscious sexism, reflect stereotypical thinking:
referring to nurses as women and doctors as men, using different conventions when naming or
identifying women and men, or assuming that all of one's readers are men.

Stereotypical Language

After the nursing student graduates, she must face a difficult state board examination.

Running for city council are Jake Stein, an attorney, and Mrs. Cynthia Jones, a professor of English
and mother of three.

Wives of senior government officials are required to report any gifts they receive that are valued at
more than $100.

Language in Context

The language as sexist prong of language and gender studies has faded in the last two decades . . .. It
was soon realised that a word could not unproblematically be derided as sexist since it could in principle
be 'reclaimed' by a given speech community

Jokes and words that show hatred, discrimination, objectification or dehumanization of women need to
be considered against the history of laws that deemed women to be property that men had a lawful
right to beat and rape, all in the name of men's interest or ownership of our bodies and control over
what rights we have in society. The laws have changed over the years but the sexist messages are
generally the same.

Laws dehumanized women into property owned by men.

Historically, men gave themselves a privilege of ownership and entitlement over women by enacting
laws declaring women as property and chattel, similar to cattle or furniture. In 1984, a court recognized
how this historical objectification "demeaned" women by the "denial of a separate legal identity and
the dignity associated with recognition as a whole human being." When women have the legal status of

less than a whole human being, the consequences flow like a stream with branches and the branches
have branches, flowing through all the institutions of society.

In the marital stream, husbands made unilateral decisions because married women did not have the
right to vote, execute wills or contracts, own or inherit property and husbands controlled their wages
based on sexist stereotypes that women can't think and need a man to govern them.

Code switching

The practice of moving back and forth between two languages or between two dialects or registers of
the same language.

hide fluency or memory problems in the second language (but this accounts for about only 10 percent of
code switches). Second, code-switching is used to mark switching from informal situations Third, code-
switching is used to exert control, especially between parents and children. Fourth, code-switching is
used to align speakers with others in specific situations (e.g., defining oneself as a member of an ethnic
group). Code-switching also 'functions to announce specific identities, create certain meanings, and
facilitate particular interpersonal relationships

Code switching is a linguistics term that basically means switching back and forth between two or more
languages in the course of a conversation. It can also refer to the ability to switch languages or dialects
quickly from one conversation to the next depending on the situation or conversation partner. For
example, a child who has an English-speaking mother and a Japanese-speaking father may speak only
English with the mother and only Japanese with the father even though they all speak both languages
and are all participating in the same conversation.

There are a few different ways that code switching can occur in a conversation. It can happen from one
sentence to the next, within a sentence from phrase to phrase, or one word at a time. Intersentential
switching is switching from one language to another for whole sentences at a time. For example, if
you’re telling a story in language A about something that was said in language B, you might quote
someone in language B because they were speaking in that language.

Intersentential code switching might also be used to emphasize a particular sentence, or to more
accurately convey meaning when sufficient words or idioms do not exist in the other language.
Intrasentential switching is switching languages in the middle of a sentence. This can mean changing
languages for a phrase or for just one word (which is also called “tag-switching”).
Who Code Switches?

Although the term originally referred only to a linguistic phenomenon among multilingual
conversationalists, the reality is that almost everyone engages in code switching every day. Because we
all deal with different kinds of people with whom we have different levels of relationships in contexts of
all sorts all the time, we are all constantly switching from one register (level of formality) to another.
With your boss, you use one kind of English, with your friends, another, and with your children, another
still. Although they are all the same language, higher and lower registers employ different idioms, a
greater or lesser amount of slang, varied spelling and pronunciation, and even different syntax. Thus, an
email to your best friend would look very different from a cover letter to a potential employer.

Code Switching with Formality

When young children learn multiple languages simultaneously, they also learn to compartmentalize
them so that they use the appropriate language with everyone they talk to. That’s why a bilingual child
like the one discussed earlier would speak his mother’s native language to her and his father’s native
language to him. Well, as native speakers of a language, we do the same thing with different levels of
formality. We know what is appropriate to write in a personal e-mail versus what is appropriate in a
doctoral dissertation. You probably learned these things in school through basic reinforcement and
punishment. When you used the correct tone on a paper, you got a good grade. When you used the kind
of grammar in writing that you used in everyday speaking, your paper was returned to you with all kinds
of corrections. In this way, you learned a type of code switching.

Other types of writing and speaking have always been taught more directly as things like business
letters, poetry and research papers each have their own correct format that must be followed. However,
some schools are now beginning to teach different registers and appropriate times to use them more
directly as well through comparative analysis. Students practice “translating” from informal to formal
speech – from slang to academic English – and vice versa.

Teachers make poster charts comparing how to say various phrases formally and informally. And test
scores are improving as students learn not what is “right” and “wrong,” but what is appropriate in a
given situation. It may not be what linguists had in mind when they coined the term, but as we’ve
learned more about dialects and thought more about register, it’s become apparent that switching
between them is very similar to switching between languages.