MY LESSON

LANGUAGE
BLENDING
■Probably, all speakers of
every language have a variety
of linguistic resources
available to them.
■In this multilingual era,
the codes often become
blended.
CODE-SWITCHING
■According to Hymes, “It is a
term for alternative use of
two or more language,
varieties of a language or
even speech styles.”
■For Einar Haugen, “It is
when a bilingual introduces a
completely unassimilated
word from another
language into his speech.”
■For Carol Myers-Scotton, “It
is the selection by bilinguals
or multilinguals of forms
from an embedded variety
in utterances.”
TYPES OF CODE-
SWITCHING
1. Intersentential code-
switching Next
■The language switch is done
at sentence boundaries.
■This is seen most often
between fluent bilingual
speakers. See example
■“Sometimes I will start a
sentence in English y
terminό en Español (finish it
in Spanish).” Return
2. Intrasentential code-
switching Next
■The shift is done in the middle
of a sentence, with no
interruptions, hesitations, or
pauses indicating a shift.
■It often happens within
one sentence or even a one
phrase. See example
■You have to find a kalo pedi
(good guy) and marry him.
(English-Greek) Return
3. Tag- switching Next
■This involves the insertion of
a tag in one language into an
utterance that is otherwise
entirely in the other language.
See example
■“So he asked me for money,
znas, I had to say no, znas.”
The tag here is Serbian for
‘you know’. Return
DIGLOSSIA
■It is the use of two distinct
varieties of a language for two
different sets of functions.
 Low Variety (L)
■This refers to the common
language which is the
colloquial.
■It is typically learned first and
used for ordinary
conversation with relatives or
friends.
 High Variety (H)
■This is used in formal
circumstances.
■It is taught in schools and
assumes administrative,
legal, religious, and literary
functions.