12
B : Bueno Sí que tienen por qué Well They do have a reason. O sigui, o l’ encenen amb nosaltres o … I mean, either they have bonfire with us or …
In this conversation, a Catalan-Spanish speaker tried to respond to a Spanish speaker who spoke using Spanish language. After the speaker was done, the
Catalan speaker continued speaking in Catalan. Emblematic code-switching is code-switching which includes items such
as tags or exclamations which serve as an emblem of the bilingual character Hoffman, 1991: 113. The example of tag can be found in Spanish-Catalan
sentence Hoffman, 1991: 112. “Hay cuatro sillas rotas y’ prou” There are
four broken chairs and that’s enough and the example of exclamation can be
found in Spanish-American English sentence Hoffman, 1991: 112. “Oh Ay It
was embarrassing It was very nice, though, but I was embarrassed.” Prou and ay are considered as emblematic code-switching.
Involving a word within a sentence is code-switching which occurs inside a sentence and in the form of single word. According to Summers in Longman
Dictionary of Contemporary English 2001, word is “the smallest unit of language that people can understand if it is said or written on its own.” Code-
switching can occur within a sentence boundary and consists of only one word. The example of involving a word within a sentence code-switching can be found
in German-English sentence Hoffman, 1991: 111. “Ich war der goalie.” I was a goalkeeper ‘Ich war der’ is German language. Meanwhile the word goalie is
English.
13 The last type of code-switching is involves a change of pronunciation.
This kind of code-switching occurs at phonological level when a speaker changes the pronunciation patterns Hoffman, 1991: 112. For example, when Indonesian
people say an English word, it has been modified to Indonesian phonological structure. The word ‘strawberry’ is said to be ‘stroberi’ by Indonesian people.
c. The Reasons for Code-switching
According to Crystal 1987 as cited by Skiba 1997, there are three reasons for code-switching. First, a speaker may not be able to express her or
himself in one language so he or she switches to another language to compensate for deficiency. Code-switching is employed because of the special terms related to
the topic under discussion that should be used. It occurred because every topic might have some specific terms in other languages which are sometimes difficult
to be translated. The second, code-switching occurs when an individual wishes to express solidarity with a particular social group. The objective of code-switching
is to build the intimate relationship with the listeners. The third, code-switching occurs when the speakers wish to convey their attitude to the listener.
Monolingual speakers can communicate these attitudes by means of variation in the level of formality in their speech; bilingual speakers can convey the same by
code-switching. Wardhaugh 1992 states there are three common reasons for people to
switch their code. “A number of answer have been suggested including solidarity with listeners, choice of topic, and perceived social and cultural distance”
Wardhaugh, 1992: 106. In order to show the solidarity with the listeners, the
14 speaker may switch the code to include the listeners into the conversation. The
topics of discussion also affect the speaker to switch the code and also influence the choice of code. People might change their language depending on the topic
they are talking about, because it would be easier to discuss particular topics in a certain code than another. The different kinds of relationship are often shown by
different codes. For example, relation between teacher and students are more formal than that between neighbors or friends. Therefore, the languages they use
are also different. Hoffman states that “the reason for code-switching is diverse and many of
the reasons are of a contextual, situational and personal sort” 1991: 115. There are a number of reasons why people do code-switching. The first reason is talking
about a particular topic. It happens when people lack facility in relevant register or because certain items trigger off various connotations which are linked to
experiences in a particular language Hoffman, 1991: 115. A particular topic may have specific terms which are available only in other languages or available in the
speaker’s language but they are rarely used. The second reason why people switch the language appears when the speaker is quoting somebody else. The third is that
the speakers are being emphatic about something. This code-switching may be in the form of an interjection or repetition used for clarification. The form of those
expressions illustrates that the speaker has personal involvement and desire to be well understood. The fourth reason is that people used code-switching to express
group identity as well as solidarity with a certain group Hoffman, 1991: 116. By
