LITERATURE REVIEW Bilingualism

As we are now living in a world without border, the need to be able to communicate in more than one language has become an important skill. Hence, the Government has taken the initiative by integrating language subjects in order to train its people to be either bilingual or multilingual. This has resulted in the phenomenon of bilingualism or multilingualism where people have more than one language (Wardhough, 1986) and are able to choose the language that is other than their mother tongue when communicating with other people.

The term bilingualism or multibilingualism can be defined as a person who possesses some functional ability in a second language (Spolsky, 1998). However, the language skills vary from a limited ability in one or more domains, to very strong command of both or all languages. It is also more common for

bilingual people, even those who have been bilingual since birth, to be somewhat

-6

"dominant" in one language.

-25 85

-59

According to Hoffman (1991), there are three reasons why someone becomes

67 8 -9

bilingual. They are membership, education and administration. Membership

refers to certain membership of the elites, for example the use of French N

language by the European aristocracy, whereas education and administration I

refer to English used by Malaysians in particular while discussing technologies,

IN D

E CE

academics or business. However, bilingualism is also a normal condition in

many countries and no reason are needed to justify why the people are

bilinguals. P

As the education system in Malaysia stresses upon students mastering the

English language as well as their mother tongue, this has created a situation

CO 1 2 0

where many although not all Malaysians are bilinguals. Nevertheless, as the

I2 N

bilingual community varies in their ability of mastering the languages used in

E CC

communication, a certain condition must be set so that communication can be

done effectively.

5 98

Code switching The phenomenon of code switching is actually very common and has been widely discussed in every subfield of linguistic disciplines (Nilep, 2006). Poplak (1980) defines code switching as ‘the alternation of two languages within a single discourse, sentence or constituent’ and on the basis of phonological, morphological and syntactic integration of items from one language to another. Similarly, Musyken (1995) describes code switch as ‘the alternative use by bilinguals (or multilinguals) of two or more languages in the same conversation’ or ‘in the unchanged setting, often within the same utterance’ (Bullock & Toribio, 2009). Therefore, code switching is often a normal occurrence in an informal communication, especially during a conversation. Abeywickrama (2007), in an analysis of the discourse reveals that code switching serves certain functions. An example of when code switch is utilised would be when a speaker wishes to quote someone either directly or as reported speech, or to direct the message to one of several possible addressees. Code switch is also used to mark an interjection or operates to fill instances when there is a loss of vocabulary. Another function of code switching is topic nomination where the switch serves as an index to the participants to pursue or change a topic. Hence, these functions show that code switching as a conversational event creates communicative and social meaning for language users.

Auer (1995) in a research found that code switching occurs in certain utterance sequences where the switching can be viewed in certain positions such as

initiative turns rather than responsive turns or components or those certain

sequential patterns of alternating language choice direct the participant’s 85

interpretation. Auer also recommends analysing the signalling value of the

67 8 -9

juxtaposed languages or, in other words, the sequence in which the language

chosen must be viewed against the background of the chosen language in the N

preceding utterance. This is because the interpretation of code switching or code

alternation is linked to the order in the patterns of language choice. There are S G

IN D

four such patterns identified by Auer (1995). A/B refers to languages and 1/2

refers to participants. The patterns are as follows: CE

Pattern 1: In the prototypical case, conversation begins with an established

language of interaction and is then switched by one speaker. This other language

is accepted by the second speaker and the conversation continues in that chosen

CO 1 2

language. This type of code alternation signals a shift in topic or activity.

N I2

LITERATURE REVIEW Bilingualism