T1__BAB I Institutional Repository | Satya Wacana Christian University: Code Switching: A Case Study Code of Switching in English Department of Satya Wacana Christian University T1 BAB I
INTRODUCTION
In our daily life, the use of two or even three languages to communicate in daily life
conversation is a very normal phenomenon. In other words, people code switch languages.
Brown (2007) said that code switching is the use of first or third language in a conversation
using second language. The term Code switching is used to refer to the switch between two or
more different languages in a single conversation. Code switching occurs when a bilingual or
multilingual speaker uses two or more different languages to communicate. Fishman, (2000) said
that every individual has to make choices over what language they have to use to whom and
when. In addition, code switching often occurs when people begin to learn a new language.
Learners usually code switch to their native language when they do not know the term of some
words in foreign language. When they code switch they may think that the listener does not
know their native language. In such case, they will slip a few words to make sure the listener
understands what is being communicated (Brown, 2007).
English department students use different languages to communicate. This condition
raises a phenomenon called code switching. This study analyzed how EFL learners deal with
code switching. Based on description above, there were two main problems for this study. The
first problem was the condition which pushed learners to use code switching. There would
always be a reason for a learner tocode switch in a certain situation. The second problem was the
form of code switching itself. EFL learners do not only use one kind of code switching form. The
form and types of code switching will be explained in literature review.
This study was conducted to answer two main questions. The first one was;what are the
reasons for learners to code switch in a certain situation?’ The second one was;what are the types
of code switching used by EFL learners?’ This study had two purposes. The first one was to
identify why EFL learners used code switching in a certain situation. The second one was to
analyze the types of code switching used by EFL learners.
This study is significant because it provides and overview of the phenomen of code
switching in Englih department of Satya Wacana Christian University. Code switching is an
interesting phenomenon which maintains bilingualism. The use of code switching is important
because it can change the perception of other people toward the speaker, both in public as well as
in the academic area. By realizing these factor, interlocutors may use code switch to fulfil their
communication goal which is to make the receiver understand what they are talking about.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The term “code switching” is used to refer to the switching between two or more
different languages in a single conversation. Code switching will occur when a bilingual or
multilingual speaker uses two or more different languages in order to communicate with other
people. Brown (2007) said thatcode switching is the use of first or third language in a
conversation using second language. In addition, Hudson (1996) stated that code switching is the
use of two or more languages at the same time as a result of multilingualism. It affects the
language chosen by the speaker that speaks more than two or more languages so that the listener
will understand what the speaker is talking about. Furthermore, the switch between two or more
languages in code switching can happen within words, clauses, or sentence.Grosjean (1982)
defined code switching is the use of two languages (or even more) in the same conversation.
However, there is only a switch in the language, not an integration of the word, clause or
sentence into the other language. The language used by the speaker who speaks more than one
language depends on the situation where the conversation takes place, and the listener will
understand the speaker’s language (Hudson, 1996).
Why People Code Switch
There are a lot of reasons why people code switch. According to Hoffman (1991), there
are ten reasons why people code switch.The first one is when people talk about a particular topic.
People prefer to talk about a particular topic using their first language as main language and slip
some words to express something which they cannot express when they used their first language.
The second one is when people quote somebody else. People sometimes use code switch
to quote a famous sentence or proverb. When there is a catchy sentence from a famous actor in a
great movie, people tend to quote the sentence. The switch only involves the words that the
speaker thinks it is a famous sentence said by famous people.
The third one is when people feel emphatic about something. When someone feels
empathic about something, they will switch to their first language or second language depending
on whether he/she feels more comfortable to express their feeling using their first language or
second language.
The next reason why people use code switch is interjection and inserting sentence fillers
or sentence connector. Interjection is words or expressions, which people use to show their
emotion or to gain attention. Interjection is a short exclamation like:Darn!, Hey!, Well!, Look!,
etc. It does not have grammatical value, but people use themquite often, usually more in
speaking than in writing.Language switching and language mixing among bilingual or
multilingual peoplecan sometimes mark an interjection or sentence connector. It may happen
unintentionally.
The other reason why people code switch is repetition used for clarification. When people
want to clarify his speech the listener will understand what the speaker is talking about,
He/Shesometimes use both languages. The purpose of using first and second language to explain
about something is to emphasize a message so that the listener will understand.
The next reason is intention of clarifying the speech content for interlocutor. When a
bilingual or multilingual person talks to another bilingual/multilingual, there will be lots of code
switching. This happens to make the conversation run smoothly and can be understood by the
listener. A message in one code is repeated in the other code in somewhat modified form.
People often use code switch to express group identity. Code switching can also be used
to express group identity. They use code switch to show to other people or to a group they are
belong to. The communication style between academic people and non-academic people will
obviously be different. In other words, the communication style used by people in one
community will be different with the other community.
The other reason why people use code switching is to soften or strengthen request or
command.For Indonesian people, switching Indonesian into English can alsofunction as a
request because English is not their native tongue, so it does not sound asdirect as Indonesian.
However, code switching can also strengthen acommand since the speaker can feel more
powerful than the listener because he can use a language that is not being understandable by all
listeners.
The needof real lexical is the next reason why people code switch.The most common
reason for bilingual/multilingual person to switch their languages is due to the lack of equivalent
lexicon in the language. When an English-Indonesian bilingual has a word that is lacking in
English, he will find it easier to say it in Indonesian. In contrast, when he has a word that is
lacking in Indonesian, he/she will use an English term.
The last reason why people code switch is to exclude other people when a comment is
intended for only a limited audience. Sometimes people want to communicate only to certain
people or community they belong to. To avoid the other community or interference objected to
their communication by people, they may try to exclude those people by using the language that
no one knows.
Types of Code Switching
According to Hudson (1996), there are two types of code switching. The first type of
code switching is situational code switching. Situational code switching happens when language
contact occurs depending on the situation on the same conversation. In addition, Hudson (1996)
stated when the switches between the languages in one situation or topic to another situation or
topic occur, it will change the language used. For example, when students are talking to their
friends and suddenly a teacher approaches by, they unconsciously will change their language.
Furthermore, the language used also changes when there is a change on the topic, for example,
when students talk about their girlfriend or boyfriendand suddenly someone comes and asks
them about the progress on their thesis, they will change the language used into language which
is more suitable to be used in a particular situation.
The second type is metaphorical code switching. It is used to refer to the case of the
relationship between the language and the situation. In other words, the language chosen by the
speaker will depend on the situation. In some cases, it is clear to tell which situation the speaker
is in by observing the language used and the audience, for example, whether the speaker is
listening to a lecture or having conversation with their friends. As Hudson (1996) said that in
some cases the situation is less clear, either because it is ambiguous or because the speaker
decides to ignore the situation and focus instead on the people He/She is talking to. In such a
case, the choice of language that determines the situation, are called metaphorical code
switching.
In addition to the two types of code switching by Hudson above, Poplack (1991),
proposes three types of code switching. The first type is called tag switching. Tag switching is
related to the use of a tag (e.g. you know, I mean, right, etc). Tag switching is very simple
because it does not involve a lot of words from both languages, since there is a minimum risk of
grammatical rules violation. The example of Tag switching from Indonesian-English bilingual is;
diasangatcerdas, you know,diamenang di olimpiadefisikaminggukemarin . We can see from the
example that the speaker used the tag you know in his or her sentence.
The second type of code-switching is intersentential switching, which is at thephrase or
sentence level orbetween sentences. For instance, the title of Shana Poplack’s paper used in this
study (2000) is a perfect example of intersentential switching; Sometimes I’llstart a sentence in
Spanish y termino en español [Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in Spanishand finish in Spanish].
The third and most complex type of code-switching is the intrasentential one.
Thecomplexity of this type of switching is explained by the high probability of violation
ofsyntactic rules, as well as the requirement of a great knowledge of both language grammars
which are their first language and English as theirforeign language. For example, in IndonesianEnglish speech; sayakerja as a part time worker di cafe Asejakbulanlalu . From the examples
mentioned above, it is clearly seen that, in code-switching, there isno adaptation or integration of
words or clauses from one language into the other. Whatoccurs is simply a switch in the
language.
In our daily life, the use of two or even three languages to communicate in daily life
conversation is a very normal phenomenon. In other words, people code switch languages.
Brown (2007) said that code switching is the use of first or third language in a conversation
using second language. The term Code switching is used to refer to the switch between two or
more different languages in a single conversation. Code switching occurs when a bilingual or
multilingual speaker uses two or more different languages to communicate. Fishman, (2000) said
that every individual has to make choices over what language they have to use to whom and
when. In addition, code switching often occurs when people begin to learn a new language.
Learners usually code switch to their native language when they do not know the term of some
words in foreign language. When they code switch they may think that the listener does not
know their native language. In such case, they will slip a few words to make sure the listener
understands what is being communicated (Brown, 2007).
English department students use different languages to communicate. This condition
raises a phenomenon called code switching. This study analyzed how EFL learners deal with
code switching. Based on description above, there were two main problems for this study. The
first problem was the condition which pushed learners to use code switching. There would
always be a reason for a learner tocode switch in a certain situation. The second problem was the
form of code switching itself. EFL learners do not only use one kind of code switching form. The
form and types of code switching will be explained in literature review.
This study was conducted to answer two main questions. The first one was;what are the
reasons for learners to code switch in a certain situation?’ The second one was;what are the types
of code switching used by EFL learners?’ This study had two purposes. The first one was to
identify why EFL learners used code switching in a certain situation. The second one was to
analyze the types of code switching used by EFL learners.
This study is significant because it provides and overview of the phenomen of code
switching in Englih department of Satya Wacana Christian University. Code switching is an
interesting phenomenon which maintains bilingualism. The use of code switching is important
because it can change the perception of other people toward the speaker, both in public as well as
in the academic area. By realizing these factor, interlocutors may use code switch to fulfil their
communication goal which is to make the receiver understand what they are talking about.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The term “code switching” is used to refer to the switching between two or more
different languages in a single conversation. Code switching will occur when a bilingual or
multilingual speaker uses two or more different languages in order to communicate with other
people. Brown (2007) said thatcode switching is the use of first or third language in a
conversation using second language. In addition, Hudson (1996) stated that code switching is the
use of two or more languages at the same time as a result of multilingualism. It affects the
language chosen by the speaker that speaks more than two or more languages so that the listener
will understand what the speaker is talking about. Furthermore, the switch between two or more
languages in code switching can happen within words, clauses, or sentence.Grosjean (1982)
defined code switching is the use of two languages (or even more) in the same conversation.
However, there is only a switch in the language, not an integration of the word, clause or
sentence into the other language. The language used by the speaker who speaks more than one
language depends on the situation where the conversation takes place, and the listener will
understand the speaker’s language (Hudson, 1996).
Why People Code Switch
There are a lot of reasons why people code switch. According to Hoffman (1991), there
are ten reasons why people code switch.The first one is when people talk about a particular topic.
People prefer to talk about a particular topic using their first language as main language and slip
some words to express something which they cannot express when they used their first language.
The second one is when people quote somebody else. People sometimes use code switch
to quote a famous sentence or proverb. When there is a catchy sentence from a famous actor in a
great movie, people tend to quote the sentence. The switch only involves the words that the
speaker thinks it is a famous sentence said by famous people.
The third one is when people feel emphatic about something. When someone feels
empathic about something, they will switch to their first language or second language depending
on whether he/she feels more comfortable to express their feeling using their first language or
second language.
The next reason why people use code switch is interjection and inserting sentence fillers
or sentence connector. Interjection is words or expressions, which people use to show their
emotion or to gain attention. Interjection is a short exclamation like:Darn!, Hey!, Well!, Look!,
etc. It does not have grammatical value, but people use themquite often, usually more in
speaking than in writing.Language switching and language mixing among bilingual or
multilingual peoplecan sometimes mark an interjection or sentence connector. It may happen
unintentionally.
The other reason why people code switch is repetition used for clarification. When people
want to clarify his speech the listener will understand what the speaker is talking about,
He/Shesometimes use both languages. The purpose of using first and second language to explain
about something is to emphasize a message so that the listener will understand.
The next reason is intention of clarifying the speech content for interlocutor. When a
bilingual or multilingual person talks to another bilingual/multilingual, there will be lots of code
switching. This happens to make the conversation run smoothly and can be understood by the
listener. A message in one code is repeated in the other code in somewhat modified form.
People often use code switch to express group identity. Code switching can also be used
to express group identity. They use code switch to show to other people or to a group they are
belong to. The communication style between academic people and non-academic people will
obviously be different. In other words, the communication style used by people in one
community will be different with the other community.
The other reason why people use code switching is to soften or strengthen request or
command.For Indonesian people, switching Indonesian into English can alsofunction as a
request because English is not their native tongue, so it does not sound asdirect as Indonesian.
However, code switching can also strengthen acommand since the speaker can feel more
powerful than the listener because he can use a language that is not being understandable by all
listeners.
The needof real lexical is the next reason why people code switch.The most common
reason for bilingual/multilingual person to switch their languages is due to the lack of equivalent
lexicon in the language. When an English-Indonesian bilingual has a word that is lacking in
English, he will find it easier to say it in Indonesian. In contrast, when he has a word that is
lacking in Indonesian, he/she will use an English term.
The last reason why people code switch is to exclude other people when a comment is
intended for only a limited audience. Sometimes people want to communicate only to certain
people or community they belong to. To avoid the other community or interference objected to
their communication by people, they may try to exclude those people by using the language that
no one knows.
Types of Code Switching
According to Hudson (1996), there are two types of code switching. The first type of
code switching is situational code switching. Situational code switching happens when language
contact occurs depending on the situation on the same conversation. In addition, Hudson (1996)
stated when the switches between the languages in one situation or topic to another situation or
topic occur, it will change the language used. For example, when students are talking to their
friends and suddenly a teacher approaches by, they unconsciously will change their language.
Furthermore, the language used also changes when there is a change on the topic, for example,
when students talk about their girlfriend or boyfriendand suddenly someone comes and asks
them about the progress on their thesis, they will change the language used into language which
is more suitable to be used in a particular situation.
The second type is metaphorical code switching. It is used to refer to the case of the
relationship between the language and the situation. In other words, the language chosen by the
speaker will depend on the situation. In some cases, it is clear to tell which situation the speaker
is in by observing the language used and the audience, for example, whether the speaker is
listening to a lecture or having conversation with their friends. As Hudson (1996) said that in
some cases the situation is less clear, either because it is ambiguous or because the speaker
decides to ignore the situation and focus instead on the people He/She is talking to. In such a
case, the choice of language that determines the situation, are called metaphorical code
switching.
In addition to the two types of code switching by Hudson above, Poplack (1991),
proposes three types of code switching. The first type is called tag switching. Tag switching is
related to the use of a tag (e.g. you know, I mean, right, etc). Tag switching is very simple
because it does not involve a lot of words from both languages, since there is a minimum risk of
grammatical rules violation. The example of Tag switching from Indonesian-English bilingual is;
diasangatcerdas, you know,diamenang di olimpiadefisikaminggukemarin . We can see from the
example that the speaker used the tag you know in his or her sentence.
The second type of code-switching is intersentential switching, which is at thephrase or
sentence level orbetween sentences. For instance, the title of Shana Poplack’s paper used in this
study (2000) is a perfect example of intersentential switching; Sometimes I’llstart a sentence in
Spanish y termino en español [Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in Spanishand finish in Spanish].
The third and most complex type of code-switching is the intrasentential one.
Thecomplexity of this type of switching is explained by the high probability of violation
ofsyntactic rules, as well as the requirement of a great knowledge of both language grammars
which are their first language and English as theirforeign language. For example, in IndonesianEnglish speech; sayakerja as a part time worker di cafe Asejakbulanlalu . From the examples
mentioned above, it is clearly seen that, in code-switching, there isno adaptation or integration of
words or clauses from one language into the other. Whatoccurs is simply a switch in the
language.