Fix your language: switch some codes

We use language basically as a tool. We stylize it according to the way our needs to be fulfilled. Code Switching or more comprehensively, mixing languages wisely is one of the ways we stylize our language to fulfill our needs.

In my house, my kids always switch codes to get what they want out of the fridge. They would often say ‘I wish mata ice cream kanna puluwan’ when I repeatedly refuse to give them ice cream on a frosty winter day.

Code switching, the alternative use of two languages within the same conversation, remains one of the central issues in bilingualism research. For a long time, code switching has been considered as a lack of linguistic competence since it was taken as evidence that bilinguals are not able to acquire two languages or keep them apart properly. It has been considered as a ‘grammarless language mixture or gibberish by semilingual speakers’ even in near past like seventies.

Thus, it was regarded as result of not knowing at least one of the languages very well. Consequently, there was a lack of interest in studying this phenomenon until the modern days. Since then linguists began to deal with the subject in considerable detail. Nowadays it is the common belief that code switching is grammatically structured and systematic and therefore can no longer be regarded as deficient language behavior. The ideologies have been changed due to globalization and socio-economic factors and language mix and match was begun to consider as a natural linguistic phenomenon.

There are many factors to consider when we discuss about Code Switching. The switching process is highly dependable according to the two languages we use. For example, in this modernized world, it is so difficult to communicate in pure Sinhalese or Tamil. Essentially we might need a backing from English even in our day today conversations. That backing is not necessarily to be Code Switching; it can be simply called Borrowing. Code Switching is a little bit different from borrowing as it is a complicated process. Speakers generally switch to another language in a middle of a sentence and continue without any harm to his or her conversation.

My interest draws upon the sociological aspect of Code Switching. Sometimes code switching rely on concepts of social arena and strategy. Social arena is understood as a construct which corresponds to a set of norms. They recognize three universal social arenas: identity, power and transaction. A speaker may switch for a variety of reasons such as to redefine the interaction as appropriate to a different social arena, or to avoid defining the interaction in terms of any social arena.

The way I speak will give an idea of me to the society. It will either elevate or lower my social status. English is always considered as a social marker in Sri Lanka and sometimes unknowingly people use English words or phrases while they are speaking in Sinhalese or Tamil. English has enormous power in our country (sometimes I feel it has more powers other than Australia) and it is unstoppable that someone could gain a sip of it by switching to it on and off. Situation of India is quite different as in there, English serves as the link language so TV or radio presenters often use Code Switching as a popular attraction for a wide range of speakers.

While in a country like Australia, people switch codes basically to preserve their identity or to ease the communication process. In Sri Lanka I would rather brand it as a power tool. By the way if Code Switching exists somewhere, that means there are bilinguals in that society. Bilingualism is a skill that should be encouraged and promoted.