“Yo What’s Up?” to “Hello. How are you?” The Marvels of Code Switching!

Language has always fascinated me solely because my life revolves around them: my first language was Spanish, I learned English in order to attend school (although if you ask my mother she would say that I learned both at the same time), and as an army brat I have spent around 13 years of my life in Germany so I have picked up a few words here and there.  But what exactly is language??  My anthropology textbook defines language as “…a system of arbitrary vocal symbols that human beings use to encode their experience of the world and to communicate with one another” (Lavenda & Schultz, 2007/2010, p. 36).  Okay, so basically humans learn words (symbols) in order to communicate.  Easy enough, except that you have to take into account other elements such as tone, volume, and even body language in order to determine the full meaning.  For example, if I am saying “I work tomorrow” in a ‘happy sing-song’ tone and I am smiling, one can assume that I am happy about it.  However, if I say those exact same words in a low monotone, while rolling my eyes and sighing, one can assume the exact opposite. You get it.  Well, one interesting thing about an individual’s language is that the ‘code’ is not always constant.  What I mean by code is a variety or type of language; this could mean slang, proper, or an entirely different language (for us bilingual folk), etc.  This phenomenon of changing the code is known as code-switching.

What is the Purpose of Code-Switching???

So, why is it that individuals switch their codes? Some researchers will say that it is due to a limitation in a language (forgive my lack of citation! I can’t remember where I read this). In a lot of cases, this is true. For example, I am currently enrolled in a beginning level Japanese class. I am not fluent in the language, and so most of my speech in the class is a combination of what I do know in Japanese and English for the words that I have not learned yet; I guess we can call this “Japan-glish”.

   

However, you don’t have to be bilingual to ‘code-switch’. A student may speak one code at home and a different code at school or an employee may speak one code at home and a completely different code at their job. Here is one man’s view on the different codes in the United States and how “standard English” affects individuals.

So again here is the question WHY??? Well, my theory is that individuals switch codes based on the social context and benefit.

In class today, one student explained that she is Korean. When she is with her friends that know little English, she uses more Korean than English and “speaks like they do”; in class, she spoke English very well and with no noticeable accent. Why?? Well, she based her code according to her peers (social context). It is beneficial for her to speak to her Korean peers with an “emic” code (insider) and to speak to her class peers with an “etic” code (outisder). It is the same with the student that speaks one code with his or her peers at school and another at home. You could almost argue that this “benefit” is the peer pressure to fit in.

Here are examples from my own experience:

• My family and I were touring Mallorca, an island off the coast of Spain; we went with a German tour group. I remember that we spoke Spanish to the locals and were mostly ignored; as soon as we switched to English, we were regarded as tourists and therefore everyone was kinder. We assumed that tourists were favored because of the business they brought, so we spoke English for the rest of our tour. It was more beneficial for us. 
• Someone I know speaks “proper” English when at home: proper grammar, pronunciation, etc. As soon as he enters an environment with his coworkers, his code switches to match theirs (this includes phone calls). For example, instead of “How are you?” this sentence becomes “What’s up brah?” The code switches to fit the social context. 
• When teaching a Spanish word or phrase to a friend, I first say the word with proper pronunciation. However, when they repeat the word, they often do not hear each sound. So, when I say the word again, I say it with what I call an “American accent” so that they can clearly hear each sound. For example, if I were to teach the word “perdido” or lost, the correct pronunciation of the “r” is a slightly rolled “r” and the “d” is a soft d, almost a “th” sound. The “r” or “d” is not always heard, so then I will say “pair-dee-doh”, with a stronger “d” sound and emphasized “r”. 
• The Spanish that I learned is from Puerto Rico, and as you probably know, Spanish dialects are different according to the country. The dialect in Puerto Rico is not exactly the most “standard”. For example, we have words like “lonche” for lunch, along with the standard translation “almuerzo”. In addition, we do not always use standard pronunciaton. For example, the word “pescado” is often pronounced “peh-cow”, and so the “s” and the “d” is often chopped. When I speak Spanish to my family in Puerto Rico, it is with this code. However, if I speak Spanish with someone who learned the “standard” Spanish, I will properly pronounce the words. I will not chop the “s” or the “d”! 

All of these are examples of social context or benefit: who are my peers and what do they expect to hear? Code switching is found everywhere, including advertisements!

Resources:

Lavenda, R. H., & Schultz, E. A. (2010). Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
(4th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill. (Original work published 2007)