Section outline

  • The course of code switching introduces students to the phenomenon of alternating between two (or more) languages or varieties within the same interaction, utterance, or discourse. It clarifies how code switching differs from  code mixing, outlines its main structural types (inter‑sentential, intra‑sentential, tag switching), and explores the communicative and social functions it fulfils in multilingual communities. 

    Objectives

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    • understanding code switching and distinguishing  it from related phenomena such as code mixing and borrowing.

    • Helping  students identify and classify types of code switching (inter‑sentential, intra‑sentential, tag switching) in short spoken or written extracts.

    • Developing students’ ability to analyse the communicative functions of code switching (e.g. clarification, emphasis, topic shift, humour, solidarity, distancing) in multilingual interactions.

    • Training students to relate code switching to its social motivations, including identity construction, power relations, and accommodation to interlocutors.

    • Encouraging students to apply appropriate sociolinguistic terminology when describing and interpreting code‑switched discourse in oral presentations and written assignments.