Structural Analysis of Persian-English Reverse Code-Switching and Code-Mixing

Hamzeh Moradi,Jianbo Chen

doi:10.15688/jvolsu2.2019.1.10

Abstract

Code-switching and code-mixing are considered dynamic conversational phenomena in interpersonal interactions, that is an alteration between two or more languages, dialectal variants, language registers, and it is an effective communicative strategy which Persian-English bilinguals consider a genuine thing in their ordinary speech practice. The focus of the present study is on the structural analysis of reverse code-switching between Persian and English that are known to be referred to two typologically different languages. Participants of the present research, all late bilinguals, reported on frequent use of code-switching (CS) and code-mixing (CM) in everyday language practice. CS/CM is quite normal and frequent among Iranian bilinguals, especially in informal settings where bilingual speakers can freely switch between their languages. Furthermore, the results revealed that Iranian bilinguals switch from English to Persian and in verso mostly at the lexical and the phrasal levels (intrasentential switching mode), but less frequently at the clausal or the sentence level (intersentential switching mode). The research states that there are some restrictions on inserting English verbs into the Persian syntactic frame: the Persian language is thought to be the matrix language and the preverbal part comes from English as the embedded language, such incongruity between the morphosyntactic structure and the verbal system of the Persian and English languages impose some constraints on the occurrence of switching codes between the pair of the languages under study.

Highlights

IntroductionCode-switching and code-mixing are considered dynamic conversational phenomena in interpersonal interactions, that is an alteration between two or more languages, dialectal variants, language registers, and it is an effective communicative strategy which Persian-English bilinguals consider a genuine thing in their ordinary speech practice
In PersianEnglish light verb constructions (LVCs), the light verb that carries information on person, tense, agreement and aspect comes from the Persian language as the matrix language and the preverbal part comes from English as the embedded language
The research shows that CS/CM is a normal process in Persian-English bilinguals’ conversations; participants of this research, all late bilinguals, reported on using frequent switches in their everyday language use

Summary

Introduction

Code-switching and code-mixing are considered dynamic conversational phenomena in interpersonal interactions, that is an alteration between two or more languages, dialectal variants, language registers, and it is an effective communicative strategy which Persian-English bilinguals consider a genuine thing in their ordinary speech practice. Participants of the present research, all late bilinguals, reported on frequent use of code-switching (CS) and code-mixing (CM) in everyday language practice. Переключение и смешение языковых кодов как динамичная стратегия общения рассматривается в статье в качестве коммуникативной категории, представленной в речи билингвов, владеющих персидским и английским языками. Участниками проведенного эксперимента стали студенты вузов – билингвы, в речи которых наблюдается частое использование двух стратегий реверсивного переключения: переключение кода (CS) и смешение кодов (CM). One of the most fascinating aspects of bilinguals’ speech is their capability of separating and maintaining division between their two languages When it comes to highly proficient bilingual speakers or in other words, bilinguals with a high level of competence in both languages, the two competing languages are in one mind and usually in overlapping brain territories [Kim et al, 1997]

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion