The Structural Features of Code-Switches in the Modern British Novels

Abstract

The author examines the structural features of code-switches in two novels - "The Corsican Caper" and "Chasing Sezanne" written by the modern British writer Peter Mayle. The matrix language of multilingual utterances is English and the embedded language is French. Code-switches are the alternate use of units of one language within the utterance in another language during one conversation. Two groups of code-switches are distinguished: those in the bilingual characters’ speech and those in the author’s speech. Peter Mayle has used different types of code-switches to emphasize their bilingual competence when they switch from English to French in various communicative situations. Different types of code-switches have been fixed: intersententional, intrasententional - within a phrase (insertions, embedded language islands), clause-switches, and tag-switches. The author of the article has found out 434 units of code-switches in the two novels, with 258 units being represented in the author’s speech and 176 units in the bilingual characters’ speech. The study has shown that the most frequently used type in the bilingual characters’ speech and in the author’s speech is intrasententional within a simple sentence, with embedded language islands being predominant. Keywords: code-switches, bilingualism in fiction, bilingual speech, matrix language, embedded language