3.5.3 FORMS AND FUNCTIONS OF CODE-SWITCHING IN THE CLASSROOM
3.5.3.2 FORMS OF CODE-SWITCHING
The data reveals that the teachers ofthe experimental group as well as the learners involved in the group work of the control group, engage in various forms of CS behaviour in their teaching and discussing, respectively. These forms, as I have discussed in Chapter One, are (a) intersentential switching, (b) intrasentential switching, (c) lexical switching, and (d) tag switching. I shall however, before presenting examples from my data, provide a brief defInition of each of these forms of CS. I will draw, where possible, from each of the fIve literary texts i.e. the two short stories, 'kid Playboy' and 'The Suit', and the three poems, 'Promise', 'Follower' and 'Out, out-'.
I also draw on the discussion held during group work. I present the extracts first and discuss them
thereafter. I also present a brief overview to each literary text when I discuss each lesson.
(a) INTERSENTENTIAL SWITCHING:
Intersentential CS occurs between sentences Le. the speaker switches to the other code only after completing a sentence in one code (Jacobson 1978:21; Baker 1980:3).
EXTRACT I: LESSON ON 'KID PLAYBOY' [APPENDIX 4a)
[The teacher explains the promise that Kid Playboy makes to the girls and the emptiness of his promises.]
Here he was telling her that he will make flre under the ocean for her just so that she will swim in winter. Ngesikhathi kubanda yena abe ebhukuda nangumlilo laphayana, into engeke izeyenzeke nangelinye i1anga. [When she swims the flre will be there, something that will never happen].
EXTRACT 11: LESSON ON 'THE SUIT' [APPENDIX 4b]
[The teacher wishes to examine the event that leads to Matilda's suicide.]
What was the last straw for Matilda? The whole thing? Wayengasakwazi ukubekezela yini imbangela? [What was the reason that made her unable to tolerate this anymore?]
EXTRACT Ill: LESSON ON 'PROMISE' [APPENDIX 4c]
[In discussing life in the locations, the teacher shares his personal experience.]
1 couldn't even move eh. 1 couldn't even move. Ngiyakwazi loko-ke mina! [I experienced that!].
I couldn't even move.
EXTRACT IV: LESSON ON 'FOLLOWER' [APPENDIX 4d)
[The teachers explains that it is a child who should follow the adult, not vice versa.]
Once this thing happens it means something wrong is going on. Ngamanye amazwi ayikho ingane engabola umuntu omdala[In other words a child cannot lead an adult].
EXTRACT V: LESSON ON 'OUT, OUT-' [APPENDIX 4e) [The teacher explains how the boy lost his arm].
The hand was already cut off by the saw, not by the doctor, by the saw. Libukhali lelisahha lakhona niwabhasobbe[This saw is very sharp you must watch it].
EXTRACT VI: GROUP WORK DISCUSSION [SAMPLE APPENDIX 3a]
[Pupils discuss the issue of whether Kid Playboy's ex-girlfriend should have attended his wedding or not].
Angayemsbadweni? [Not gone to the wedding?] She went there to give his baby!
Each of the above examples ofintersentential switch is a clear indication that the switch occurs at the end of a sentence or sentence boundary. The speakers in each example make alternate use of English and Zulu without interfering with the syntactic structure of either language used. In extract I, the teacher switches to Zulu to explain his preceding English statement and to make a critical comment on Kid Playboy's promises, thus drawing learners' attention to the emptiness of his promises. In 11, the switch to Zulu serves to elaborate on the teacher's preceding questions which are in English, in an effort to elicit responses from his pupils. In Ill, the teacher stresses his personal experience: "Ngiyakwazi loko-ke mina[Iexperienced that]" and in so doing probably wishes to gain the admiration of his pupils. In IV, the teacher switches to Zulu to elaborate on his preceding sentence. In V, the teacher uses Zulu to draw the attention ofhispupils to the danger
of the saw. Finally, in extract VI,· unlike the preceding examples, the pupil switches from Zulu to English and not from English to Zulu as the teachers have done. This is so because the data shows that the language most used by teachers in each of the lessonsisEnglish, but within the group session, pupils use mostly Zulu to converse with each other. In this example, the pupil uses Zulu to express her shock at her peer's idea that the ex-girlfriend should not have attended the wedding, and then switches to English to assert her point of view, which she evidently feels very strongly about.
(b) INTRASENTENTIAL SWITCHING:
Intrasentential CS involves the embedding of syntactic strings of one code into the sentence of another code (Jacobson 1978:21; Baker 1980:3).
EXTRACT VII: LESSON ON 'KID PLAYBOY' [APPENDIX 4a}
Okay,what happens to the narrator here since eh10owayememezela ethi akulethwe amapresents wathi ladies and gentlemen kuqala so yona inarrator ubugentleman ayizange ibubone kuyona.
[The one who was calling them to come forward addressed them as ladies and gentlemen so the narrator did not associate himself with that].
EXTRACT VIII: LESSON ON 'THE SUIT' [APPENDIX 4bJ
You know in the location abelungu bayazi ukuthi abantu baphuza umqombothi emalokishini buningi [The whites know that people drink African beer in the locations, therefore African beer is plenty in the locations].
EXTRACT IX: LESSON ON 'PROMISE' (APPENDIX 4c)
I think of going home and studying my work at the same time"you have work to get on imiqondo iyaphambana [ideas clash] there's a problem.
EXTRACT X: LESSON ON 'FOLLOWER' [APPENDIX 4d]
A farmer usually wakes early in the morning kusapholile ngoba uma sekushisa [when it is cool because when it is hot] you become tired, is it?
EXTRACT XI: LESSON ON 'OUT, OUT-' [APPENDIX 4e)
The reason was no blood, no blood inhliziyo isishaya kancane [The heart was beating sloWly].
EXTRACT XII: GROUP WORK DISCUSSION [SAMPLE APPENDIX 3a)
Kodwa akumele abe responsible for lomntwana [But he shouldn't have to be responsible for that baby].
In each of these examples of intrasentential switching, the switch by the teachers involves the embedding of Zulu. However, in extract XII, the switch by the pupil involves the embedding of English. In both instances however, i.e. by both the teachers and the pupil, one notices that the switch between codes isa harmonious blending of both languages so that the linguistic structure of the codes remains intact. This suggests that code-switching at the intrasententiallevel is not some random, aimless phenomenon, but rather that it marks the high level oflinguistic competence ofbilinguals.
(c) LEXICAL SWITCHING:
Lexical switching which is an example of intrasentential switching involves the incorporation of lexical items from one code to the other (Jacobson 1978).
EXTRACT XIII: LESSON ON 'KID PLAYBOY' [APPENDIX 4a]
Vase ibona ukuthi yona iseceleni akukho present engayiyisa ngoba kuthiweni?
[I don't have a present to give, what must I say?]
EXTRACT XIV: LESSON ON 'THE SUIT' [APPENDIX 4b]
In such cases we can call people who misbehave or cheat other people tsotsis [hooligans].
EXTRACT XV: LESSON ON 'PROMISE' [APPENDIX 4c]
Babengakwazi ukuya eMlazi, yini eyenza bangahlangani e Indian Market? [They could go to Umlazi, why couldn't thay meet at the Indian Market?]
EXTRACT XVI: LESSON ON 'FOLLOWER' [APPENDIX 4d]
Uma ubaba enazo izinkomo ziyeke zibe u-six [When a man has cows he has about six of them].
EXTRACT XVII: GROUP WORK DISCUSSION [SAMPLE APPENDIX 3a]
Ay 'i present ye ngane? [A baby for a present?]
In each of the exampl~sprovidedof lexical switching, the switch is to a single item or word of another language within a single sentence. In the cited examples, the items are "present",
"tsotsis", "Indian Market" and "six". Itis noted that the first three items are nouns and the last itemisa numerical adjective. This supports Poplack's (1980) observation that nouns account for the largest portion oflexical switches. They are frequently borrowed during CS because they are relatively free of syntactic constraints. As a point of interest, in extract XIV, when the teacher incorporates the lexical item "tsotsis", he probably does so as its near English equivalent
"hooligan" does not convey the weight of meaning that "tsotsis" does. As such, its useismore appropriate than "hooligan". Once again this suggests to me that this isjust one more example of how CS may not be perceived as a random phenomenon; bilinguals are aware of the impact of their choice of codes.
(d) TAG SWITCHING: .
Tag switching refers to the insertion of a tag in one code into an utterance of another code (Poplack 1980).
EXTRACT XVIII: LESSON ON 'KID PLAYBOY' [APPENDIX 4a]
So mina ubugentleman akekho nangelinye ilanga umuntu oye angibize ngani? [So, even on a single day no one has ever called me what?]
EXTRACT XIX: LESSON ON 'THE SUIT' [APPENDIX 4b]
Right. Akesibheke indawo [Let us look at this place].
EXTRACT XX: LESSON ON 'PROMISE' [APPENDIX 4c]
Kodwa-ke uma sibuyela eqinisweni umasesihleba babefanele ukuba bangaphindi bahlangane bahlukene njenge North ne-Southget it? [When we speak the truth, they were not suppose to meet because they differ as the North and the South].
EXTRACT XXI: LESSON ON 'FOLLOWER' [APPENDIX 4d]
Right. Kukhona izintambo ezingena la [There are rows that go here].
EXTRACT XXII: LESSON ON 'OUT, OUT-' [APPENDIX 4e}
Izandla ziyagezana, [people must help each other] yousee?
EXTRACT XXIII: GROUP WORK DISCUSSION [SAMPLE APPENDIX 3a}
Listen, listen, listen ngikutshele wena, angith'unentombi wena? Lezintombi zakho awe kukuthi uyazithanda zonke. [... you have a girlfriend right? You can't tell me you love all your girlfriends].
Although Poplack (1980:589) notes that tag switches can occur anywhere in the sentence, my data reveals that it is common practice for bilinguals to insert a tag either at the beginning or end of a sentence, as illustrated above. In extracts XVIII, XIV, XXI and XXIII the use of the tags "so",
"right", 'right" and "listen" respectively, serve to prepare the hearer for what is about to be
spoken, and in extracts XX and XXII, the tags "get it" and ''you see", respectively, draw the attention of the hearer to what has already been said. Like the other forms of CS, the insertion of a tag within a sentence does not tamper with the syntactical structure ofthe sentence. In addition, these various forms ofCS serve to fulfill a variety ofsocial and pedagogical functions, a discussion of which follows.