Types of Code-switching among Young Adults with Bilingualism

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Ruba S 1, Prabhu S 2, Kala Samayan 3
1,2,3 Department of Audiology & Speech Language Pathology, SRM Medical College Hospital & Research Centre, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai-603203, Tamil Nadu, India.
Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.08
[Article History: Received: 17 May 2023. Revised: 19 August 2023. Accepted: 19 August 2023. Published: 20 August 2023.]
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Abstract

The present study aimed to analyse and compare various forms of code-switching among adult male and female Tamil-English bilinguals. This research involved thirty bilingual (Tamil and English) adults between the ages of 18 and 25. Each participant was given an updated version of the cookie-theft picture and asked to describe it in Tamil. The various kinds of code-switching, such as tag switching, intra-sentential switching, and inter-sentential switching, were identified through the data analysis. Results indicated that language switching occurs more frequently between phrases and that female participants exhibit code-switching significantly higher than male participants, particularly in tag switching. The study findings can help linguists and speech-language pathologists understand the various types of code-switching employed by Tamil-English bilinguals. However, a larger population needs to be studied for further investigation.

Keywords: Code-switching, Bilingualism, Intra-sentential switching, Inter-sentential switching, Tag switching.
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Citation: S, Ruba, Prabhu S, Kala Samayan. 2023. Types of Code-switching among Young Adults with Bilingualism. Rupkatha Journal 15:3. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.08