vii

Preface

Rationale for this volume This collection of studies, all of which have been written specifically for this volume, aims to bring current Malaysian code switching and language alternation research to the attention of a worldwide readership. In so doing we attempt to follow the path taken by our late friend, colleague and mentor, Professor Rodolfo Jacobson. ‘Jake’ as he was fondly known, convened a series of panels on code switching at International Sociological Association congresses, and edited several important collections of groundbreaking code switching research studies, most notably “Code switching Worldwide” (1998) and “Code switching Worldwide II” (2001). Code switching has been defined as “the use of more than one language within a single communicative episode” (Heller, 1988, p, 1) and as the practice of selecting or altering linguistic elements so as to contextualize talk in interaction (Nilep, 2006, p.1). The occurrence of code switching is generally triggered by a speaker’s purpose or intention. The switching may involve switches from one language to the other either between sentences (intersentential code switching), or switching within a sentence, clause or phrase, which is described as intrasentential code switching (Romaine, 2000). In some instances switching occurs within turns in a conversation, which is known as code mixing. Code mixing is also defined as alternation between varieties or codes within a clause, or phrase (Meyerhoff, 2006). The approach and conceptual framework adopted by the contributors tends more towards the functional rather than the purely linguistic or grammatical. Research into Malaysian code switching demonstrates the need to seek out ways of merging these approaches, rather than keeping them separate, and several of the chapters in this volume attempt such a merger of approaches and methods. Code switching seems to be natural for most multilingual speakers because they can switch from different languages freely depending on what is available in their linguistic repertoire. Code switching has become an entrenched code in multilingual (see David, 2003). It is no longer a rare feature but it has become a normal feature in many conversations among and between the Malays, Chinese, Indians and other ethnic groups in Malaysia. Where previous research suggests that code switching is used in informal settings, the studies in this volume prove quite conclusively that code switching is extensively used in both formal and informal settings. It occurs in the home domain but is also noted in the classroom setting and in professional work-place settings. Whereas previously code switching was regarded negatively and seen to be triggered by limited language proficiency, the data in this volume, drawn from a viii range of settings in Malaysia, show strategic use of the mixed code to achieve specific functional objectives.

Background information Malaysia is a multi-ethnic, multilingual country with a population of about 22 million people and at least a hundred languages and dialects. Most Malaysians are bilingual, as Malay (Bahasa Malaysia) is the national language and the main medium of instruction in state schools, whilst English is a second language for many Malaysians. Since 2003 English has been reinstated as the medium of education for Mathematics and Science through the national education system (David & Govindasamy, 2005). In addition, in vernacular primary schools Mandarin and Tamil are used as the medium of instruction, and Malay and English are taught as compulsory subjects in these ‘national-type’ schools. Students from these schools may therefore be trilingual. Trilingualism is also commonly found in the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah on Borneo island, where many indigenous groups speak their own ethnic language along with Malay, English and/or Chinese. Furthermore, older Malaysians who underwent an English-medium education during the British colonial era continue to be more comfortable in English, while retaining a command of their ethnic languages. In Malaysia code switching among the Malays, Chinese, Indians and other ethnic and linguistic groups has become the norm (David, 2003). The integration and the increased use of English in the educational system since the 1990s have encouraged many students to use English along with the national language (Malay) and their ethnic and heritage languages in their mixed discourse.

Overview of chapters The various phenomena of code switching in different communicative contexts are carefully analyzed in this book. The chapters are arranged according to the domains in which code switching occurs – the family, the classroom and in professional settings. All the chapters in this volume make use of authentic data, some from spoken and others from written data. Rather than preface the collection with a separate chapter outlining the sociolinguistic profile of Malaysia and how this favours code switching practices, necessary background information is given in each of the chapters. At the cost of some measure of repetition, this has the benefit of making each chapter autonomous and ‘standalone’, and thus able to be read separately without the need for constant reference back to the sociolinguistic profile. The same reasons motivate the decision to list references separately for each chapter, rather than in a composite reference list covering the whole volume. ix

Code switching is so entrenched in Malaysia so that one can say that it appears to have become a code in its own right. It is logical to begin with studies of code switching in the home domain. Maya Khemlani David, Kuang Ching Hei, James McLellan and Fatimah Hashim in the chapter entitled “Functions of code switching in the family domain in Malaysia” examine the code switching that occurs in Malay, Chinese and Indian homes in Malaysia and analyse the reasons for the use of a mixed code in the family domain. Numerous examples of real time code-switched discourse using the range of languages in multilingual Malaysia are provided, to support the many functional uses of a mixed code. Focussing more specifically on children and their use of code switching for specific functions, Jariah Mohd. Jan, in her chapter entitled “Code switching for power wielding: Children’s discourse in a Malay family”, argues that code switching is used for wielding power. Children manipulate their two languages, i.e. Malay and English, to gain control of the conversation when they want something, for instance access to the Internet so they can play games. The children code switch in negotiating the language for the interaction and accommodate to each other’s language competences as well as preferences. In the chapter by James McLellan and Rosalind Nojeg, the focus switches across the South China Sea to Sarawak in East Malaysia, where the greater ethnic diversity leads to a higher propensity for code switching. Their focus is on patterns of lexical choice and 3-way code switching involving Bidayuh, Malay and English in spoken and written communication in a Bidayuh family. Maya Khemlani David and Caesar Dealwis further explore code switching in the East Malaysian setting by examining the patterns of language choice, code switching and language shift of the small Telegu community in Kuching, Sarawak. Code switching for power wielding does not only occur in the home domain: it occurs in the educational domain too. Code switching in the classroom setting is explored by Kamisah Ariffin who provides examples of the functional use of code switching and negotiation of language choices between teacher and students in a classroom setting in a tertiary institution. In “Language choices of Malaysian youth in and out of the classroom”, Maya Khemlani David and Lim Chin Chye discuss the ramifications of the use of a mixed code for social interaction between young people of different ethnicities. One of the original aspects of this study is the extension of the notion of code switching to include alternating between different varieties of English: standard English for classroom interaction where the teacher is a participant, and Malaysian English, which tends to be more code-mixed, for peer-to-peer informal interaction. Code switching is not only found in the school context. Inevitably, as Malaysian youths advance into tertiary education, they take with them the use of the mixed code to the new environment. Focusing on Tamil undergraduates Paramasivam x

Muthusamy and Rajantheran Muniandy identify the various communicative functions of code switching and find that code switching occurs both in formal (classroom teaching) and informal (classroom discussion) contexts. Tamil undergraduates frequently use Tamil as the matrix language in formal discussions, while English, although still functioning as the embedded language, becomes more prominent in informal discussions. Karen Kow Yip Cheng makes a case for code switching as a pedagogical strategy in teaching English in Malaysia and discusses a number of related studies which have shown the pedagogical utility of such a mixed discourse in the language classroom. She raises an issue which is highly salient in ongoing debates about medium-of-education issues in Malaysia, and concludes by making the pertinent suggestion that Malaysian classroom discourse practices should reflect more closely the multilingual realities outside the classroom in which teachers and students live their daily lives. As well as in the family and the educational domain, it is inevitable that Malaysians will carry over this mixed code to their working lives. The occurrence of code switching between interlocutors also occurs in Malaysian courtrooms. Richard Powell explores and discusses language alternation in this setting and reveals that code switching and code mixing are some of the common features in courtroom interactions not only in Malaysia but also in other African and Asian legal systems, most notably Botswana. Powell’s chapter shows how insights into the uniqueness of Malaysian code switching and language alternation patterns in this professional domain can be gained through adopting an international comparative perspective. Focussing on the discourse of a residential home for the aged, Maya Khemlani David and David Yoong Soon Chye examine the interaction between the elders and their caregivers. The study discloses that caregivers converge or diverge their code or even use a mixed code depending on their goals. They argue that in multilingual settings the use of a mixed discourse is a manifestation of accommodating to different speech communities and is essential for solidarity and for being understood when communicating with inmates who enjoy differing levels of proficiency in different languages. Code switching in written communication has also become common nowadays. It can be seen not only online in emails, blogs and chatrooms. but it also appears in speeches, articles, letters and newspapers. Moving from spoken to written discourse, Hadina Habil and Shameem Rafik-Galea examine code switching in e-mails. Based on a sample of more than 150 email messages from two Malaysian organizations, the study reveals that code switching frequently occurs to fulfil various functions which have already been noted in the home and school domains. These include solidarity, understanding, empowering and establishing rapport. xi

Maya Khemlani David, James McLellan, Kuang Ching Hei and Ain Nadzimah Abdullah examine the code switching practices found in Malaysian newspaper headlines. The corpus of code-mixed headlines suggests that words from a plurality of local languages (mainly Malay, with some Chinese and Tamil) are widely used in headlines appearing in and New Straits Times newspapers, and the comparison between 1957 and 2007 suggests that the practice has become more frequent over the years. These examples demonstrate how English is being ‘nativized’, and how ownership of the English language is being reclaimed by multilingual Malaysians. In the final chapter James McLellan describes the processes of compartmentalization of English that occurs in the speeches of Malaysian political leaders and in articles and letters appearing in the Malay and English print and electronic media. The compartmentalization of English occurs in contexts where there is an emotional and nationalistic attachment to the Malay language, and has both linguistic and sociolinguistic manifestations, the latter being evident in processes of “elite closure” in policymaking decisions which affect access to English by Malaysians. Summary Code switching in Malaysia is likely to occur in both formal and informal domains, wherever communication takes place. Code switching in this volume is seen to start in the family, move on to the educational domain, and is also prevalent in workplace and professional domains. It is manifestly clear that code switching in multilingual Malaysia has become an entrenched code, and like any other languaging practice performs a broad range of functions. It must be appreciated as a social tool in a country with so many ethnic groups and languages. We are aware that the chapters in this collection barely begin to address the many linguistic and sociolinguistic issues in this broad field, and we very much hope that there will be a “Code Switching in Malaysia: Volume II” published in the not-too-distant future.

Dedication This volume is dedicated to the memory of the late Professor Rodolfo Jacobson (1915-2006), a world leader in code switching and language alternation research, who was a major influence on many of the contributors. In this collection we attempt to honour his legacy and continue the research strands which he established and developed during the time he spent in Malaysia. Rodolfo Jacobson is acknowledged by another of the world’s leading code switching researchers, Carol Myers Scotton, as the originator of the important distinction between the matrix language, which provides the grammatical frame xii in code-mixed text, and the embedded language, which supplies lexical content (Myers Scotton, 1993, p. 20). Our efforts may not match Rodolfo Jacobson’s in terms of scholarship and insight, but we fondly recall his willingness to share his breadth of knowledge and to spend time with younger researchers, offering them support and encouragement, right up to his final departure from Malaysia early in 2006, shortly before his passing.

References

David, M.K. (2003). Role and function of code switching in Malaysian courtrooms. Multilingua 22 (1): 5-20. David, M.K., & Govindasamy, S. (2005). Negotiating a language policy for Malaysia: Local demand for affirmative action versus challenges from globalization. In A.S. Canagarajah (Ed.), Reclaiming the local in language policy and practice, (pp. 123- 145). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Gumperz, J. (1982). Discourse strategies. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Heller, M. (1988) Code switching: Anthropological and sociolinguistic perspectives. New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Nilep, C. (2006). “Code switching” in sociocultural linguistics. Colorado Research in Linguistics 19 (1), 1-22. Retrieved August 27, 2008, from http://www.colorado.edu/ling/CRIL/Volume19_Issue1/paper_NILEP.p df Meyerhoff, M. (2006). Introducing Sociolinguistics. London: Routledge. Myers Scotton, C. (1993). Duelling languages: Grammatical structure in code switching. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. Romaine, S. (2000) Language in society: An introduction to sociolinguistics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press Saville-Troike, M. (2003) The ethnography of communication: An introduction. New York: Blackwell Publishing.

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Editors’ notes

As general editorial policy for this volume we write the terms “code switching” and “code mixing” as two words, without a hyphen except when used verbally (“to code-switch”) or adjectivally (e.g. “code-mixed texts”). We recognize that such terminological issues are fraught with difficulty and disagreement, and we seek to respect the usage of other researchers in the field when citing their work and listing references. Transcription conventions are the prerogative of individual chapter authors, and are specified as required in the chapters.

Appendix

Publications of Rodolfo Jacobson on code switching in Malaysia

Jacobson, R. (1993). Penyatuan dan kontras dalam alternasi antara dua bahasa yang berbeza dari segi genetic: Penukaran kod Bahasa Melayu- Inggeris. Jurnal Dewan Bahasa, Mei 1993, 399-427. Jacobson, R. (1996). In search of the deeper message: Code switching rationales of Mexican-Americans and Malaysians. In M. Hellinger & U. Ammon (Eds.), Contrastive Sociolinguistics. Contributions to the Sociology of Language 71, (pp.77-102). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Jacobson, R. (1998). Conveying a broader message through bilingual discourse: An attempt at contrastive code switching research. In R. Jacobson (Ed.), Code switching worldwide (pp. 51-76). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Jacobson, R. (2001a). Language alternation: The third kind of code switching mechanism. In R. Jacobson (Ed.), Code switching worldwide II, (pp. 59- 76). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Jacobson, R. (2001b). Aspects of scholarly language use in Malaysia: Switching codes in formal settings. In U. Ammon (Ed.), The dominance of English as a language of science in the non-English communities, (pp. 177- 192). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

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Notes about the contributors

Ain Nadzimah Abdullah teaches at Universiti Putra Malaysia. Her research interest is primarily in language planning and policy, but she has also worked on bilingualism and language choice. A long-standing focus has been the diglossic relationship between Malay and English in Malaysia.

Caesar Dealwis teaches at MARA University of Technology in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. He holds a B.A (Hons) in English and a Masters degree in English as a Second Language from the . Currently, he is completing his doctorate in sociolinguistics in the same university. His research interest is in language choice, maintenance and shift of minority groups in East Malaysia. [email protected]

David Yoong Soon Chye is currently reading his Doctorate at La Trobe University, Australia. Amongst his research interests are critical discourse analysis, issues in human rights, sociology, musicology and photography. He can be reached at [email protected].

Fatimah Hashim is a Professor at the Dept of Language and Literacy Education, Fac of Education, Univ of Malaya. She teaches TESL methodology and bilingual education courses at graduate level. She has conducted research, presented papers on ESL and ESP at both national and international conferences, and written articles and books on second language policies as well as practice. [email protected].,

Hadina Habil, Ph.D, is an Associate Professor attached to the Modern Languages Department, Faculty of Management and Human Resource Development, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, . Her research interests are in the area of English for Specific Purposes, Business Communication and Computer Mediated Communication and she has published papers in these areas.

James McLellan is a lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand . He worked at Universiti Brunei Darussalam from 1989-2002. He holds a PhD from Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia. His research interests include Malay-English code switching, Language Maintenance and Shift in Borneo, and South-East Asian varieties of English. Email: [email protected]

Jariah Mohd. Jan is a Professor in the Department of English at the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics and Deputy Executive Director at the Asia-Europe xv

Institute, University of Malaya. She holds a PhD in Sociolinguistics and she teaches in the areas of language and gender, pragmatics and semiotics. Her research interests are interdisciplinary, centring on feminist linguistics and emphasizing the importance of language in understanding social processes. Her main research interests are gender and power issues in language, discourse and society, language and cognition, and literacy and literature in ESL.

Kamisah Ariffin is a lecturer in the Academy of Language Studies of Universiti Teknologi MARA Pahang. She holds a TESOL (Hons) Degree from the University of Southampton, UK and an MA (English) from Universiti Putra Malaysia. She has over 15 years of teaching experience and is currently the Coordinator of UPENA (the university’s publication unit) of UiTM Pahang. Her research interests include cross-cultural communication, language choice and ESP. At present, she is conducting research on language choice and use in Malaysian public organisations.

Karen Kow Yip Cheng is the Deputy Dean (Postgraduate & Research) in the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, University of Malaya. She holds a B.A. in English Literature, a Masters Degree in Linguistics and a Ph. D in the area of Child Language. She has published in the areas of Child Language, Gender, and Bilingualism. ([email protected][1])

Dr Kuang Ching Hei is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, University of Malaya. She teaches Public Speaking and Spoken Discourse Analysis and her current interest lies in codeswitching, bilingualism, and language & identity. Her email address is [email protected].

Lim Chin Chye is a teacher educator in a teacher training college . He completed his Masters degree in Linguistics at the University of Malaya , Malaysia in 2007. He can be reached at [email protected].

Prof. Dr. Maya Khemlani David is currenty Head of the Section for Co- Curricular Activities, Elective Courses by Other Faculties and TITAS (SKET), University of Malaya. She has published in reputable journals like the International Journal of the Sociology of Language and Multilingua and has edited, Language and the Power of the Media (2006, Frankfurt, Peter Lang), Language Choices and Discourse of Malaysian Families: Case Studies of Families in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2006, Petaling Jaya, Strategic International and Research Development Centre), and Teaching of English in Second and Foreign Language Settings: Focus on Malaysia (2004, Frankfurt, Peter Lang). She can be contacted at [email protected]. xvi

Paramasivam Muthusamy, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer at the Foreign Language Department, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra, Serdang, Malaysia. He teaches Tamil Language and his research areas include code switching and Tamil diaspora. He has presented papers in both international and local conferences. [email protected]

Rajantheran Muniandy PhD, is a Professor at the Indian Studies Department, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. His research areas include, early cultural relations between India and Southeast Asia; comparative studies on classical Malay and Indian literature and Indian Civilisation and Indian Culture in Malaysia. He is currently conducting a major research project on the Mahabharata tradition in India and Southeast Asia. His publications include A Tamil-Malay-English Dictionary (co-compiler) which has been reprinted six times. [email protected]

Richard Powell is professor of English at Nihon University. He has MAs from Cambridge (history) and Macquarie (linguistics) and an MSc from London (politics), where he obtained the solicitor's qualification. His research interests include forensic linguistics and language planning. He has written books on courtroom code switching and Asian Englishes and articles on East Asian sociolinguistics. He can be contacted at [email protected]

Rosalind Nojeg is a registered nurse at Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand. Her qualifications in nursing and midwifery are from Kuching, Sarawak. As a speaker of Bau-Jagoi Bidayuh, she has an interest in the maintenance of this language, and has collaborated on research studies which have led to publications and conference presentations. Email: [email protected]

Shameem Rafik-Galea (PhD) is an Associate Professor in the Department of English, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Her research interests are in the area of Management Communication, Organisational Business Discourse, English for Specific Purposes and Sociolinguistics. She has published and presented papers in her areas of interest.