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A Study of Patterns of Code-Mixing and Code-Switching Among Nupe

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A Study of Patterns of Code-Mixing and Code-Switching Among Nupe International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume IV, Issue II, February 2020|ISSN 2454-6186 A Study of Patterns of Code-Mixing and Code- Switching Among Nupe-English Bilinguals in Mokwa Town, Niger State, Nigeria YOOSUF, Fatima Niger state College of Agriculture Mokwa, Niger State, Nigeria Abstract: - Language contact has been identified as the prime contact since the users of English then were few and lived cause of bilingualism or multilingualism, hence many societies separately from the indigenes. The other type was in the later and individuals have become bilinguals. Bilingualism results to years of colonization when English and the indigenous or give birth to code-mixing and Code switching. The Nupe languages were interrelating tremendously, partly because of people engage in the practice of the phenomena consciously and the decline in the political, social, as well as the educational subconsciously. Hence, the study investigated the patterns of code mixing and Code switching among Nupe-English bilinguals. influence of the native speakers of English. Again, school To achieve this aim, the data used for the analysis were collected population increased and intimate contact developed between in Mokwa town through the use of tape-recording and the the local linguistic communities and English. Many people process of interview. The methodology employed for data thus became bilingual at varying degrees and this later collection is that of structural analysis of utterances produced in established the social and historical contexts of code mixing different sociolinguistic contexts of natural conversation. The and Code switching (Obafemi & Babatunde 2003). research employs simple random sampling technique and spontaneously recorded speeches from sixty (60) respondents. Some linguists e.g. Clyne (1991) use the term code Then, the tape recorded data were transcribed and the extracts mixing and Code switching more or less interchangeably. from the transcribed texts were analyzed based on the matrix Especially in formal studies of syntax, morphology, etc, both language frame model which holds that in bilingual code mixing terms are used to refer to utterances that draw from elements one of the speaker’s two languages can be considered his or her of two or more grammatical systems (Auer, 2009). The first or dominant language in relation to the other. The study contrast between code mixing and Code switching can be concluded that switching in Nupe-English Code switching highlighted thus: grammars are possible along morphemes, words phrases, clauses, and sentence boundaries. The paper recommended Code mixing and code switching are sociolinguistic among other things that, The English language and the phenomena which occur as an outcome of linguistic contacts indigenous languages like Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba & Nupe should especially among bilinguals and multilinguals. Code be put on equal footing and their roles should be explicitly stated so as to ensure that indigenous languages are no more de- switching is a communicative strategy utilized by bilingual emphasized. speakers to achieve certain communicative intent. Code switching refers to the movement by a speaker to and forth I. INTRODUCTION from one linguistic code to another. According to Hoffman nglish is an official language in Nigeria, as is the case in (1991, p. 110), the term “Code switching” refers to “the alternate use of two or more languages within the same E other English-speaking countries in the West African coast like Ghana, Liberia and Gambia (Banjo, 1989). Many utterance or during the same conversation”. This suggests that scholars have undertaken studies on language in contact and code mixing is the change of one language to another within their significance in Nigeria. Such studies have addressed the the same utterance or in the same oral/written text. It is a issue of forms or varieties of English that have emerged in common phenomenon in societies in which two or more Nigeria. Many bilinguals and multi-linguals in Nigeria often languages are used. Studies of code mixing enhance our understanding of the nature, processes and constraints of code-switch and code-mix their indigenous languages with the English Language in their conversation. This is a typical language and of the relationship between language use and example of what happens in language contact situation, individual values, communicative strategies, language especially since the point of contact in such cases is the attitudes and functions within particular socio-cultural bilingual individual who usually engages in language contexts. switching and mixing (Amuda 1986, Ofuya 1978 &Scotton Code mixing simply refers to the random alternation 1982). of two languages within a sentence. Pfaff (1983) says this In Nigeria, the contact between the indigenous language behavior is governed by linguistic and languages and English can beviewed historically from two sociolinguistic factors. Banjo (1983) calls it language mixing perspectives (Banjo, 1989). The first was a minimal type of and that it occurs in a sentence made of element of language www.rsisinternational.org Page 229 International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume IV, Issue II, February 2020|ISSN 2454-6186 A and language B. According to Hammers and Blanc (1989), Example, O biara because a choromichuyan’oru. (He code mixing is unlike Code switching which to them is as a came because I wanted to sack him from work). result of language incompetence. Bentahila and Davies (1983) d) Intra-word switching is switching within a word itself, also say it is the ability to choose one or the other of a such as at a morpheme boundary. Example, God is bilingual‟s two languages in a particular situation, they also imirimious (imirimi in Igbo means mysterious, deep or argued that the nature of the interlocutor, topic, setting and complex but the suffix „ous‟ is English and helps in purpose determine the choice of the code. Ayodele and giving the word imirimian English status). Adeniyi (1990) perceive it as the mixing of two languages or codes in a discourse. That the bilingual may incorporate in his From the above disposition it could be deduced that discourse, some grammatical elements in the second language Code mixing and Code switching are linguistic phenomena even while basically using the first language or vice-versa for that have attracted a lot of interest within the linguistic cycle. example, “in fact naganyaronjiya” (Hausa) i.e in fact I saw the Despite the fact that various studies have been carried out on boy yesterday. this linguistic issue, yet to the best of the researchers‟ knowledge there is hardly any work that considered code Code switching can be said to be a verbal skill mixing and Code switching among Nupe-English bilinguals. requiring a large degree of linguistic competence in both Hence, the raison d‟être for the present study. languages. Besides, it is also a device or strategy used to convey both social information and stylistic purpose. It also Theoretical Framework has something to offer to language use in bilingualism This work uses the socio-linguistic model called (Stephens, 1983). Beside, code mixing is a speech act in matrix model developed by Myers-Scotton (1993). The model which the utterances contain element of language A and B. recognises that in the bilingual code mixing, one of the two Code switching according to Banjo (1983) is a phenomenon in languages of the speaker can be considered his or her first or which in speech events interlocutors make utterances sometimes in language A and sometimes in language B. dominant language in relation to the other. The dominant According to him, syntactically Code switching occurs in a language then functions as the matrix language (Chan, 1998, p. 199). The matrix language is sometimes called the Host discourse which is made up of sentences of language A as Code and the Embedded language the Guest Code (Chan, well as sentences of language B. 1998, p. 199).In this work the Nupe language is the Host Code The practice is individually based and emerges from because it is the dominant language while English is the Guest interactions. Muysken (2000:1) offers another distinction of Code. the terms, noting that Code switching is “the rapid succession of several languages in a single speech event”, Aim and Objectives of the Study while code mixing refers to “all cases where lexical items and The research was set out to achieve the following objectives grammatical features from two languages appear in one which are to: sentence.” Faltis (1989)code mixing is the intra-sentential switching whereas, Code switching is the inter-sentential a) Identify the various patterns of code mixing and switching. He notes that language contacts are the outcome of Code switching among Nupe-English bilinguals in increased social interaction between people of different Mokwa town; and linguistic culture, who are living as neighbors; and it is b) Examine the frequency of code mixing and Code usually initiated by the assumed prestigious and powerful switching among Nupe-English bilinguals. languages. Research Questions In a related study, Ngozi (2014) classifies switching The following questions are pertinent in line with the above into four major types. These are: objectives: a) Inter-sentential switching which is switching outside the a) What are various patterns of code mixing and Code sentence or clause level, for example at sentence or clause switching identifiable among Nupe-English boundaries. Example, He came here because akporo m bilinguals in Mokwa town? yanafomu. (He came because I called him on phone). b) What is the frequency of code mixing and Code b) Intra-sentential switching which is switching within a switching delineated among Nupe-English bilinguals sentence or a clause. Example, please, biko, call him with respect to the languages code-switched and („biko‟ is „please‟ in Igbo). code-mixed? c) Tag-switching: this type of switching happens when one II.
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