CODE SWITCHING AMONG BENGALI-ENGLISH BILINGUALS
BY SHILA BAKSI, B.A. Honors, M.A. A THESIS IN LINGUISTICS
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS
Approved
August, 1983 1^\l' ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author wishes to express her indebtedness and sincere appreciation to Professor Nancy P. Hickerson for her guidance, advice
and encouragement during the course of the research and in preparation
of this thesis.
Appreciation is also due to Professor Marianne Cooley, Coor
dinator of Linguistic and Semiotic Studies, for her advice and suggest
ions as Graduate Advisor.
Thanks are also due to Dr. Dipak K. Dey, Department of Mathe matics (Statistics),for his suggestions concerning the statistical
analysis of the data.
The author is grateful to the members of the Bengali community
of Lubbock, who generously allowed her to interview them and took time
to fill out the questionnaire. This thesis could not have been written
without their active help and cooperation.
Appreciation and thanks also go to my husband Samar, who shared
so intimately all the joys and sorrows during my study. He provided me
hours of peace and quiet by babysitting our two-and-a -half-year-old son
Subir and ten-year-old son Samudra. Appreciation and affection are also
due to our sons for their help by agreeing to stay with Daddy during the evenings and weekends.
Last but not the least the author expresses her gratitude and respect to her late grandmother who died in India during the course of this study. ii CONTENTS Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS iv LIST OF TABLES v I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. BENGAL AND THE BENGALI LANGUAGE 4 III. ARRIVAL OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN BENGAL 8 IV. THE POSITION OF BENGALI AND ENGLISH IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGE FAMILY 11 Development of the Bengali Language 12 Development of the English Language 16 V. THE BENGALI COMMUNITY IN THE UNITED STATES 22 VI. CODE SWITCHING AND BILINGUALISM 28 VII. THE QUESTIONNAIRE 35 VIII. THE INTERVIEW 38 IX. THE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF DATA 40 Statistical Procedures 40 Data 41 X. INFORMAL OBSERVATIONS 59 Code Switching in Two and Half Year Old Boy 59 Code Switching Among Adults in Group Discussion ... 61 XI. DISCUSSION '64 XII. CONCLUSIONS 70 LIST OF REFERENCES 73 APPENDICES 79 A. Glossary 79 B. Transcriptions 82 C. Questionnaires I, II, III 87 m LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. The branches and the relationship of the languages descended from Indo-European Language Family 13 2. Origin and the development of Bengali language 17 3. Origin and the development of English language 21
IV LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Summary of personal data of thirty-three respondents. . . 42
2. Summary of educational and professional data of adults 43 3. Summary of linguistic data of adults 44
4. Relationship between topic of conversation and the number of sentences used by adult males 46 5. Relationship between topic of conversation and the number of words used by adult males 47 6. Relationship between topic of conversation and the number of sentences used by adult females 49 7. Relationship between topic of conversation and the number of words used by adult females 50 8. Difference between males and females in the use of sentences and words in Bengali, related to topic of conversation 51
9. Relationship between various linguistic backgrounds and the number of sentences used by adult males 52 10. Relationship between various linguistic backgrounds and the number of words used by adult males 53 11. Relationship between various linguistic backgrounds and the number of sentences used by adult females ... 55 12. Relationship between various linguistic backgrounds and the number of words used by adult females 56 13. Relationship between topic of conversation and the number of sentences used by children 57 14. Relationship between topic of conversation and the number of words used by children 58 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
Linguistic investigations have revealed that a single style speaker is uncommon. Both monolinguals and bilinguals select a var iety of styles that complement a range of different functions. Monolinguals select among different styles in the same language; bilinguals, on the other hand, are able to select different styles as well as different languages (Gal, 1979). This selection among different styles and languages is collectively called Code Switching (Zentella, 1977). Code switching has been defined in various ways by different investigators. Huerta (1977) excludes borrowing from her definition of code switching. Gumperz and Hernandez-Chaves (1978) exclude expressions such as "uh," "you know," together with loan words, from code switching. Pfaff (1976) on the other hand considers all changes of language as code switching. In the present research, which will deal with code switching among Bengali-English bilinguals, Pfaff's definition will be followed: that is, any and all changes in language will be considered instances of code switching. Although many linguistic studies have been conducted on the Bengali language (Cizikova and Ferguson, 1969) little if any research has been done on code switching among Bengali-English bilinguals. Members of the Bengali community in Lubbock have been educated in both English and Bengali in India; many have had additional university education in the United States, and most of them use English exten sively outside their homes. As a member of this small community, the author had the opportunity to study the use of both languages in conversation, that is, in interaction between Bengali-speaking indi viduals. Although the present group is small, the study may reveal a pattern of use of both languages typical of the larger Bengali- English bilingual communities scattered throughout the United States. Beyond this, the results obtained may be applicable to bilinguals in general.
The present research was designed to focus on a selected num ber of socially defined variables, and to test the relationship of these variables to the choices speakers make in their use of the Ben gali, English, or a combination of the Bengali and English languages. Speakers were found to switch freely in their choice of Bengali or English sentences, and often included words or phrases from one lan guage in sentences formed in the other. To what extent are these choices conditioned by the topic of conversation? the sex of the speaker? the speaker's age? his occupation? Do they reflect or are they influenced by the speaker's childhood linguistic background? his language of primary, secondary or advanced education? his present home language? How do the language choices of children born in the United States compare with those of their parents?
In an attempt to find answers to these questions, personal biographical information was gathered in the form of a questionnaire. In addition, each of the participants was asked a number of questions in Bengali, and their spontaneous verbal responses were recorded on tapes. In some instances group conversations in social gatherings were also recorded. The data were then analyzed, using statistical procedures where applicable. CHAPTER II
BENGAL AND THE BENGALI LANGUAGE
The name "Bengal" is derived from the ancient land of "Vanga" or "Banga" from which "Bangalah" or "Bangla" originated. The Persian- speaking Moslems used to call Bengali "zaban-i-Bangalah" and the Por tuguese "idioma Bengal la." The term Gauda was also used to refer to present day west and north central Bengal before the Muslim invasion in the thirteenth century (Sen, 1971).
Bengal formed part of most of the early empires that control led northern India. In 1947 Bengal was divided into East Bengal which became part of Pakistan (East Pakistan) and West Bengal which formed a state in the Republic of India. East Pakistan separated from Pakistan in 1971 as an independent country and called itself
Bangladesh--the Bengali nation.
A definite and separate history of Bengal is not known until the time of the Gupta dynasty in the fourth century A.D. The poet
Kalidasa at the end of the fourth century mentions Bengal (Vanga) in his "Raghu-vansa." After the Guptas, Bengal became completely united to Northern or Aryan India. By the time Fa Hi en, the Chinese travel ler-scholar, visited Bengal in the beginning of the fifth century
A.D., Aryan language and culture was flourishing in Bengal, at least in the western and northern parts. Fa Hien tells us that he spent two years in Tamralipti (present day Tamluk in West Bengal) copying manuscripts. Hiuen Tsang, another Chinese scholar, who visited Bengal two centuries later, mentions the name Pundra-vardhana (north central Bengal) as being heavily populated by men of learning. He also travelled to Sama-tata (east Bengal), Karna-suvarna (present day Kan- sona in Murshidabad district in west Bengal) and Tamralipti (Chatterji, 1970).
Bengal is a flat alluvial plain bounded on the north by the Himalayas and on the south by the Bay of Bengal. It encompasses the deltas of the two great rivers Ganga (Ganges) and Brahma-putra which empty into the sea through a series of tributaries. It has a monsoon climate with adequate and reliable rainfall. Much of the land is very fertile. Everywhere the rivers and their tributaries have shaped the pattern of human activity from time immemorial. The staple diet of the inhabitants consists of fresh water fish and rice, and the main cash crop is jute. In the Mughal documents, Bengal was conventionally described as "the paradise of the earth." Francois Bernier, a French traveller in the eighteenth century, thought Bengal even more beauti ful than Egypt. For many centuries a large volume of trade passed between Bengal and other parts of Asia, either by sea or overland. In the sixteenth century, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to enter the trade. From the middle of the seventeenth century, Dutch and English ships began to visit Bengal ports regularly. By the end of the century, the French and Danish followed (Marshall, 1976).
Bengali is the national language of Bangladesh and the state language in the states of West Bengal and Tripura in India. The National anthems of both India and Bangladesh are in the Bengali lan guage.
Bengali is spoken by more than 150 million people in Bangla desh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura. A sizeable number of Bengali-speaking people have migrated to other states of India and many other countries throughout the world. Bengali is prob ably the fifth largest spoken language in the world.
Bengali has two distinct dialects: Sadhu-Bhasa, the literary language whose vocabulary is mainly derived from Sanskrit, the ancient classical language of India; and Chalit-Bhasa, the colloquial speech, which has many contracted forms. The Sadhu-Bhasa is unintelligible to the uneducated. Chalit-Bhasa is spoken by the educated Bengalis as well as by the common people and is based on the dialect of Calcutta and the surrounding districts. While the literary Bengali is the same all over Bangladesh, there are some dialectal differences in colloquial speech from region to region. The dialects of Sylhet, Noakhali and Chittagong are the most markedly different. The Bengali script is basically derived from the Brahmi alpha bets of Asoka's inscription of the third century B.C., which also gave rise to Devanagari or simply Nagari in which Sanskrit was written later, The earliest surviving specimen of Bengali script is about nine hundred years old (Dasgupta, 1969). Bengali originated from one of the forms of Prakrit in ancient India. The Pala kings of Bengal (750-1162, A.D.), who were Buddhists and whose religious language was Pali, did not inhibit the emergence of a colloquial tongue known as Gaudiya Prakrit, the language from
which Bengali is derived. Prakrit languages (Sanskrit prakrita mean
ing "natural," "usual") represent a departure from the fixed form of
Sanskrit. Prakrits began as vernacular dialects and eventually devel
oped distinct literary styles which were often distinguished by regional
names such as Sauraseni, Magadhi and Maharastri (Emeneau, 1966). From
Prakrits developed Apabhramsa (meaning "decayed" or "corrupt") and
Pali. Prakrit, Pali and Apabhramsa are classified as Middle Indo-
Aryan languages (Banerji, 1977). The modern vernaculars such as Hindi,
Bengali, Oryia, Assamese and others are direct descendants of these
Apabhramsas. Modern Bengali is derived from one of the Apabhramsas of
Magadhi (MacDonnell, 1927; Chatterji, 1970). Bengali contains a fair
number of loan-words from Portuguese (kedara: chair), Arabic-Persian
(kella: fort) and English (pencil) and many other modern Indian lan
guages both Indo-European and Dravidian.
The present spoken Bengali and the language in which modern
Bengali literature is being composed are very similar. The barrier
between Sadhu-Bhasa (the literary language) and Chalit-Bhasa (the
colloquial speech) is gradually disappearing among the educated Ben
galis. HalIiday et al. (1964) have also suggested that similarity
between spoken and written language is common to many modern languages,
differing from English, where written and spoken forms are quite dif
ferent both in grammar and lexis. Dimock (1960) has reported similar
trends in literary and colloquial Bengali. CHAPTER III ARRIVAL OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN BENGAL
The British came to India and Bengal as merchants. Regular contact with Bengal began in 1630, after the Mughal authorities had stopped the province's seaborne trade with the Portuguese (Kahn, 1969). It is customary to trace the roots of English on the Indian subcontin ent to December 31, 1600, when Queen Elizabeth granted a charter to a few merchants of the City of London giving them a monopoly of trade with India (Kachru, 1969). The East India Company gradually took con trol of the province of Bengal. By 1818 the British had consolidated power throughout India either by treaties or by direct military inter vention. From 1773 to 1912 Calcutta served as the capital of British India.
Before 1784 the British were a miniscule element in Bengal's vast population. They lived in tiny enclaves in the great cities and commercial centers of Mughal Bengal such as Murshidabad, Dacca and Kasimbazar. But only in Calcutta, from the beginning of the eighteenth century, did the British presence become noticeable. Calcutta was vir tually the creation of the East India Company after 1690. After the revolt in 1857 against the Company's rule, the East India Company transferred power directly to the Crown, and Queen Victoria was pro claimed the Empress of India in 1858 (Gordon, 1974).
8 The arrival of the English language in Bengal occurred during a particularly advantageous period in history. Raja Rammohun Roy, the most enlightened and patriotic Indian of his generation, preferred
English over other Indian languages for academic, scientific and other international activities (Kachru, 1969), and pleaded with the British authorities for official sponsoring of English education in Bengal.
At the same time, the modern period of the Bengali language was still in the formative stage and was not fully developed. This may have worked in favor of the adoption of English as the language of higher education. Education at the school level was still carried out in
Bengali and other vernacular languages. In addition to all these genuinely valid reasons for the acceptance of the English, it is true that the language at that time was a symbol of British power and most
likely was encouraged by the colonial authorities. By 1835 English had become the official language of higher education.
Thus English was acquired somewhat voluntarily by the young
intelligentsia in Bengal, and later in other parts of India (Broom- field, 1968). Although the orthodox Hindu society of Calcutta was bitterly opposed to Raja Rammohun Roy's vision for social reform and modern education, they were among the sponsors of the first major institution of English learning in India, the Hindu College (1817).
This college later became the nucleus of the University of Calcutta in 1857, and is known today as the Presidency College. Bengal was thus in the forefront of regions which took up the English language readily. The influence of the English language, the accessibility of 10 its literature and, through it, other western literature, was a power ful stimulus for the development of modern Bengali language and liter ature (Kripalani, 1968). Educated Bengalis adopted English as a second medium of communication. When India became independent in 1947, Hindi, one of the major languages of India, became the official lan guage, but English remains in official use as well. It is without doubt that English is the dominant medium in business, publishing, and higher education, and is likely to retain this position for a long time to come. However, it is estimated that less than seven percent of the population can use it (Ray, 1962). In spite of its overall importance, English rarely became the first medium of expression of Indians living in India. Less than half a million out of a total of 680 million persons in India use English as their first language, and the majority of these are Anglo-Indians (Lockwood, 1972). English is, however, the second language of approximately twenty million people in India (Apte, 1977). CHAPTER IV THE POSITION OF BENGALI AND ENGLISH IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGE FAMILY
Both Bengali and English are classified as members of the Indo-European family of languages. The Indo-European languages are so called because they have a common origin. The term was used orig inally in reference to the geographical location of the languages in question, i.e., stretching from India to Europe. Comparative and his torical studies indicate that Indo-European speech was introduced to India from the west and that the earliest home of this family of lan guages was probably located in central or eastern Europe (Lockwood, 1972). Primitive Indo-European, an unwritten language, is presumed to have existed as the precursor of closely connected dialects around the third millennium B.C. As a result of the migration of their speak ers in the remote past, these dialects differentiated and evolved into separate languages. Eventually, the differences among them became so great that original relationship of the languages in question was no longer apparent. In 1786 the existence of such a language was sugges ted by Sir William Jones (Jones, 1786). Jones's startling discovery that Sanskrit, the classical language of India, possessed elements of basic vocabulary and grammatical structure directly comparable to Latin and Greek, gave birth to the discipline of comparative philology. Although Sir William Jones is credited with guiding philology in the
11 12 correct direction, some other Europeans as early as the sixteenth century had noticed similarities between Sanskrit and Latin and Greek, e.g., Skt. danam "gift"; devas "god"; janu "knee"; madhyas "middle"; vidhava "widow" with Lat. donum, deus, genu, medius, vidua. In grammar, the present tense of the verb "to be": Sg 1 asmi, 2 asi, 3 asti. PI 1 smas, 2 stha, 3 santi, correspond to Lat. sum, es, est, sumus, estis, and sunt (Lockwood, 1969).
The family of Indo-European languages is generally divided into ten main branches (Figure 1).
Development of the Bengali Language It is now accepted by scholars unanimously that the Indo-Aryan branch, a subdivision of Indo-Iranian language group entered India along with the "Aryans," who came to India from the northwest via Iran. These Aryans probably spoke several closely related dialects. There are many similarities between Indo-Aryan and Old Iranian or Avestan (Meillet, 1967). The earliest extant example of one such Indo-Aryan dialect is embodied in the Rigveda, composed around 1200-1300 B.C. This dialect is called Vedic, because the Vedas were composed in this form. Vedic is followed by Classical Sanskrit, which is morphologic ally somewhat simpler than Vedic. Classical Sanskrit is still a highly synthetic language; its forms are recorded in a grammatical treatise attributed to Panini in the fifth century B.C. This codified language remained, however, the most useful literary medium down to recent times.
The relationship between Classical Sanskrit and the Vedic dia lect of the Rigveda is important in the study of dialects during this 13 to -M O c <. en (u •—t »—t a»- to ro lA o c 3 T- n3 ro ^ to •r- in RA N 00 c 1—1 — Q -a ro O _l > i-i o •r- ro DO - ia n •u c C cn 4- 7Z in ro t—» O
O O -C CJ •I- o =J -C +-> c .^ > .4-> Q to ro ro O -r- "r- I— S- r— co a> C o S- -o (C Q. u E O) to s- (U -I— 0) x: c CD C 4-> ro O -r- ro •r- -o E "O ro to c: cn 3: ro CD CO to ro C >—1 Z3 in a> UJ _J OL 4-> CQ CD CD
The Vedic and Classical Sanskrit are also known as Old Indie, whereas Prakrits may be termed as Middle Indie. Even the earliest Prakrits have a relatively advanced phonology but the grammatical structure, especially, of the older Prakrit is still faithful to the inherited Indo-European type (Chatterji, 1970). These popular spoken dialects evolved further and further away from codified Sanskrit. Old Prakrit, which is represented in various forms in.Asoka's inscrip tions from the middle of the third century B.C., covered a vast area of India. It is, however, doubtful that at this time Bengal was under the influence of the Aryan language (Chatterji, 1970). Old Prakrit is also found in the works of the dramatist Ashvaghosa in 100 B.C. A number of Middle Prakrits are found in literary texts from the second century A.D. onward. Maharastri, the language of Maharastra in the west was the medium of lyric and poetry; Sauraseni, the dialect of Saurasena in north central is represented in Sanskrit drama, where noble men converse in that tongue but their consorts and children speak Sauraseni. Magadhi, the speech of Magdha in eastern India, is similarly used in Sanskrit drama. Finally, several late Prakrits collectively known as Apabhramsa also appear in Sanskrit drama in the later period. 16 Between the eighth and eleventh centuries A.D. the local forms of Magadhi Apabhramsa were in a formative of "fluid" state. This may roughly be called a period for Proto-Bengali, Proto-Maithili, Proto- Oryia and many others.
By the thirteenth century A.D. the Magadhi Apabhramsa had widely separated into Bengali, Maithili, Oryia and other fully devel oped languages, each with its own chracteristics and no longer to be considered mere dialects of a common Magadhi. In its phonetics and its forms Oryia is the most conservative of Magaghan languages, while Bengali is the most advanced or fartherest removed (Chatterji, 1970). Out of the large number of forms, both dialectal and archaic, which prevailed in the Middle Bengali Period (1300-1800 A.D.) a stan dard language was evolving. Literary Bengali prose during the nine teenth century was based on the speech of the fourteenth-fifteenth centuries and was adopted as the language of ordiTiary prose composi tion. Thus modern Bengali prose has a vocabulary which is highly Sanskritized and a form which belongs to Middle Bengali. The origin and the development of Bengali language is summarized in Figure 2.
Development of the English Language English is derived from the Germanic branch of the Indo-Eur opean Language family. The Continental home of English was north of the area in which Low German developed. English and Frisian share certain features not found elsewhere in the Germanic group to such an extent that scholars regard them as developments of a relatively 17 in 4-> i~ a J^ 0) to r— c rc-- ro •r- • CO Q CJ • r"— >,CQ ro S- O ro O •1— i~ O in (U to to +J—' ro o
ro cn ro
0 0 ro 00 cn t-H c 1 «—» cu 0 CQ CJ ^—^ 0 1 • CO tK CQ Q f—i 0 O • V ^ 0 O
CQ O cn O o •r- CQ o o s- I o o o o O ro t—l o O I I CVJ o in o ••- o C\J •—t x: fO to —'"O O) to (O S- +-> CD ro Z3 •4-> to O s- •I— fO o cn O) s- 2: E rO -i^ — ro ro ro S- S- x: Q_ X3 ro CU
ern branch of Germanic (Pyles, 1971).
English began its separate existence as a form of Germanic brought in 449 A.D. by warrior-adventurers from the Continent to the then relatively obscure island which the Romans called Britannia. In
the next five centuries or so it was to develop into an independent
language different from any Germanic language spoken on the Continent.
Much of the native Celtic-speaking population which survived within
the area of conquest appears to have been quickly assimilated. Around
the beginning of the seventh century the period of mass migration was virtually over, but Celtic continued to retreat.
The country became known as Engl aland "Land of the Angles," and the native language was referred to as "Englisc" (Lockwood, 1972).
Nowadays the language is often called "Anglo-Saxon," a term coined in
the eighteenth century; however, most scholars prefer the term Old
English.- The Old English Period is generally classified as between
449 and 1100 A.D. (Pyles, 1971).
Before the invasion of the Germanic tribes whom the Romans called Saxons, Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 B.C. The subse quent occupation made Britain, i.e. Britannia, a part of the Roman
Empire. Celtic-speaking people had been in Britain for many centuries before the Roman invasion.
The first records of English are names of persons and places from the seventh century. Until the tenth century, continuous texts do not appear frequently. In general, the language has four main 19 dialects named after old tribal divisions: Kentish in the Jutish set tlement, Saxon over the rest of the south, Mercian and Northumbrian which are together called Anglian. Modern Standard English is in large part a descendant of the Mercian speech, whereas the best known dialect of Old English is Saxon. Old English was little affected by Celtic. After the Viking raids in the late eighth century, a new element was introduced from Scandinavia. It was during this period that large numbers of Scandinavian words passed into English (Pyles, 1971). The Norman Conquest in 1066, also had consequences for the development of English. The language of the new rulers was French, which became the leading medium of the upper class and remained so until the fourteenth century. The Old English literary tradition was neglected, with the result that when English again came to be written extensively, in the thirteenth century, the Gallic influence was quite important. English has also borrowed large numbers of words from Latin and Greek, often via French.
During the Middle Period (1100-1500) English continued to encroach slowly on Celtic. The changes in the language which occurred during this transitional period are noticeable in every aspect of the language: in its sounds, in grammatical structure, in the meaning of the words and in the nature of its word stock, where many Old English words were replaced by French words. The linguistic influence of the City of London has been quite significant since the fourteenth century. It has exerted a strong standardizing influence on the development of modern English. In the 20 fifteenth century English underwent greater, more important phonologi cal changes than at any other time (Barber, 1976).
English has a large number of loan-words from Arabic, Sanskrit, Prakrit and modern Indo-Aryan languages in addition to well known large vocabulary of borrowings from Latin, Greek, High and Low German, Scan dinavian and other European languages both old and new. The Arabic definite article "al" is retained in one form or another in almanac, alchemy, alkali, etc. Other common loan-words from Arabic are admiral, assassin, magazine, and caliber (Pyles, 1971). From Sanskrit, English has borrowed many words such as yoga, pundit, swastika, etc. and from modern Indo-Aryan languages bandanna, bungalow, nabob, pajama, jugger naut, jungle, shampoo etc. It is also certain that Western-language terms for rice (Italian: riso, Latin: oryza, Greek: orysa) and ginger (Italian: zensero, German: ingwer, Greek: zingiberis) are loan-words from Old Tamil arici and inciver respectively. Tamil is a non Indo- European language of the Dravidian family, spoken in the southern part of India.
The origin and development of the English language is summar ized in Figure 3. 21 u •r— -a E ro CU o
to -o cu
CO
o ro •r— cn cu cu CD ro o 13 CD E to ro
x: CU xr to to U_ . E ro CD Q E LU
H- O -M (J in +-> 4-> ro E CU E a. o cn LU E cu CD ro E > S- cu E CU -o - ro CD E cu t. -E CU S- 4-> CD T3 cu E ro o E CD •I— S- o
C^ cu s- :3 E CD ro •r- to x: ^ to x: -p U_--^ •1— '—^ to to • r^ • •r— cu Q "—» CD CD r— • . E . CD
There is no separate record of Bengali immigration to the United States. Immigrants from the Indian sub-continent were grouped together as East Indian, until the national separation of Bangladesh in 1971, after which Bangladeshis are distinguished.
The early imnigrants from India were very few and it is prob able that a handful of them first arrived in 1821 (Thernstrom, 1980). One of the first Bengali to set foot in the United States was very likely the famous spiritual leader, philosopher and reformer Swami Vivekananda, who attended the 1893 World Parliament of Religion in Chicago.
In the early part of the twentieth century many East Indians, mostly from Punjab state and belonging to the Sikh Community, came to Vancouver, British Columbia and some of them migrated south into the United States seeking employment in the lumber mills of Washington State. This provoked a strong reaction from west coast workers, who insulted and harassed them; eventually almost one thousand East Indians were expelled from the lumbering areas of Bellingham and Ever ett, Washington in 1907. Thousands of East Indians, however, worked in the construction of the Western Pacific Railroad in northern Calif ornia from 1908 to 1910. The Asiatic Exclusion League demanded total exclusion, and the popular press warned of a "Hindoo invasion"; the
22 23 government responded by issuing a series of rulings excluding East Indians from employment. The Punjabis then moved into rural areas, taking farm laboring jobs in and around farming towns like Yuba City, Stockton and El Centro in California. Today thousands of descendants of those people still live in these areas.
During the early part of the twentieth century, migration of another smaller group took place, due to political rather than economic conditions. These were northern Indians, some of them Bengali, who were educated men looking for technical, political or military train ing, or escaping British repression brought about by their nationalist political activities. Among them were one of the famous political leaders of India, Jay Prakash Narayan, and the revolutionary leader M. N. Roy, who was a Bengali. Some East Indian students at the Uni versity of Washington in Seattle and the University of California at Berkley formed an organization to help other Indians during this period. The Modern Review, an English language magazine published in Calcutta, urged students to leave India and encouraged dissenters to go to the United States where they could speak and act freely.
Legal and social discrimination thus helped to bring together the educated but poor intellectuals, and the uneducated, economically viable, Punjabis. Discrimination against East Indian students was widespread. Membership was denied to them in campus fraternities and other social organizations. Restaurants, hotels, rooming houses and public amusement centers refused them service. Finally, the United States Congress in 1917 intensified the discrimination by prohibiting immigration from "barred zones," which included India. 24 Taraknath Das (1884-1959), a Bengali student at the University of Washington, organized a political group on the west coast and pub lished the Free Hindusthan intermittently from 1908 to 1910. In 1914 Das and Har Dayal (1887-1939), a student who renounced his Oxford scholarship in protest against British policies in India, united the scattered immigrants into a single political unit called the Ghader (Mutiny) Party. Their publication Ghadar, printed in several languages and distributed throughout the East Indian community, became a powerful source of Indian nationalism. For the first time in the United States, Punjabis, Bengalis and other regional linguistic groups developed a broader Indian identity.
East Indians were at first also refused United States citizen ship. They were not eligible for citizenship on the basis of the 1790 naturalization law which specified that only "free white" people could become citizens. East Indians were brown-skinned, but anthropologic ally Caucasian. On the latter ground they were first declared eligible for citizenship in 1910, and many were naturalized. The Supreme Court in 1923, however, declared them ineligible and about fifty previously naturalized citizens were denaturalized. In 1946 Congress passed a bill that established a token (100 per year) quota for East Indian immigration and restored their citizenship rights.
The 1965 immigration law phased out the national quota system, and for the first time made it possible for a large number of East Indians to immigrate. Almost 46,000 engineers, physicians, scientists, professors, teachers and businessmen entered the United States during 25 the next ten years along with 47,000 wives and children. These were urban, educated and English-speaking, and in general experienced a relatively smooth transition from life in India to that in the United
States. A fairly large number of them became citizens in due course
(Thernstrom, 1980). The flow of immigration from India has continued since, and the 1980 census figure lists 361,544 Asian Indians in the
United States. It is not known, however, how many of them are Bengali speaking. A rough estimate is that there are 50,000 Bengalis living in the United States (Thernstrom, 1980).
The largest numbers of Bengali residents in the United States are found in the larger cities (Doshi, 1976). The New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut area probably have ten thousand Bengali speaking people.
In these communities there are groups which sponsor the teaching of the
Bengali language to American-born children, and several small libraries have been organized with collected works of Bengali writers. A Bengali
News Letter is also published, as well as a literary magazine. The larger Bengali Communities celebrate Durga-Puja (festival of the god dess Durga) and Saraswati-Puja (festival of Saraswati, the Hindu god dess of learning and fine arts). In addition, they also organize work shops and seminars on Bengali language, literature, culture and history.
Music and dance festivals are also held periodically, either with local talent or occasionally with visiting musicians and dancers from India
(India Abroad, 1983). There is some Bengali music to be heard, and other programs featuring Bengali material, on radio and television in
New York and other large cities, organized by local Bengali groups. 26
In short, the Bengali community in the United States tries to maintain some cultural identity, like many other minority ethnic communities.
The number of the Bengali-speaking people in Lubbock, Texas is quite small. It is estimated that there are thirty-five to forty per sons, both adults and children, living in Lubbock. A majority of the adults are associated with Texas Tech University, either as teaching and research staff or as students.
Although no reliable data are available, it appears that the first Bengali residents of Lubbock arrived around 1965-1966. The growth of Texas Technological College accelerated after this period, with the college becoming a university in 1967-1968. Consequently, the number of Bengali-speaking faculty and student also increased after this date.
Although the community is small, it follows the pattern of larger ethnic communities elsewhere in the United States. The Bengali community is a rather cohesive unit, although occasionally interper sonal friction does occur. Interaction is usually informal. Typic ally, one family invites several others for dinner, conversation arid a social get-together. Sometimes the guests as well as the hosts will take part in music.
During the important Bengali festivals such as Durga Puja, most of the group meets and celebrates an abridged version of the wor ship at someone's house. Many other non-Bengali-speaking Indians as well as Americans are also invited. The festivals of Saraswati Puja and Lakhmi Puja (goddess of wealth) are also celebrated. 27 Unlike the pattern in larger cities, Bengali language classes are not held for children; instead, some parents teach the language at home. Similarly, there is no local Bengali library. Some individ uals subscribe to Bengali literary periodicals published in Calcutta or in London, where a large Bengali community has existed for several decades. Almost all Bengali families have albums of Bengali and other songs, which are sometimes played during social gatherings. By and large, members of the Bengali-speaking community usually socialize with other Bengalis.
Due to the small size of the community, Bengali language movies are not shown on the campus of Texas Tech University, where the India Students Association of the University often screens movies in the Hindi language, which is understood by a larger segment of the Indian population. The Bengali community of Lubbock is exceptionally well educated Almost all adult males either have the Ph.D. degree or are working towards obtaining one. The adult females, on the other hand, have at least a college degree. Generally, the Bengali community seems to be well adjusted in Lubbock. Most of the men are successful individuals and have an active professional life. CHAPTER VI
CODE SWITCHING AND BILINGUALISM
In any speech community, the speakers are normally not con
fined to a particular variety of speech. Instead, an individual uses
different ways of speaking, which have been found to depend to some
degree on the individual addressed, the setting or the subject of talk
(Hasselmo, 1961). A speaker may also use formal, informal, casual or
intimate styles of speech depending on the situation, subject or per
son addressed (Hymes, 1962; Ervin-Tripp, 1964). Monolingual speakers
thus have various kinds of speech which they can manipulate. The
situation is different for bilingual speakers as they can use style
change and also can choose between two different languages. This
aspect of the speech behavior of the bilingual is easier to observe
and describe than alteration between two varieties of speech in the
same language. This alteration between two languages is called Code
Switching. In the past the term switching has often been used for the
alteration in speech style in the same language (Berko-Gleason, 1973;
Shaban, 1978), but it is more appropriate to use the term shifting for
this type of behavior and reserve switching for the alterations between
two different languages. Both monolinguals and bilinguals may engage
in shifting while only bilinguals can employ switching (Baker, 1980;
Gal, 1979).
28 29
Although code switching has been a topic of study in linguis tics for several decades (Jespersen, 1922; Haugen, 1953), a wide var iety of definitions have been used by various authors; as a result, it is difficult to compare their observations critically. In addition, methodology also differs among many authors: for example, some include
borrowings in their study, while others do not. Some studies are descriptive and some are quantitative. The unit of observation varies
from the sentence to the utterance (Zentella, 1977).
The subject of inter-language variation received attention
from the early period of descriptive linguistics (Jespersen, 1922).
More recently, scholars have suggested that linguistic communication within a speech community can not be based on a "monolithic hypothesis" of language structure; instead, it should be appreciated as an "inter connected system of sub-codes" (Jakobson, 1960). Thus speech diversity and code switching among different dialects, styles or languages begins with a specific community, not with a linguistically defined entity
(Gumperz, 1962; Gumperz, 1978).
Bilingual ism, on the other hand, is the use of two languages by the individual (West, 1958; DiPietro, 1968). If language is the property of the group, bilingual ism is the property of the individual.
A situation in which one language impinges on another is called "lan guage contact" (Emneau,.1956). Such situations are characterized by varying degrees of bilingualism (DiPietro, 1968). Language contact results in changes in the language, which become the permanent property of monolinguals and enters the historical development of the language
(Mackey, 1953; Mackey, 1962). 30
A speaker is called "ambilingual" if he has complete mastery of two languages and can make use of both in all uses to which he puts either. True ambilingual speakers are rare. Most people who are thought of as bilingual restrict at least one of their languages to certain uses, and, in any given use, one or the other language tends to.predominate. There are probably millions of English speakers throughout the world, with a high degree of bilingualism, who use
English for certain topics and their native tongue for others (Halli- day et al., 1964). Mackey has given an example: a bilingual technical person who normally speaks language A at home and speaks language B indifferently at work may still be able to convey his meaning much better in language B whenever he is talking about his occupation spec ialty. Bilinguals' familiarity with the stylistic range of each lan guage is very likely to vary with the subject of discourse (Mackey,
1953).
The concept of bilingualism has become broader since the begin- ning of the century. It was long regarded as the equal mastery of two languages; Bloomfield considers bilingualism as the "native-like" control of two languages (Bloomfield, 1933). Haugen described it as the ability to produce complete meaningful utterances in both languages
(Haugen, 1953; Haugen, 1956). It is now accepted that the concept be further extended to include simply passive knowledge of the written language or any contact with possible models in a second language
(Mackey, 1962). The broadening of the concept of bilingualism is due to the realization that the point at which a speaker of a second 31
language becomes bilingual is either arbitrary or impossible to deter
mine. Mackey considers bilingualism to be the alternate use of two
or more languages by the same individual (Mackey and Noonan, 1952).
The individual speaker in contact with a new language community
may react by developing any degree and kind of bilingualism. Sometimes
the solution adopted, at least in the long term, is not one of bilin
gualism. What happens in these situations is either that one language
community abandons its own language and adopts that of the other, or a
mixed language, or "pidgin," develops which incorporates some feature
of both (Halliday et al., 1964). Some mixed languages have developed
into full languages from this phenomenon. These are called Creoles
(Stewart, 1972).
Regional dialects are usually grouped by the speech community
into major dialect areas; there may of course be considerable differ
entiation within each area. There may be a more or less clear dialect
boundary where the occurrence of a bundle of isoglosses (lines separat
ing a region displaying one grammatical, lexical, phonological or
phonetic feature) shows that there are a number of features in which
the dialects on either side differ from each other, but the continuum
is never broken. This general dialect pattern turns up in one form or another all over the world. An instance of wide dialectal variety in modern Europe is provided by German. There are three or possibly four different language communities. The Flemings in Belgium speak Flemish, now officially regarded as a variety of Dutch; the people of Holland speak Dutch; Germanic speakers in Switzerland speak a distinct "Swiss- 32 German." The Germans and the Austrians regard themselves as speaking German. But over the whole area there is one unbroken dialect contin uum with very few instances of a clear dialect boundary (Halliday et al., 1964).
The distinction between an Ll (native language) and L2 (learned
language) has not been cleanly drawn. Some bilingual speakers, includ
ing some who are ambilingual, can be said to have two or more native
languages. Any language learned by the child before the age of formal
instruction from parents and others is by definition an Ll. However,
only a small portion of speakers who learn two or more languages in
this way become ambilingual adults; conversely, not all ambilinguals
have two Lis (Halliday et al., 1964).
The rise of a standard language produces the phenomenon of
"accent" which is quite different from dialect. When a speaker learns
a second dialect he usually speaks it with "an accent," that is with
phonetic features of his native dialect. The learning of a standard
language is simply the learning of a second dialect, the dialect that
happens to have been "standardized." It is quite normal for members
of a language community which has a standard dialect to continue to
use both the native and acquired (standard) dialect in different situa
tions throughout their lives (Ray, 1962).
It is convenient to study bilingual speech because the formal changes are vividly apparent. There are many forms of social relation
between two language communities. American immigrants, for example,
range through a wide spectrum in the diversity of function-language 33
distributions (Thernstrom, 1980). Alteration in the speech or writing
of a bilingual also varies. Thus, the French-English bilingual when
speaking English may, in a given situation, switch from time to time
to French, but the amount of French used may be quite small. In
another situation, the same person may switch less often but for
longer stretches and may speak half of the time using French. A Ger
man-English bilingual speaking in English to a close friend who he
knows understands German may permit himself to lapse into German from
time to time in order to be able to express himself with greater ease.
On the other hand, when speaking to a person with whom he is less well
acquainted, he may avoid the use of German switches except when forced
to speak about topics which his English does not adequately cover. In
yet another situation, he may switch to German when his control of
English breaks down under the stress of excitement, anger or fatigue
(Makcey, 1953).
Some authorities imply that literacy is irrelevant and incapable
of modifying the rate of language change (Herskovits, 1955). However,
this has been more of an assumption than a demonstrated fact; it might
be pointed out here that the ability to write is universally understood
and employed as a persistent and essential tool of communication (Zengel,
1962). It has been claimed that the size of the language community will
not alter the index of retention of lexical items. The question of the
impact of effective mass literacy on the stability of vocabulary of a
language is an appropriate one, and should be raised. However, casual sampling of modern languages indicate that a leaning toward conservatism 34 correlates to some degree with a literacy tradition. This correlation may be inferred from observations of the various effects of a literary language on its co-existing spoken counterpart. Affected facets of speech include grammatical forms, pronunciation and vocabulary (Zengel, 1962).
In the present study, observations were made on code switching in a literate group of Bengali-English bilinguals. Previous investiga tions have dealt with code switching between English and Sinhala (Fernando, 1977); Cantonese (Gibsons, 1979); Spanish in the Southwest United States (Huerta, 1977; Baker, 1977; Jacobson, 1978) and Spanish and Gurani in Paraguay (Rubin, 1962; Rubin, 1972); Swedish (Hasselmo, 1961); Norwegian (Haugen, 1953; Haugen, 1956) and many other languages. CHAPTER VII
THE QUESTIONNAIRE
Information was gathered in two stages: first, personal and
background data on the subjects were elicited by the use of question
naires. Subsequently, speech data were obtained in open-ended inter
views; these interviews were tape-recorded for later transcription.
The questionnaires were designed to elicit as much information
as possible from the participants. The first questionnaire elicited
information on: 1) personal data: birth place, residence in the United
States, residence in Lubbock, sex, and decade of birth; 2) linguistic
data: language spoken at home during childhood, language(s) spoken at
home now, state language in home state in India, language of instruc
tion in high school and college; 3) education: level of education, whether the participants received part of their education in the United
States; 4) professional data: type of job engaged in now and type of job held while in India. In the personal data category the birth dates were grouped by eras rather than listing them out by separate years.
This was done so that the participants would not feel compelled to
reveal their exact ages (Questionnaire I).
All of these categories of information may be of importance in determining an individual's choices in language use. In category (2), it was essential to gather as much information as possible on linguistic background so that a correlation could be made between previous language
35 36 exposure and the individual's current usage. The time of beginning residence in the United States was particularly relevant since it was expected that there would be a relationship between years of residence and choice in language use. The reason for indicating sex was the assumption that this as well as age and education may also influence the pattern of language which participants use. The professional activities section (4) was included because the requirements of profes sional careers could also affect the speech pattern.
All together twenty-six adults responded: sixteen males and ten females. In addition to these, seven children between the ages of two and a half to fifteen years were also studied and their personal and linguistic data (where relevant) were recorded. This information was gathered to study the influence of home language, which was mostly Bengali, and the pattern of use of languages by these children. Since most of the children were born in the United States and go to school where English is the sole language of instruction, it was thought to be particularly interesting to observe how these children use Bengali and English in their speech. The majority of children understand Bengali, and can also speak in Bengali, though not fluently. The second questionnaire was designed to elicit actual instances of language use by the participants (Gal, 1979). The adults were asked a somewhat different set of questions from those for the children, for obvious reasons. The adult questionnaire was divided into six cate gories related to general topics of conversation appropriate for a social setting. These were: 1) politics, 2) sports, 3) homemaking. 37 4) professional activities, 5) hobbies, and 6) entertainment (Ques tionnaire II).
Each participant was asked two questions under each category, in a casual atmosphere in the home of the participant. The initial questions were asked in Bengali and the conversation was recorded on tape. The conversation lasted, on the average, about 15 minutes for each participant. After all of the 26 adults were interviewed, the tapes were transcribed and the data was analyzed as discussed in Chap ter IX.
The questionnaire for the children was different from the adults', and mostly consisted of questions on topics such as school activities, Saturday morning cartoons on television. Sesame Street and other children's television programs, sports in school and other places, music lessons, and others (Questionnaire III).
The only two-and-a-half year old participant was the author's son. His general conversations were recorded over an extended period of time at home, as well as when he was in a group with other children, CHAPTER VIII THE INTERVIEW
Sixteen adult males, ten adult females, and seven children between the ages two and a half to fifteen years were interviewed. The interviews were conducted at the home of the respondents in a leisurely atmosphere. In most cases the husband and wife and in some cases the children from the same household were interviewed. The adults were asked the same questions in the same sequence as shown in Questionnaire II. Six children who were older were asked a differ ent set of questions (Questionnaire III). The speech of the two and a half year old boy was recorded over an extended period of time both at home and in some cases at other places. The questions were asked in Bengali in a casual manner, resemb ling any normal conversation. The respondents were not given any hint about the type of questions to be asked. The conversations were recorded on a portable cassette tape recorder and transcribed in full later. Although the respondents had prior knowledge that the purpose of the study was to investigate the pattern of language switching between English and Bengali, they were encouraged to respond spontan eously and to continue the conversation. Each respondent was identi fied by the initials and the transcribed conversations were correlated with personal data from Questionnaire I to analyze the influence of several factors as described in detail in the Statistical Analysis of 38 39 Data in Chapter IX. Some of the respondents grew up in a state in India where Hindi was the state language and consequently they were fluent in Hindi also. This information was taken into consideration when analyzing the data. As shown in Tables 3 and 5 most of the respondents had Bengali as a language of instruction in high school in India. Female respondents indicated that some of them had dual language of instruction, namely English and Bengali in college, where as all male respondents listed English as the medium of instruction in college in India. This apparent discrepancy is due to the fact that most female respondents were students of liberal arts or humanities, where Bengali is used as a medium of instruction. Males, on the other hand, mostly studied science as a major subject in college, for which English is the primary language of instruction.
In the interviews with the children different questions were asked. Many of the children were more fluent in English than Bengali. Six were born in the United States and had lived continuously in this country except for short visits to India during summer vacation with their parents. One was born in India and came to this country with his parents at a very early age. The average time of the interviews were twenty minutes for adults and fifteen minutes for the children.
Questionnaires are shown in Appendix C and the sample of responses in Appendix B. CHAPTER IX
THE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF DATA
Statistical Procedures
The tapes were transcribed in full, and under each category
the total number of full sentences in English and Bengali as well as
the number of English and Bengali words were counted. This information
constitutes the primary data. Since the amount of time taken by each
respondent was not uniform, the percentage of Bengali sentences and words was also calculated in order to reveal any change in language
use.
Any change in number of sentences and or number of words used,
under different variables were statistically analyzed (Anshen, 1978).
The statistical analyses of the data were performed on a Texas
Instrument Programmable 59 Calculator equipped with Applied Statistics
Software. Where appropriate, the data are expressed as mean values accompanied by the standard error of the mean (S.E.M.). Comparisons were made using Duncan's Multiple Range Test (Duncan, 1955), and analy sis of variance for multiple groups and a one-tail least significant difference was used to compare two means (Steele and Torrie, 1960).
For the purpose of acceptable significance, the probability of 95 percent (p < 0.05) was considered statistically significant.
40 41 Data
Data from sixteen males, ten females, and six children were analyzed. The personal data were gathered from the completed Question naire I. The code-switching data originated from the transcribed taped conversations with each respondent. The summary of personal data on males is shown in Table 1. The majority were born in Bengal; are in their forties; have resided in the United States for twelve years and in Lubbock, Texas for six years. The data for the females are given in Table 1. The personal data for seven children are also shown in Table 1. Six were American-born, the majority during the decade 1971-1980; four of them are males and three females.
The educational and professional data for males and that for females are given in Table 2. Most of the men (twelve) have had part of their education in the United States, but only one female received part of her education in the United States. In general, the men were more educated than the females. Most of the men are engaged in teach ing and/or research at Texas Tech University. The Questionnaire also yielded some linguistic data from the males and females which is summarized in Table 3. All respondents, both male and female, listed Bengali as the language spoken at home during childhood. In the present home language category, Bengali was listed as the language by eleven, while eleven others listed both Bengali and English as the present home language. English was the present home language for four respondents. Twenty-one said Bengali was the official state language in their home state in India, while 42
T3 T—1 t—I r^ «vj- CO C\J CO CO C\J 1— to O •f— CD O CZ> CZ) CD o o o o o o S- c>o ro *d- ir> to cu I I I I I CO •>!- LO to r-^ 00 O- r—1 »-H ,—1 t-H 1 1 O rH r-H 1—I i-H .—1 I-H •—t CVJ CO «:1- LO CM CO >!^ LO vo r-^ +-> CTt o> o>
CQ
O O X3 XI 13
f- to • LO S- CO • C\J cu ro I-H to a CU + OJ T-H c: >> +1 cu +1 +1 ro CO 00 00 in cu to CU LO Od to -p E CU CO -a E O CU CL to sz ^ cu ^-vLU CM as E to • cu •r- S- CO CM cu ro S- CU CU + +1 +1 +1 x: O 5^ •p E CO CM I CU ro cn -a cu CM S- to cu oz
^-o cu ro o -P ro LO ro CD to •o ro S- ro S- s- rO -P cn cu cn cu cu E s- E xz E JZ CO x: O cu -P cu -P -p in CQ CXI O CQ O o s- cu CL «4- O S- CU >^ X2 S- rO E E to cu r3 T—l to S- CO -P T3 E cu O U ro ro E CU CU -P O -P E 4^ S- E E •I— _E S- ro to CU o cu •r- -P CU ro CU CU to cn i- cu O E CU -P J!^ •!- E O cu cu ro E •1— O) CD E ro (J E ••- ^- f— cu •r- to "O CU CU E -r- t. > o 1— in CD >> 3 >— "O (U to CU S- s- o cu E x: -P •— =5 E >, > CU o. o $- CU Q. to O -p o JE o in tj to x: CL CT) r^ o -a ro cu •P •p ro ro o 00 CM :3 • • • • XJ ro LU • E • CO O x: • CO CL. 21 to in cu ^-o s- •o E E ro O CO CM to -P . • ro (O Ci ... c^ • • • • Q CO t/^ . CD <: <: o JZ • • • Qx-: S:• ^ • CQ• Q. 2: ^ CQ •P rj ro O r3 -C3 CU M- O cu X3 (O to Z3 1—1 CO to CU •p E cu ro CU E CM -o ro CU E CU o CL X5 in (O cu 44 ^ E o o cu to •r— CD o »—« LO + LO cu -P CU • • • • CD O r— •r- x: x: SZ •r— ro ZJ ^— 1— in to in r— Z3 $_ o ro -1- •1— •r— ro CD-P o CDi— r— r— CD E to E CD CD CD E ro E E CU E E E CU _J •!- •r- OQ LU LU LU CQ 4- E CO O O T-l CO r^ CM •1— XT I— • • • • CU +-> CD o •I- x: CD O •1— o I— to 1— to ro Z5 x: x: ro •!- rO •!— "r- :3 s- o CDr- CDr— -O CD-P E to E CD E cn E E in *r— cu E cu E -i- ro E OQ LU OQ LU DT CU cn ro CM ^ 3 r-l • cr> cn • . • • E •1— ro 1 1^ rO •!— ro 'r— CD-a cn-O CU E E E E •p CU •-- cu T- ro CQ D= CQ ZC -P CO cu E o cu CO 00 + LO 1—• CO + to x: cjn • • • • ro SZ T- -r- SZ xr -r- T- •P Z5 to I— I— to to I— I— in to C= CD( •r— ro ro '1^ •I— ro ro •!— •p CU E I— CD CDr— I— CD CDi— to rO CD E E CD CD E E CD CU r— E CU CU E E CU CU E •a S- LU CQ CQ LU LU CQ CQ LU re tf- o ro •P i+- to 0-C3 ro O 'CJ CU o cnxr o ro "O ro ro •r— 3 I— CD -p cn E to E x: E CU 03 O CU CQ CD CQ E o cu ro E E to 13 in T—t CU CO •P E CU CU ro T3 E CO E ro CU O cu CL| to GL) ro OZ 45 five grew up in states where Hindi was the state language. Bengali was the language of instruction in high school for twenty respondents, and English for five. In college, all sixteen males had English as the language of instruction, but only five females listed English as the language of instruction in college. Among the children, six listed both Bengali and English as the present home language and one said English is the language spoken at home. The primary speech data were analyzed for changes related to topic of conversation, linguistic background, and sex. For the six children (one was only two and a half years old) there was no differ ence due to sex and topic of conversation, so they are treated as a single group. The statistical analysis of data from the sixteen males related to the topic of conversation is given in Table 4. When the data are expressed as number of sentences used and compared with six different topics of conversation, it was found that while describing their profes sional activity the males used significantly more English sentences than for any other topic. When the data are expressed as percent of Bengali sentences used (50 percent) this was also found to be signif icantly different from any other group. In the entertainment category, on the other hand, males used 82 percent Bengali sentences, a signif icantly higher number than any other topic (Table 4). When the total number of words spoken in each topic is considered (Table 5), the analysis shows that males used more English and Bengali words combined in professional activity than any other topic. The percent of Bengali words used (50 percent) was significantly lower in this category. 46 in Jkf (U 9s ••-> ro * E 1^ r^ h*. to to • • cu to LO ^ ^ -E • ro CO •P -P Z3 CDI +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 O E "D E +1 CU ro CU T—i r— %. r>. CM CQ • • • r— CU >> cn LO o • ro M- JD to r^ LO to CM 4- -o 00 E -r- CU o -o to LO -p in E o• -a CU O u cu E to CU V CU CD 4- -p «+- CL E to H- CD CU cu CM o r^ cr> ^00 to o • • • • • E 0.8 ' O) o O -p ro +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 -P E E CD E ro ro O X- CU E CM o cr» «^ • cu CO CU • • • • O -r- XI CQ 00 00 CM CM 7. 6 t—l *4- r—t r-« •r- E E cn o CU CD'i— cu •I- in x: I/O -p cu cu X3 o s- -o • ^ rO E XJ LO ro O to ro • S- E ro X5 O •K -o cu o cu O to r^ r^ 00 00 C3^ +-> • • • • • • -P XT o o o O o o cu ro to CLi— to •r— +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 S- r— •p cu CD CM LO CO 1— r-^ to a. > E • • • . • • E LU CO CM CO .—1 CO CM in s- t—« +-» o o E to o CU $- -o cu E Q. o CL 3in a in cu cu Q. $- E O ro +J to to c t—l cu CU 4- x: (U o -P -p • CD (U 4-> LU S- • ro E CO CU O -P X3 in •r- +-> a ••+1 E ro to O ro +-> E E •r— to S- E rO ro -P cu ro CU CU CU ro > cn E E CU E E O CU o to •r- E Od o in ro S- • o to as in •P ro in •p E cu S- a. X) ro :3 O s- cu cu o E O xi -p +-> o S- E ro S- QJ O a. o o o CO Q_ LU Q C7) X> Q. Q- ro O 47 to CO to to LO $- cu cu LO CO to 00 CO CO JE • ro ro •P 4-> CD +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 o E E cu CU LO cn as LO CO ^— $- CQ • I^ cu 3 00 o • cy> ro «+- to o to M- -o E •r— LO o -o ro s> «+- LO X3 CD O +-> • -a E o -o JZ CD • r— #^ -a .c cu to ^ •\ #k o 9\ .s H- CL •o *n o "O CU to a a^ M- s- LO t—l CM • LO CM •r— o • • • r^ • • -o >> :2 o r^ LO cn r-l '^ to ^— M- >>••-> O ro +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 f^ E M- cn -P ro i- O E t—l r-* as -id- t—l CO E O Q) cu • • m • • • ro •p- JD S- CQ LO t—l 00 t-H CO to O 4- E cu to LO 00 O CO CO •r- •r— XJ M- E •r— CD E •r— cu CD to x: •r— -p CO CU S- -o • r\ ro E LO ro o in fO • S- •Jc ro XI o cu O to CO CO CO -p • • • • V -p -P x: CO LO to T—l f—1 cu ro in Q- r^ to +1 +1 +1 +1 + 1 +1 * S- -p (U CD 00 CM a> CM CL E • « • m • • *r^ > CO 00 to S- E LU t—t CM CM CM CM CM CO 00 t—l •p o O E to o CU S- -o cu E o. o 13 CL to o to Q. CU (U O S- E •P ro to in E T-l (U (U 4- XI cu 4-> 3: o -P • CD cu 2: E X3 •p • •r— LU s- E • ro O CO CU to -p Xi E •P o +1 ro to o ro -P E E •I— to $- E ro ro •p CU (U CD E E s: s: E O CU E E to •r— •I— cu OZ O o to ro s- • a to ro to +J ro in E cu S- CL •P X3 CU 13 LO CU ^- ro o s- E o X2 •p -P O o o S- O E ro s- CU a o CL LU Q CD •I— to XI CL ro O 48 The situation is somewhat different in the case of females. The females used fewer English sentences than males to describe their professional activities. They also used more Bengali sentences in this category than in any other topic except in homemaking. Unlike the males, females used predominantly Bengali (92 percent) to describe their professional activities (Table 6). The data on number of words used in describing professional activity and homemaking also indicate that females used significantly more English and Bengali words for these two topics, but when the percentage of Bengali words is consid ered it was not significantly different than the other topics (Table 7) When the data from males and females is compared (Table 8) for any dif ference due to sex, it was observed that males used consistently fewer Bengali sentences and words than did females in all topics except politics and entertainment, where the use of Bengali was not statistic ally different between the sexes. The influence of differing linguistic backgrounds on code switching among males is shown in Table 9. For the number of full sentences and words in English and Bengali, the data were combined for six topics of conversation and expressed as mean value. There was no significant difference when twelve respondents who listed Bengali as the state language were compared with the four who said Hindi was their state language. In the category of present home language those who listed Bengali (eight) used significantly fewer English sentences and words than those who listed English (three) as their home language (Tables 9 and 10). There was no significant difference between persons 49 CD CD O as CM • CM i- CM LO cu • 13 fO XI -P "O cn| +1 +1 +\ +1 +1 +1 •P E ro E CU o LO cy> to o cu >i CQ • X3 t—l • CM 00 • t— cu t—l LO CO t—l r— 4- 00 as CT» as T3 00 ro 4- CU to E -o O 4- lO to O cu 4-> • o •o E O E cu "O o CU CU to o r\ 0\ $- V -p X3 o X3 CU E 0% 0\ 4- CL CU to ro ro ro 3 cu 4- in cu to LO CM t—l CD CM o • • • • -o >, 4- E CM ^ CM t—l O CU CM >>4-> •p ro +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 r— E $- E CD| +1 -P ro CU CU E r^ O o E O JD to -P o o o o o cu ro to Q. 1— to +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 * U •p CU CD to CO T—l cn CM CL > E • • • • • • •r— E CM t—l T-H t—l CM CM in S- o +-> CJ o E in CU u -a Qi O SZ Q. o 13 CL in a in o. cu cu o s- E •p ro o in c t—l cu cu cu 4- XI o -P +-> • CD CU E JD s •p • •r— LU S- rO E • to CU O JD to o +1 E • •P to O in ro ro -P E E *r- in cu E ro (O 1— J- +-> cu ro CU CU CU ro ro E ^ r— > CD s: E E E CU E •r- cu cu to •r- OZ 4- o to ro S- • O o to rO in •P ro to S- CL • •P E CU O) 4- JD cu ro 13 to o s_ -P O o E O JD O o S- O ro i- cu o CL Q cn p— •r— CO o. JD CL ro O 50 to cu LO LO to 00 00 ro co J- CO CO CO CO CO E CO cu • CU ro XI •P CD +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 •p E E o CU cu 00 CO as s- • • r— CQ • cu Z3 t—l CM CO 00 r— 4- I—I 00 00 00 00 00 ro 4- •o 00 •r— ro E -O O S- >> 4- LO •o O CU •P • to E o zs CU T3 CD S- V to CU 0\ cu CD cu -a to CU 4- CL CM cn LO LO 4- o •r— in CO to o -o >^ •o ^— j- >^-t-' o ro +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 r— E CD -P ro S- E o CO E O cu 4- CU ro •f— O CQ CO CO to LO U 4- X3 LO LO LO LO •r— •r- E S- LO 4- E •r— CD 13 cu E • 1— E JD CD to CU •r- XI -a CO CU 0S s- -p o • 0\ ro »k LO x> X3 O to E *v • S- ro ro •o ro JD O o cu E cr» LO ^ «sj- to +-> O • • • • • • V +J CO CO LO r^ ^ CM cu ro o. r— in to +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 •K S- •p cu o CO CO t—l r-H CO a. > CD • • • • • • • •r— E E '^ CO as to CM to s- o t—l t—l CM CM t—l 1—1 -p o o E in CU s- TD (U E CL o O 3 CL in o in •r- CU Q) a. $- E o lO +j o in r-t c cu cu 4- JZ cu O •p -p • cn cu SI E JD •P • •f— LU J- • ro E CO CU O •P Xi to •r— +1 E •P o ro to O lO •p E E to E «o ro S- CU CU ro cu ro cu > CD E E 21 CU E E O cu OZ o in •r— •r— o u .2^ in ro S- • ro in +-> rO to to d. -p E >> S- 4- cu 13 S- CU 4- JD CU ro O •P o E O JD o CL O ro S- cu CJ o o s- O CD •r— to JD CD. rO O 51 T3 CU XI .,— CD •P LO LO to CO ro 00 00 • • • • • CU 00 ro CO CO CO CO $- CU ro in ro cnT3 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 E S- in cu o '^J- ^ t—l 00 CO cn s- CQ S cu ro r-H• • • • • CM CO 00 T—l CD •p CO 00 00 00 00 00 E -p CU cu CQ JD o cu +-> o r^ cn t—l Q. I— to • • • • — O) '^f CM t-H CM J- to ro CJ LO o E +1 +1 + 1 +1 +1 in S- E cu +1 s- o CU LO o cn to cu 5 CQ • • • CL CU f—1 r—1 LO CM 0C3 • to 00 CD cn 00 t—l in cn 00 ro cu to JZ CU •p CJ 4- CD CD E CO LO "d- to to LO E CU • • • •p LO *d- to 00 CO CO S- E rO to ro CU cn-Q +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 CU to E S- JD CU O LO o cn LO CO CQ ^ • • • to CO o «—1 o r». as E to r^ LO to ro cu CU to cu x: JD o -a CU to -p r>-» r>^ r^ r^ to to CU I— to • • • • • I— cu to LO ^ ^ -^ CO ro ro U E CD E +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 CU to E CU 4- cu CU -P 'd- "v^ r^ «—1 t—l CM 1— CQ E • • . • • • O ro CU cn «^ LO o r-^ CM E S-5 l/> to r-. r-^ LO to 00 CU T3 4- E ro -o • E to -P ro cu E • I— CU to E ro S- CU O E CU r™- •r— 4- ro -P tO 4- E ro to E S- 4- CU CU O CU > LO :2 E • O •p s: • o • o JcDu o LU 4- . V CU O CO O •p Q. E CJ •P o +1 ^-' CU • r— ro ro s_ CL in -P E >, cu O i- E ro r— 4- +-> ro CU CU -P 4- > CD s: E •r— O E E ro Q -P o to "f— CU O o o to ro i- -1- to ro to •P tO 4- • 4- 4-> E CU >) %. 00 cu 4- JD CU rO E o o E O JD -p -p cn CU o CD. o S- O E fO T— p— o CO O- zo. LU a to JD ro o 52 o o o o CM CM o LO • • LO JD r-- to 00 f^ 1^ r** r^ to O -a ro +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 o cu cn| to E LO o V CU • • CQ LO CM 70. 1 72. 0 in 57. 0 74. 0 67. 9 72. 0 to r^ cu ^« o E CU XJ CD •P •p CU E E to ro CU O to cu cu 4- CD JZ to o CM CO LO CU 00 • • • • • 1. 2 0. 9 2. 7 T—l U T—l >— E E o CD CU +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 + t +1 +1 •r— cu -P ro to JD E CD| t—l t—l CM LO LO t—l CO CM CU E • • CU E CO CU CD 00 O to t—l 00 00 00 $- CQ t—l t—l t—l ro E 4- t—l O in CU -o s- JZ S- cu (U o +-> -p •p JD JD E E cu ro 3 ro ro JD o O o LO CO to 00 to to • • -p XJ T—l T—l O t—l T—l o o o CL E in •r- 3 + 1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 s- O o S- T-H 00 CM in CD E • • s- 3. 7 3. 6 CO cu 7. 8 6. 0 CO 4. 4 ^ o o. ro 3 JD to CJ cu •r— E ro -P in to to •r— •p CU 3 E cn CU E $- -o cu E CM 00 CO LO CO CO to CD JQ O E to E CLi 3 in 3 z cu ro O s- Qi •r- X3 L. ro in > CU ra E -P E CU E CU CD E CU "O ro XJ S- •I- ro O •r- ro O CU E OZ ro to ro ro O (U •P CLI CLI— E CL O s- rO ro s- CO cu •P JZ 4- in ro ro CD in to •P 4- CD XJ in •r— E ro ro ro ro ro CD o O o o 3 9. 0 • • • -a 10. 0 8. 0 ro 00 7. 5 ro cn cn LO cn| +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 O >> E +1 • JD CU LO CQ o X3 lO o • LO 67. 5 CU 70. 0 V 77. 0 LO 54. 4 to 69. 4 o to 3 to CL CU in T3 X3 •C3 cu i- CU 0% •p o to O T3 o cu E • lO O o to O o ro • f O 4- to T-H LO cn *d- LO cn to o O XJ T-H t—1 t—l T—l S- o +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 T—l ro +1 CQ 58 . 75 . to 68 . to LO LO CU s_ S- CU cu rO JD E to XI 3 s- E cu ro ro +J ro o JD +-> in LO LO LO o cu XJ • • LO CM to o E T—l to LO cn cn 3 x: CO -p O to +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 CL S- +1 •I— cn CM «d- CM en CM $- cn • o -M E O to CM O O in |LU CO CO cn CM CO CO CO s- u CM cu ro CL JD 3 O to •r— -P CU to to E 4- +-> ro CD O E to CU S- XJ CU CU E x: JD O CM 00 CO LO CO CO CO •p in E CLI 3 3 to CD ^Z CU O E •r— s- i- ro rO CU > CU JD E CD CU ro to 3 E cu CD ro E CU cu CU cu ro cn CD ro JD ro cu 3 3 CD CU CU CU CD CL CD ro (U E E E 3 CD o O o ro ro CO to CD (O x: o o in x: JZ cu E E 3 cu CU •r— x: cu O o ro CD •P CD +-> CD O CD CU O CD cu +1 I— -P to rO to rO •1— S- E E ro E ro CD CD . CD E 3 3 E •P to CDl ro CU 3 CU CU CU E CU JZ CD ro (O cu CU to CD to CD LU to JZ CD r— r— u -P CU E CU E CU CD E CD E CU ro CU ro S- ro •I- ro O •1- ro O cu ro ro XJ S- -P cn E JD +-> +J CLI— Q-l— E CL a O to ro ro CU E O -P S- CU •r— to JZ ro S- -P to to to CU ro 4- to ro ro ro ro The analysis of data concerning language of instruction in high school shows that the use of English sentences or words is not affected by whether Bengali or English was the language in high school (Tables 9 and 10). Females however, used significantly fewer English sentences and words if Bengali was the language in high school, com pared to those who listed English as the language of instruction in high school (Tables 11 and 12). Among the six children, topics of conversation had no signif icant influence on the number of English sentences used (Table 13), but they used fewer words in English and Bengali while talking about the Bengali language (Table 14). There was no significant variation in the percentage of Bengali sentences and words used related to the topic of conversation. In other words, the children used approximately 50 percent Bengali sentences and words in all topics. CD 55 cu U -o cu 4- CD •% o o o LO O XJ o CM '"—^ JD r- • • • • • #s • • LO 00 r^ cn 00 00 o to to O XJ ro • cn +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 in E o 3 CU en +C O •!;1- + CO 00 to r-l 00 CQ o • in 00 o T—l o 00 to 00 1^ ^ CL cu ^ 00 t—l cn t—l 00 00 00 to rv. o to E CU 1— O +J -o -P -r- E cu E -P CU in ro ro ZD O > in •r- S_ to cn to CO CM LO r-l «d- 4- CU cu • • • • • • • •r- to o CM T—l T—l T—l T—l CM r-l E JD E •r— CD O cu CU r^ +1 + 1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 •r- JD +-> lO to 4- E CD CO +t ^ CO + r>« 00 00 LO o cn O E (U E • • • • • • • • • CU 3 C/) CU LO T—l CO t—l LO •sj- LO CM T—l $- i- E OQ t—l T—l r-l T—1 t-H t—l T—l rO CU CU 4- X) O in E JZ S- 3 •p $_ cu E r— E ri cu 1— E JD I— ro ro 3 ro ro CM t—l CO CO «^ r>» T—l E in • • • • • • • 4-> to X3 o o CD r-l t—l CL E o o •1— o 3 XI to +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 + 1 S- -P O o S- + + r-l to cu CD as CO cn CD $- 3 T—l 5. 9 4. 0 2. 0 T—l 4. 8 o E t—l 4. 8 CM OJ XJ 111 t—l T—l CL rO 3 CU JD to E O O CU XJ •r— E •P ro -P to to O E CU CD JZ to E tn 4- -P O E CO LO CU cn T-H CO I—1 to r-^ LO to S- X3 in g t o n w a 3 CU E S- to O JD O fO "^ •r— E Q. cu s- J- 3 in JD (0 rO 21 cu CI. > S- C CU CU languag e JD • tica l com i M . Mean s uag e to uag e Q. CU JZ ro in E Stati s E CU ± S.E . choo l choo l g e t hom e t hom e glish : g e O 4- anguag e guag e t hom e g e l e lan g ig e l e lan g E <0 E ro E E to ro cn to ro tj> •r— E E + rO CU 3 CU 3 LU cu 3 CU 3 cu -P -P rO ro >— CU I— 3 CU lan g hig h col l lan g CU "O col l hig h lan g pre s lan g pre s pres i tat e -P backqroun d OZ ro an d CU E to rO • • • • S- CU diffe r CU Dat a Englis h Englis h Bengali : Bengali ; Bengal i English : Bengali : Hind i s t Bengal i JD nquisti c ro •r- 1 _J 1 56 O O LO to jQ o o o C3^ r-^ 00 to r>. LO XJ o CU ro T—l o +1 to cm +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 o E CO T—l en CM CO CU in • • • • • V XJ CQ CM to LO LO 00 CM r-l r^ «* o 00 CM 00 CM 00 00 to r^ Q. E XJ 4- ->>p -op O o E ro 0\ ro > S- JD XJ O S- cu o JD CO o to o •1— cu JD CO • • o . 4- to E cn cn o O to r-l •1— JD 3 XJ LO «—1 r-l t—l r—1 E O E CU CD to +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 •1— 4- CU in O JZ 00 CO CO LO CM 00 cn r^ -p in • • • • • cu S- XJ to CT» LO cn 00 LO CO r^ «* s- cu XJ 00 00 00 cn LO to ro JD E o E ro ro to 3 cnj S- E to 4- cu XJ O E CU -p r^ E CU •p 1— 3 S- CQ (U ro cu ro O cu ro LO O 1— E JD CO to s- CO CO CM CO LO •p CD • Q- O •1— o CM -P ro CO +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 S- X3 +1 + • CJ cu CM CO CO LO to to CM in 3 O CD as s- -o E 00 00 CO 00 o 00 CM cu CM CL CU -P LU LO CM LO CM CM CM to 3 E •r— to O 3 XJ CD CU E E ro -p in o E in to CU 4- -P XI to 3 •p ro O O E CU S s- S- XJ as CO to LO CO LO cn CU E E E ro •r— > JD O O S- to E CU 'r— E 3 in ro CU t. CU :z cu JD CU s- ro % CL cu in E •p E o cu CD (O JD • ro o to CU 3 21 1— CL cu CD CU ro •r— T— CU E CD CD O XI ro ro ro •i^ CO E ro • 3 3 E CU s: -p cu CD to O 4- CU CU cn • CD cu E E E LU •1— ro CU E •P CD o O ro O fO • •P -P 3 o O CO ro ro r— E ro in O C7> CU JZ CU JZ CU -P r— 3 3 E 3 cu CO CD -P •p CD I— -P CJ CD CU O CD CU +1 CU XJ O ro CD to rO CD t- E E E ro CD E to rO CD al ro ro 3 3 CU E CD| ro CU 3 CU 3 E cu CU + to cn LU to XI CD x: CD ro .^ CU to CD CU CU E cu E CU cn E CD E O •P O ro CU ro -a s- •r- rO O •r- rO s: • CM ro ro O •P JD -P •P CLi— CL E CL O ro cu E to ro S- CU CU O -P in rO S- •I— I— to CU -P to in JD •1— rO 4- to rO ro ro (O ro ro C7> CD CD r— •P4- CD XJ CD •f— E E E E CD CD rO E E cn Q -O CD CU CU CU CU CU E CQ CQ LU E CQ OQ CQ 57 LO 00 LO o • • as cn cn E en ro ro cn +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 E CU to CO to OQ XJ T—l CO 00* E to 3 JD O 4- XJ CU to in ro tn CU cu CM CO 00 o XJ o E cu r—I CD o E CU to CU 4-> cu E +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 4- CU in ro 4- cn LO CO CM 00 to cu "I— CJ E XJ E CU CO CO CM CU CQ 4-> •p E s- E ro cu CU O JD CO 4- cn CM 00 E o CD CU $- o I—I o •r- XI cu tO -p JD E in +1 +1 +j: +1 >^ XJ +1 E 3 00 CD o 00 ro CD ro E CM CO CO O E LU •I— O •P •r— to •P ro •p to ro S- •P CU in > oE o 4- E O cu O s- •r— X3 CL O +-> E CU to CU •p CU JD E CO to o • cu E E •I— +1 O CU +-> CD •p ro •r- s- rO E •p -o in 3 ro ro r— $- CU •r- o cn r— cu E in CU JZ > •p E s: OZ CJ o O to ro cu E ro cu >» o CO S- $- ro O u to CD CO O +-> > o ro O cu •I— ro CL to ro O 58 00 CM to o CL cn o to 3 o f—I O ro r-l i- >> CT +1 •fi +1 +1 +1 OJi— E •p OJ LO o CO 00 S- E CQ • • CU ro T—l CO CM o .E O UO «5f LO LO +-> -1- O 4- •r— r— E 1— CD JD ro -1- in X> ro E CU cu o cu in in CT JZ •p- '>-) XI S- S- 3 ID O to as LO »> CT» 4- ro • • • • CD • to Wi CO CM CM t—l •K O -p in XJ |X> E t- s- S- +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 cu cu o o ro S- +J % LO o CM LO O cu -P a • • • • • 4- cu 4- E CM r>. as CO to 4- I— O CU CM T—l I—1 rH •r- CQ 4- XJ 4-i S- CL cu cu 4- XJ >.-r- UD r— S- JD •o cu 4- CU u •P O E #V 0i W* 0\ #% E in 3 ro JD o u JD ro S- LO to "sd- 0\ r-l «T—1 O CU CU • « • ro • ro • •p- CL CO CM t—l CM * T-l 4- 3 •r- in in +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 E cn CJ t—l LO LO CM r^ •.- E ro cn • • • • • CO ro t—l CM r^ t—l 00 to E r-l t—l . .N E LU CM CM O LO CU O JZ -P . -p ro o in CD $- V E •^ cu CL S- > rO E •K CU o JD o • in 4- E E o cu ro i- CU o "ro^ s: •r- •p— CL XI • O o >>, 4J u E to o CU CD CU 4- CU -p O -P ro cu • O JD S • . O) +J LU CD E E • ro CU O CO 3 S- to • CU E E •p- cn cu +J CD +1 E 4- O CU ro ro 4- •1— ro •p s- 3 E r— •r— -P "O tn s- E cn ro T3 ro 1— cu E CU CU r^ •r— ro S E ^—>» CU JZ > -p E o o o CO ro LO cn o E CU to O o ro •I— CO u to CU S- • to •r— ro o (O JZ O CU •p- CD ro -P V o SZ o to E •P cu 3 CU ro E CL CL Q -1- v_^ cu o o CO CQ •I— JD a CO ro o CHAPTER X INFORMAL OBSERVATIONS Code Switching in Two and Half Year Old Boy This boy was studied for a period of twelve months, and his utterances were periodically tape recorded. Having been exposed to various linguistic environments where the speech varieties of Bengali, English and switching between Bengali and English are used, he speaks all these varieties of languages. Example: Ami book dekhi--Let me see the book (code switching) Amake bokona'--Do not scold me (Bengali) Yes, put it here (English) It is interesting to note that he creates a kind of compound words by combining synonymous Bengali and English words; for example: EteT gamhot--It's hot ("garam" means hot) Jalwater khabo--I want to drink water ("jal" means water) Khubvery thahdF--It's wery cold ("khub" means very) oTmegg bhengonF--Do not break the egg ( ".d/jn" means egg) Pokabug dekhecho?—Have you seen the bug? ("poka" means bug). All these intrasentential code switchings have a Bengali-Eng lish pattern. It may suggest that his speech is Bengali-dominant. In other words, he usually learns Bengali before he learns English. 59 60 Since Bengali is the mother-tongue of this boy this is not surprising. Jespersen (1922) has suggested that mother-tongue plays a dominant role in language acquisition in the first few years of a child's life. His speech contains intersentential code switching also. Example: Ami khabonF I told you—I don't want to eat... Ami ekhane bosbo don't bother me—I want to sit here... He speaks both Bengali and English synonymous sentences to express excitement, anger, and emphasis: Bristi porche it's raining (excitement) Amake dekho look at me (excitement) Don't bother me amake bother korona" (anger) It's very good khub bhalo (emphasis) I (will) go outside ami baire jFbo (anger) I love you Mommy toma'ke khub bhFlobFsi (emphasis) Open it eta khule dFo (emphasis) As he grows older and becomes more exposed to the English language outside the home, while playing with other English-speaking children, Bengali is becoming less dominant in his speech. .The above utterances show an English-Bengali pattern. Now he is able to choose his language, and switches code according to the language of the inter locutors. For instance, the following incident occurred: He was try ing to get the attention of one of our English-speaking friends who was watching T.V., "Aunty, I want to see (the) picture." When he did not get any response, he came to his mother and said "Ami chobi dekhbo" (I want to see the picture). 61 Code Switching Among Adults in Group Discussion These data were gathered from the transcribed conversations from tape recordings at discussions during social get-togethers. Only a few representative samples are discussed below (these transcribed texts are available for future analysis of phonological, grammatical, and syntactic patterns). There are various reasons why Bengali speakers switch from one language to another iji the course of conversations. These speak ers use an English word when they are unable to find an equivalent term for the word in the lexicon of Bengali, or when they are not familiar with the term. One possible reason for this could be that most of the participants were educated through the medium of English in college. For example, there are no equivalent terms for table, coffee, glass, hobby, etc. in everyday Bengali use. The Bengali terms for pencil, committee, chair, library, graduate, candidate, etc. are not readily available to all. Some mixed sentences contain English borrowings: Table-er upar dista rakho--put the dish on the table. Ek glass jal dab--Give me a glass of water. Tumi school-e jFccho?--Are you going to school? Bathroom-e sabFn Fche--There is soap in the bathroom Sometimes connotations lead the bilingual speakers to switch. The Bengali dictionary has an equivalent term for the word "sugges tion," but it does not have the same connotations; there are many other words like this. Huerta (1978) notes that often two terms which are dictionary equivalents are not so for the native 62 bilingual, for whom the use of either term will actually connote subtle differences in meaning. Some examples show that Bengali bilingual speakers switch codes because some English words are shorter and easier to say. For example, the Bengali term for bedroom is "sobFrghar," college is "MahFvidyFlaya," laboratory is "gabesanFgFr" etc. The data also suggest that the participants switch codes to put stress on the topic under discussion: Exercise kore amar khub relax lage--Exercise gives me lots of relaxation HFter kFche jF pai parhi, anything goes actually--I read whatever comes near my hand, anything... The copora of speech recorded in the group conversations also indicate that emotions such as anger or excitement favor English: Boi pFoni? You better look for it right now—Didn't you find the book? you ... (anger). Look who is here, Fsun Fsun--Look ... come in, come in (excitement). We did it againi FmrF jitechi—We ... we have won (excitement). The following example shows how the same individual switches code according to the person addressed: One participant, speaking to his mother (who has recently come from India) "Ekhono toiri haoni? tFrFtFri karo.'"—Are you not ready yet? Hurry up.' 63 To his wife: "Ekhono ready haoni? tarFtFri karo!" It is interesting to note how domain influences language. For example, two individuals work at the same place; they speak English with each other at the place of work. They switch code when they meet in their private offices, but speak Bengali when they meet at home. The study also indicates that the participants generally use English while speaking numbers, for example: Houston ekhan theke six hundred miles--Houston is six hundred miles from here. Ami sari-tF fifty percent off e forty-five dollars diye kinechi, original price was ninety dollars--I bought this sari at fifty percent off, it cost me forty-five dollars, original... CHAPTER XI DISCUSSION Although the respondents in this study comprised a wery select group of highly educated people who received their education in both English and Bengali, the study confirms some previously reported observations and, as well, brings up some new findings on code switch ing applicable to Bengali-English bilinguals in particular and bilin gual speakers in general. Previous studies on code switching are mostly descriptive, with little quantitative measurement of the data. In other areas of linguistics, quantitative measurement of linguistic diversity has been attempted (Haugen, 1950; Greenberg, 1956; Lieberson, 1964; Sank- off, 1978). The present study utilizes a quantitative method of data analysis, and it is clear that the findings are significant. The use of statistical method was not applicable in a few instances, for example, in assessing the language acquisition, bilingualism and code switching in a two and half year old boy, or in the analysis of con versations from group discussions in adults. Nevertheless, the observa tions on these are included because these supplement some of the pre vious studies in code switching in children's language and speech devleopment of a bilingual child (Berko-Gleason, 1973; Leopold, 1939) and in code switching in adults (Halliday et al., 1964; Mackey, 1953; Jacobson, 1978). 54 65 In the design of the study, careful consideration was given to several factors such as: topic of conversation, school language, home language, educational background, sex of the participants, resi dence and state language. In the analysis of the data, each of these and several other factors were considered as variables which could influence code switching. However, analysis indicates that many of these factors did not significantly influence the pattern of code switching, at least in this small group of respondents, within the given setting. It is possible that in a larger group and in a differ ent setting, studies like this may yield additional information which this study was unable to detect. Nevertheless, several important observations emerge from this study. The Bengali-English bilinguals in this study differ in the "amount" of language use as expressed in total number of sentences and words between males and females. When the data is expressed as per cent of Bengali sentences or words used, this difference was still apparent. For example, when asked to describe their professional activities, men used more English sentences and words than for any other topic of conversation. Almost fifty percent of their conversa tion in this category consisted of English (Tables 4 and 5). Since males in this study were all professional people and English is the only medium in their profession, it was not surprising that the respon dents felt more comfortable in expressing themselves in English. Mackey (1962) has described the preferential use of one language in such a situation by a bilingual. The emphasis is further corroborated 66 by the fact that while describing their hobbies, men used fewer Eng lish sentences and words than they used for professional activities. The females in this study were generally not professionally active, and their need for using the English language outside the home was not great. This fact is reflected in their conversations. Although they did not use significantly more English sentences while describing their professional activities, they did use more English words here than for any other topic of conversation, except for homemaking (Tables 6 and 7). This type of borrowing by bilinguals has been investigated before (Haugen, 1950). It might be noted that the number of Bengali words used by females was also highest in these two categories. In conversation, both men and women switched to English or Bengali freely and used English words suitable for the situation. It is, however, clear that women used a greater percentage of Bengali (both sentences and words) in four out of six different topic of conversation. Another interesting observation which this study revealed is that in politics and entertainment, there was no difference in the percentage of English (both sentences and words) and Bengali (both sentences and words) used by men and women (Table 8). State language in India often indicates the official endorse ment of language use in linguistically divided states, and in general that particular language is used more than English-(Ferguson and Gumperz, 1960; .Gumperz, 1961; Ferguson, 1962). Those respondents (men) who grew up in a state where Hindi was the state language did not significantly differ in the use of either the English or the 67 Bengali when compared with those who grew up in West Bengal, where Bengali is the state language (Tables 9 and 10). It is possible that long residence in the United States (Table 1), in a different linguis tic environment may have affected this. Attitude and motivation in second language learning is reported by some researchers (Lambert, 1972) to be important. This point is supported by another finding in this study, that present home language had significant influence on code switching. So, it is obviously the case that present linguistic environment has more influence on language use and code switching than any previous language experience. The fact that use of Bengali as the language of instruction in high school for males had no significant influence on their use of English is probably due to the fact that all of the males were educated in colleges where English was the only lan guage of instruction (Tables 9 and 10). Females, on the other hand, in a similar situation used fewer English sentences compared to those females who were educated through English in high school (Tables 11 and 12). This difference between males and females may be due to the fact that some females received college" education through the medium of Bengali language whereas none of the males did (Tables 9 and 11). The topics of conversation in the children's questionnaire were designed to be more familiar to them. From the analysis of their data a yery clear picture emerges; that there was no significant dif ference in English and Bengali sentence used by these children, irre spective of the topic of conversation (Table 13). However, these chil dren used significantly less English and Bengali words in talking about 68 Bengali language, compared to any other topic (Table 14). In general, these children are bilingual in the true sense. The linguistic environ ment in their homes is mostly bilingual in nature, and their exposure to English at school and other places outside the home makes them more at ease with English than Bengali. Although most of them did use Bengali sentences and words in conversation for this study, one has to realize that, after all, these tape recorded sessions did not repre sent a natural linguistic environment for them. When group conversa tions were recorded where the children talked among themselves, they used mostly English and very little Bengali. Thus, it is apparent that these bilingual Bengali children are able to use both English and Bengali code switching, depending on whether they are talking with other children or with Bengali-speaking adults. This type of variation is not uncommon in the speech of bilingual children (Smith, 1935). The data from the two and a half year old boy indicates that his primary language is Bengali, but that having been exposed to Eng lish throughout his period of speech development, he can make use of both English and Bengali. His vocabulary growth during this period is primarily in Bengali. A similar case involving German-English bilingualism has been reported by Leopold (Leopold, 1939). This boy also distinguishes between known Bengali-speaking guests, and familiar English-speaking visitors, since he switches to English while trying to communicate with them. Berko-Gleason (1973) has demonstrated that children talk in different ways to different people in the same language. The present study indicates that a two 69 and a half year old child can talk in two different languages to two different people. Chomsky (1959) and Jespersen (1922) have discussed the remarkable ability of children to acquire language(s) and to mani pulate the syntactic construction of sentences, which is a complex mechanism involving higher centers of the brain. CHAPTER XII CONCLUSIONS The study was based on the quantitative investigation of code switching among adult and minor Bengali-English bilinguals as well as data from group discussions in social gatherings. Major emphasis was placed on the use of sentences and words in English and Bengali in relation to six different topics of conversation. In addition, several linguistic backgrounds of the respondents, gathered from questionnaire, were compared for any influence on the code switching. The following conclusions can be drawn: 1) There are differences in the frequency of occurrence of Eng lish and Bengali sentences and words used in conversations by Bengali- English bilingual adults, which relate to the topic under discussion. 2) In describing professional activities, males used more English sentences and words, an average of fifty percent, than in any other topic. Females used more English words than English sentences, but overall they used ninety percent Bengali in this category. 3) Males used fewer English sentences and words in describing their hobbies (thirty-three percent) than for professional activities. Females used more Bengali words in describing their professional activities and homemaking than in any other categories. The use of English words was also significantly higher among females when they were describing homemaking. 70 71 4) In discussing politics and entertainments, both males and females used predominantly Bengali sentences and words. 5) In describing sports, males used seventy-five percent Bengali sentences and seventy-one percent Bengali words while females used ninety-two percent Bengali sentences and eighty-two percent Ben gali words. 6) For males, no significant influence on language use was found which could be attributed to different state languages in India. This analysis could not be done for females due to insufficient data. 7) Present home language significantly influenced code switch ing in males. English language use at home obviously resulted in more use of English sentences and words. This analysis could not be done for females due to insufficient data. 8) Language of instruction in high school in India had no significant influence on code switching by males, but for females those who were educated in English used significantly more English sentences and words in conversations. 9) Language of instruction in college in India had no signif icant effect on code switching by either males or females. 10) Children use approximately fifty percent English sentences and words in all topics of conversation with adult bilinguals, but predominantly use English when conversing among themselves. 11) A two and half year old boy switches codes with other bilin guals, but speaks English only with English-speaking monolinguals. 72 12) The adult code switching pattern in group conversation shows that switching to English is influenced by readily available common English words, connotation, emphasis and person addressed. LIST OF REFERENCES Anshen, F. Statistics For Linguists (Rowlev. Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishers, 1978). Apte, M. L. "Some sociolinguistic aspect of interlingual communica tion in India," Anthropological Linguistics 1970, 22:63-82. Baker, 0. P. Categories of code switching in Hispanic communities: Untangling the terminology. Working Papers in Sociolinguis- tics. No. 76. Southwest Education Development Laboratory, Austin, Texas, 1980. Banerji, S. C. A Companion to Middle Indo-Aryan Literature (Calcutta: Firms KLM (Pvt), 1977). Barber, C. Early Modern English (London: Andre Deusch Ltd., 1976). Berko-Gleason, J. "Code switching in children's language," In Cogni tive Development and the Acquisition of Language. T. K. Moore (ed.) (New York: Academic Press, 1973), pp. 159-167. Bloomfield, L. Language (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1933). Broomfield, J. H. Elite Conflict in a Plural Society: Twentieth Century Bengal (Berkely and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1968). Chatterji, S. K. The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language. Part I. Introduction and Phonology (London: G. Allen and Unwin, 1970). Chomsky, N. "A Review of B. F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior," Language, 1959, ^:26-58. Cizikova, K. L. and Ferguson, C. A. "Bibliographical Review of Bengali Studies," In Current Trends in Linguistics, Vol. 5. Linguisti cs in South Asia"^ T. A. Sebeok (ed.) (The Hague: Mouton, 1969), pp. 85-98. Dasgupta, R. K. "Bengali," In An Anthology of Indian Literature. K Santhanam (ed.) (Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1980), pp. 149-190. 73 74 Dimock, E. C. "Literary and colloquial Bengali and modern Bengali P^^ose." In Linguistic Diversity in South Asia. C. A. Ferguson ^"d J. J. Gumperz(eds.) (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1960), pp. 43-63. DiPietro, R. J. Bilingualism. In Current Trends in Linguistics. Vol. 4. Ibero-American and Carribean Linguistics. T. A. Sebeok (ed.) (The Hague: Mouton, 1968), pp. 399-414. Doshi, M. K. Who's Who Among Indian Immigrants In North America (San Jose, California: Who's Who Among Indian Immigrants, Inc., 1976). Duncan, D. B. "New multiple range and multiple F tests," Biometrics, 1955, 11:1-42. Emeneau, M. B. "India as a linguistic area," Language, 1956, 32^:3-16. Emeneau, M. B. The dialects of Old Indo-Aryan. In Ancient Indo- European Dialects. H. Birnbaum and J. Puhvel (eds.) (Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1966), pp. 123-138. Ervin-Tripp, S. M. "An analysis of the interaction of language, topic and listener," American Anthropologist, No. 6, Part II, 1964. 66^:86-102. Ferguson, C. A. and Gumperz, J. J. (eds) Linguistic Diversity in South Asia (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1960), pp. 1-18. Ferguson, C. A. "The language factor in national development," Ameri can Linguistics, 1962, 4^:23-27. Fernando, C. "English and Sinhala bilingualism in Sri Lanka," Language and Society, 1977, 6^:341-360. Gal, S. Language Shift:Social Determinants of Linguistic Change in Bilingual Austria (New York: Academic Press, 1979). Gibsons, J. "Code-mixing and Koineising in the speech of students at the University of Hong-Kong," Anthropological Linguistics, 1979, 21:113-123. Gordon, L. A. Bengal: The Nationalist Movement 1876-1940 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1974). Greenberg, J. H. "The measurement of linguistic diversity," Language, 1956, _32_: 109-115. Gumperz, J. J- "Speech variation and the study of Indian civilization,' American Anthropologist, 1961, 63.:976-988. 75 Gumperz, J. J. "Types of linguistic communities," Anthropological Linguistics, 1962, 4_:28-36. Gumperz, J. J. The conversational analysis of interethnic communica tion. In Interethnic Communication. E. L. Ross (ed.). (Southern Anthropological Society, University of Georgia, Athens, 1978), pp. 13-31. Gumperz, J. J. and Hernandez-Chaves, E. Bilingualism, bidialectalism and classroom interaction. In A Pluralistic Nation: The Lan guage Issue in the United States. M. A. Lourie and N. F. Conkoin (eds.) (Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishers, 1978). Halliday, M. A. K., Mcintosh A. and Strevens, P. The Linguistic Scien ces and Language Teaching. (Longon: Longmans, 1964)! Hasselmo, N. American Swedish: A Study in Bilingualism. Ph.D. Disser tation (Cambridge: Harvard University, 1961). Haugen, E. "Analysis of linguistic borrowing,"Language, 1950, 26:210- 231. '~ Haugen, E. The Norwegian Language in America: A Study in Bilingual Behavior, VolT 1. The Bilingual Community (Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 1953). Haugen, E. Bilingualism in the Americas: A Bibliography and Research Guide. (American Dialect Society, University, Alabama: University orTTTabama, 1956). Herskovits, M. J. Cultural Anthropology (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1955). Huerta, A. G. The Acquisition of Bilingualism: A Code-Switching Approach. Working Papers in Sociolinguistic, No. 39. South west Education Development Laboratory, Austin, Texas, 1977. Huerta, A. G. Code Switching Among Spanish-English Bilinguals: A Sociolinguistic Perspective. Ph.D. Dissertation (Austin: The University of Texas at Austin, 1978). Hymes, D. The ethnography of speaking. In Anthropology of Human Behavior. T. Gladwin and W. Sturtevant (eds.) (Washington, D.C., Anthropological Society of Washington, 1962). 76 India Abroad (weekly Newspaper, New York). "Bengali meeting is slated for fall," Vol. 13, No. 33, 1983, pp. 8. Jacobson, R. "Code-switching in South Texas: sociolinguistic consider ations and pedagological applications," Journal of Linguistic Association of the Southwest, 1978, 2-20-32. Jakobson, R. "Linguistics and poetics." In Style in Language. T. A. Sebeok (ed.) (New York: John Wiley and Sons, I960), pp. 350-377. Jespersen, 0. Language: Its Nature, Development and Origin (London: G. Allen and Unwin, 1922). Jones, W. The third anniversary discourse on the Hindus (1786) Reprinted In A Reader in Nineteenth-Century Historical Indo-European Linguistics. Translated and Edited by W. P. Lehmann (Blooming- ton: Indiana University Press, 1967), pp. 7-20. Kachru, B. B. English in South Asia. In Current Trends in Linguis tics^, Vol. 5. Linguistics in South Asia.T. A. Sebeok (ed.) (The Hague: Mouton, 1969), pp. 627-678. Khan, A. M. The Transition in Bengal 1756-1775 (London: Cambridge Uni- versity Press, 1969). Kripalani, K. Modern Indian Literature: A Panaramic Glimpse (Bombay: Nirmala Sadanand Publishers, 1968). Lambert, W. E., Gardner, R. C, 01 ton, R. and Tunstall, K. A study of the roles of attitudes and motivation in second-language learn ing. In Readings in the Sociology of Language. J. A.Fishman (ed.) (The Hague: Mouton, 1972), pp. 473-491. Leopold, W. F. Speech Development of a Bilingual Child, Vol. 1. Vocabulary Growth in the First Two Years (Evanston: Northwes tern University Press, 1939). Lieberson, S. "An extension of Greenberg's linguistic diversity meas ures/' Lanc|ua2e_, 1964, 42:526-531. Lockwood, W. B. Indo-European Philology: Historical and Comparative (London: Hutchinson and Co., 1969). Lockwood, W. B. A Panarama of Indo-European Languages (London: Hutchin son and Co., 1972). MacDonell, A. A. India's Past: A Survey of her literature, religions, languages and antiques (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1927). 11 Mackey, W. F. and Noonan, J. A. "An experiment in bilingual education," English Language and Teaching, 1952, 2:125-132. Mackey, W. F. "Bilingualism and linguistic structure," Culture, 1953, 14:143-149. Mackey, W. F. "The description of bilingualism," Canadian Journal of Linguistics, 1962, 7^:51-85. Marshall, P. J. East Indian Fortunes: The British in Bengal in the Eighteenth Century (London: Oxford University Press;. 1976). Meillet, A. The Indo-European Dialects. Translated by S. N. Rosen berg. Alabama Linguistic and Philological Series, No. 15. University of Alabama Press, University, Alabama, 1967. Pfaff, C. W. Functional and Structural Constraints on Syntactic Varia tion in Code-Switching. In Papers from the Parasession on Diachronic Syntax. S. B. Steever, C. A. Walker and S. S. Mufwene (eds.), Chicago Linguistic Society, Chicago, 1976. Pyles, T. The Origins and Development of the English Language. Second edition (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Inc., 1971). Ray, P. S. Language standardization. In Study of the Role of Second Language in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. F. A. Rice (ed.). Center for Applied Linguistics of the Modern Language Associa tion, Washington, D.C., 1962, pp. 91-104. Rubin, J. "Bilingualism in Paraguay," Anthropological Linguistic, 1962, 4^:52-58. Rubin, J. Bilingual usage in Paraguay. In Readings in the Sociology of Languages. J. A. Fishman (ed.) (The Hague: Mouton, 1972), pp. 512-530. Sankoff, D. (ed.). Linguistic Variation: Models and Methods (New York: Academic Press, 1978). Sen, S. History of the Bengali Language (New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, i97iy: Shaaban, K. A. "Code-switching in the speech of educated Arabs," Jour nal of Linguistic Association of the Southwest, 1978, 2^7-19. Smith, M. E. "A study of the speech of eight bilingual children of the same family," Child Development, 1935, 2:19-25. Steele, R. G. and Torrie, J. H. Principles and Procedure of Statistics (New York, McGraw-Hill, 1960), pp. 1-481. 78 Stewart, W. A. A sociolinguistic typology for describing national multilingual ism. In Readings in the Sociology of Languages. J. A. Fishman (ed.). (The Hague: Mouton, 1972), pp. 531-545. Thernstrom, S. (ed.). Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1980), pp. 172-173 and 396-401. West, M. "Bilingualism," English Language Teaching, 1958, 12:94-97. Winternitz, M. A History of Indian Literature, Vol. 1 (New York: Russel and Russel, 1972). Zengel, M. "Literacy as a factor in language change," American Anthro pologist, 1962, 6^:132-139. Zentella, A. C. Code-Switching and Interactions Among Puerto Rican Chidren. Working Papers in Sociolinguistics, No. 50. South west Education Development Laboratory, Austin, Texas, 1977. APPENDIX A Glossary Apabhramsa: meaning "corrupt," "departure from correct speech." Stage in which Middle Indo-Aryan languages diverged from the literary form of the Prakrit languages beginning in the third century A.D. and immediately preceding the.formation of modern vernacular speech of India around the twelfth century A.D. Aryan: from Sanskrit "arya" meaning noble; a people and their language who in prehistoric times settled in Iran and northern India. Asoka's inscriptions: edicts engraved on rocks and pillars by the greatest Maurya Emperor Asoka (died 238 B.C.); forms of Prakrits (Middle Indo-Aryan) were used in the inscriptions. Assamese: the language of the State of Assam in eastern India. It belongs to Indo-Aryan or Indie of Indo-European language family, spoken by more than ten million people. The only indigenous Indo-Aryan language of the Assam valley, Assamese has been affected in vocabulary, phonetics and structure by its close association with non Indo-Aryan Tibeto-Burman dialects. Assamese is also closely related to Bengali. Avestan language: eastern Iranian language of the Avesta, the sacred book of Zoroastrianism. Avestan probably ceased to be used as an everyday spoken speech around the fourth century B.C. but the sacred words were passed down by oral tradition. Brahmi script: ancient script of India, ancestral to all Indian scripts except Kharosti. Asoka's rock inscriptions used Brahmi as well as Kharosti (in Afghanistan). Devanagari or Nagari: Indian script used to write Sanskrit, Prakrit, Hindi and Marathi languages; developed from the north Indian monumental script known as Gupta and ultimately from Brahmi alphabet. Dravidian languages: an independent family of language, the Dravidian consists mainly of Tamil, Telegu, Kannada and Malayalam spoken in the southern states of India. Dravidian languages are spoken by more than UO million people. Durga Puja: in Hindu mythology Durga is one of the many forms of Sakti (the goddess) and wife of Siva. She slew the buffalo-demon Mahisasura while riding a lion. Durga Puja (festival) is held annually in September-October and is the greatest festival in Bengal. 79 80 Gathas_: parts of Avesta, the sacred book of Zoroastrianism, it is a collection of religious songs or hymns. Gathas reflect a linguistic stage close to that of Vedic of ancient India. Hindi_: official and most widely spoken language in India, Hindi belongs to the central group of Indo-Aryan language. Written in Devanagari script the literary language shows strong Sanskrit influence. Almost 275 million people in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh speak Hindi as their mother tongue. ^^'^^^"^^' • ^^i"du goddess of wealth and good fortune, she is wife of Vishnu. Lakhsmi Puja (festival) is held annually in October- November. Magadhi Prakrit: the eastern Apabhramsa dialect. Mahabharata: "Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty"; one of the two major epics of India, valued both for its high literary merit and religious inspiration. The epic is believed to be based on actual events presumed to have taken place between 1400-1000 B.C. The author is the sage Vyasa. The present form was compiled probably around the third century A.D. in Sanskrit. Maharastri Prakrit: the southwestern Apabhramsa dialect. Oryia: Indo-Aryan language of the eastern group, spoken by about 25 million people mainly in the state of Orissa. It is closely related to Assamese, Bengali and Maithili. Pali language: sacred language of Buddhism; a Middle Indo-Aryan lan guage. Pali seems to be closely related to Vedic and Sanskrit but is not descended from either of these. Panini: Indian grammarian, author of Astadhyayi (eight chapters) the oldest known grammar of Sanskrit and the oldest extant grammar in any language in the world; compiled in the fifth century B.C. Prakrits: from Sanskrit word "prakrta" meaning "original," "natural." Most modern scholars consider prakrta to refer to the "natural" languages, the vernaculars as opposed to Sanskrit, the polished language of literature and the educated. There is linguistic evidence to support this view. Puranas: meaning "ancient lore"; in Hindu sacred literature, popular encyclopedic collections of myth, legend, and genealogy vary ing greatly as to date and origin. There are 18 principal surviving Puranas. 81 Ramayana: ''Romance of Rama"; shorter of the two great epics of India, the other being Mahabharata. The Ramayans was composed in Sanskrit around 300 B.C. by the poet Valmiki. Rigveda: the earliest of the Vedas or the sacred hymns of ancient India; composed around 1300-1200 B.C. The language is called Vedic which is closely related to the Gathas of Avestan lan guage. Saraswati: the Hindu goddess of learning and the arts. She rides a swan holding a vina (lute) and a book. Saraswati Puja (festi val) is annually observed during January-February by students and teachers alike. Sauraseni Prakrit: the northcentral Apabhramsa dialect. Sinhalese: the Indo-Aryan language spoken by more than 10 million people in Sri Lanka. Sinhalese or Sinhala was brought to Sri Lanka by colonists from western part of India around fifth century B.C. Tami1: major and probably the oldest member of the Dravidian language family. Tamil is spoken in the state of Tamil Nadu in India, Sri Lanka where Tamil is the second major language, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa. The earliest literary monuments of the language belongs to third century B.C. Vedas: meaning knowledge; sacred hymns and verses composed in Vedic, current among Indo-European peoples who entered India from Iran around 1500 B.C. There are four Vedas, Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva. There is a distinct and clear change in linguistic stages in composition of different Vedas. APPENDIX B Transcriptions In order to do the statistical analysis of the data, a count was made of Bengali words, English words, Bengali sentences and English sentences. A word, for the purpose of this research, is defined as a written, rather than a phonological word, and a sentence is defined as two or more words expressing a complete thought. Single word answers to questions like "yes" or "no" have not been counted as sentences. Although English words are sometimes phonologically modified by Bengali speakers, they are cited here in standard English spelling. Counting Procedure Excerpt 1 contains sixty-four Bengali words, twenty-four Eng lish words, eleven Bengali sentences and two English sentences. Exerpt 2 contains sixty-five Bengali words, eighteen English words and six Bengali sentences. Excerpt 3 contains forty Bengali words, twenty- nine English words and nine Bengali sentences. Excerpt 4 contains fifty-nine Bengali words, sixteen English words and fourteen Bengali sentences. Excerpt 5 contains thirty-two Bengali words, twenty-six English words, ten Bengali sentences and three English sentences. 1. The following is an excerpt from a transcribed interview of an adult female respondent who received her education in India. Her present home language is Bengali and Bengali-English code switching. Main hobby FmFr hacche duto-gFn ^r boi parha. Relaxation-er janya o Fmi non-stop gFn kari. sFdhFranata Fmi gFn kari ar kaj kari. Dvitiyatah hacche boi parhF-every minute I get. Boi depend kare hater kFche jF pFi. Dekhun nF ekhane boi, okhFne boi. Boi halei holo. 82 83 Gal pa ekta halei holo. Anything goes actually. AbFr anek samai his- ^:9ntr' opar, autobiography-r opar boi parhte bhFlo iFge. Novel toh khub parhi. Mystery,bhayer, mFne horror movie je samasta boi sab-i parhi. Kintu boi chFrhF j_ caji not_ jive without book. English translation: I have two main hobbies—singing and reading books. I sing non-stop for relaxation also. Usually I sing while I work. And secondly, I read ewery minute I get. What book I read depends on whatever is available handily. You can see I have books here, books there. If it's a book, that's all that matters. Anything goes actually. Sometimes I like to read books on history and autobiography. I read novels a lot. I also read books on mystery or horror movies. I read everything. But I can not live without books. 2. The following is an excerpt from a transcribed interview of an adult female respondent who received part of her education in Europe. Her present home language is Bengali and Bengali-English code switching. Apatatah Fmi vision research-e achi, jadio amar training hacche physics-e. Ei vision research-e je kFj Fmi kari tFte physics-er back ground easily apply karF jFi. AmrF jakhan dekhi takhan sudhu je cokhe sab jiniser chobi parhe tFi nai, FmFder brain-tF ektF computer-er mato kFj kare. Sei chabitF ki kare processed hai khub kami-i jana ache e samparke. Ekhono parjyanto puro visual processing ki kare hai keu tF jaFe nF. Hundred year dhare je model-gulo rayeche, ekhan dekhF gyFche segulo diye sab bojhFno jai na. English translation: At present I am involved in vision research, although my training is in physics. One can easily apply 84 the physics background in the type of vision research I am working with When we see, not only the image of that object falls in our eyes, the brain also acts like a computer. Very little is known of how that image is processed. Even now, it is not known fully how that visual processing takes place. It is apparent that the models which have existed for hundreds of years is not sufficient to explain everything. 3. The following is an excerpt from a transcribed interview of an adult male respondent who received part of his education in the United States. His present home language is Bengali. Amar present job holo ami ekhFne ... department-e parhFi. Amar main kFj holo prati semester-e ektF undergraduate ebaiti ektF gradu ate level course parhano. Teaching holo secondary. Main kaj holo research. Ebam tar opar amader promotion nirbhar kare. Ami total je kFj kari tFrmadhye prai seventy percent time research-e di-i. Ten percent time anyFnya activity thFke. Ekhan FmFr under-e ekjan master's student Fche. Bhabisyate Ph.D. student hole sei percentage-ta bFrhFte habe. English translation: My present job is to teach here in the ... department. My main job is to teach one undergraduate and one graduate level course in every semester. Teaching is secondary. Main job is research and promotion depends on it. I spend almost seventy percent of total time for research and ten percent time for other activities. Now I have one master's student. In the future I will have to increase the percentage when I have Ph.D. student. 85 4. The following is an excerpt from a transcribed interview of an adult male respondent who received part of his education in the United States. His present home language is Bengali. Amar anek hobby Fche. Prathamatah chobi tolF, tFrpar science fiction boi parhF. ChotobelFi hobby chilo stamp collect korF. Ekhano conea kari. Segulo album-e iFgFno hai nF. EchFrhF gFn sunte khub bhFlo IFge. Seta'o ektF hobby. BerhFno FmFr main relaxation. Chobi tolatF 0 berhFnor samai maximum hai. Jakhan berhlte jFi FmrF sab samai bandhuder samge jFi. Student life-e o sab samai bandhuder samge jetFm. Tate driving share karF hota, Fnanda besi hota, kharac kam hota. English translation: I have many hobbies. First, taking pic tures and reading books on science fiction. I used to collect stamps when I was young. I still collect but those have not been put in the album. Other than these, I like to listen to music. That is also a hobby. And travelling is my main relaxation. Maximum number of pic tures can be taken during travelling. Whenever we travel, we always go with friends. We also used to travel with friends in our student life. That way we shared driving, we enjoyed more and it cost less. 5. The following is an excerpt from a transcribed interview of a child respondent who was born in the United States. His present home language is Bengali and Bengali-English code switching. Ernie-r mukhtF khub wide. Ar mFthatF flat. Bert-er khub lambF mukh Fche. Ernie khub badmFsi kare. He is crazy. Bert sabdin tricked haye jai. He always gets caught in the jokes and tricks Ernie does. Ernie khub mischievious. Sometimes Bert makes face and parhe 86 jai. Ernie jakhan Bert-ke trick karte pare takhan chotta laugh kare. Ar Bert-er jakhan hFsi pai goat-er mato hFse. Bert khub quiet ar Ernie ektu rough.- English translation: Ernie's mouth is very wide and his head is flat. Bert has a very long face. Ernie acts silly. He is very crazy. Bert is always tricked. He always . . . Ernie does. Ernie is very mischievious. And sometimes Bert makes face and falls. Ernie giggles when he succeeds in tricking Bert. And Bert laughs like a goat. Bert is very quiet and Ernie is a little rough. APPENDIX C Questionnaire I The questions in this survey are for a thesis to study Code Switching among Bengali-English Bilinguals for a Master of Arts Degree in Linguis tics. Please answer with a "yes" or "no" or by a single one word answer or a checkmark. 1. PERSONAL DATA A. Where were you born? B. How long have you been in the U.S.A.? C. How long have you been in Lubbock? D. Your sex? M F E. In what period were you born? 1910-1920 1921-1930 1931-1940 1941-1950 1951-1960 1961-1970 1971-1980 2. LINGUISTICS DATA A. What language was spoken in your home? B. What language(s) do you speak at home now? Bengali English Both Bengali and English Other C. Was Bengali the state language in your home state? If not Bengali, what other language was state language? D. Was Bengali the medium of instruction in high school? College? E. If Bengali was not the medium of instruction, what other language was used in high school? College? 87 88 3. EDUCATION A. High School BA/BS MA/MS PH.D/DSc Other B. Did you receive part of your education in the U.S.? Other country? Degree obtained? 4. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES A. What types of job are you engaged in now? Student Homemaker Clerical College teaching Physician Engineer Other B. What types of job were you engaged in while you were in India? Other country? Questionnaire II The following questions were asked to twenty-six adults. The responses were recorded on tapes and later transcribed. The first line in Bengali script is the question asked during the interview. The second line represents the Latin alphabet transliteration. The third line is the English translation. 1. POLITICS President Reagan Sambandhe FpnFr matFmat ki? What is your opinion of President Reagan? ApnFr ki mone hoi je Reagan-er administration tathakathito third world nationgulor prati sahanubhutisil? Do you believe his administration is sympathetic to the aspirations of the so-called third world nations? 2. SPORTS Apni ki kono khelFdhulFi amsagrahan karen? Do you participate in any sports? B. ^^^ f^ ^9i^'iim -(^rp I9mi\ C^rvni ^ri^:ij t^^ Apni ki television-e kono sports progrFm dyFkhen? Kon sport Fpni sabceye besi dyFkhen ebom keno? Do you watch sports programs on television? What sport do you watch most, and why? 89 90 3. HOMEMAKING Samprati kono notun appliance kinechen? Se sambandhe kichu bolun. Have you bought any new appliance recently? Tell me some thing about it. f^/y W<7.^ "^^ tp99'^ ^^ i Apni ki barhTte prFi BFmFlT rFnnF karen? AJDnFr priya khFbar rannFr ektF recipe bolun. Do you cook Bengali dishes at home often? Give me the recipe of your vavorite dish. 4. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY A. cP'M^rj^ ^srnr ^^^ ^z$i ^^ ?^;;i ApnFr bartamFn kFj sambandhe kichu bolun. Please tell me about your present job. B. v5C7/5yf;7 ^;7 J?V ^'^^ ^^ C^Ztpf Apni keno ei bartamFn kaj bechechen? What influenced you to choose your present profession? 5. HOBBY A. yJTm-^ ^9^ ^^1 A"pnFr hobby ki? What are your hobbies? Relaxation-er janya Fpni kT karen? What do you do for relaxation? 91 6. ENTERTAINMENT Apni ki diner belF television-e soap operF dyFkhen? Do you watch daytime soap operas on television? Konta apnar priya television show? ApnFr sabceye priya show sambandhe kichu bolun. Which is your favorite television show? Can you say something about your favorite show? Questionnaire III The following questions were asked to six children. The responses were recorded on tapes and later transcribed. The first line in Bengali script is the question asked during the interview. The second line represents the Latin alphabet transliteration. The third line is the English translation. 1. SCHOOL ACTIVITY A. t5^5f V^Pi h^t^ ar/3f Tumi kon school-e jao? Which school do you go to? B. ^"TV C^W f^^-J? ^T Tumi kon grade-e parha? Which grade are you in? School-e tomFr best friend sambandhe kichu balo. Say something about your best friend in school. Or kT tomFr sabceye besi bhalo lage? What do you like most about him or her? 2. SPORTS cr. ^.f^P School-e kon sport tomFr sabceye besi bhFlo lage? What sport do you like most in school? Tumi soccer bF besball khelo? Do you play soccer or baseball? 92 93 Tomar team-er nFm kT? What is the name of your team? Tomar team-e jara sabceye bhalo khele tader sambandhe kichu balo. Tell me about some of your best players in the team? 3. TELEVISION Sanibar sakalbela je cartoon-gulo hai tar madhye kon cartoon tomar sabceye besi bhFlo iFge? What cartoon show do you like most on Saturday morning? TomFr je show-tF sabceye besT bhFlo iFge se sambandhe kichu balo. Tell me about the show you like most. C ex- ^ ex- Tumi Sesame Street dyFkho? Ernie o Bert sambandhe kichu balo. Do you watch Sesame Street? Tell me something about Ernie and Bert. 94 ^TJ^;7 ^?.y5^ ^w;^? Mister Rojers jakhan juto badal karen takhan kT gan karen bolte pFro? Can you tell me what Mr. Rogers sings when he changes his shoes? 4. MUSIC LESSON A. ^ftf <7V t^/^ %dT^'^ c^'^l Tumi ki kono music sekho? Do you take music lessons? B. ^^ t^y^ ^^^^'^'^i ^nw^l Tumi kon instrument bajao? Which instrument do you play? C. mSfi^ 7^^f "^^^ ^^* ^^^^^ • TomFr music teacher sambandhe kichu balo. Tell me about your music teacher. Tumi ki school-er music band-e kichu bajao? Do you play anything in your school music band? 5. BENGALI LANGUAGE A. ^fir 9^ ^^ ^'^^ ^^-^ Tumi ki bFrhTte BamlF sekho? Do you take Bengali lessons at home? B. ^rsf f^ ^5^r n Can you read Bengali? 95 Tumi ki BFmlF likhte pFro? Can you write Bengali? Tumi ki BFmlF likhte o parhte sikhte cFo? Would you like to learn how to read and write Bengali?