Motivations Behind Code-switching Among Kuwaiti Bilingual Schools‟ Students A Thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2014 Fatemah H M H A Mahsain School of Arts, Languages and Cultures TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………….…..7 LIST OF TABLES………………………….………………………………………................8 TRANSLITERATION SYSTEM……………………………………………………………..9 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS………………………………………….…………….............10 LIST OF SYMBOLS…...........................................................................................................11 ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………….................12 DECLARATION……….…………………………………………………….………...........13 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT……………………………………………………..................14 ACKNOWLEDGMENT…………………………………………………………….............15 DEDICATION………………………………….……………………………………...........16 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………….............17 1.1 Aim and significance of this study…................................................................................17 1.2 Geography and demographics of Kuwait…......................................................................19 1.2.1 Geography…...............................................................................................................19 1.2.2 Population and ethnicity….........................................................................................19 1.2.3 Religions….................................................................................................................20 1.2.4 Language and literacy….............................................................................................20 1.2.4.1 Language.........................................................................................................20 1.2.4.2 Literacy............................................................................................................22 1.2.5 Schools in Kuwait…...................................................................................................30 1.3 The Problem…...................................................................................................................32 1.4 Literature review…............................................................................................................34 1.4.3 Borrowing vs. Code-Switching…...............................................................................34 1.4.3.1 Defining borrowing and code-switching………………………………………...34 1.4.3.2 How to differentiate between the two phenomena…............................................35 1.4.3.3 Views of bilingualism in general and code-switching in particular…..................38 1.4.3.4. Types of Code-switching….................................................................................40 1.4.3.5. Factors behind code-switching…........................................................................42 2 1.4.3.6. Approaches and models…...................................................................................44 1.5. Chapter review…..............................................................................................................45 CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY AND ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK….........47 2.1 Research questions….........................................................................................................47 2.2 Fieldwork and data collection…........................................................................................49 2.2.1 Aims of fieldwork…..................................................................................................49 2.2.2 The setting…..............................................................................................................50 2.2.3 Methodology…..........................................................................................................51 2.2.3.1 Student information questionnaires….................................................................52 2.2.3.2 Audio-recorded interviews…..............................................................................53 2.2.3.3 Parent‘s and student‘s perception interviews…..................................................54 2.2.3.4 Observations and note-taking..............................................................................56 2.2.4. Participants…............................................................................................................57 2.2.4.1 Students…...........................................................................................................57 2.2.4.2 Parents….............................................................................................................59 2.2.5 Language preference…..............................................................................................60 2.3. Analytical framework…..................................................................................................67 2.3.1 Predominant perspectives on code-switching…........................................................67 2.3.1.1 Carol Myers-Scotton‘s Markedness approach…................................................67 2.3.1.2 Conversational analysis…...................................................................................71 2.3.2 Functions of code-switching…..................................................................................76 2.3.2.1 Situational code-switching…..............................................................................76 2.3.2.2 Discourse-related code-switching…...................................................................77 2.3.2.3 Participant-related code-switching…..................................................................80 CHAPTER THREE: CONTRASTIVE CODE-SWIITCHING…...................................84 3.1 Defining contrast…............................................................................................................84 3.1.1 General definition…...................................................................................................84 3 3.1.2 Contrastive code-switching…....................................................................................85 3.2 Participant-related and discourse related contrastive code-switching…..........................85 3.2.1 Participant-related contrastive code-switching…......................................................86 3.2.1.1 The notion of ‗pragmatically dominant language‘…..........................................88 3.2.2 Discourse-related contrastive code-switching….......................................................89 3.3 Participant-related and discourse–related contrastive code-switching in our data.........92 34. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................121 CHAPTER FOUR: EXPRESSIVE CODE-SWITCHING….........................................123 4.1 Gumperz‘s notion of ―contextualisation cue‖….............................................................123 4.2. Code-switching as a contextualisation cue….................................................................125 4.3 Expressive code-switching…..........................................................................................126 4.3.1 Code-switching expressing opinion and attitude.....................................................127 4.3.2 Code-switching expressing emotionality…..............................................................129 4.4 Expressive code-switching in our study…......................................................................132 4.4.1 Code-switching expressing opinion and attitude in our corpus................................132 4.4.2 Code-switching expressing emotionality in our corpus...........................................150 4.5 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................156 CHAPTER FIVE: FLOOR HOLDING AND FILLING LINGUISTIC GAPS….......157 5.1 Floor holding…...............................................................................................................157 5.1.1 Defining discourse markers…..................................................................................158 5.1.2 Categorising discourse markers…............................................................................160 5.1.2.1 The interpersonal realm…..................................................................................161 5.1.1.2 The textual realm…............................................................................................163 5.1.1.3 Cognitive (a.k.a realm of medium)…................................................................165 5.1.3 Switched discourse markers in Kuwait…................................................................166 5.1.3.1 Cognitive discourse markers in our study….....................................................167 5.1.3.2 Textual discourse markers in our study…........................................................180 4 5.2 Filling linguistic gaps…...................................................................................................195 5.2.1 The unavailability of a synonym…...........................................................................196 5.2.2 Failure in retrieving the appropriate lexical item…..................................................198 5.2.3 Language deficiency….............................................................................................200