code-switching

This research aims to study the effect of gender, age and education of Arabic-Persian bilingual speakers on their frequency of use of code-switching types (Inter- sentential, Intra- sentential & Tag) in Nakhle-e-Taghi city. To this end, 80 male and female Arabic–Persian bilinguals were selected as research subjects through a non-random convenience sampling method. They consisted of two age groups, 20 to 40 and over 40, and belonged to two levels of education, one under diploma and the other diploma and higher than diploma. Then, their conversations were audio and video recorded, out of which the research data were extracted. The research data, containing 1022 cases of code-switching between Arabic- Persian languages, were analyzed in accordance with Poplack (1980). The frequency of use of code-switching types was enumerated and registered based on gender, age and education. Finally, the numerical data were analyzed in SPSS.27 software, using the test of chi- square 2. The results show that gender, age and education have effect on the frequency of usage of code-switching types.

In two or multilingual societies, the contact of two languages in daily social interactions leads to code switching. Various definitions for code switching have been presented. But the most common is: using more than one language in an utterance or interaction. Code switching is investigated from different sociological, psychological and structural perspectives. Being formal and standard, as well as social, scientific and cultural validity of Persian language in comparison with local languages affect the speech of speakers of these languages. Laki speakers also code switch to Persian in different contexts for different reasons. The current study investigates code switching among Laki /Persian bilingual speakers based on three sociological factors: age, gender and context. The related code switching data collected from 120 people of bilingual Laki/Persian speakers’ interactions in Koohdasht during 10 sessions of 45-60 minutes were recorded. 3 age groups involved in data collecting process: 7-13, 18-35 and over 50. Data analysis is performed using SPSS software and Chi-square test was used in inferential statistics. The results suggested that age, gender and context influence code switching. So the rate of code switching to Persian occurs more among women and young people and in the formal context.

The present research is an attempt to study the borrowing hierarchy of Azerbaijani from Persian. The data collection was carried out using both library sources and field work. The majority of the data is from the speech interaction of Azerbaijani speakers living in the central part of Ardabil. The analysis of the data indicates that Azerbaijani speakers, in addition to using their native compound sentence patterns use Persian compound sentence patterns in their speech by borrowing Persian grammatical morphemes. Although a lot of Persian genitive and possessive phrases are used as borrowed phrases in Azerbaijani, these structures have not entered Azerbaijani as borrowed patterns. Persian prepositional phrases and Persian comparative adjective marker also appear as code-switched elements in bilinguals’ speech but they cannot be assumed as borrowed elements considering the borrowing code-switching distinguishing criterion. Evaluating research findings according to Stolz and Stolz (1996) suggested hierarchy of contact-induced changes and convergence progression shows that Persian subordinate compound sentence patterns have become more established in Azerbaijani system but the pattern borrowing has not occurred in phrase and word levels of Azerbaijani system yet.

As a remarkable topic in sociolinguistics, code-switching is a natural phenomenon among many bilingual communities throughout the world. Van Dulm (2007) describes this phenomenon as the use of two or more languages while making an utterance or a sentence. Azeri Turkish-Persian speaking bilinguals are one of these big communities which code-switching is a very common practice among them. The present study investigates code-switching and the goals of its occurrence among some of Azeri Turkish-Persian-speaking bilingual teachers in Urmia city. The study takes into consideration such social variables affecting code-switching as age, gender, education level, teaching experience, topic, and setting. Review of Literature One of the first studies in the United States of America in this regard is Barker (1947) that examined code-switching process among the Mexico-Americans in Tucson, Arizona. In addition to the analysis of the economic relations, social and geographical networks of the citizens of Tucson, the author saught an answer to the question that why bilingual people use different languages in different places or situations. One of the most important investigations on code-switching from social perspective was carried out by Bloom and Gumperz (1972). They believed that social events introduced under the title of participants, setting and topic would limit linguistic variables choice. They added in any given social situation, some forms of language are more appropriate than others. In a study in Ardabil province, northwest Iran, Heidari, Samaei, Latifi and Ruhi (2013), examined some primary school English teachers' views on code-switching process and factors which affect this phenomenon. Results showed that nearly all bilingual teachers agree with using code-switching in the classroom and asserted that repetition and translation have been the most effective factors involved in this process (Heidari et al., 2013). Sadat Giyasian and Rezaie (2014) examined different types of code-witching among Persian-Armenian bilinguals in Tehran. Inter-sentential code-switching was looked through Bloom and Gumperz’ (1972) and intra-sentential code-switching was surveyed through Myers-Scotton model (1993 and 2002). The results showed that, in their daily communications, both situational and metaphorical types of code-switching took place and the intra-sentential code-switching was turned to have a very high amount of frequency. Concerning different types of code-switch, Bloom and Gumperz (1972) believe that in metaphorical switching, speakers use two languages at the same time which occurs through topic switch and the speakers change their codes to achieve specific effects. And finally, examining different purposes of code-switching, Baker and García (1993) mentioned 13 basic types of purposes in making use of code-switching. Záňová (2011) enumerated some purposes of code-switching, i.e. putting emphasis on a particular point, reinforcement of request, clarification of a point-repetition, social distance-solidarity, quotinɡ, communicatinɡ common identity, excludinɡ people from a conversation, includinɡ people in a conversation, chanɡing attitude, arousinɡ attention, addressinɡ oneself, hedɡinɡ, expressinɡ opposition, topic chanɡe, showinɡ respect, no equivalence, introduction of certain topics, and substitution a word in one language. The present study is based on Bloom and Gumperz’ (1972), Gumperz’ (1982) and Baker's (2001) theoretical frameworks.

Studies carried out on code-switching have been mostly conducted among the students' communications and interactions at school or university classes but not among the university or high school teachers. On the other hand, most of the classifications are done to clarify inter-sentential or intra-sentential nature of an existing code-switching phenomenon, but this study is to search the case among the teachers and the use of different type of classification. To carry out the study, relevant data on code-switching, produced by the teachers were collected through direct observation of their linguistic behaviour. The data were recorded and were later transcribed and analysed. To determine the function of social factors on code-switching, a researcher-made questionnaire was completed by 336 male and female Azeri Turkish-Persian-speaking bilingual teachers. Depending on the type of variables, tests as ne sample t-test, Independent t-test, Anova, Kalmogorov –Smiranov, Levene, and Structural equation modelling were used.

Descriptive results showed that 15 factors were involved in teachers’ code-switching occurrence and that the participants used situational, metaphorical, conversational, situational - metaphorical, situational - conversational and metaphorical-conver sational code - switching at school offices, teachers’ council meetings, and in service course sessions, while talking about educational and non-educational topics. The results of quantitative research also showed that there was no significant difference among code-switching according to the social factors mentioned above except for the in-service course sessions setting. In addition, the teachers preferred to switch from Persian to Azeri Turkish language in these settings and not vice versa.

Contrary to Bloom and Gumper'z framework, which had a clear boundary between different types of code-switching, the study showed that the difference between metaphorical and situational code-switching is in fact unclear and is not simple. There may also be more than one purpose for code-switching in a single conversation and overlapping among the goals. On the other hand, it seems that there is a direct relationship between code-switching and the goals. Also, in Urmia, the social factors mentioned above do not have a significant difference in the code-switching of teachers. Perhaps the reason for this is that Urmia is a Turkish-speaking city, and the teachers only need to speak Persian just in the classroom in teaching hours. On the other hand, they tend to keep their mother tongue. The results of this study can be regarded as a guideline for other research projects in bilingual or multilingual regions of the country. The following recommendations can be useful for those interested in conducting research in this field: Other bilingual and multilingual educational regions should be explored in amount of using their code-switching as well; Other descriptive features such as culture, identity, language, accent, etc., and their impact on the amount of the occurrence of code-switching should be investigated as well to determine the kinds of relationship with this generally happen phenomenon.

Code switching, as an outcome of linguistic contact, can be seen in most of the multilingual societies, including Urmia, the capital city of West Azerbaijan province, Iran. The present field study aimed to compare the frequency, direction (from Turkish to Persian or vice versa), and categorical levels (affix, word, phrase, or sentence) of code switching among female elementary and high-school students representing high, middle, and low social classes. In order to do this, the required data were extracted from the casual conversations of the students which were collected using a non-participant observation method through voice recording in public places. According to the findings, code switching was more frequent among high-school students representing the middle social class. Besides, according to the results, words were the most frequent, and affixes were the rarest code-switched elements in the data. Moreover, most of the students switched the code when their mother language was the dominant language of the conversation. Also, high-school students favored code-switching at word level, compared to the elementary students who switched sentences most.

The aim of this research is to study the borrowing of Persian conjunctions by speakers of Azerbayjani Turkish and its effect on their language. Data were collected from Azerbayjani Turkish resources and its speakers in Ardabil province. Data analysis based on linguistic and non-linguistic criteria of borrowing/code-switching differentiation shows that the majority of Persian conjunctions have been borrowed by Azerbayjani Turkish and some of them appear as code-switched elements in bilinguals’ speech. The findings correspond to Myers-Scotton’s view confirming borrowing/code-switching continuum as a mechanism for accomplishment of borrowing process. Speakers of Azerbayjani Turkish borrow Persian conjunctions to combine their language clauses. They do not substitute Persian compound sentence structures with those from their native language ones and they use the structures of both due to pragmatic reasons. The results match the second level of Thomason & Kaufman’s (1988) borrowing hierarchy supposing slight and limited changes to conjunction borrowing.