code switching among bilingual Laki-Persian speakers based on variables of age, gender and context

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.