code-switch

Also found in: Dictionary.

code-switch

1. To alternate between two or more languages while speaking. My mom grew up in Quebec, and though she speaks English fluently now, she still sometimes code-switches back to French mid-sentence. I don't know how you can just code-switch between English and Spanish. I only know one language, and I struggle getting that out sometimes! Our French teacher is so annoying. She won't let us code-switch at all—we have to speak in French the entire class.

2. To change one's language or manner of speaking or communication to match one's current environment or audience. Many African Americans spend their whole life code-switching. Sorry for the tween slang—I tend to code-switch when I'm around my kids. It's funny to hear my daughter code-switch while talking to her college roommates. It's like they're constantly evoking inside jokes that I'm clueless about.

code-switching

1. The act or practice of alternating between two or more languages while speaking. My mom grew up in Quebec, and though she speaks English fluently now, she's prone to code-switching back to French mid-sentence. I'm seriously impressed with your code-switching between English and Spanish. I only know one language, and I struggle getting that out sometimes! Our French teacher is so annoying. She won't allow any code-switching at all, we have to speak in French the entire class.

2. The act or practice of changing one's language or manner of speaking or communication to match one's current environment or audience. Code-switching is an inherent part of African-American culture. Code-switching is a big part of communicating with my kids—I try to use the terms they know. I'm used to my daughter code-switching when she talks to her college roommates. It's like they're constantly evoking inside jokes that I'm clueless about.

See also:

References in periodicals archive ?

In the face of stigmatization, the majority of Quebec English-speaking postsecondary students code-switch and display an ambivalent attitude.

The Experiences of and Responses to Linguicism of Quebec English-Speaking and Franco-Ontarian Postsecondary Students

From these learners, a collective of 63% of the learners stated that thus often code-switched while learning during class.

Mobile enhanced learning in a South African context

A Bilingual speaker code-switch to his weaker language to add colour or blends the two linguistic systems according to his/her needs or preferences (Valdes-Fallis 1978).

TRENDS OF INTER-SENTENTIAL SWITCHES: ARE THEY SAME BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE TEACHERS

Hinrichs (2006) examines the emails of native Jamaicans and finds that these speakers prefer English as the primary language in this mode of communication, even though in face-to-face interaction they code-switch between English and Jamaican Creole.

Code-switching in social network messages: a case study of a bilingual Chicana

Intra-clausal code-switches are identifiable according to clause-internal position of switch site, regardless of hesitation phenomena, pause-fillers or other elements which may accompany the code-switch:

Psycholinguistic, metalinguistic and socio-psychological accounts of code-switching: a comparative analysis of their incidence in a large Croatian-English sample/Psiholingvisticke, metalingvisticke i sociopsiholoske motivacije za prebacivanje kodova: komparativna analiza njihove ucestalosti u govoru Australaca hrvatskog podrijetla

Botanica is written mainly in Spanish and the only characters who code-switch are Millie and Ruben, two youngsters who were born in New York.

Bicultural dramas: Spanish-English code-switching in bilingual plays

The main purpose of the study was to identi and the significance of each ffinction of code-switching by asking teachers why they code-switch and what specific pedagogical functions code-switching serves in the classrooms.

Code-switching: Awareness about Its Utility in Bilingual Classrooms

Students today are doing more than multitasking; they have much better abilities to code-switch, according to Tapscott.

Technology in education

Teachers do code-switch while teaching this subject in the classroom in Pakistan and the reason for this switch may be that English is taught as a main/compulsory subject at school and college levels.

BILINGUAL STYLE: A COUNTER PRODUCTIVE STRATEGY IN TARGET LANGUAGE CLASSROOMS

In their study of code switching in foreign language classroom, Liebscher & Dailey-O'Cain (2005), "found that students code-switch not only as a fallback method when their knowledge of L2 fails them, or for other participant-related functions, but also for discourse-related functions that contextualize the interactional meaning of their utterances"(p.234).

Language alternation in university classrooms

Hence, the opposite may have occurred with the students in this study; for example, the students needed encouragement to speak Spanish and to code-switch. Consequently, most students spoke both languages during the taped sessions after receiving repeated modeling and encouragement from the bilingual facilitator.

What language discourse tells us about bilingual adolescents: a study of students in gifted programs and students in general education programs

The ability to code-switch can bring together and separate the awareness of cultural knowledge behind the words that are used from a language other than that of hegemonic society.

The dialectics and dialogics of code-switching in the poetry of Gregory Scofield and Louise Halfe

6 MARC SWANSON After following this guy's work for a few years, I realize its rhetorical strength comes from its ability to code-switch. Swanson's sculptures (featured in the 2004 Whitney Biennial) look like taxidermic deer-hunter trophies, but his antlered bucks are fabricated from foam and encrusted with dazzling crystals.

Kehinde Wiley

The ultimatum was issued by Wigan owner Dave Whelan, whose patience over the long-running code-switch saga is running thin.