The Afrikaans speech community is characterized by a long-standing rift between Whites and Coloureds, and is for a large part bilingual, with English being increasingly integrated in its stylistic repertoire. Yet, the history of English is different across the White/Coloured divide, as in particular in terms of diffusion and in terms of ideological associations. The question we wish to ask is twofold. First, how far may there be a question of ethnic norms of Afrikaans-English code-switching? Second, if norms of code-switching are different across the ethnic divide, is code-switching used differently in the negotiation of White and Coloured identities?
This contribution is organized in three main parts. First, we give an overview of the different norms of Afrikaans-English code-switching encountered across Whites and Coloureds on the basis of a corpus of informal speech data. Then we give an overview of the sequential patterns of Afrikaans-English code-switching following a CA methodology. Finally, we determine with the help of macrosocial knowledge in how far these different forms and functions of Afrikaans-English code-switching are made relevant to the projection of White and Coloured identities in South Africa’s current post-Apartheid context on the basis of select individual examples.
The results of our analysis indicate that Afrikaans-English code-switching in the Coloured data displays the features of a ‘mixed code’, which is perceived as a ‘we-code’, where English input tends to be stylistically neutral. By contrast, English input is more syntactically and sequentially salient in the White data, and more visibly serves purposes of identity-negotiation. Despite those differences, there remains a clear correlation in both White and Coloured samples between the use of English monolingual code and affiliation with ‘New South African values’.
Adhikari, M. (1996) Straatpraatjes. Language, politics and popular culture in Cape Town, 1909-1922. Pretoria: Van Schaik. BoP
Alvarez-Caccamo, C. (1998) From ‘switching code’ to ‘code-switching’. Towards a reconceptualisation of communicative codes. In P. Auer (ed.), Code-switching in conversation. Language, interaction and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 29-48.
Armstrong, J.C., and N.A. Worden (1979) The slaves, 1652-1834. In R. Elphick & H. Giliomee (eds.), The shaping of South African society, 1652-1840. Cape Town: Maskew Miller Longman, pp. 109-162.
Auer, P. (1998) Code-switching in conversation. Language, interaction and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. BoP
Auer, P. (2007) Style and social identities. Alternative approaches to linguistic heterogeneity. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.
Coupland, N. (2002) Language, situation, and the relational self: Theorising dialect-style in sociolinguistics. In P. Eckert, and J. Rickford (eds.), Style and Sociolinguistic Variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 185-210. Style and social identities. Alternative approaches to linguistic heterogeneity. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter, pp. 213-46.
Coupland, N. (2007) Aneurin Bevan, class wars and the styling of political antagonism. In. P. Auer (ed.), Style and social identities. Alternative approaches to linguistic heterogeneity.Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter, pp. 213-46.
Deuchar, Margaret, Pieter C. Muysken, and Sung-Lan Wang (2007) Structured variation in Codeswitching: Towards an empirically based typology of bilingual speech corpora. The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 10.3: 298-340. BoP
Dirven, R. (1992) Afrikaans: Feite en interpretasies. In V. Webb (ed.), Afrikaans ná Apartheid. Pretoria: van Schaik, pp. 26-65.
Eckert, P., and J. Rickford (2002) Style and Sociolinguistic Variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ervin-Tripp, Susan (2002) Variety, style-shifting and ideology. In P. Eckert, and J. Rickford (eds.), Style and Sociolinguistic Variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 44-56.
Esterhuyse, J. (1986) Taalapartheid en Skoolafrikaans. Emmarentia: Taurus.
Giliomee H. (2004) Die Afrikaners.’n Biografie. Capetown: Tafelberg.
Giliomee, Hermann (2003) The rise and possible demise of Afrikaans as a public language. PRAESA Occasional Papers 141: 3-28.
Gumperz, J.J. (1982) Discourse strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gumperz, J.J., and J. Cook-Gumperz (2007) A postscript: Style and identity in interactional sociolinguistics. In P. Auer (ed.), Style and social identities. Alternative approaches to linguistic heterogeneity. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter, pp. 477-502.
Hopper, P.J., and E. Closs Traugott (2002) Grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Labov, W. (1987) Are Black and White vernaculars diverging?American Speech 62.1: 3-66.
Lanham, L.W. (1978) An outline history of the languages of Southern Africa. In L.W. Lanham & K.P. Prinsloo (eds.), Language and communication studies in South Africa. Cape Town: Oxford University Press, pp. 13-28.
Malherbe, E. G. (1977) Education in South Africa. Vol. II: 1923-75. Cape Town:Juta.
McCormick, K. (2002) Language in Cape Town’s District Six. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Meeuwis, M., and J. Blommaert (1998) A monolectal view of code-switching. Layered code-switching among Zairians in Belgium. In P. Auer (ed.), Code-switching in conversation. Language, interaction and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 76-98.
Muysken, P.C. (2000) Bilingual speech: A typology of Code-Mixing. Cambridge: Cambridge University press.
Orner J. (2008) Language policy and nation-building in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Amsterdam: Springer.
Ponelis, F. (1993) The development of Afrikaans. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Rickford, J. (2002) Style and stylising from the perspective of a non-autonomous sociolinguistics. In P. Eckert, and J. Rickford (eds.), Style and Sociolinguistic Variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 220-234.
Roberge, P. (2004) Afrikaans. In A. Deumert & W. Vandenbussche (eds.), Germanic standardizations. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 15-40.
Roefs, M. (2006) Identity and race relations. In U. Pillay, B. Roberts, & S. Rule (eds.), South African social attitudes: Changing time, different voices. Cape Town: HSRC Press, pp. 77-100.
Scheffer, P. (1983) Afrikaans en Engels onder die Kleurlinge in die Kaapprovinsie en in besonder in die Skiereiland [Afrikaans and English among the Coloureds in the Cape province and particularly in the Peninsula]. Pretoria: HSRC.
Sebba, M., and T. Wootton (1998) We, they and identity. In P. Auer (ed.), Code-switching in conversation. Language, interaction and identity.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 262-286.
South African Statistics (2001) Census in brief. Pretoria.
Stell, G. (2009) Codeswitching and ethnicity: Grammatical types of codeswitching in the Afrikaans speech community. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 1991: 103-128. BoP
Steyn, J.C. (1980) Tuiste in eie taal. Cape Town: Tafelberg.
Van der Ross, R.E. (1979) Myths and attitudes. An inside look at the Coloured people. Cape Town: Tafelberg.
2024. Why do Mandarin speakers code-switch? A case study of conversational code-switching in China. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 11:1
Si, Aung & T. Mark Ellison
2023. Inter-individual differences in Hindi–English code-switching: A quantitative approach. International Journal of Bilingualism 27:3 ► pp. 306 ff.
Stell, Gerald
2019. Indexicalities in Code-Switching Practices across Namibian Ethnicities. Language Matters 50:2 ► pp. 3 ff.
Stell, Gerald
2022. Ethnicity and codeswitching. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA)► pp. 477 ff.
Abastillas, Glenn
2018. You Are What You Tweet: A Divergence in Code-Switching Practices in Cebuano and English Speakers in Philippines. In Language and Literature in a Glocal World, ► pp. 77 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 october 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.