CTE-101 - eGyanKosh

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Block

THE MULTILINGUAL WORLD OF THELEARNERBlock Introduction 115

Unit 1Being a Multilingual 117

Unit 2Using Multilingualism as a Resource 126

Unit 3Code-Switching and Code-Mixing 136

CTE-101The Language and the

LearnerIndira Gandhi National Open UniversitySchool of Humanities

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COURSE COORDINATORProf. Anju Sahgal Gupta,School of Humanities, IGNOU

BLOCK PREPARATIONUnit WritersDr. Chhaya Sahwney (Unit 1&2)Asso. Prof. Gargi College,University of Delhi

Prof. Kamlesh Sadanand (Unit 3)Retired EFLU (formerly CIEFL),Hyderabad

Block EditorProf. Anju Sahgal Gupta,School of Humanities, IGNOU

Secretarial Assistance andComposingMs. Premlata LingwalPA (SOH)

MATERIAL PRODUCTIONSh. C. N. PandeySection Officer (Publication)School of Humanities

August, 2019© Indira Gandhi National Open University, 2019ISBN:All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or any other means, withoutpermission in writing from the Indira Gandhi National Open University.

Further information on the Indira Gandhi National Open University courses may be obtained from the University’s officeat Maidan Garhi, New Delhi-110 068 or the website of IGNOU www.ignou.ac.in

Printed and published on behalf of the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi by Registrar, MPDD.

Laser Typeset by : Rajshree Computers, V-166A, Bhagwati Vihar, (Near Sector 2, Dwarka), Uttam Nagar, New Delhi-110059

Prof. Pushpinder SyalDept. of EnglishPunjab University, Chandigarh

Prof. M.L. Tickoo,EFLU (formerly CIEFL)HyderabadEx. Singapore UniversityDr. A. L. Khanna (Retired)Reader, Dept. of EnglishRamjas College, Delhi UniversityDr. Rajni BadlaniFormerly ReaderEFLU (formerly CIEFL), HyderabadRetired as Manager English StudiesAmerican Centre, New Delhi

EXPERT COMMITTEEProf. Ramakant Agnihotri (Retired)Dept. of LinguisticsDelhi UniversityNow:Prof. EmeritusVidya Bhawan SocietyUdaipur

Prof. Yasmeen LukmaniRetired- Dept. of EnglishUniversity of Mumbai

Prof. Jacob Tharu (Retired)Dept. of EvaluationEFLU (formerly CIEFL)Hyderabad

Prof. Neera SinghDirector-School of Humanities,IGNOU

School of Humanities(English Faculty)Prof. Anju Sahgal Gupta, IGNOUProf. Neera Singh, IGNOUProf. Malati Mathur, IGNOUProf. Nandini Sahu, IGNOUProf. Parmod Kumar, IGNOUDr. Pema Eden Samdup, IGNOUMs. Mridula Rashmi Kindo, IGNOUDr. Malathy A, IGNOU

BLOCK INTRODUCTIONIn this block we have made you aware of the rich multilingual environment ofthe learners, and the possible teaching strategies that may be employed for suchlearners.

Multilingualism does not make the teaching-learning process more complex butis a powerful and rich resource that the teacher can draw upon from the diversityof her classroom. Pandit (1969) said that the “bilingual tongue is the mothertongue” in India. In Unit 3, we discuss Code-Mixing and Code-Switching andtheir use in the English classrooms. The units in this block are:

Unit 1 Being a Multilingual

Unit 2 Using Multilingualism as a resource

Unit 3 Code-Switching and Code-Mixing

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The material (pictures and passages) we have used is purely for educationalpurposes. Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of materialreproduced in this book. Should any infringement have occurred, the publishersand editors apologize and will be pleased to make the necessary correctionsin future editions of this book. Some of the material has been taken from earlierCTE Courses.

The Multilingual Worldof the Learner

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UNIT 1 BEING A MULTILINGUALStructure

1.0 Objectives

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Myth of Monolingualism

1.3 Language Families in India

1.4 The Pervasiveness of Multilingualism in India

1.5 Multilingualism as a Resource

1.6 Let Us Sum Up

1.7 Key Words

1.8 Suggested Readings

1.9 Answers

1.0 OBJECTIVESThe unit will help you to:

• understand the nature of multilingualism in India;

• critically examine the myth of monolingualism;

• reflect on how multilingual discourse shapes interactions and identities;

• appreciate its pervasiveness and implications on language use and languageeducation; and

• understand the need to use multilingualism as a resource.

1.1 INTRODUCTIONThe context of India is unique. This is because it is a varied multilingual country thatis characterized by four predominant language families with languages that far exceedthe number that any other country can boast of. It is fascinating that people in ourcountry speak several languages as part of their daily living. For instance, a personwho has moved to Delhi from a state in Bihar can typically talk in Bhojpuri orMaithali to someone in/from his/her native village, in Hindi/Punjabi with friends andstrangers at public places, and in English at work. While this may suggest that peopleuse particular languages that are specific to certain social domains, it is not alwayscompletely true. People who have access to multiple languages also mix or switchbetween languages in informal social contexts. For example, they may say:

kal jo maine movie dekhi, it was so exciting!

(The movie that I watched yesterday was so exciting!)

he is such a bhaisahab ki mera us se baat karne ko man hi nahi karta.


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(He is so ‘non-smart’ person that I don’t feel like talking to him.)

uh tohka taakat raha hai.

(He is staring at you.)

The usage of the word ‘bhaisahab’ in the second example which is reserved foraddressing an elder brother/person respectfully does not in fact always carry respector politeness. It is sometimes used in a derogatory manner to show that such aperson is not smart because of the way he dresses up or speaks. Little nuances suchas these can only be captured and understood by people in social interactions whenthey have similar proficiency levels and multilingual orientations. The nature of suchinteractions suggest that these multiple languages are perhaps not organized in ourbrain in a compartmentalized manner but are fluid. This simply means that a personwith such a multilingual disposition can mix or switch between languages quite naturallywithout consciously thinking about how to use them.

A ‘verbal repertoire’ that each person has in multilingual societies comprises a rangeof languages and variations within them. Mohanty, a well-known sociolinguist writesof his linguistic repertoire:

I use Oriya in my home, English in my work place, Hindi for television viewing,Bengali to communicate with my domestic helper, a variety of Hindi-Punjabi-Urduin market places in Delhi, Sanskrit for my prayer and religious activities, and someconversational Kui with the Konds for my research in their community. Theselanguages fit in a mutually complementary and non-competing relationship in my life.(Mohanty 2006, 263)

Multilingualism is prevalent across the world and not just in India. People who speakdifferent languages many a times live near each other. Or sometimes there may bepolitical boundaries between nations, or there may be widespread immigration withina country but in all such cases, groups of people come into contact and communicate.Examples would be of German and French regions within Switzerland or Germanywhere children from diverse linguistic backgrounds in schools may be adept at Turkish,German and English, or Russian, German and English. Languages in such situationsmay be acquired through informal exposure or formal instruction at school. However,it is usually the case that multilinguals have varying degrees of command of thelanguages in their repertoire and some of the languages may not have positiveassociations with them.

Check Your Progress 1

1. Which state or region do you belong to? Which languages are spoken there orin the neighboring state?

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2. Name the languages you know. At what age did you acquire them? Which ofthem are you most comfortable in while talking? And why?

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1.2 MYTH OF MONOLINGUALISMTraditionally, many countries that were considered monolingual are actually not anylonger monolingual or have inherent diversity that wasn’t taken into consideration.One such example is that of countries where English is the native language. If wetake the case of America, we find that it has so many immigrant communities todaythat have migrated from Mexico, Cuba, India, China, and Africa that it no longerqualifies as a monolingual country. Immigration has largely contributed to its linguisticdiversity. Besides English, Spanish is the second largest language spoken in thecountry.

If we take the case of the UK, the common perception is that English is the nativelanguage. This sort of assumes that one single ‘English’ binds the whole country.However, there are as many as 30 dialects within the country that are so varied anddistinct, especially in their accents, that it may be impossible to comprehend some ofthem. In addition, the country also has 11 indigenous languages. Again, we associateonly ‘French’ with France but as many as 28 different accents or dialects are spokenin different parts of France. Some of these include Corsican, Breton, Basque, andCatalan. If we consider China, ‘Chinese language’ comes to our mind thinking thatit is one language. This is actually far from accurate. There are approximately 298languages spoken in China, and the term ‘Chinese language’ refers to a group of 7linguistic varieties with one single ancient origin. Most of us have heard of Mandarinand Cantonese but the others that are not so well known are Wu, Min, Gan, Xiangand Keiia. Some of these varieties are mutually unintelligible even though they havethe same origin.

The above examples illustrate that monolingualism is a myth. Some countries, as wehave seen in the examples given above, while seemingly have one language, differentvarieties and different accents contribute to its diversity. Besides existence of severallanguages, varieties/dialects and variations in accents within a country, reasons suchas colonization, immigration and trade have also brought different languages togetherin several parts of the world.

We are now living in a highly globalized world. For this reason itself, people are alsono longer monolingual as they need to interact with people from other nationalities.It is difficult to say if anyone can actually be called ‘monolingual’ any longer. Several‘lingua francas’ have emerged as well that help people from different nationalities orspeakers of different languages communicate with each other instead of adoptingone lingua franca as a common language. In India, where linguistic diversity andlinguistic variability are a social reality, people use several languages quite naturallyand effortlessly while interacting with each other. English in India, spoken in all kindsof ways depending on varying abilities, is also used as a lingua franca. It is widelyand habitually used by people when mother tongues are different in order to facilitatecommunication between them. It has become a normal requirement in today’s worldthat people speak several languages, whether for purposes of travel, business, schooleducation, social interactions or politics.

Check Your Progress 21. Name any two countries besides India which are multilingual. Which languages

are spoken there? What makes these countries multilingual?..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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2. What is a lingua franca? You may refer to the key words for your answer.

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1.3 LANGUAGE FAMILIES IN INDIAOne of the primary reasons why India is called a multilingual country is that morethan 1600 languages are spoken here that belong to one of the four predominantlanguage families. These are:

The Indo-Aryan language family: languages belonging to this family are a subgroupof the Indo- Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. Some of thelanguages that belong to this family are Hindi, Bangla, Gujarati, Punjabi, Marathi,Konkani, Sindhi, Assamese, Maithili, and Oriya. According to the 2001 Census ofIndia, 78% of our population belongs to this language family. Not all the languages inthis group are recognized by our Constitution. For example, Bhojpuri and Magahiare some examples of languages not recognized.

The Dravidian language family: languages belonging to this family are mainlyspoken in southern India and parts of eastern and central India. Kannada, Malyalam,Tamil and Telugu belong to this group. Approximately 19% (2001 Census) of ourpopulation speaks one of the languages of this family.

The Tibeto-Burman language family: a subgroup of Sino-Tibetan language family,its speakers in India constitute only 1-1.5%% (2001 Census) of the total populationin India. It’s spoken primarily in the north east region of India. Bodo, Koch, Dhimal,Kuki, Lepcha, Burmese, Naga are some of the languages spoken there.

The Austro-Asiatic language family: formally known as Mon-Khmer. Languagesbelonging to this family are scattered throughout India. About twenty one Mundalanguages and Khasi spoken in Meghalaya belong to this group. Its speakers compriseonly 1% (2001 Census) of our population.

An interesting fact about India is that despite its very diverse and distinct languagefamilies, there is linguistic convergence. Indian languages are similar to each other intheir structure and therefore share characteristics that are common between them. Itis because of this reason researchers are fascinated looking at India as a linguisticarea. As can be noticed from the brief description of the language families, theIndo-Aryan language family and Dravidian language family together constitute 97%of our speakers. With the exception of Khasi that has an SVO (subject verb object)word structure, all Indian languages follow the SOV (subject object verb) wordorder. Borrowing and lending of words has also happened historically betweenlanguage families, making certain vocabulary common.

Some examples characteristics of Hindi as a SOV language

They follow the SOV word order. (riya seb khaati hai: Riya eats an apple.)

Adjectives precede nouns. (lal seb: red apple)

Numerals precede nouns. (2 seb; 2 apples)

Postpositions follow the nouns. (mez par kitaab rakhi hai: The book is lying onthe table.)

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Interrogative questions begin with ‘K’ words. (Kyon; Kaise; Kab; Kahan;Kisliye; Kon: Why; How; When; Where; Why; Who)

The direct object precedes the indirect object. (maine seb ko chaku se kaata:I cut the apple with a knife)

Time adverb precedes place adverb. (main kal chhe baje agra jaa rahi hun: I’mgoing to Agra at 6 o’clock tomorrow.)


1. What do you understand by the term ‘language family’? Which language familiesdo the languages you know belong to?

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2. Give at least two examples from any two Indian languages besides Hindi toshow that they share similarities because of SOV word order.

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1.4 THE PERVASIVENESS OFMULTILINGUALISM IN INDIA

The presence of four language families in our country is an indicator of the fact thatour country is multilingual. There is a popular saying, ‘Kos-kos par badle paani,chaar kos par baani’ (Just as the taste of water changes every kilometer, so do thelanguages every few kilometers in India.) This aptly describes the multilingual characterof our country. If you look at your own linguistic repertoire and some of thosearound you, you would realize that everyone knows at least 2 or more languages.The multiplicity of languages is all around us: on TV and radio channels, print media(magazines, newspapers), movies, songs, books, stories, bill boards, and as mediumsof instruction. While the constitution of India recognizes only 22 languages, it is well-known that besides the 1600 + languages, many are not accounted for or are clubbedunder one language. For example, Bhojpuri, Magahi, Awadhi and many others havebeen grouped under Hindi.

In a study conducted by Gumperz and Wilson way back in 1971 in Kupwar, a smallvillage of about 3,000 inhabitants in Maharashtra, they found convergence amongthe four languages spoken in the village. Marathi, Urdu, Kannada and Telegu weredistributed based on caste. The highest caste, the Jains, spoke Kannada and thelowest caste, the scheduled caste spoke Marathi. The rope makers in the villagespoke Telegu and the Muslims Urdu. Since they all needed to speak to each other,the syntax of all the four languages converged to create a lingua franca that wasdominated by Marathi as the language for inter group communication. What we findin India is that despite widespread heterogeneity, communication has never been aproblem.



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Agnihotri (2014) in his article, Multilinguality, education and harmony suggeststhat we should stop looking at multilingualism in an additive manner of L1 + L2 +L3in which languages are learnt sequentially or simultaneously. He argues for the conceptof ‘multilinguality’ which is rooted in variability and fluidity. Such a concept rejectsdemarcations between multiple languages that a person may know and looks atlanguage boundaries as porous and free flowing. He firmly believes that languageboundaries that we create are artificial and that languages we know flow effortlesslyinto each other. A few examples that demonstrate such free flow between languageshave been given in the first section. In other words, multilinguality equips us to be atease when using multiple languages and is constitutive of us being human. It is for thisreason that despite multiplicity of languages in our country, communication neverceases. Whether we mix, switch or develop lingua francas, we continue to use themultiple languages we know.


1. Choose any two regions or states in India besides your own. Find out thelanguages that are spoken in those regions or states. Which language familiesdo the languages you learnt about belong to?

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2. Although your command in the languages you know may vary, when and howdo you make use of the languages you know. Give examples to illustrate.

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1.5 MULTILINGUALISM AS A RESOURCESeveral parameters such as your country, dress, food, culture define your identityand amongst them, language is one such significant parameter. But what happenswhen you know several languages that are part of your verbal repertoire? Well, itseems linguistic identities are no longer fixed but flexible, multiple and culturallyconstructed. To maintain multiple identities means that one can belong to severalspeech communities at the same time. This is one of the reasons why the phrase ‘aglobal citizen’ has become trendy these days. In countries where large population ofimmigrants have settled in, there is always pressure to shift towards the dominantlanguage. However, even in such cases, evidence shows that ethnic communities, inUS for example, try hard to maintain their languages and therefore their identities.

In our country, although we take great pride in being multilingual, and accept that itcan lead to metacognitive awareness and scholastic achievement, we forget thisreality in our classrooms. Our textbooks, education policies, curriculum, teachersare all geared towards homogenizing our language classrooms. The linguisticbackgrounds of school children is often ignored and a standard language is imposedas a medium of instruction. Children are not given the freedom to use the multiplelanguages they already know in their classrooms. Unfortunately, this has led to furtheralienation and done major damage to the identity of those children who are already

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marginalized and are socially disadvantaged. If we begin to appreciate the multilingualdiversity in our classrooms, we may be able to follow the path of equality, socialjustice and tolerance. A language teacher can play an important role in usingmultilingualism as a resource in her class. Whether she is teaching a poem or grammar,she can elicit multiple language data from children in her class through translation.Once the data from several languages is on the board, children will be able to observesimilarities across Indian languages and generalize their own rules. Such a classwould be democratic as several languages get represented and no language assumesa powerful status as a standard language. Multilingualism has to be the new norm inour classrooms.


1. Find speakers of any two Indian languages along with Hindi to translate thefollowing questions given in English. Observe the data and write down thesimilarities that you notice amongst Indian languages and the differences yousee with English:

a. Where are you going tomorrow?

b. Who are you going with?

c. Why are you going?

d. When will you return to Mumbai?

e. Which cities will you cross?

f. How are you going?

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1.6 LET US SUM UPIndia is a multilingual country. It is characterized by linguistic diversity andheterogeneity. It is not unusual to find people in our country who speak more thantwo languages and maintain multiple identities. One of the main reasons for ourmultilingual character is because of the four language families that exist in our country.



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Although distinct from each other, they share phonological, morphological andsyntactic similarities. It is time we started using multilingualism as a resource in ourclassrooms so that we lay a path of social justice, especially for those marginalizedand socially deprived people whose languages are not valued outside or inside ourclassrooms.

1.7 KEY WORDSlanguage family: is a group of languages related through descent from acommon ancestral language or parental language, called the proto-language of thatfamily. The term “family” reflects the tree model of language origination in historicallinguistics.

lingua franca: a language that is adopted as a common language between speakerswhose native languages are different.

multilingualism: is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speakeror by a community of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumbermonolingual speakers in the world’s population.

verbal repertoire: is the range of or set of language varieties used in the speakingand writing practices of an individual or a speech community.

India as a linguistic area: a term used by Emmaneu to show linguistic convergencein India where languages despite belonging to different language families showcommon features.

1.8 SUGGESTED READINGSAgnihotri, R. K. (1998). Mixed codes and their acceptability. In R. K. Agnihotri,A. L. Khanna, & I. Sachdev (Eds.), Social psychological perspectives on secondlanguage learning (pp. 191– 215). New Delhi: SAGE.

Agnihotri, R. K. (2006). Identity and multilinguality: The case of India. In A. B.M. Tsui & J. W. Tollefson (Eds.), Language policy, culture, and identity in Asiancontexts (pp. 185–204). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Agnihotri, R. K. (2009). Multilinguality and a new world order. In A. K. Mohanty,M. Panda, R. Phillipson, & T. Skutnabb-Kangas (Eds.), Multilingual education forsocial justice: Globalizing the local (pp. 268–277). New Delhi: Orient Blackswan.

Agnihotri, R. K. (2010). Multilinguality and the teaching of English in India.The EFL Journal, 1, 1–14.

Gumperz, J. J. and R. Wilson (1971). Convergence and Creolization: A Casefrom the Indo-Aryan/Dravidian Border in India. In D. H. Hymes (ed.),Pidginization and Creolization of Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

1.9 ANSWERSCheck Your Progress 1

Both 1 & 2 are open-ended questions.

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1. open-ended

2. Lingua Franca: a language that is adopted as a common language betweenspeakers whose native languages are different.


1. Language family: is a group of languages related through descent from acommon ancestral language or parental language, called the proto-language ofthat family. The term “family” reflects the tree model of language originationin historical linguistics.

2. Open-ended


1 & 2 are open-ended questions


1. Open-ended



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UNIT 2 USING MULTILINGUALISMAS A RESOURCE

Structure2.0 Objectives

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Learning Theories and Language Teaching

2.3 The Indian Context

2.4 Multilingualism as a Resource

2.5 Consequences of Using Multilingualism as a Resource

2.6 Let Us Sum Up

2.7 Key Words

2.8 Suggested Readings

2.9 Answers

2.0 OBJECTIVESThis unit will enable you to:

critically examine the role of learning theories and their influence on languageteaching methods;

reflect on your own beliefs and classroom practices;

appreciate that knowing and using more than one language is basic to eachone of us;

explore how multilingualism can be used as a resource; and

examine the long-term consequences of using multilingualism as a resource.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Most of us in India grow up generally speaking more than one language andlistening to many languages around us. We use these languages easily, oftenmixing or switching between them without consciously thinking about doing so.For example, we may say to someone: aaj weather kitna zabardast hai! (Howawesome is the weather today!) or voh ladka jo corner seat par baitha haiis so good looking (The boy who is sitting on the corner seat is so good looking).In day to day conversations such utterances are common. And the remarkablefluidity with which we make use of multiple languages in a variety of ways comesnaturally to us. In fact, if you question yourself whether you think in ‘a particularlanguage’ before speaking, you may find it difficult to answer that. This is becauseyou have access to more than ‘one language’ and these languages compriseyour verbal repertoire in multiple ways.

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While informal settings give the freedom to come up with such utterances, formalsettings of schools do not. We are expected to stick to ‘a standard variety’in our classrooms. Deviation from it or language variations find no place inlanguage classrooms. Students who come to school with a natural multilingualorientation suddenly find themselves at a loss in a system where their verbalrepertoire is not valued. There is a continuous pressure in schools, for instance,to allow only English in an English class and Hindi in a Hindi class. CCTVcameras installed in some schools ensure that the medium of instruction remainsstrictly English. It is not surprising then that students in such schools, wherelanguage classes have no scope for accepting any other language other thanEnglish or any language variation, find these classes threatening and non-engaging.

We all know that India is a multilingual country. We have four distinct languagefamilies that despite their diversity share common linguistic features. Census dataand informal sources put the estimate of number of languages in India anywherebetween 400 to 1600+. And yet, this multilingual reality, also represented inlanguage classrooms, is completely ignored. Should not a multilingual classroomdemand multilingual solution? Should we not look for pedagogies that are rootedin multilinguality? It’s time we rethink our curriculum, materials and pedagogiesbased on our reality.

This unit will attempt to make you understand why it is important to reflecton our beliefs and classroom practices based on our multilingual reality.


1. Do you allow your students to respond in Hindi/Regional language, a mixof Hindi Regional language and English or any other language in your class?What are your reasons for doing so?

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2. Make a linguistic profile of your class. Collect data to find out whichlanguages your students know, the age they acquired them, and region/state they belong to. What does your data reflect?

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2.2 LEARNING THEORIES AND LANGUAGETEACHING

This section gives an overview of how behaviorism emerged as one of the mostinfluential learning theories of the19th century. Propagated by Watson, IvanPavlov and B F Skinner, this school of thought established the role of environmentas primary in learning. It was believed that any behavior could be conditionedover a period of time till it became a habit. Several experiments were conductedon animals to prove that learning involved forming new habits. Language learningwas considered no different from any other behavior.

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While these developments were taking place in the field of psychology, thestructuralists in the field of linguistics began to also look at languages as a setof structures. People like Hockett, Bloomfield and Sapir focussed on rules thatgoverned these structures. Languages were broken down into simple structuresthat could be taught in a linear and additive manner.

These perspectives therefore, with certain underlying assumptions, impacted howlanguages were taught. Learners were largely seen as passive recipients ofknowledge and their mind as a storehouse where knowledge could beaccumulated. Languages were seen as distinct from one another, whether L1,L2 or L3, that were organized as separate systems, almost as rigid compartmentsin our mind.

The classical grammar translation method was in vogue in the 16th century. Itwas used for teaching foreign languages, primarily Greek and Latin. Studentslearnt grammar rules to be able to translate texts of one language into another.The rules were learnt by rote and then practiced by doing grammar drills.The Direct Method originated as an alternative to grammar translation method,laying more stress on listening and speaking of L2, and vocabulary development.It was believed that listening and speaking skills could be nurtured and developedin L2 if learners practiced enough L2. This method prohibited the use of L1in the classroom.

The audio lingual method came about as an outcome of Behaviourism. The adventof audio technology during the 1950s pushed further the importance of developingspoken skills in L2. This method focussed on training through a system ofreinforcement. To develop proficiency in L2, the teacher adopted the methodologyof using drilling and practice to teach grammar so that the learners could rotememorize and mimic patterns of L2 repeatedly. Correct usage elicited positivereinforcement and incorrect usage negative reinforcement till the time studentsattained accuracy and perfection. Mistakes in L2 were considered pathologiesthat had to be treated by more drills. The direct method and the audio lingualmethod were similar in that they kept L1 out of classroom.

All these methods perceived the learners as mere passive recipients. However,several methods that followed this such as the Humanistic method, theCommunicative method, have brought the attention on the active learner andthe learning context.


1. Do you think some elements of these language teaching methods prevaileven today in our classes? If yes, which ones?

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2. As teachers of English, do you feel that L1 should be not used in teachingL2? Give at least two reasons to support your answer.

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2.3 THE INDIAN CONTEXT

Most of us perhaps don’t remember much of what was taught in our languageclassrooms. But what we do remember is how we spent countless hoursmemorizing rules of English grammar, learning definitions of parts of speech,making sentences using difficult words, and copying questions and their answersfrom the blackboard. Language classes focussed on developing discrete skillsin listening, speaking, reading and writing. Language textbooks were structured‘from simple to complex’ beginning with decoding of letters of the alphabet towords (that were random/decontextualized collection of words), followed byshort sentences and finally paragraphs. Nothing much seems to have changedsince then.

The bottom-up approach to teaching a language continues to exist in manyschools till date. With its focus primarily on learning the form of language ratherthan its usage, it has failed to help students communicate for instance, in Englishin their daily lives. While children are always fluent speakers of languages theycome to school with, they fail to achieve language fluency in English withpiecemeal formal training. The problem gets further aggravated because theyare not given the freedom to use languages that they already know in theirlanguage classroom. Surely, the problem lies not with them but elsewhere. Theentire education system pushes for accuracy in learning a language through rotelearning. Language classes focus on grammar tasks, vocabulary building andcomprehension which is content-based rather than in actual communicativesituations. Mistakes are perceived as lack of learning. Opportunities to reflector express their own ideas are seldom provided. Exposure to authentic sourcesof learning materials that exist in the form of story books, brochures,advertisements, wrappers, cartoon strips, movies or documentaries remainslimited in classrooms. The textbook becomes the bible, initiating our childrento learn a language in a structured sequential manner.

Further, as teachers, we enforce homogeneous classrooms while the actual realityis quite the opposite. We forget that students come from varied linguistic andcultural backgrounds, with different levels of prior knowledge and experiences.Outside the classrooms, we can observe how our students with different linguisticbackgrounds communicate with each other. They can be heard mixing languagesor switching between them. They don’t have the liberty to communicate theway they naturally do inside our classrooms.

However, we need to re-think and re-examine our pedagogy and the longtradition of nurturing a homogenous linguistic culture by focussing on onedominant language in our classrooms. We will have to go beyond grammarteaching. The focus will have to be on using authentic materials, texts and activitiesthat will give our students greater exposure. If we have to make language learningengaging and meaningful, we will also have to accept the multilingual orientationof our students and use it as a resource. We need to understand that if wepromote only the use of English in our classrooms, we signal to our studentsthat we don’t value their own languages or that variations of any sort areunacceptable forms of language.



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1. Have a careful look at the English language textbook you use to teachEnglish. Try to analyze how the book is organized, the nature of its contentand exercises. What generalizations can you draw from it?

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2. Do you think it is important to go beyond our textbooks and workbookswhen we teach English to our students? Why or why not? Make a listof some other authentic materials that you can use in your classrooms.

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2.4 MULTILINGUALISM AS A RESOURCERecent research has shown that in multilingual societies where people knowmultiple languages, language boundaries are porous and fluid. What this meansis that people have internalized these languages to an extent that they do nothave to consciously think in one language before speaking in another. In otherwords, people are inherently multilingual in such societies and have the abilityto use one or more languages, or switch or mix them according to the situationaldomains they are in. If we accept this reality, we will have to accept that creatinghomogenous classrooms where we impose one language and ignore themultilingual reality will not work well. We are not fair to the children whenwe dismiss their linguistic and cultural backgrounds. By doing so, we alienatethem and their backgrounds in our classroom. As teachers of English, it is timewe reflected on our beliefs and teaching practices.

It is possible to use the multilingual diversity as a resource in our classroomby maintaining multilinguality at the centre of language teaching activities. Buthow exactly do we do that? If you, for instance, have to teach them a poemin English, what could you possibly do? Here are a few suggestions:

Get them first to recite the English poem.

Then, focus on the theme that it deals with.

Next, let them identify subtle elements and features of the poem that they mayidentify.

Now, split your class into groups to translate the poem into any other languageof their choice.

Finally, get each group to present their translated versions of the poem.

What you will find is that once this activity is done, many rich discussions willnaturally emerge around the poem. What would become important in such an

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exercise is not about the accuracy of translation but the process of translatingthe poem. This activity will not only be cognitively challenging and more engaging,but will also help your students to generalize rules of grammar on their own.Students will begin to notice on their own that while Indian languages are verb-final, English is verb-medial or that Indian languages have postpositions whileEnglish has prepositions.

Let’s take another activity of forming plurals:

List some nouns in English with their plurals on the board

Next, ask a random set of students to come to the board and write theequivalents words in the languages they know

Your board may end up with data like the following:

English Hindi Assamese Bangla Malyalam

cap-caps topi-topiyan tupi-tupibore tup-tupiguli tappi-tappigal

cat-cats billi-billiyan mexuri- bilie-bilieguli puchcha-mexuribore puchchagal

book-books kitab-kitabe kitab-kitabore boi-boiguli pustakam-pustagal

dog-dogs kutta-kutte kukur-kukurbore kukur- patti-pattigalkukurguli

Even with this limited data, the students will take no time to observe, classifyand categorize the plural markers in each language. In one glance, they willtell you that the plural marker in English is -s; Hindi -yan and -e; Assamese-bore; Bangla -guli and Malyalam -gal. Further, they will observe that Assameseand Bangla are quite similar in that they share vocabulary or that Hindi hasmore than one plural marker or that although the plural marker is -s in English,the realization of that -s is -z in the word ‘dogs’. You could then get themto explore with more data in each language and generalize rules of their own.They will discover that Hindi, for example, has more plural markers and thatalmost all languages have exceptions where there is a zero plural marker (English:sheep-sheep) or an odd one that is not affixed for a majority of words (English:ox-oxen).

Another example of using multilingualism as a resource could be when you areteaching them question formation in English. You could again get students towrite the equivalents of English information questions:

English: Where did you go yesterday?

Hindi: aap kal kaha gaye the?

Haryanvi: tu kaal ki gaya tha?

Punjabi: tussi kal kitte gaye si?

English: Why are you crying?

Hindi: aap kyon ro rahe ho?

Haryanvi: tu kya tayi rove hai?

Punjabi: tussi kyon ro rahe ho?



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English: What have you brought?

Hindi: Aap kya laye hain?

Haryanavi: tu ke laya hai?

Punjabi: tussi ki liyaye ho?

Given this data on the board, you can ask you students to analyze it. Theywill observe that in English, the question words begin with -wh whereas in Indianlanguages with-k; that question words come in the sentence initial position inEnglish but that is not true for Indian languages. They can explore more dataof other languages and discover that all Indian languages behave similarly informing questions. The next step could be to get them to also write answersto these questions, observe the data and generalize that the answer to eachquestion comes exactly beneath the question word in Indian languages but notin English.

In Hindi for example:

aap kal kidhar gaye the?

me kal agra gaya tha.

Such activities will generate a lot of excitement and involvement of studentsas they discover and learn more about their own languages along with English.Rather than memorizing rules, they will learn to formulate rules on their own.


1. Elicit data from 2-3 other languages that are represented in your class onthe degrees of adjectives. Derive your own rules and discuss the similaritiesand differences across languages.

English pretty-prettier-prettiest

Hindi sundar-bahut sundar-ati sunder

2. Do you agree that such activities can be incorporated in your teaching andwill help students to learn better? Why or why not?

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2.5 CONSEQUENCES OF USINGMULTILINGUALISM AS A RESOURCE

The above section would have hopefully made you think about your own teachingmethods and beliefs. While using such activities, your role and that of thetextbook or materials you use is bound to change. This may leave you feelinginsecure but you must understand that classroom transactions based on suchactivities will actually enhance learning and redefine your role as an observerand listener as opposed to a giver of knowledge. You will have to create alinguistic profile of your students at the beginning of the year to know whichlanguages are represented in your class. You will have to also observe how

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children interact with each other informally and if you can generalize certainpatterns of language use. Once you do this, you will feel more confident andempowered to try out this approach to teach English. This of course does notmean that the role of the textbook will totally get eliminated. You will just haveto find spaces within the context of your class to use multilingualism as a resource.Your teaching strategy will automatically go through a change.

The benefits of using such activities will be far greater than the usual languageclasses that focus on learning rules by rote. For example:

Students and the language teacher will have enormous exposure to multiplelanguages.

Students will get an opportunity to represent their home languages in class.

The level of participation and involvement will increase making learning moreengaging and meaningful for students.

Students will gain confidence as they engage in group activities to observe,classify, categorize languages and formulate rules on their own. This willbuild their meta cognitive and linguistic awareness.

The amount of data generated from within the classroom will far exceedlanguage data given in any standard textbook.

The distance between the teacher and her students will narrow as the teacherherself becomes a learner and a facilitator rather than an authoritarian figurein the classroom.

Teachers will constantly become reflective through this new teachingpractice.

The whole teaching learning enterprise will revolve around functionalproficiency rather than having a limited focus on building discrete academicskills.

A social change may come about as students discover that all languagesare patterned, and rule governed. There is nothing superior or inferior, pureor impure, or backward about any language.


Using multilingualism as a resource in your classroom, plan for an activity inyour class. Write down your observations about your own role and the impactit had on your students’ learning.

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2.6 LET US SUM UP

We would all agree that language has a deep connection with our identities.In India, most of us maintain multiple identities by being multilingual. If wecontinue to promote monolingualism in our classrooms, we will do great injusticeto our students by recognizing merely one language that is not theirs. Adoptingmultilingualism as an approach to teach English is likely to generate fascinatinglearning opportunities and possibilities. Such a class will be sensitive to culturaland linguistic diversity and help create an atmosphere of social tolerance, justicewhile enhancing analytical and cognitive abilities of our students.

2.7 KEY WORDS

Behaviourist learning theory: a school of thought in psychology that viewedanimal and human behavior as habits that could be observed, measured andconditioned over a period of time.

Structuralist learning theory: a school of thought in linguistics that lookedat form of language as a set of structures that could be broken down intosubparts.

Multilingualism: the ability to use fluently more than one language by anindividual or society

2.8 SUGGESTED READINGS

Agnihotri, R. K. 1995. Multilingualism as a classroom resource. In K. Heugh,A. Sieruhn, & P. Pluddemann (eds.), Multilingual education for South Africa,3–7. Johannesburg/Germany: Heinmann.

Agnihotri, R. K. 1997. Multilingualism, colonialism and translation. In S.Ramakrishna (ed.), Translation and multilingualism: Post-colonial contexts,34–46. Delhi, India: Pencraft International.

Agnihotri, R. K. (1998). Mixed codes and their acceptability. In R. K. Agnihotri,A. L. Khanna, & I. Sachdev (Eds.), Social psychological perspectives on secondlanguage learning (pp. 191– 215). New Delhi: SAGE.

Garcia, O. (2009). Education, multilingualism and translanguaging in the 21stcentury. In

A. K. Mohanty, M. Panda, R. Phillipson, & T. Skutnabb-Kangas (Eds.),Multilingual education

for social justice: Globalizing the local (pp. 128–145). New Delhi: OrientBlackswan.

Pandit, P. B. 1988. Towards a grammar of variation. In L. M. Khubchandani(ed.), Language in a plural society, 40–49. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarasidass& Shimla IIAS.

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2.9 ANSWERS


1. This is to reflect on your teaching practice. If you do not allow any otherlanguage other than English, is it because you feel that is the only waythey will learn and get exposure to English or is it because you feel thattheir L1 will interfere with learning of English? If you allow mixing, switchingor use of any language, is it because you want your students to be ascomfortable in class as they are outside the class?

2. Creating a linguistic profile will help you to know your students better andplan your activities that may require data from other languages. This datawill also help you to reflect on the fact how our classrooms are essentiallymultilingual in nature.


1. This question will help you to reflect on the role of teacher, textbook, andthe teaching methodology. For example, do we still not focus on dictationof words that our students memorize and reproduce?

2. This is about your beliefs. If you believe that L1 interferes with L2 learning,why do you believe so?


1. Textbook analysis should help you to comment on the nature of its content,organization and exercises. Is the book guided by behaviouristic principlesor does it have any scope of independent analysis and link with the personalexperiences of the learners?

2. This is to help you identify some authentic materials on your own. Thesecould be films, documentaries, magazine articles, wrappers etc. You willhave to think of activities around them and the purpose of using suchmaterials.


1. The purpose of this activity is to see how Indian languages are similar innature and different from English. The basic reason for this is the differentword orders that Indian languages have as opposed to English.

2. This is an open-ended question. You will have to first believe thatmultilingualism is indeed a resource and then try out an activity in yourown classroom.


This is also an open-ended activity.



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UNIT 3 CODE-SWITCHING ANDCODE-MIXING

Objectives

3.0 Objectives

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Pre-requisites to Code-Mixing and Code-Switching

3.2.1 Language Contact

3.2.2 A Linguistic Community

3.3 Mixing Codes

3.3.1 What is a Code?

3.3.2 Conditions for Code-Mixing and Code-Switching

3.4 The Language of Code Mixing

3.4.1 What is Code Mixing?

3.4.2 Study of the Language of Code Mixing in Written Language

3.4.3 The Language Aspect of Conversational Code-Mixing

3.5 Constraints on Code-Mixing

3.6 Switching Codes

3.6.1 Switching and Mixing

3.6.2 Motivation for Code-Switching – Does the Speaker always

have a reason for Switching Codes?

3.7 Let Us Sum Up

3.8 Things to Do – Points to Ponder

3.9 Key Words

3.10 References and Further Readings

3.0 OBJECTIVESIn this Unit, we shall consider the pre-requisites to code mixing and code-switching, the meaning of ‘code’ in the context of ‘mixing’ and ‘switching’ andalso the requisites for them to occur in written and interpersonal communication.Linguists’ views on the language and the constraints on code-mixing, and themotivation for this will be presented with examples from their data. We shallthen look at other samples of conversation to see whether speakers alwayshave a considered reason for switching codes. We will also look at linguistsviews on the difference between code mixing and code switching.

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After completing this Unit you should be able to:

understand the background against which code mixing and code switchingoccur;

recognize code mixing and code switching as natural phenomena in bi/multilingual settings with special reference to India;

recognize the Indian multilingual setting as different from other bilingual/multilingual nations;

analyze the use of a mixed code and code switching and its possiblemotivation in written and oral communication; and

appreciate the fact that the use of more than one language can help studentsto make meaning in the language learning process.

3.1 INTRODUCTIONYou have already learnt that in most countries there are at least two languagesthat are spoken and/or written. In other words, people of most countries inthe world today use more than one language to communicate. You have alsoseen that in India people are by and large bilingual and a large number aremultilingual. And this ability can be used to great advantage in the classroom.

In a bi/multilingual setting different languages co-exist and are used to performdifferent functions. These functions depend upon the role a language plays ina particular setting. For example, the official language of a state is generallyused in all official (administrative) communication. In English speaking countriesthe official language is English, though in the private domain other languagesmay be used along with English. In India the situation is quite complex. Hindiis the official language and English the associate official language of the CentralGovernment. While the language used by the States to communicate with theCentre is Hindi/English, the official language of each state is the first languageof that State. Thus Tamil is used as the official language of Tamil Nadu. Teluguis the official language of Andhra Pradesh, Bengali is the official language ofBengal and so on. Other labels that indicate the status and functions of a languageare tribal language, minority language, regional language, link language.Unlike the names of languages the labels are not naturally exclusive. A triballanguage may be an official language, as Mizo is the official language of Mizoram.A scheduled language like Sindhi is a minority language. Sometimes the labelsalso change when socio-political changes take place. For example, Konkani,which was a minority language become a majority language when the new Stateof Goa was created and it also became its official language and a scheduledlanguage listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Such forces that bringabout a change in the status of the language are due to the social and politicalforces.

The kind of structural and functional relation between languages in multilingualsettings have a bearing on the choice of language for a given purpose. Thechoice is not entirely free. For example, the role of Hindi as the official languageof Himachal Pradesh, precludes the use of a Pahadi language for official work.Thus if an official role is assigned to a language, it prevents another language

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from being assigned the same role. However, the official status of a languageneed not necessarily affect an individual’s use of language in the private domain.

The freedom that an individual has to choose the language they wish tocommunicate in is dependent on several factors such as knowledge of thelanguage of people they interact with (if it is different from their first language),the context (formal/informal), the topic of conversation, etc. Sometimes whentwo individuals speak different languages and do not know each other’s firstlanguage, communication is possible only when a third language known to bothis chosen, depending on the attitude they have to the third language they choose.For example, when a Tamil or Malayalam speaker and a Hindi speakercommunicate with each other they would most probably choose English, becauseit is a neutral language and therefore, more acceptable. Often the socialrelationship between interlocutors influences the choice of language forcommunication. Generally, in such cases the language of the person with highersocial status is chosen. But all other things being equal, individuals in India tendto use two languages known to them – switching between them or mixing them,creating a code-mixed variety which has a form of its own. Educated speakersin India who know English and an Indian language, mix English with the Indianlanguages. Speakers who do not know English may mix Hindi with their mothertongue, for example, an Indian in Himachal Pradesh may mix Hindi with Pahadi/Himachali.

In this Unit, we shall study the phenomenon of code-mixing and code-switchingas an aspect of the unique multilingual setting in India. We shall consider pre-requisites to code-mixing and code-switching, and look at some requisites forthese. We shall also examine the language factor in code mixing, that is,constraints on code mixing, and possible motivation for code mixing.

In the next section, we look at the backdrop against which code mixing andcode switching happens.

3.2 PRE-REQUISITES TO CODE-MIXING ANDCODE-SWITCHING

3.2.1 Language Contact

When we consider a sociolinguistic phenomenon such as code mixing and codeswitching we pre-suppose the co-existence of two or more languages or varietiesof a language in a state, and each of these languages or varieties of a languagehas its own place and function in various domains. When we say these languagesco-exist we mean that these languages come into contact with each other becausethey form part of a speaker’s competence, that is, the same individual mayknow more than one language / variety of a language and therefore have twoor more co-existing competencies. They could draw on these competencies indifferent contexts. From the point of view of communication this would forman individual’s repertoire. In addition to ‘intra-personal’ contact of languages,‘interpersonal’ contact between people using more than one language in publicand private domains naturally results in these languages coming into contact aswell. This is evident in code-mixing and code-switching in bi/multilingualcommunities.

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3.2.2 A Linguistic Community

A linguistic community is a group of people who share the same language.Members of this community, who are monolingual may have a high and a lowvariety. The high variety is formally learnt by instruction and used in “formal”social contexts such as public speech, classroom instruction and for identificationof knowledge and its transmission in the written mode. A multilingual communityis one in which speakers know and are able to use more than one languagefor communication. Competence in more than one language can be viewed fromindividual as well as social perspectives.

India is a multilingual country. There are speakers of 200 languages thathistorically belong to four different language families, viz., Indo European (54)Dravidian (20), Austro-Asiatic (20) and Sino-Tibetan (84). The rest (22) areunclassified and foreign languages. These languages are abstractions of our11,600 mother tongues reported by the people in the 1961 census. This languagediversity is not merely demographic, it is also functional. There are 22 officiallanguages used as medium of administration, 43 educational languages used asmedium of instruction at the primary level, nearly 100 languages used as mediumof information dissemination through print and so on.

Though the country is divided into states on linguistic lines, each state ismultilingual. Linguistic minorities vary from 4% in Kerala to almost 40% inManipur. The States are multilingual to different degrees.

While there are two official languages (English and Hindi) of the CentralGovernment, the official languages of the states are as many as there are states.At the level of the individual, we often come across people with competencein at least two languages, sometimes even three or four, owing to increasedinter-state mobility. But at the socio-political level the choice of language tendsto get restricted to two or at best three languages. Knowledge of a numberof languages serves as a resource for individuals to communicate with otherssuccessfully. When they use two or more languages alternately at either the levelof the word, or the level of the phrase or the sentence they code-mix or code-switch. Before we consider the aspects from which code mixing/code-switchinghave been examined by linguists we shall briefly look at what a ‘code’ meansand what the requisites are for people to mix or switch codes.

3.3 MIXING CODES3.3.1 What is a Code?

The first question that comes to mind when one refers to code mixing/switchingis ‘what is a code?’ Strictly speaking a ‘code’ is defined in the Oxford AdvancedLearner’s Dictionary as ‘a system of words, letters, numbers or symbols thatrepresent a message or records information secretly or in a shorter form’. Lookedat from the perspective of language as a system of communication it wouldmean an arrangement of words in a rule-governed system that convey meaning.Thus a mixed code would be one in which two codes with different systemsare combined to make meaning. What are the requisites for code mixing?



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3.3.2 Conditions for Code-Mixing and Code-Switching

Some conditions are necessary for code mixing/switching to happen. The firstof these is a knowledge of or an awareness of at least two codes (languagesor language varieties). Code mixing, in other words can only happen ifparticipants in an interaction know at least two languages. Not only should theyknow two languages they should also share the same two languages. Forexample, code mixing or code switching cannot happen between two peopleone of whom knows Tamil and Malayalam and the other English and Marathi.The extent to which two individuals mix codes can vary according to theircompetence in the languages they use to communicate.

Look at some real-life conversations, for example:

1 A: Thambi, please give me Tayir (curd).

B: Yes, yes, bring bring. (serves A with curd)

A: Kunjam kunjam

B: Little, little.

A: thank you.

2 A: Please buy karapurvalli, I like them. (a variety of banana inTamil Nadu)

B: Yes, yes get Tumaro.

A: NaLLairku (nice is)

B: Hahaha…

3 A: Aap ke pass printed material hai – suuti (cotton)

B: Ha hai memsaheb. Aaie dekhye.

A: Bahot dark colours nahii chaahiye.

B: Jo chahiye vohii dikhaaunga. Ye dekhiye… Ye le test hai, ekdamnew. Rung fast hai, garenTiiD.

In the first and second conversations it is clear that A and B do not speaka common Indian language. A knows English well and B’s first language is Tamil.A also has a smattering of Tamil and B a smattering of English. A uses mainlyEnglish and switches to Tamil only at the word level. Hence the Tamil wordstayir, kunjam – KarpurvaLLi and a short utterance – naLLa irku.

In spite of the use of single words in the switched code, communication happens.Code mixing is thus used as an effective communicative device.

In dialogue 3, A knows both English and Hindi well. B responds to A’s queryin Hindi at first, then switches to English words to describe the material heis selling ‘latest’, ‘new’, ‘fast hai’, ‘garantiid.’

Look at another conversation in which all the speakers know English well andbut for one speaker have Tamil as their first language.

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A: Have you seen the invitation card?

B: What invitation?

A: To an evening of two plays by Becket.

B: No.

A: (Shows the card)

B: Ah. (Reads the card)

Lights… Narsingh Rao

Oh the same Narsingh Rao

A: Yes. Have you seen Daasi.

B: No.

C: I haven’t either.

A: I’m told they’re going to show all these films on TV.

D: When?

A: I don’t know. They’re going to show ViiDu next Sunday.

C: Archana acts in that, doesn’t she?

B: Yes.

D: In what?

C: ViiDule modal modelle aekTpaNNi naale.

Notice that the entire conversation is in English until the very end when Cunpredictably switches to Tamil and utters the entire sentence in Tamil. The entireconversation is in English because one of the participants doesn’t know Tamil,and has a mother tongue other than Tamil. It is clear from these examples thatin terms of functional value and prestige, English is important in the Indianmultilingual setting.

3.4 THE LANGUAGE OF CODE MIXING3.4.1 What is Code Mixing?

Before we consider the ‘language factor’ in code mixing we would like to pointout that code mixing/switching is not a simple case of borrowing used to fillin gaps that may occur in the lexicon of a given language. The phenomenoncan be noticed even when equivalents in the two languages exist. Moreover,unlike borrowings, code mixed elements do not necessarily get assimilated intothe recipient language by regular linguistic change.

3.4.2 Study of the Language of Code Mixing in WrittenLanguage

The study of code mixing/switching by linguists presupposes the acceptance ofthese as a natural phenomenon of bi-/multilingualism governed by rules like anyother natural language. Thus Kachru (1975) discusses the formal aspects ofcode mixing and says that it involves ‘functioning at least, in a disystem, and



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as a consequence, developing another linguistic code comprising formal featuresof two or more codes. Kachru examines the various linguistic units and processeswhich are involved in code mixing (Hindi-English) with examples primarily fromHindi magazines/newspapers. In other words, the examples are those of thewritten variety of code mixing.

(a) Unit Insertion: This according to Kachru refers to the introduction of agrammatical unit above a word in a sentence (e.g., a noun phrase or averb phrase) from another language. for example,

i. NP Insertion

1 tenk va redar prapt karne ki bhi yojna (Navbharat Times NBT 8.3.75)

tank and radar procure do of also scheme

ii. VP Insertion

2 Vipaksh dvara vak aut (NBT-7.3.75)

Opposition by walkout

(b) Unit Hybridization: This refers to the use of code mixing within a unit, sayfor example a NP, a VP or a compound verb.

3 isliye cans lene ke siva hamare pas koi upay nahi tha

Therefore chance take – except our near any alternative not was(Dharmayug (D) 17.6.73)

4 Sarkas aur numayis yaha phel hai

Circus and exhibition here fail are

Kachru says that this process has developed into an extremely productiveprocess for ‘mixing’ Indian languages such as Hindi, Urdu with non-Indianlanguages, English and Persian. This process is most productive in producingwhat are termed ‘compound verbs’ and ‘conjunct verbs’. For example,(1st type) expect karna ‘to expect’; satisfy karna ‘to satisfy’; examples ofthe 2nd type are ‘holiday lena’ ‘to take a holiday’; ‘permission dena’ ‘togrant permission’.

(c) Sentence insertion: It means inserting a sentence of one language intoanother language for example:

5 parhne me Sima ki bahut ruchi hai vah kahti hai

Education is necessary for life (D, 29, 4.73)

(d) Idiom and Collocation Insertion: The idioms and collocations of Englishhave generally a higher frequency of occurrences in code mixed Indianlanguages, than, say, proverbs. Some of the examples given are:

6 aur mai parivartan ghar se suru karuga kyuki

and I change home from begin will do because

Charity begins at home. (D, 29.4.73)

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7 tum ko ho kya gaya why do you cry over spilt milk

to you happen what ……………………………….

sab thik ho jayega

all fine will become

(e) Inflection attachment and re-duplication

There are a number of English and Persian borrowings in South Asian languagesin such code mixing, e.g. sakuti digri vala (a person who possesses a schooldegree; D, 12.8.73)

The process of re-duplication, which is very common in South Asian languages,is applied to English items, e.g.

8 …acting (acting) …vekting mai ka janu re

(Saptahik Hindustan 29. 7.7.3)

3.4.3 The Language Aspect of Conversational Code-MixingSome studies have analysed Hindi English code mixing in conversation. Ira Pandit(1986) has made an attempt to describe some aspects of the syntax of HindiEnglish code mixing. We give below some of the examples from her analysesof the data she recorded.

Simple sentences

A Head noun in subject noun phrase in English + copula in Hindi

1 Society hii aisii haisubject copula

Society is like that.

2 Itti opportunities hain subject copula

There are so many opportunities.

B Head noun in subject noun phrase in English + intransitive verb in Hindi

3 atmosphere itanaa informal ho jaata hai subject verb intran

The atmosphere becomes so informal.

4 pataa nahiin kabse yeh trend chal rahaa hai subject verb intran

No one knows since when this trend has been going on.

C Genitive noun phrase in the subject position

i Modifying noun phrase and genitive morpheme in Hindi + head nounphrase in English + verb in Hindi

5 Bachchon kaa expenditure kuch kam nahiin hotaa hai Mod Gen Head

The amount that has to be spent on children is by no means small.



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ii Modifying noun phrase and head noun phrase in English, genitive morphemein Hindi + verb in Hindi

6 Joint family ke advantage bahot saare hainMod NP Gen Head

iii Modifying nounphrase and genitive morpheme in Hindi + head noun phrasein English + verb in English

7 hamaara opinion carries no weightMod Gen Head V

My opinion carries no weight.

VERB PHRASE CONSTRUCTIONS

D Predicate adjective in English + copula in Hindi

8 vo thoraa backward hai Pred Adj cop

E Predicate adjective in English + intransitive verb in Hindi

9 abnormal thoraa saa ho jaate hainPred Adj int

They become a little abnormal.

F Object in English + Verb in Hindi

10 aise narrow escapes roz nazar aate hain Object V

Such narrow escapes are seen everyday.

G Adverbials in English + verb in Hindi

11 Usko definitely pataa chal jaataa hai Adv V

He gets to know about it definitely.

H Adverbials in Hindi + verb in English

12 yahaan par they are not from poor families. Adv V

Here they are not from poor families.

CONJUNCT VERB/NOUN + VERB CONSTRUCTIONS

I Noun in English + Verb in Hindi

13 hamane usako baraa suggest kiyaa ki tum science le lo. N V

COMPOUND SENTENCES

J Conjoined sentences

i First conjunct in Hindi + conjunction in Hindi + second conjunct inEnglish

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14 adults kii nahiin hai lekin it should be for adults. conj

It’s not for adults but it should be for them.

ii First conjunct in English + conjunction in English + second conjunctin Hindi

15 I don’t say anything because larakiyaan mujhse chiratii hain

I don’t say anything because the girls are jealous of me.

iii First conjunct in English + conjunction in Hindi + second conjunctin English

16 It is the psychology which is important aur the psychological aspectyou know differs from person to person. Conj

COMPLEX SENTENCES

K Conditionals

i “If” clause in Hindi “then” clause in English beginning with the Hindi“tab”/ “to”

17 agar tum baat karo unakii personal life ke bare men

If you talk about their personal life.to they take more interest in their studies.then

ii “If” clause in English “then” clause in Hindi.

18 If you can get a good servant to thiik hai.

It is all right if you can get a good servant.

L Complement Sentence

i Matrix sentence in Hindi, complementizer in English, embeddedsentence in English

19 ye log impression aisaa dete hain that they are very busy. comp

These people give the impression that they are very busy.

20 She said kii do spirits aayiin room men and said kii ye bachcha hai comp comp

isko le chalate hain

She said that two spirits came into the room and said that this isthe child they should take away.

ii Matrix sentence in Hindi, complementizer in Hindi, embedded sentencein English.

21 to ye bolataa hai kii you be ready and we will run away. comp

Then he says that you be ready and we will run away.



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M Relative clauses

i main clause in Hindi, relative clause in English

22 Hamaari class men kaii girls hain who have got good marks. Rel cl

There are many girls in my class who have got good marks.

ii Main clause in English, relative clause in Hindi

23 PCS men jo larakiyaan hain they are much better.

The girls who are in PCS are much better.

From the numerous examples of structures in the data on code mixing it isclear that it is a complex phenomenon; and though the nature and extent ofcode mixing is highly unpredictable in face-to-face oral interaction, it seems tobe systematic.

3.5 CONSTRAINTS ON CODE-MIXINGThough the number of languages studied in code mixing is rather limited, linguistshave proposed some universal constraints on code mixing. The existence ofuniversal constraints is based on the assumption that the mixed code has theproperties of a natural language. The assumed linguistic properties of the mixedcode according to Annamalai (IJSL 75, 1989) are (a) mixing is governed bylevels of units such as word level, clause level, sentence level and so on (b)it is sensitive to syntactic constituents like Noun Phrase, Verb Phrase, etc. and(c) it is a variable with reference to word classes such as nouns verbs etc.Here we shall look at the constraints / restrictions on code mixing in SouthAsian languages as proposed by Kachru (1975). According to him, there seemsto be a cline of acceptability in code-mixing. It is not an open-ended processeither grammatically or lexically. He illustrates this with the following constraints.

A Rank shift constraint

The rank-shifted constructions are not from English. For example thefollowing sentences are an odd mix.

*1 voh kitab which is on the table meri hai

That book …………………...mine is.

*2 mera voh amriki dost who lives in Chicago aj hamare ghar ayega

My that American friend ……….................…………..today ourhouse will come

B Conjunction constraint

i In code mixing of South Asian languages and English conjunctions (and,or, etc.) are not used to conjoin two NPs. The following sentencessound odd, for example

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*3 NP and NP aye the.

*4 mai usko akhbar deta but diya nahi

I to him newspaper give gave not

Kachru says that conjoining two sentences from two languages is,however, common.

bhai, khana khao and let us go.

brother meal eat

ii The conjoining item is from the same language in which theconjoined sentence is introduced. Therefore, the following sentenceis not the preferred construction.

*6 John abhi aya nahi lekin I must wait for him.

John yet come not but

C Determiner constraint

There are several constraints on the items which can be code mixed ina noun phrase in pre-head position.

*7 vaha five sundar larkiya parh rahi thi (numeral)

*8 tum this sundar larki ki bat kar rahe the?

These sentences according to Kachru sounded odd.

D Complementizer Constraint

i If the two sentences are from the same source languages, acomplementizer from another source is not inserted.

*9 mujhe lagta hai that ram kal aayegato me seems aux… Ram tomorrow will come

ii Given two sentences from two sources (say, Hindi and English) thepreference is given to a complementizer from the language used inthe first sentence, e.g.

10 muje lagta hai ki ram will come tomorrow

To me seems aux that Ram…

This is especially true with verbs of perception (e.g. sunna ‘to hear’, sochna‘to think’) or verbs of saying (e.g., kehna ‘to say’; batana ‘to tell’)

But Pandit has counter examples to some of the above constraints in her data.

For example, conjunction constraint B (i) and (ii)

(i) Uske bhai and bahan aane waale hote hain conj

Raja raao and baadal sarcar hii nahiin hain library men

(ii) Sentences 14, 15 and 16 above of Pandit’s data.



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There are counter examples to Kachru’s complementizer constraint [D (i)and (ii)]

Examples:

(i) You get an idea kii this is the sort of novel you are reading. comp

(ii) She said kii do spirits aayiin room men and said kii ye baccha hai iskoComp Comp

le chalate hain

She said that two spirits came into the room and said that this is the childthey should take away.

- She thinks kii she is in the way. Comp

- You know they feel kii baraa kuchh garbar maamlaa hai. Comp

There is something seriously wrong.

Pandit also has counter examples to Kachru’s Rank shift/Restrictive relativeclause constraint in which an English relative clause cannot be embeddedinto a Hindi sentence.

Consider the following:

- hamaari class men kaii girls hain who have got good marks. Rel clause

College main kuchh larakiyaan hain who have boy friends. Ref Clause

The fact that in the data a Hindi restrictive relative clause is embeddedin an English main clause also challenges this constraint. Look at thefollowing sentence, for example.

- PCS men jo larakiyaan hain they are much better. Ref Clause

The difference in the data on code mixing and the counter examples indicatethat there is not enough research and data on code mixing/code switching thatcan make it predictable. Only a huge data base could help us formulate a ‘system’in terms of the language of code-mixing/code switching.

3.6 SWITCHING CODES3.6.1 Switching and Mixing

What is the difference between code mixing and code switching? You mightask.

When we switch codes we use a different language or variety of language midwaythrough a stretch of speech. Switching codes could either be partial and involveonly a part of a sentence or clause or phrase, and result in a code mixed varietyas we have seen above, or it could be a switch to another languages so that

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it forms a large chunk of speech in an interaction. This is longer stretch ofspeech in a different language and is a characteristic of code switching. In otherwords, the stretches of the languages involved are generally longer in switchingthan in mixing, and we can speak of mixing as concerning a unit of grammarand switching as concerning a unit of discourse.

3.6.2 Motivation for Code-Switching – Does the SpeakerAlways have a Reason for Switching Mixing Codes?

Linguists have made attempts (Grumperg 1971, Kumar 1987, Pandit 1986) tostudy the factors that trigger a switch. Change in the context, in role relationshipsmay trigger a switch from English to the mother tongue and vice versa. A changein the topic of discourse may elicit code switching. The value attached to alanguage or a dialect, and sometimes the intention of the speaker may beexpressed by a switch.

In India, the use of English could occur in formal situations in the spoken aswell as the written forms, because English is associated with official and formalcontexts in the public domain. However, a switch to a common mother tonguecannot be ruled out when the topic of conversation shifts from the domain ofoffice to the personal domain or when the boss in an organization switchesto a common mother tongue to accommodate those who are not fluent in English.In a study conducted on the use of English in industries in Andhra Pradesh(Sadanand 1983), it was found that executives at the highest levels in urbanindustrial organizations switched from English to Hindi/Urdu/Telugu and vice versadepending on the language the employees were comfortable with. Therefore,it is not always the case that interaction in the public domain (workplace) isrestricted to English. The senior executives were flexible in their use of language,in this case it was not the topic of conversation (which was most often technical)nor was it the role relationship (relative rank in an organization) that triggereda switch. It was in fact the senior executive’s desire to communicate effectivelyin order to ‘get the job done’ which was the primary aim. The motivation forswitching codes was sociostrategic in the public domain.

Another reason for switching codes in socio-political contexts (public domain)could be to make a point more forcefully, impress the listener and convincethem. Recently, there was a newspaper article (Deccan Chronicle, 5th October,2014 p.10) on the Prime Minister’s use of English alliteration in his speechesin Hindi as one of his devices to turn a simple concept into something appealing.Modi spoke of the “5Ts” (talent, traditional, tourism, trade and technology) tobuild brand India. On a TV channel Mr. Modi said the country needed the3S’s (skill, scale, and speed) to match China.

It is evident from the examples above that codes switches in the public domainare motivated primarily by the desire to get their message across effectively.

In the personal domain the motivation for code switching/mixing could eitherbe socio-cultural or socio-psychological.

Look at the following telephone conversation.

A: Hi, how are you?

B: Hi. I’m quite well, thanks. I’ve been very busy……….long hours of teaching…………. A huge portion to cover.



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A: I just hope you don’t feel stressed. Have you to teach today?

B: No. mujhe chaothe pe jana hai at 9.30.

A: Oh, then you must be getting ready to go, main phir bat karungi. Bye!

B: Bye!

B’s switch to Hindi is owing to the occasion ‘chaotha’, a prayer meeting onthe fourth day after someone’s death, which is a part of Indian culture. ButA’s switch to Hindi is not easy to explain.

Look at another real-life conversation

A: I waited for you yesterday evening.

B: I’m so sorry. I should’ve called you. But I lost your number.

A: That’s OK. I’ll give you my number now.

B: You know I had to go to my cousin’s house. Uska pehla Karva Chauththa.

Here B switches to Hindi because ‘Karva Chauth’ is culture specific. In NorthIndia it is celebrated nine days after Dussehra. On this day women fast andpray for the long life of their husbands. The first fast after marriage is a specialoccasion.

In both these conversations, the trigger seems to have been a socio-culturalevent which is typically Indian.

These examples, however, should not lead us to believe that all such instancesinvariably trigger a switch. Individuals may vary among themselves and aspeaker may vary from one context to another in what s/he mixes and howmuch s/he mixes to express herself/himself. There is thus a certain degree ofindeterminacy.

Again in the personal domain individuals may sometimes mix codes, switchingto the language of the person spoken to in order to identify with them. Theswitch may signal a friendly attitude and thus establish a good rapport withhim/her. For instance, in dialogues 1 and 2 in section 3.3.2 speaker A andB have different mother tongues, so A uses English to communicate with Bbut switches to Tamil words to identify with B who in turn uses the little Englishhe knows and thus a friendly atmosphere is created.

In dialogue 3, A uses Hindi, which she knows well mixed with English to askfor what she wants. B in turn uses Hindi mixed with English to indicate thathe has understood A. While the choice of English words by B in the mixedcode is intended to attract the customers attention to the quality of the materialand promote his business, it is not clear why A has switched to ‘printed materials’and ‘dark colours’. It is possible that A did not have an appropriate Hindiequivalent for the word ‘printed’. But there is a common Hindi word for ‘darkcolours’ (gehre rang). So the motivation for a switch in the latter case is noteasy to explain.

In ‘Some Observations on Motivation’ for code switching, Ashok Kumar (1987)attempts a neat classification of the ‘considerations’ that dictate the alterationfrom ‘Hindi to English’. This is based on a study of Hindi-based bilinguals.

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a) Switching under emotional stress;

b) Switching for imposing authority;

c) Switching for fashion;

d) Inevitable, technical code-switching;

e) Switching for business;

f) Switching in creative writing;

g) Euphemistic code-switching; and

h) Switching for reinforcement

While it may be possible that a switch from Hindi to English is triggered bythese considerations, the switching of codes in the following narration (Pandit1986, p. 66) cannot be attributed to any motivation or change in the topicof discourse.

1 I had gone to Kamala Nagar Mr. Puri ke saath.

2 We wanted to go kyonki kuch khareedanaa tha.

3 You know that place Birla Mills ke pass?

4 When you go to Amba raaste men naheen hai?

5 As it is my husband is very nervous jahaan tak merii driving kaa savaalhai.

6 Vo mujhe drive naheen karene dete aur main bhii.

7 I don’t’ tell him in the morning kii main car le jaa rahii huun.

8 Us din to I had a very narrow escape.

9 Vahaan se murane lage vo jo roundabout naheen hai?

10 I was just turning.11 Vahaan se ek private bus aa rahi thii.12 Vo itanii speed se aayee.13 I had just turned.14 Vo itnii jyada speed se aayee aur usane moraa aur front mein, right side

pe badly touch huyii gaarii.15 Itanii zor se aawaaz huyii kii I can’t tell you.

16 I was so scared.

17 Maine car rok dii.

18 I put a stop otherwise to sub kuch khatam ho gayaa hotaa.

Thus A’s narration of how she narrowly escaped a terrible accident illustratesthe difficulty of describing all instances of code mixing in terms of motivation.Switching to a code mixed variety is common in the unique Indian multilingualsetting. This is probably owing to two or more co-existing competencies in theindividual which he/she may draw upon for communicating meaning.



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3.7 LET US SUM UPWe have seen that language contact is a pre-requisite to code mixing and codeswitching. It is essential for two or more languages to co-exist in the individualand between people for them to code switch. Each of the languages that co-exist is a resource for various communicative and social functions. A communityin which its members know and speak more than one language is a bi/multilingualcommunity. India is a multilingual country with speakers of about 200 languages,which are used for various functions such as mediums of administration, mediumsof instruction at the primary level and mediums of information disseminationthrough print media.

When we speak of a sociolinguistics phenomenon such as code-switching andcode-mixing we mean that a ‘code’ is an arrangement of words that conveymeaning within a rule-governed system. Mixing codes would then mean thattwo different systems are combined to make meaning. In order to mix codesthe speakers must share at least two codes (languages or language varieties).

Code mixing must not be mistaken for a simple case of borrowing used tofill in gaps that may occur in the lexicon of a given language. Unlike borrowingsthe elements do not necessarily get assimilated into the recipient language.

Linguists discuss the formal aspect of code mixing and code switching on thebasis of the assumption that they have the properties of a natural language.The existence of universal constraints also follows from the same assumptions.

We have looked at the constraints proposed by Kachru (on Hindi/Urdu-Englishcode mixing) based on data of written and spoken language and an analysis(Pandit 1986) of the structure of code mixed Hindi-English in conversationfollowed by counter examples of Kachru’s constraints. The latter demonstratethe indeterminate nature of code switching and the need to have a very largedata base for the properties of code mixing and code switching to be morepredictive.

We have considered possible reasons/motivations for code switching in the publicand personal domains and have listed a number of reasons (Ashok Kumar 1987)given for switching from Hindi to English. By giving an example of data fromPandit, however, we have drawn your attention to the difficulty of describingall instances of code switching in terms of motivation.

3.8 THINGS TO DO – POINTS TO PONDER1 What is your mother tongue? Why do you think it is your mother tongue?

2 How many languages (other than your mother tongue) do you know? Tickthe right column:

Language Well Not so well Not well at all

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3 How many languages do you use to communicate with others?

4a Make notes of your own use of language in different contexts. Do youmix codes?

4b Which languages do you use at work, in class, at home with family, withfriends and neighbours?

5 Record three conversations of educated bilinguals who know English. Didany of the participants use a code-mixed variety? Did mixing happen atthe level of the word (as in dialogues 1 and 2 in 3.3.2…? or/and at thelevel of the phrase or/and at the level of the whole sentence? You couldrefer to Pandit’s analysis of code-mixed language.

6 Look at the possible reasons/motivations for code-switching listed by AshokKumar. Can you apply any of these or any others to the code-switchingin the conversations you recorded?

3.9 KEY WORDSBilingual A bilingual is one who uses more than one language.

Linguistic community A group of people who share a language and normsof its use as well as values assigned to it.

Multilingual community A linguistic community sharing more than one languageand their functional allocation.

Language repertoire The set of languages a speaker possess and uses.

Mother tongue One of the languages in the language repertoire ofa speaker which is used to identify him or her socially.

Borrowing Borrowing is the use of words and grammaticalfeatures from another language, which are assimilatedinto the system of the recipient language.

Mixing The alternative use of words and grammatical structureof another language by a bilingual to convey socialmeanings.

Constraints Systematic restrictions on mixing; violation of aconstraint will give an odd/ill-formed mixed sentence.

Switching The alternate use of another language for the lengthof a discourse unit when there is a change inparticipants or topic or a combination of factors.

3.10 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READINGSAnnamalai (1989) ‘The Language Factor in Code Mixing’ in IJSL75, pp48-54.

Ashok Kumar (1987) ‘Code-switching. Some Observations on Motivation’in Indian Linguistic, vol. 48, March-December, 1987.

Gumperz John J (1971) ‘Hindi-Punjabi Code Switching in Delhi’ in Languagein Social Groups. Essays by John Gumperz. Selected and introduced by AnwerDil, Stanford University Press, 1971.



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Kachru Braj. B. (1975), Toward Structuring the Form and Fucntion of Codemixing: An Indian Perspective’ in Studies in the Linguistic Sciences, Volume5, Number 1, Spring 1975.

Pandit Ira (1986), Hindi-English Code-Switching. Mixed Hindi English. DattaBook Centre, 1986.

Sadanand Kamlesh (1983), ‘The Use of English in Industries in Andhra Pradesh’,Ph. D. Dissertation 1983. CIEFL, Hyderabad (A. P.)

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