The majority of scholars’ work on code-switching within the sociolinguistic approach of Arabic has been mainly concentrated on the interaction of the Standard variety with other regional dialects in indigenous communities (Albirini, 2011; Bassiouney, 2006; Saeed, 1997; Soliman, 2008). Their work also extends to include the interaction of Arabic with other languages in informal and highly interactional settings (Abalhassan and Alshalawi, 2000; Safi, 1992; Sayahi, 2014). When it comes to the religious settings, their work has been solely devoted to Standard Arabic and Dialectal Arabic in Arabic countries and among Arabic native speakers (Albirini, 2011; Bassiouney, 2006; Saeed, 1997; Soliman, 2008). This thesis, in turn, investigates CS between Arabic and English in highly formal religious settings in the United States and among American Islamic preachers, non-native speakers of Arabic. It aims to enumerate the social functions of CS between English and Arabic and provides the internal optimal bilingual grammar of these speakers. To achieve these goals, two analyses have been conducted, the functional analysis and the optimality-theoretic analysis. The results of the first analysis revealed that preachers chiefly switch from English to Arabic for eight functions: (1) to use formulaic expressions; (2) to introduce direct quotations; (3) to show a level of education in the Islamic studies; (4) to show a level of education in the Arabic language; (5) to evoke Muslimness and Islamic affiliation; (6) to mark emphasis; (7) to stress the importance of a speech segment; and (8) to introduce rhyming stretches. On the other hand, they switch from Arabic to English mainly to fulfill two functions: (1) to translate the previous Arabic stretch; and (2) to simplify, explain, and clarify a segment that was previously mentioned in Arabic. The result of the optimality-theoretic analysis showed that the internal optimal bilingual grammar of American preachers is {FAITH, FACE} >> PERSPECTIVE >> {SOLIDARITY, POWER}.

M.A., Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, 1995

This dissertation studies the problem of identifying the ideological perspective of people as expressed in their written text. One's perspective is often expressed in his/her stance towards polarizing topics. We are interested in studying how nuanced linguistic cues can be used to identify the perspective of a person in informal genres. Moreover, we are interested in exploring the problem from a multilingual perspective comparing and contrasting linguistics devices used in both English informal genres datasets discussing American ideological issues and Arabic discussion fora posts related to Egyptian politics. %In doing so, we solve several challenges. Our first and utmost goal is building computational systems that can successfully identify the perspective from which a given informal text is written while studying what linguistic cues work best for each language and drawing insights into the similarities and differences between the notion of perspective in both studied languages. We build computational systems that can successfully identify the stance of a person in English informal text that deal with different topics that are determined by one's perspective, such as legalization of abortion, feminist movement, gay and gun rights; additionally, we are able to identify a more general notion of perspective–namely the 2012 choice of presidential candidate–as well as build systems for automatically identifying different elements of a person's perspective given an Egyptian discussion forum comment. The systems utilize several lexical and semantic features for both languages. Specifically, for English we explore the use of word sense disambiguation, opinion features, latent and frame semantics as well; as Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count features; in Arabic, however, in addition to using sentiment and latent semantics, we study whether linguistic code-switching (LCS) between the standard and dialectal forms for the language can help as a cue for uncovering the perspective from which a comment was written. This leads us to the challenge of devising computational systems that can handle LCS in Arabic. The Arabic language has a diglossic nature where the standard form of the language (MSA) coexists with the regional dialects (DA) corresponding to the native mother tongue of Arabic speakers in different parts of the Arab world. DA is ubiquitously prevalent in written informal genres and in most cases it is code-switched with MSA. The presence of code-switching degrades the performance of almost any MSA-only trained Natural Language Processing tool when applied to DA or to code-switched MSA-DA content. In order to solve this challenge, we build a state-of-the-art system–AIDA–to computationally handle token and sentence-level code-switching. On a conceptual level, for handling and processing Egyptian ideological perspectives, we note the lack of a taxonomy for the most common perspectives among Egyptians and the lack of corresponding annotated corpora. In solving this challenge, we develop a taxonomy for the most common community perspectives among Egyptians and use an iterative feedback-loop process to devise guidelines on how to successfully annotate a given online discussion forum post with different elements of a person's perspective. Using the proposed taxonomy and annotation guidelines, we annotate a large set of Egyptian discussion fora posts to identify a comment's perspective as conveyed in the priority expressed by the comment, as well as the stance on major political entities.

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Bilingual language production is an area of psycholinguistic research that has received recent attention. Experimental evidence from bilingual word production tasks has shown that both languages share representation at the mental lexicon, meaning that concepts will lead to the activation of the target lemma from both languages. Investigations into how bilinguals organise two grammatical systems has largely come from cross-linguistic syntactic priming. Syntactic priming is a phenomenon in which speakers are likely to repeat a syntactic structure in which they have recently experienced: cross-linguistic syntactic priming is when a speaker uses a syntactic structure in one language because they have recently experienced that structure from the other language. Together, the study of the bilingual lexicon and syntactic representations have led to the development of models of bilingual language production. A more recent experimental paradigm is the forced code-switching task in which participants are required to code-switch in some experimental trials. The forced code-switching task is the experimental method used in this thesis. This thesis aims to use this experimental task to test my proposed model of bilingual language production, the Hybrid model. The Hybrid model proposes an architecture of the bilingual lemma stratum that differs from previous models of bilingual language production. The Hybrid model assumes that lexical items from one language can be produced using the syntactic structure of the other language. In this thesis I report seven experiments testing the proposed lemma stratum of the Hybrid model. Experiment 3.1 investigated the production of prenominal adjectives of English and postnominal adjectives of Spanish during code-switching between Spanish and English to see whether speakers would use the lexical items from one language with the word order of the other language. The results showed that speakers almost exclusively used the word order dictated by the language in which they produced the lexical items. This did not support the proposed lemma stratum of the Hybrid model. Experiments 4.1 and 4.2 investigated gender agreement of possessive pronouns during code-switching between Spanish and English to see if the possessive pronoun from one language could be produced using the gender agreement rules from the other language. The results showed that English-Spanish and Spanish-English bilinguals sometimes produced possessive pronouns in one language with the gender agreement rules from the other language. It was demonstrated that this effect was not due to a misunderstanding of the gender agreement rules of the participants' second language. These results support the proposed lemma stratum of the Hybrid model. Experiments 5.1 and 5.2 investigated gender agreement of possessive determiners during code-switching between French and English to see if the possessive determiner from one language could be produced using the gender agreement rules from the other language. The results showed that English-French and French-English bilinguals sometimes produced possessive determiners in one language with the gender agreement rules from the other language. It was demonstrated that this effect was not due to a misunderstanding of the gender agreement rules of the participants' second language. These results support the proposed lemma stratum of the Hybrid model. Experiments 6.1 and 6.2 investigated the production of determiners during code-switching between German and English. Of specific interest was whether English determiners would be produced more often than German determiners because German determiners hold case information whereas English determiners do not. In Experiment 6.1 participants were forced to code-switch before an accusative NP. The results showed that English determiners were sometimes produced within the German NPs, but German determiners were not used within the English NPs. In Experiment 6.2 participants were forced to code-switch before a dative NP. The results showed that participants almost exclusively produced the determiner in the same language as the target noun. Analysing the frequencies of the determiner used within the experimental session, the different pattern of results between Experiments 6.1 and 6.2 may be a result of a competition for selection between determiner forms. To conclude the thesis I discuss the implications of these findings, what they mean for the Hybrid model, and directions for future research.

Thesis (M.ED.) --University of Limpopo, 2008 / The Department of Education language policy states that all official languages may be used in the teaching and learning at South African schools. The department of Education has adopted an Additive Multilingualism as an approach to teaching. English is however, still being used as the language of learning and teaching, even to the learners who are not mother-tongue speakers of the language. This study explores the question of whether code-switching aids or impedes teaching and learning in Mathematics. The problem arises when learners encounter concepts in Mathematics which are written in English and need to be explained in English. Learners often struggled to understand these concepts with the results that educators resort to using their home language to try to explain what these concepts mean. To understand the nature of this problem and how it affects teaching and learning, a qualitative research was undertaken. Two secondary schools in the Sekgosese East Circuit were purposefully sampled for this study. The purpose of the study was to explore the role of code-switching in the teaching and learning of concepts in Mathematics and its effects on the acquisition of Mathematics. The findings revealed that the school were code-switching was applied performed better in Mathematics than the school where code-switching was not employed. The study recommended that educators should use the learners’ home language in instances where their knowledge of English impedes them to convey the meaning clearly.

This longitudinal study focuses on the language production of two siblings, aged 6 and 9 at the beginning of the data collection period, who have been brought up in a bilingual family in New York. The parents of the two girls are native speakers of German and Spanish, respectively, and English for them is the language of education and the larger community. The study specifically examines the phenomenon of code switching, or transitioning between languages, either within one sentence or within one speech situation. I examine the extent to which these switches are caused by deficiencies in vocabulary in a specific language, and seek to identify other possible causes for such transitions. The data collected mainly through recording and transcription of the children's speech within the family home allowed me to identify a number of sociopragmatic functions most commonly fulfilled by producing mixed utterances, such as referring to a specific person, including or excluding someone from the conversation, changing the interlocutor or the topic or explaining or insisting on a certain idea. Lexical need was also an important cause of code switching, although it did not prevail over the other categories. The distribution in the amount and function of code switches turned out to be in a dynamic state, with both quantitative and qualitative changes observed throughout the study period. The age difference between the children and the relationship between the younger and elder sibling were additional factors which influenced their language choice. I conclude that code switching, especially in the case of child speech, should be considered a fluid and multifaceted phenomenon which represents the speaker's role in the conversation and reflects multiple social and pragmatic functions; while elements of two (or more) languages are often combined for purely lexical reasons, this is only one aspect of trilingual code switching, which allows the speaker, consciously or not, to explore the three languages as ways of establishing his or her personality and looking at reality both within and outside the means of each particular language.

This is a study of language choice and language alternation patterns in a corpus of messages posted on two Brunei Darussalam on-line discussion forums. It aims to break new ground by investigating Malay-English language alternation in the context of computer-mediated communication (CMC), in contrast to previous research which has mostly studied alternation or code-switching in informal conversations. The corpus of texts consists of 21 1 messages posted on the 'Bruclass' and 'Brudirect' forums. These were analysed in terms of their grammatical and discoursal features to determine what role is played by each of the contributing languages. Chapter 1 outlines the major research questions: how much alternation is there between Malay and English, how is this alternation achieved, and why do the bilingual text producers make these language choices when posting their messages in the on-line forums? This chapter also includes outline description of the sociolinguistic context of Brunei Darussalam in terms of its population, history, system of education, and discussion of the varieties of Malay and of English used by Bruneians. In Chapter 2 relevant literature on language alternation is reviewed, with a gradual narrowing of the focus: from theories of code-switching and language alternation to studies dealing specifically with Malay-English code-switching in Malaysia and in Brunei Darussalam. Studies on language use and alternation in the CMC domain are also reviewed. Chapter 3 discusses the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, and the rationale for these. Findings from the grammatical and discoursal analyses are reported and discussed in Chapter 4. Whilst monolingual English messages are the most frequent, almost half of the corpus texts are found to include a measure of Malay-English alternation. / Many of these display an asymmetric alternation pattern, in which one language supplies the grammar and the other the lexis, but there are also examples of equal alternation, where Malay and English both contribute to the grammar and to the lexis. The reasons for these choices are investigated through a questionnaire survey, which includes a text ranking task, and through other published texts in which Bruneians discuss their use of language. Chapter 5 discusses these findings, and the concluding Chapter 6 considers connections between the analysis of the texts and the questionnaire survey, especially the preference for monolingual English. Chapter 6 also includes discussion of questions of identity as reflected in the language choices and of language use in the CMC domain.

This study analyses the code-switching variety Taglish (Tagalog-English) in personal weblogs written by Filipino bloggers.The main research questions are set forth in chapter one: why do writers of weblogs code-switch in contexts where there is no specific addressee and hence no turn taking, and why is 'this' particular language chosen at 'this' juncture in the weblog narrative?Chapter two gives an overview of relevant code-switching theory and research, and focuses especially on the sociolinguistic dimensions. In particular, the markedness model of Myers-Scotton is reviewed with respect to the notion of code-switching itself as an unmarked choice. This sets the stage for introducing Taglish as a normal and unmarked phenomenon for many Filipinos.Chapter three presents the socio-political and linguistic background in the Philippines. This give a backdrop for a focus on the evolution and status of Taglish.The problems associated with the presentation of self in Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) are examined in Chapter four and then the unique characteristics of weblogs are explored with respect to their purpose and genre.Chapter five looks at the design and methodology employed and emphasises the qualitative nature of the research and the sampling method as purposive. The main corpus of 25 extracts were analysed using frameworks which bring important perspectives to bear on the use of code-switching in the construction and negotiation of identity. These frameworks are: the referee design dimension of Bell's audience design model with its emphasis on initiative style shifts to project different identities; discursive psychology which highlights the use of language to position self and others; and narrative psychology with its stress on people's use of narrative to seek coherence of self and life-experience. These frameworks are combined with Bakhtinian notions of polyphony, dialogism and heteroglossia.Chapter six gives the detailed results of the analysis of seven weblogs which typify the findings of the corpus. Code-switching on these weblogs highlights the creative end of language use. However, it is a creativity tempered by the realities of Bakhtinian heteroglossia. The heteroglossic nature of the code-switching, in seemingly monological texts, is implicated in how the bloggers negotiate and construct social identities by positioning themselves and others in the ongoing narrative flow. In that the code-switching is extremely plentiful in this non-oral environment, it poses a serious challenge to the attempts by some conversational analysts (e.g., Li, 2005) to claim that code-switching can only really be explicated in terms of the systematics of an interaction taking place. The research seeks to stay within the spirit of CA by suggesting that even in a seemingly monologic form, interaction may be reconceived as heteroglossia covertly present in all language and overtly manifest in switching. Thus switching is not merely a product of how speakers attend to the orderly production of conversation, but also a product of how they attend to the inherent heteroglossic nature of language and exploit their linguistic repertoire maximally to make their communication as effective as possible, and to construct and negotiate multiple identities.