Switching Languages

Though it is difficult enough to write well in one?s native tongue, an extraordinary group of authors has written enduring poetry and prose in a second, third, or even fourth language. Switching Languages is the first anthology in which translingual authors from throughout the world examine their experiences writing in more than one language or in a language other than their primary one. Driven by factors as varied as migration, imperialism, a quest for verisimilitude, and a desire to assert artistic autonomy, translingualism has a long and brilliant history. ø In Switching Languages, Steven G. Kellman brings together several notable authors from the past one hundred years who discuss their personal translingual experiences and their take on a general phenomenon that has not received the attention it deserves. Contributors to the book include Chinua Achebe, Julia Alvarez, Mary Antin, Elias Canetti, Rosario Ferrä, Ha Jin, Salman Rushdie, Läopold Sädar Senghor, and Ilan Stavans. They offer vivid testimony to the challenges and achievements of literary translingualism.

This book is about the use of two languages in everyday life. Bilingualism is a facet of nearly every country in the world and code-switching is a widespread characteristic of bilingual speech. An obvious and at the same time interesting aspect is that bilinguals will, of course, stay within one language when talking to monolinguals. However, when talking to other bilinguals, they will probably use both languages. Thus, in bilingual conversations, they often switch from one language to another and frequently even within an utterance. Such kinds of switches call for a special competence of the two languages involved. But how well the bilinguals have to know each of the languages is a justifiable question. These switches are not arbitrary since they may depend on the situation of the conversation, the topic of the conversation, the emotional aspects involved, the language preference of the speaker and the need to express the own identity. The goal of this book is to look in detail at code-switching in bilingual communication with the help of the present study on Russian-German bilinguals.

Seminar paper from the year 2020 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2.7, University of Heidelberg, course: Meaning of Language, language: English, abstract: How does another language influence Code-Switching and is there a difference between First Language learner and Second Language learner? Employers of the German company Tchibo all got new contracts with English work titles. Fillialleiter are now called “store manager”, Bezirksleiter are now called “area manager”. Their functions stay the same, just the name changes. I am confused. I visit Japan and can understand a few words of their difficult language. Aisukurimu (“ice-cream”), biru (“beer”), of course I can understand them, it sounds just like the English words. Conversations on my New-Zealand bus tour are changing every few minutes. I hear French, Spanish and English, depending on whom they are talking to. When I visit my best friend, who has French parents, I hear them switching from French to German every few minutes, although they could just continue speaking one language. Why are they switching? Code-Switching has become one of the most common language phenomena in these days. It started to attract the attention of more people, including linguists. This increased interest possibly arose from a more intense language contact in the industrialised world. I hear Franglais, Spanglish, Tex-Mex, Denglish but in a rather negative way, people might have a negative attitude to the increase of Code-Switching, afraid of missing their culture.

Though it is difficult enough to write well in one?s native tongue, an extraordinary group of authors has written enduring poetry and prose in a second, third, or even fourth language. Switching Languages is the first anthology in which translingual authors from throughout the world examine their experiences writing in more than one language or in a language other than their primary one. Driven by factors as varied as migration, imperialism, a quest for verisimilitude, and a desire to assert artistic autonomy, translingualism has a long and brilliant history. ø In Switching Languages, Steven G. Kellman brings together several notable authors from the past one hundred years who discuss their personal translingual experiences and their take on a general phenomenon that has not received the attention it deserves. Contributors to the book include Chinua Achebe, Julia Alvarez, Mary Antin, Elias Canetti, Rosario Ferrä, Ha Jin, Salman Rushdie, Läopold Sädar Senghor, and Ilan Stavans. They offer vivid testimony to the challenges and achievements of literary translingualism.

Over several generations villagers of Dominica have been shifting from Patwa, an Afro-French creole, to English, the official language. Despite government efforts at Patwa revitalization and cultural heritage tourism, rural caregivers and teachers prohibit children from speaking Patwa in their presence. Drawing on detailed ethnographic fieldwork and analysis of video-recorded social interaction in naturalistic home, school, village and urban settings, the study explores this paradox and examines the role of children and their social worlds. It offers much-needed insights into the study of language socialization, language shift and Caribbean children’s agency and social lives, contributing to the burgeoning interdisciplinary study of children’s cultures. Further, it demonstrates the critical role played by children in the transmission and transformation of linguistic practices, which ultimately may determine the fate of a language.

This book presents an empirically grounded argument for a new approach of teaching writing to diverse students in the English language arts classroom. Responding to advocates of the "code-switching" approach, four uniquely qualified authors make the case for "code-meshing"--allowing students to use standard English, African American English, and other Englishes in formal academic writing and classroom discussions. This practical resource translates theory into a concrete roadmap for pre-and in-service teachers who wish to use code-meshing in the classroom to extend students' abilities as writers and thinkers and to foster inclusiveness and creativity. The text provides activities and examples from middle and high schools as well as college and addresses the question of how to advocate for code-meshing with skeptical administrators, parents, and students.

Code-switching - the alternating use of several languages by bilingual speakers - does not usually indicate lack of competence on the part of the speaker in any of the languages concerned, but results from complex bilingual skills. The reasons why people switch their codes are as varied as the directions from which linguists approach this issue, and raise many sociological, psychological, and grammatical questions. This volume of essays by leading scholars brings together the main strands of current research in four major areas: the policy implications of code-switching in specific institutional and community settings; the perspective of social theory on code-switching as a form of speech behaviour in particular social contexts; the grammatical analysis of code-switching, including the factors that constrain switching even within a sentence; and the implications of code-switching in bilingual processing and development.

Melding cutting-edge research with practical innovations in teaching practice, the contributors to this volume confront the limitations of existing approaches in heritage language learning to introduce new solutions informed by linguistic, sociolinguistic, and educational research on heritage languages. The result is a unique and essential text, the only comprehensive guide for the HL classroom based on the latest theory and research with practical suggestions for the classroom.