Code switching in text messages : Malay-English bilinguals

• Main Author: Yusra Mohamed Ya’acob
• Other Authors: Guinevere Barlow
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66199
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Code switching is a common phenomenon in bilingual speech and has been thoroughly studied by linguists (Scotton & Ury, 1997; Appel & Muysken, 2005; Gardner-Chloros, 2009). However, studies on code switching in the written form have only recently been on the rise (Al-Khatib & Sabah, 2008; Gardner-Chloros & Weston, 2015). This research aims to contribute to this specific field of code switching, in particular, code switching in text message conversations. The research focuses on a corpus of text messages from Malay-English bilinguals and analyzes the patterns of code switching as well as the motivations for code switching in the written form. Findings from the study show that there are four main motivations for code switching in text messages, that is: code switching for reference, code switching for cultural reasons, code switching for politeness and code switching due to unmarked reasons. The research reflects that motivations for code switching in text messages align with the reasons why people code switch in spoken conversations. This paper also suggests other possible angles to approach the study of code switching in text messages.