Code-Switching

Code-switching is a phenomenon our family has dealt with a lot. It is when speakers mix languages when trying to communicate something. There are many reasons linguist give for why people tend to do this. As I reviewed a list, it helped me understand why we continue with this practice. Some of the reasons include:

• fill a linguistic need for a certain word, phrase, discourse marker or sentence filler
• continute the last language used (triggering)
• quote someone
• specify the addressee
• qualify message (amplify or emphasize)
• specify speaker involvement
• mark or emphasize group identity
• convey confidentiality, anger, annoyance
• exclude someone from the conversation
• change the role of the speaker, add authority

There are a couple contexts for language which we learned for the first time in Khmer. The most significant for me was how to talk to my children. My first language in that context was Khmer. Talking to a child as a teacher is very different than talking to your own child as a parent. I learned the "parent" language from my Khmer friends, neighbors and child care workers. Vocabulary was obviously different, but also the mode of communication. Mode of expression reveals the attitudes and status individuals, including children need to maintain within the culture.

One major difference I still struggle with in switching to English is that in Khmer, everything is spoken in 3rd person, even in my requests to my children. Another is that in Khmer, children never use names. It is considered disrespectful. I still struggle with teaching my children how to addresss older people respectfully in English. I fumble around as I try to remember what my parents taught me. But in observing what other parents do, it seems some "rules" have changed in recent years. For example, I hear many adults teach the children to address their teachers as "Miss or Mr.___(first name)___." I started to teach them to say Mr. ___(last name)___, but then it gets really confusing when there are multiple Mr. Millers and Mr. Sauders which my children know. So I resort to translating what I would say in Khmer, "Rebecca's daddy." I try to avoid code-switching in front of other people, but sometimes my brain can't work fast enough! So I tell my children to say "hello" to lok-kru (teacher or pastor) or older aunt (ohm).

We also use code-switching for words we still haven't become accustomed to using on a regular basis in English. This includes the variety of words children love to use and laugh about but can be embarrassing for adults in public arenas. And, I admit I use code-switching when my children need strong words and there is no private place to go to say them!

When we first returned from abroad, we used code-switching the most to communicate words or expressions for which there is no direct English equivalent. But as we got used to hearing and speaking fluent communication/expression in English, we started using what everyone else would use to encapsulate those ideas again. There are still some gems we continue to use, but probably more because we want to hear ourselves speak Khmer again.

Every once in a while my husband catches himself using a Spanish phrase in code-switching. Unfortunately for me, I have forgotten nearly all my Spanish and German (and Latin for that matter!). What I like is that code-switching also serves the purpose of just helping us relive the way of thinking in those cultures. Now that we have more exposure to Hispanic culture in the city, it makes me want to dig out my Spanish texts books again. I just don't want to forget my Khmer like I did my other languages. Code-switching at least re-sparks that desire in me to maintain my language skills. More than a couple languages would sure spice things up a bit, wouldn't it?