Japanese-English Conversational Codeswitching in Balanced and Limited Proficiency Bilinguals
Sandra S. Fotos
Department of Economics,
Senshu University, Kawasaki, Japan
This paper compares language alternation, or codeswitching, in two types of English-Japanese bilinguals: Balanced bilingual children and limited-proficiency bilingual Japanese university EFL learners. The type and frequency of items switched and the function performed by the switch in the discourse were examined, with the results of the two studies of very different Japanese-English bilinguals showing similar trends. In both data sets, switches were mostly grammatical regardless of the direction of the switch. Single items were most frequently switched, but both groups showed skill in switching dependent and independent clauses. Conversational codeswitching took place for the functions of emphasis, clarification, getting and holding attention, identifying particular topics, reporting speech, signalling that a repair to a previous utterance would follow, and making part of an utterance prominent and dramatic. These findings are consistent with the results of other studies of codeswitching in a variety of languages. Furthermore, even though the EFL learners were less proficient in their second language than the balanced bilingual children, they were able to switch successfully. Both the EFL learners and the children skillfully used codeswitching to make their speech salient to their interlocutors and to enrich and vitalize its quality.
