Pluralingualism and Code-Switching: Good or Bad?
There is no harm in practicing code-switching or pluralingualism. In my observation, bilinguals habitually switch codes out of default, especially with people who understand the same languages as they do and share a good rapport system between them.
The most important reason why people are adamant about switching codes while conversing is to show solidarity between participants from the same or different ethnic or socio-economic backgrounds. According to Penelope Gardner, writer of the book called “Code-Switching”, mostly why code-switching occurs is because of laziness of the interlocutors. She added that this is an easy way out for people when they cannot even bother to consult a dictionary to look for words that are suitable to use at an instance in a single language.
Funnily enough, avid code-switchers themselves disapprove of switching codes as they see it synonymous with a laid-back attitude. This is partly because it’s a proven fact that young people are frequent code-switchers than old people. On the contrary, according to a linguist named Gracolone Ramat, switching codes is a normal way of communicating where most people can speak both languages as a feature of stable bilingualism. A good example can be a conversation with a group of friends where they are all polyglots and are competent speakers of both English and Urdu.
Primarily, the purpose of language is to communicate, i.e. to understand and be understood. Therefore, international brands and food chains readily make use of code-switching norms to stay relevant and maneuver their message according to the “audience design” (Bell, 1984). An apt example could be the introduction and advertisement of “chappal kebab burger” by McDonald’s which included bivalent words such as “chappal” and “kebab”. According to Gumperz and Hernandez, code-switching is inevitable in rapid social change, each time a minority comes into contact with a majority. This can clearly be observed in the example given above where a predominantly Western fast-food chain had to present itself as relatable and not too different from the taste of the masses. As a consequence, they developed and marketed a product of theirs in the most Pakistani way possible.
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