CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Language can be said to be the most
complex and detailed aspect of human existence. It is the DNA of human
behaviour and culture as the people’s history and memory is embedded in
it. This memory encapsulated in language also determine, among other
things, how they used language and how language uses them. This volatile
characteristic of language has birthed, directly and indirectly, such
bridge studies such as sociolinguistics which is
the descriptive study of the effect of
any and all aspects of society , including cultural norms ,
expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and the effects
of language use on society (Wikipedia)
The organic feature language implies
that it surfaces in the its use. A person fluent in more than one
language would often find his or herself segueing from one language to
another and consequently one language system to another. Language
affects perception and in the expression of thought verbally, these
varying thought patterns is seen.
This switching isn’t just in moving from
one language to another but can be seen in the use of systems of one
language in another showing a consciousness that is tied to a language
even when one has extensive command of the one presently in use. This is
how pidgins are born: the establishment of unique systems in language
use across bilingual users. Against this backdrop, we would be doing a
sociolinguistic study of code-mixing and code switching in secondary
schools in Nigeria.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Among secondary school students in
Nigeria presently are varying language uses including English which is
the official language and the language of education. However these are
children who go home to parents and peers who speak their native
language. Sometimes for the singular fact that there is a lack in a
proper teaching of the English language, these secondary school children
leant and use the language through the eyes of their mother tongue.
Other times, it is simply the bilingual
presence of dexterity in two languages equally so that thought is
exercised simultaneously in these two or more languages. This is known
as code-mixing and interchanged with another term, code switching by
scholars. This phenomenon has been studied severally across varying
language users but not specifically among Nigerian secondary school
students who are unique in that they represent adequately the percentage
of the Nigerian populace who have good command of both languages (
English and their mother tongue).
1.3 Research Questions
1.3.1 Can code-mixing and code-switching be used interchangeably?
1.3.2 What are the factors that inform their presence in secondary school students’ language use?
1.4 Objectives of the Study
The major objective of this research
like every other research work of it’s kind is to fill up an academic
gap. It is this gap that calls the research work into being which makes
such a work valid whether it is able to prove its hypothesis or not. In
this case, it aims at studying and establishing the manifestations of
code-mixing and code-switching in secondary school students
1.5 Significance of the Study
This work is of great significance to
any sociolinguist on a research on any of the manifestations of
code-mixing and code-switching among a certain age and topography of
Nigeria especially one whose focus is on a pattered manifestation.
It’s also very relevant for teachers in
tracking a child’s acquisition of a second language and to what extent
this child exercises thought in the languages at his or her disposal. So
that the modules for teaching can be fashioned with a specific aim in
view.
1.6 Research Hypothesis
This research work is predicated upon
the sociolinguistic assumption that code-mixing and code-switching are
not to be used interchangeably. It also assumes that a greater
manifestation of it in Nigeria is to be seen among secondary school
students.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The scope of this study is strictly
studying code-mixing and code-switching among secondary school students
across the different regions in the country. However, the study subject
will consist of one school for each from the different geopolitical
zones with one covering for the whole of the north due to lack of space,
time and resources.
Also, data will be gathered through the
used of one on one interactions with the students and the passing of
questionnaires with questions that aims at capturing this form of
language use on and off the learning environment.
1.8 Limitations of the Study
A research such as this one would
require a thorough examination of the sociolinguistic issue of
code-mixing and code-switching across a large pool of students and
reading materials as it is a topic that cuts across disciplines and
bridge disciplines. The above are the limitations of this research work
namely the time constraints and financial inadequacies to cover wider
grounds.
1.9 Definition of Term
Code-mixing
This is the mixing of two or more
languages and language systems during a speech act so that one slide
from one string of phrases to another
Code-switching
Most linguists and sociolinguists use
both code-mixing and code-switching interchangeably. However, in
code-mixing what is emphasized is the hybrid created from this mixture
of two language system while code-switching merely captures just this
drawing from two language systems.
Sociolinguistics
This bridge discipline between sociology
and linguistics studies in detail the societal influences on language
and also how language influences society.