Code Mixing and Code Switching Among Market Women in Nigeria (a Case Study of Ilorin Kwara State)
Chapter One
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The major aim of the study is to examine code mixing and code switching among market women in Nigeria.
- To examine the major reasons for code switching and code mixing among market women.
- To determine the level of code mixing and code switching among women in Nigeria.
- To determine the effect of code mixing and code switching on communication among market women.
- To recommend ways of effective communication among market women in Nigeria.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
Language is a major means of identifying a set of people, nation or country. Hornby (2001:667) defines language as the system of communication in speech and writing that is used by a people of a particular country. Crystal (1985:262) observes that of all the means of communication, language is the most frequently used and developed. Babatunde (2002:1) opines that the indispensability of language has been inexorably tied to the existence of man in the society. Language plays an important role in our lives. Sellers (1991) asserts that “language is intrinsic to the way we think, to the way we construct our groups and self identities, to the way we perceive the world and organize our social relationships and political systems”.
Daramola (2004) defines language as a patterned, social activity of human beings, displaying patterns of substance, (phonic and, at least potentially graphic), from {sic} (grammar and lexis) and context. Whitman (2007) cited in Fromkin et al (2007) asserts that
language is not an abstract construction of the learned or of dictionary-makers, but is something arising out of the work, needs, ties, joys, affections, tastes, of long generationsof humanity, and has its basis broad and low close to the ground.
Without society, language cannot evolve. Language was borne out of the need for communication by humans. It serves as a cord binding together the fabrics of society; it is a binding force among various members of the society, hence, its social function.
CONCEPTUAL REVIEW
THE CONCEPT OF CODE IN LANGUAGE
In this study, code will be taken as a verbal component that can be as small as a morpheme or as comprehensive and complex as the entire system of language. As such, the Yoruba language is a code, so also is its single morpheme.
A code is language, a variety or style of language. A code is a class specific language variation, especially for the different strategies of verbal planning. In communications, a code is a rule for converting a piece of information (for example, a letter, word or phrase) into another form or representation, not necessarily of the same sort.
CONCEPT OF CODE MIXING
Code mixing is the use of one language in another language, the mixing of two or more languages or language varieties in a speech. Hamers and Blanc (1989:35) say code mixing is the use of elements of one language in another language. It is the transition from using linguistic units (words, phrases, clauses, etc) of one language to using those of another within a single sentence. Code mixing refers to the mixing of various linguistic units (morphemes, words, modifiers, phrases, clauses and sentences) primarily from two participating grammatical systems within a sentence.
Oloruntoba-oju (1999) submits that code mixing occurs when elements of two or more linguistic systems are randomly used. It may occur as a result of backlash (receding competence in a language or as a result of the influence of L2 or reduced context of L1). It often occurs because the speaker can either not find an appropriate word in his mother tongue or because he or she finds the terms in the target language more convenient to use. Alabi (2007) asserts that code mixing is often an unconscious illocutionary act in naturally occurring conversation. Though no norm guides the level of code mixing, different communities and people maintain, consciously or unconsciously, their levels of code mixing which is constrained by competence.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
This chapter covers the description and discussion on the various techniques and procedures used in the study to collect and analyze the data as it is deemed appropriate.
It is organized under the following sub-headings:
- Research Design
- Area of the Study
- Population of the study
- Sample and sampling procedure
- Instrument of Data Collection
- Validation of the Instrument
- Reliability of the Instrument
- Method of Data Collection
- Method of Data Analysis
RESEARCH DESIGN
According to Asika (2009), research designs are often referred to as the structuring of investigation aimed at identifying variables and their relationships to one another. In this study, questionnaire serves as useful guide to the effort of generating data for this study. The survey research design through the administration of questionnaires was used for the study.
AREA OF THE STUDY
The study was conducted in Lagos State, Nigeria. The population of Lagos State, according to the Lagos State Government is 4.5 million, a number disputed by the Nigerian Government and judged unreliable by the National Population Commission of Nigeria.
POPULATION OF THE STUDY
The population of study consists of market women in Ilorin metropolis.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
INTRODUCTION
This chapter deals with the presentation and analysis of the result obtained through questionnaires. The data gathered were presented according to the order in which they were arranged in the research questions, simple percentage and pie graphs were used to analyze the demographic information of the respondents while chi-square test was adopted to test the research hypotheses.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
CONCLUSION
To many, code switching-and mixing have become a habit and occurs subconsciously. Related to the language attitude is the cultural attitude. Most Hausa people seem to be proud of their culture and find it difficult to abandon their language completely even when speaking another language.
The paper also pointed out that there is increasing lexical gaps in Hausa brought about by new inventions and globalization. Although there seems to be enough effort to fill these gaps by developing and disseminating vocabularies to make effective speaking and communicating in Hausa easier, some of the younger generations of educated Hausa speakers do not deem it necessary to know these lexical items in Hausa since the English equivalents serve their communicative needs.
I shall conclude by saying that code-switching is a natural language phenomenon which is not bad in itself but let it be guided among the Hausa/English bilinguals by Fishman’s (1965) questions of who speaks what language, to whom and when? Most Hausa bilinguals readily code-switch not minding the occasion of speaking whether formal or informal, whether addressing fellow Hausa-English bilinguals or Hausa monolinguals.
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