Investigating The Code Switching Phenomenon In Private Medical Workplaces: A Case Study Of Some Private Hospitals In Saudi Arabia
Abstract
This study investigates the use of code switching by the employees of Saudi private Hospitals from a socio-cultural perspective. The aim is to explore the motivations behind code switching practices in this multilingual medical workplace and the functions of code switching in spoken interactions taking place in those hospitals. The study sample includes25 participants; doctors and nurses from different Arabic and Asian countries. The researcher uses the qualitative method to analyze the study data which is collected through observations and individual semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that the workers in the multilingual private hospitals in Saudi Arabia tend to code-switch for personal reasons, institutional reasons, linguistic practices, socio-biographical reasons, or emotional necessity. Moreover, this study revealed that the most important functions of code switching in private Saudi hospitals are to facilitate communication among participants, to provide emphasis about something, to repeat in order to clarify, to fill lexical gaps, or deliver the message fast when they use switching.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Alhamami, Munassir (2019). Switching of language varieties in Saudi multilingual hospitals: insiders’ experiences, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1-15, DOI: 10.1080/01434632.2019.1606227
Appel, R &Muysken, P. 1987. Language Contact and Bilingualism London: Edward Arnold.
Auer, P 1984, Bilingual Conversation Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Bager-Charleson, S., J. M. Dewaele, B. Costa, and Z. Kasap. 2017. “A Multilingual Outlook: Can Awareness-Raising About Multilingualism Affect Therapists’ Practice? A Mixed-Method Evaluation.” Language and Psychoanalysis 6 (2): 56–75. Doi:10.7565/landp.v6i2.1572.
Bailey, B. 2007. Multilingual forms of talk and identity work‟,In: Peter Auer and Li Wei (eds.) Handbook of Multilingualism and Multilingual Communication, pp. 341-370 Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Blom, J &Gumperz, J 1972 . Social meaning in linguistic structure: Code-switching in Norway‟, In John J. Gumperz and Dell Hymes (eds.) Directions in Sociolinguistics, pp. 407– 434. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston (reprinted in Li Wei 2000: 11– 136).
Bouzemmi, A. 2005. “Linguistic Situation in Tunisia: French and Arabia Codeswitching.” Interlingüística 16 (1): 217–223.
Brown, P., and L. Stephen. 1987. Politeness. Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bullock, B. E., and A. J. Toribio. 2009. “Themes in the Study of Code-Switching.” In Cambridge Handbooks in Linguistics. The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Code-Switching, edited by B. E. Bullock, and A. J. Toribio, 1–17. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511576331.002.
Candlin, C. N., and S. Candlin. 2003. “Healthcare Communication: A Problematic Site for Applied Linguistics Research.” Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 23: 134–154. doi:10.1017/s0267190503000230.
Cantone, K. 2007. Code-Switching in Bilingual Children The Netherlands: Springer.
Dewaele, J. M., and B. Costa. 2013. “Multilingual Clients’ Experience of Psychotherapy.” Language and Psychoanalysis 2 (2): 31–50. doi:10.7565/landp.2013.005.
Dewaele, J. M., and L. Wei. 2014. “Attitudes towards Code-Switching among Adult Mono- and Multilingual Language Users.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 35 (3): 235–251. doi:10.1080/01434632.2013.859687.
Dewaele, J.-M. 2013. Emotions in Multiple Languages. 3rd ed. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Doi:10.1057/ 9780230289505.
Gafaranga, J. 2007. “Code-switching as a conversational strategy” In: Peter Auer and Li Wei (eds.) Handbook of Multilingualism and Multilingual Communication, pp. 279-314 Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Gardner-Chloros. 2009. Code-switching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Giles, H., D. M. Taylor, and R. Y. Bourhis. 1973. “Towards a Theory of Interpersonal Accommodation through Language: Some Canadian Data.” Language in Society 2 (2): 177–192. Doi:10.1017/s0047404500000701.
Grosjean, F. 1982. Life with Two Languages: An Introduction to Bilingualism Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Gumperz, J. 1982. Discourse Strategies Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gumperz, J. 1982. Discourse Strategies. Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hamed, A., K., S. (2020). Code Switching in Medical Field in Khartoum State. European Academic Research, 8, 6, 3354-3378.
Harmaini, F. 2014. “Code-Switching and Religious Identity: The Status of Arabic Language in the Eyes of Non-Arab Muslims.” In Proceeding of the Global Summit on Education GSE (E-ISBN 978-967-11768-5-6). Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 332–342.
Holmes, J &Stubbe, M. 2004. “Strategic code-switching in New Zealand workplaces: Scaffolding, solidarity and identity construction”, In: Juliane House and JochenRehbein (eds.) Multilingual Communication, pp. 133-154 Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Hudson, R. A. 1996. Sociolinguistics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9781139166843.
Muysken, P. 2000. Bilingual Speech: A Typology of Code-Mixing Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Myers-Scotton, C . 1993. Social Motivations for Codeswitching: Evidence from Africa Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Myers-Scotton, C. 1993. Social Motivations for Codeswitching. Evidence from Africa. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Ortega, L. 2018. “SLA in Uncertain Times: Disciplinary Constraints, Transdisciplinary Hopes.” Working Papers in Educational Linguistics (WPEL) 33 (1): 1–30.
Thakkar, J., et al. 2016. “Development of Macaronic Hindi-English ‘Hinglish’ Text Message Content for a Coronary Heart Disease Secondary Prevention Program.” Heart Asia 8 (2): 32–38. doi:10.1136/heartasia-2016-010789.
Wardaugh, R. 2006. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. 5th ed. Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers.
Weber, J & Horner, K. 2012. Introducing Multilingualism: A Social Approach London and New York: Routledge.
Weber, J. J., and K. Horner. 2017. Introducing Multilingualism: A Social Approach. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.
Wood, N. I. 2018. “Departing from Doctor-Speak: A Perspective on Code-Switching in the Medical Setting.” Journal of General Internal Medicine, 1–3. doi:10.1007/s11606-018-4768-0.
Woolard, K. 2004. “Codeswitching”, In: A Duranti (ed.) A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology, PP. 73-94 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
ISSN 1305-578X (Online)
Copyright © 2005-2022 by Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies