Name : I Nyoman Sukejaye

Student Number :1901541021

Sociolinguistics A

Language Choice in Multilingual Communities

It is common in this world to find people who are classified as multilingual because
many languages - either owned by their own country due to the presence of multiple ethnic
groups, or languages belonging to other countries which people directly interact with - exist.
Language choice is often a strong indicator of cultural identification.\

 The multilingual community is a group in which members can communicate

effectively across three or more different languages. This statement means that when
interacting with others, they can choose their code and variety of language appropriate
to the participant, topic, and location. A speaker's choice of linguistic forms is
influenced by the social context in which he is talking. In the book, there is an
example where a man called Kalala speaks three varieties of Swahili (standard
Zairean, local Swahili or Kingwana, and Indoubil), two tribal languages- Shi (a
formal and an informal style), and one variety of his native language. Given the social
factors that Kalala identified as relevant to language choice in different speech
communities throughout history, it's understandable why she would choose one code
over another for use. Some of the factors that affect between a person and their
linguistic repertoire are self-importation, personal history, and things like the types of
people they talk to.
 In many languages and different contexts, social factors – who you are talking to, the
context of the talk, or its function - turn out to be important in accounting for
language choice. Such typical interactions have been identified as relevant in
describing patterns of code choice. The term "domains of language use" was used by
sociolinguist Joshua Fishman and has since had popularized by others. In this context,
"domain" is a general term which draws on three key social factors: participants,
setting and topic. Other social factors that affect code choice are the level of formality
between speakers as well as the function or goal of interaction.
 Diglossia is a word that refers to the use of two different languages or dialects
differently depending on context. In terms of its three crucial features, diglossia
 occurs when there are differences in social situations between these languages. The
original sense has been narrowed by some scholars who define it as having only one
key feature: persistent variation in language according to social situation. There are
two types of the same language used in the community. One is designated as high (or
H), and the other low (or L). The H and L varieties are used for distinct purposes.
Furthermore, the last variety is not used in everyday conversation at all. In addition to
polyglossia, there is also diglossia which occurs when a language has two literary
forms or registers with no formal difference between them. Besides this, since one
variant of English isn't going to do on its own very well - I need both H and L styles!
Code switching is a useful term for describing distinct codes or varieties that are used
in clearly distinguishable situations.
 Code switching (or code switching) refers to the alternation between two or more
languages, dialects, or languages registers in the course of discourse between people
who have more than one language in common. One of the two languages is typically
dominant, and the major language is often called the matrix language. The minor one,
meanwhile, is known as an embedded or subordinate language. Code mixing also
called intra-sentential code switching or intra-sentential code- alternation occurs when
speakers use two or more languages below clause level within one sentence. It is a
type of social situation that happens in casual conversations. Metaphorical switching
is a condition where each of the codes represents or symbolizes multiple meanings
and the speaker draws on their associations just as people use metaphors to represent
complex meanings. Skilful code-switching, operated like metaphor to enrich the
communication.
 The key difference between code switching and code mixing is when you change your
language purposefully, for a specific purpose. In other words, the switch is functional,
which means that you are able to engage in "code-switching." However, when you
insert a word other than "that," and have no specific purpose or intention in doing
that, then it's code mixing.