A sequential analytic approach to code-switching in the Ikwerre community of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Ihemere, K. 2008. A sequential analytic approach to code-switching in the Ikwerre community of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. in: Nikolaev, A. and Niemi, J. (ed.) Two or more languages: proceedings from the 9th Nordic Conference on Bilingualism, August 10-11, 2006, Joensuu Joensuu University of Joensuu.

Chapter titleA sequential analytic approach to code-switching in the Ikwerre community of Port Harcourt, Nigeria
AuthorsIhemere, K.
EditorsNikolaev, A. and Niemi, J.
Abstract

Drawing on the same conversation analytic perspective as Auer (1984, 1998, 2000), Li Wei (1994, 1998, 2002) and Li Wei, Pong and Milroy (2000), it was felt appropriate in this study to adopt a sequential rather than a classificatory approach in the analysis of conversational code-switching. The sequential approach emphasizes the embedding of language choice in the turn-by-turn organization of interaction, while in the classificatory perspective the grammatical structures or discourse functions of code-switching tend to be categorized in various ways. The choice of the former over the latter is by no means arbitrary, but predicated on its strengths over other analytic models, and the nature of the data corpus under discussion. Further, in this paper, a detailed discussion of how Port Harcourt Ikwerre/Pidgin bilinguals employ code-switching as a linguistic resource for realising particular communicative goals/effects will be presented. The conversations used as examples in the discussions are taken from my data corpus of tape-recorded interactions, involving speakers belonging to three generations (grandparents, parents and younger generations) in Port Harcourt. Like Gal (1979) and Li Wei (1994), while the focus of analysis is primarily on discourse structures, the fundamental objective is to link interactional-level code-switching traditions to community-level language choice patterns.

KeywordsConversation analysis, sequential analysis, code-switching, communicative goals/effects
Book titleTwo or more languages: proceedings from the 9th Nordic Conference on Bilingualism, August 10-11, 2006, Joensuu
Year10 Aug 2008
PublisherUniversity of Joensuu
Publication dates
Published10 Aug 2008
Place of publicationJoensuu
SeriesStudies in Languages / University of Joensuu
ISBN9789522191007
Journal citation(43)
Event9th Nordic Conference on Bilingualism

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