Explaining the diversity in Malay-English code-switching patterns: the contribution of typological similarity and bilingual optimization strategies
Bilingual speakers often engage in code-switching, that is the use of lexical items and grammatical features from two languages in one sentence. Malaysia is a particularly interesting context for the study of code-switching because Malay-English code-switching is widely practiced across formal and i...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
2022
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| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/101375/ |
| _version_ | 1848863548099264512 |
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| author | Treffers-Daller, Jeanine Majid, Sheikha Thai, Yap Ngee Flynn, Naomi |
| author_facet | Treffers-Daller, Jeanine Majid, Sheikha Thai, Yap Ngee Flynn, Naomi |
| author_sort | Treffers-Daller, Jeanine |
| building | UPM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Bilingual speakers often engage in code-switching, that is the use of lexical items and grammatical features from two languages in one sentence. Malaysia is a particularly interesting context for the study of code-switching because Malay-English code-switching is widely practiced across formal and informal situations, and the available literature reveals that there is a great diversity in switch patterns in this language pair. One of the most remarkable characteristics of Malay-English code-switching is the high frequency of switches of function words (pronouns, modal verbs, demonstratives, etc.), which is very unusual in most code-switching corpora. Here, we analyse the structural properties of Malay-English code-switching, which have received less attention than functional analyses in the academic literature on code-switching in this language pair. We first summarize the literature on the different types of code-switching that are found in a range of sources, and then analyze the code-switching patterns in the speech of two teachers of English in Malaysia. We conclude with a discussion of the variables that can explain the diversity found, in particular structural factors (similarity between the word orders of both languages, and the limited number of inflections), and bilingual optimization strategies, as well as strategies of neutrality and efficiency. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T13:34:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | upm-101375 |
| institution | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T13:34:40Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | upm-1013752023-09-22T23:44:06Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/101375/ Explaining the diversity in Malay-English code-switching patterns: the contribution of typological similarity and bilingual optimization strategies Treffers-Daller, Jeanine Majid, Sheikha Thai, Yap Ngee Flynn, Naomi Bilingual speakers often engage in code-switching, that is the use of lexical items and grammatical features from two languages in one sentence. Malaysia is a particularly interesting context for the study of code-switching because Malay-English code-switching is widely practiced across formal and informal situations, and the available literature reveals that there is a great diversity in switch patterns in this language pair. One of the most remarkable characteristics of Malay-English code-switching is the high frequency of switches of function words (pronouns, modal verbs, demonstratives, etc.), which is very unusual in most code-switching corpora. Here, we analyse the structural properties of Malay-English code-switching, which have received less attention than functional analyses in the academic literature on code-switching in this language pair. We first summarize the literature on the different types of code-switching that are found in a range of sources, and then analyze the code-switching patterns in the speech of two teachers of English in Malaysia. We conclude with a discussion of the variables that can explain the diversity found, in particular structural factors (similarity between the word orders of both languages, and the limited number of inflections), and bilingual optimization strategies, as well as strategies of neutrality and efficiency. Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2022-11-23 Article PeerReviewed Treffers-Daller, Jeanine and Majid, Sheikha and Thai, Yap Ngee and Flynn, Naomi (2022) Explaining the diversity in Malay-English code-switching patterns: the contribution of typological similarity and bilingual optimization strategies. Languages, 7 (4). art. no. 299. pp. 1-38. ISSN 2226-471X https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/7/4/299 10.3390/languages7040299 |
| spellingShingle | Treffers-Daller, Jeanine Majid, Sheikha Thai, Yap Ngee Flynn, Naomi Explaining the diversity in Malay-English code-switching patterns: the contribution of typological similarity and bilingual optimization strategies |
| title | Explaining the diversity in Malay-English code-switching patterns: the contribution of typological similarity and bilingual optimization strategies |
| title_full | Explaining the diversity in Malay-English code-switching patterns: the contribution of typological similarity and bilingual optimization strategies |
| title_fullStr | Explaining the diversity in Malay-English code-switching patterns: the contribution of typological similarity and bilingual optimization strategies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Explaining the diversity in Malay-English code-switching patterns: the contribution of typological similarity and bilingual optimization strategies |
| title_short | Explaining the diversity in Malay-English code-switching patterns: the contribution of typological similarity and bilingual optimization strategies |
| title_sort | explaining the diversity in malay-english code-switching patterns: the contribution of typological similarity and bilingual optimization strategies |
| url | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/101375/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/101375/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/101375/ |