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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 1176

Part of General Paper Session (Other abstracts in this session)

Arabic-English code-switching: variables of work and education

Authors: Fayed, Wafaa Kamel; Alsha'er, Walid Ibrahim
Submitted by: Fayed, Wafaa Kamel (Cairo University, Egypt)

This study deals with code-switching among residents of Nazlat Assamman neighborhood (Nazlat Assamman is the name of the village surrounding the archaeological area in Pyramids district, and it lies in Giza Governorate which is located within the boundaries of the Greater Cairo in Egypt). Nazlat Assamman is a very important tourist area, occupying a prominent place on the world tourism map; because it includes the Pyramids and the Sphinx, the destination which is indispensable for any tourist visiting Egypt or Cairo. Thus, tourism is a central economic activity in Nazlat Assamman, allowing for its residents and employees a continuous language contact with foreign speech varieties, especially English. This means a special linguistic situation which was the reason for choosing this area to be the field of study.
This study concentrates on code-switching between Arabic and English. Code-switching is considered one of the language contact phenomena and manifestations of bilingualism. Therefore, the study attempts to benefit from various concepts of language contact phenomena in investigating the impact of English, spoken by tourists, on speech varieties spoken by residents and employees in the area.
The study hypothesizes the effect of the intensive exposure to English language varieties spoken in this area. This influence is present due the residents’ use of English in their interaction with foreign tourists during their work, or practicing it within a formal setting in institutes and universities. In addition, some psychological and sociological factors play an important role. Therefore, the study tried to answer the following research questions:
(1) To what extent do job and education variables influence code-switching at its different types and levels?
(2) What are the levels of code-switching or its common patterns? i.e., does it occur on the level of words, phrases, clauses, or sentences? 
(3) What are the sociological and psychological factors related to the phenomenon?
The study is basically based on sociolinguistics in making use of field techniques, procedures of data collection, sampling and designing of questionnaires. Therefore, it used different techniques to collect speech data, varying from direct to indirect techniques. These techniques are:
1- Pilot study.
2- Ethnographic study.
3- Sociolinguistic elicitation techniques.
4- Questionnaire.
The subjects of the study in the main sample were randomly chosen to represent the two variables in question, i.e., high education and work in tourism, positively and negatively. They were 104 persons divided into four groups according to level of education and nature of work.
Findings of the study emphasized the effect practiced by the variables of education and work on the phenomenon of code-switching in Nazlat Assamman. This was clearly evident in distribution of code-switching examples among subjects of the main sample. Two thirds of code-switching examples in the whole study appeared in the speech of the two groups representing work in tourism. Findings also showed that work in the field of tourism was the most influential and decisive in the emergence of code-switching among the subjects.