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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 264

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

Kurdish-Arabic/English Code Switching among Educated Kurds in Dohuk-Kurdistan/Iraq: A Sociolinguistic Study

Authors: Sallo, Ibrahim Khidhir
Submitted by: Sallo, Ibrahim Khidhir (University of Dohuk, Iraq)

This study investigates Kurdish-Arabic/English Code-Switching (henceforth K-Ar/E CS). It attempts to tackle the linguistic and extra-linguistic constraints of K-Ar/E CS among the Kurds in Dohuk/Iraq. The linguistic constraints of this phenomenon  imply that mixing two or more languages does not represent a random blending; on the contrary, CS is systematic and follows certain linguistic rules. These rules can be grouped into two categories: linguistic and extra-linguistic (i.e., psychological, sociological and academic motivations).

This empirical study is based on the analysis of code-switched data collected from 50 educated Kurdish multilingual informants born in  Dohuk and aged between 18 and 60 who are speakers of a Bahdinani dialect spoken in North-West of Iraq. Using a variety of ways which include social participation, personal observation, interviews, questionnaires and utilising tapes where natural conversations could be approached, the informants were also requested to submit weekly language diaries. Questionnaires involved the description of some situations, for which the respondents were asked to mention what language they would use. The K language covered by the data  is a variety of K spoken by the Kurds in Dohuk city. They were from the two sexes. The results are reported in the analysis and discussion, which identify the constraints associated with the informants’ language choice and K-Ar/E CS.

The hypotheses and objectives of the empirically collected data are presented along with a linguistic analysis. It is hypothesized that there are certain features and rules of the code-switched language used in them.

This paper focuses on the types of the constraints especially with reference to the different frequencies of Ar and/or E items within K contexts and the adherence of the coded Ar and/or E items to K morphological rules. 

This study attempts to find out the extra-linguistic variables constraining the use of  a blend of  languages in terms of the so-called ‘code-switching’, (K-Ar/E CS), by the Kurds in Dohuk. Following Fishman’s statement  ‘Who speaks what language to whom, where and when’, it is expected that language choice by multilingual Kurdish people is not an arbitrary phenomenon but linked with psycho-sociological determinants, i.e., ‘topic’, ‘participation’, ‘situation’, ‘mood’ and ‘purpose’.

Suggestions are advanced about when, how and why K-Ar/E CS occurs, emphasizing the impact of the sociolinguistic variables (i.e., topic, setting, and participants including their age, sex, education, rural vs. urban, socioeconomic background ...) as well as psychological, academic and other non-linguistic constraints of K-Ar/E CS.  This paper will focus on CS used in tackling daily life issues or registral language, e.g., academic, scientific, and business subjects.

Finally, some conclusions are drawn and some recommendations made for future studies to give a comprehensive picture of K-Ar/E CS  in Iraq as well as in other parts of the world where CS occurs between Kurdish and the languages used there, whether in everyday language  or registers . 

Key words: Sociolinguistics, Code Switching, Code Mixing, Languages in Contact