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Programme: accepted abstracts

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Abstract ID: 867

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

Code-switching and cohesion: A study of question–response pairs

Authors: Paraskeva, Marilena
Submitted by: Paraskeva, Marilena (Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom)

Research on bilingual discourse has shown that one function of code-switching is to establish cohesion via reiteration of elements from the preceding context (e.g. Auer 1984, 1998; Angermeyer 2002). However, these studies have focussed on reiteration in the same linguistic variety and on reiteration in the form of repetition. In fact, repetition is only one option for speakers as other forms of reiteration can also function cohesively (e.g. hyponymy, antonymy).

This paper looks at question–response pairs in terms of various forms of reiteration (Halliday & Hasan 1976; Halliday & Matthiessen 2004: chapter 9) via which lexical cohesion is maintained in this kind of pairs. The data derive from a group of bilingual English/Greek-Cypriot dialect speakers from the Greek-Cypriot community in London, whose speech was recorded in spontaneous workplace interactions.

Bilingual question–response pairs are considered in terms of three realizations of reiteration: monolingual reiteration, bilingual (i.e. code-switched) reiteration and monolingual plus bilingual reiteration. A comparison of bilingual and monolingual question–response pairs is also employed, testing whether and how reiteration mechanisms differ in monolingual and bilingual pairs.

The results show that cohesion in bilingual discourse can be accomplished through reiteration in the same linguistic variety as well as via reiteration in different linguistic varieties. Moreover, bilingual question–response pairs involve more forms of reiteration than monolingual pairs, suggesting that what can be at work in bilingual discourse is not limited to what is found in the contributing monolingual varieties.

References

Auer, P. (1984). Bilingual conversation. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Auer, P. (1998). Introduction: Bilingual Conversation revisited. In Auer, P. (ed.), Code-Switching in conversation: Language, interaction and identity. 1-24. London: Routledge.

Angermeyer, P.S. (2002). Lexical cohesion in multilingual conversation. International Journal of Bilingualism 6 (4), 361-393.

Halliday, M.A.K. & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. Longman: Singapore.

Halliday, M.A.K. & Matthiessen, C. (2004) (3rd edition). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Arnold.