Bilingual Greek-English Code Switching --

BILINGUAL

Greek-English code switching -- Bilinguals' Emotional Responses in English and Greek

Bilingual 'code-switching:' an overview and research proposal

Code-switching is the linguistic term for breaking in and out of different languages. "Going from one language to the other in mid-speech when both speakers know the same two languages" (Qing 2010). Code-switching has been observed cross-culturally, and has been attributed to a wide variety of different causes. The most common reason is unconscious behavior: when in a different social contexts, bilingual persons will naturally shift from one language to the other, depending on which 'feels' more natural to the circumstances, such as a home vs. A work environment (Thompson 2013). People may also 'code-switch' in a more conscious manner to fit into a specific social context or to ingrate themselves with others. A final possible rational for code-switching is the desire for greater clarity of expression and thought: the speaker may use a particular colloquialism to say something uniquely well that cannot be expressed in the main language being used (Thompson 2013).

Code-switching underlines how language is a context-specific experience, and translation is not merely something which is a literal process. A number of studies have been conducted examining how code-switching is affected by exterior circumstances. For example, one study of the responses of 122 bilingual Mexican-Americans to advertising found that an "ad written primarily in English placed within an all-English medium [i.e. during English programming] was just as effective and well received among respondents as the ad written mostly in Spanish inserted in a Spanish medium [during Spanish programming]. Further, the primarily English ad was more effective and better received than the primarily Spanish ad when placed in the English medium" in terms of how sensitive the advertisements were perceived to be to consumers' needs (Bishop & Peterson 2010). The very presence of code-switching itself was affirming.

Theoretical framework

The idea of language and emotions, as both culturally-constructed entities is part of the rationale behind a recent study by Panayiotou (2004) which drew distinctions between the expressions of emotions between speakers who were bilingual in Cypriot Greek and English. In the research study, the author interviewed five English-/Greek bilinguals and five Greek-English bilinguals and compared their responses to two similar stories, one in Greek about 'Andreas' and one in English about 'Andy.' The respondents' reactions were markedly different, depending on what language they used as a response and whether the content of the story was Greek or English. "The terms given in response to the English story are not a translation of the terms given for the Greek story and what bilinguals are reacting to is the different cultural context of each story. There also seems to be a pattern of concern for the family in the Greek scenario -- particularly for the widowed mother -- that does not appear in the American scenario" (Panayiotou 2004: 132).

All respondents also engage in code-switching on a linguistic level to clarify meaning when referring to both stories. The linguistic responses were not culturally monolithic -- rather, bilingual speakers showed a remarkable ability to fuse the two cultures and languages in which they were fluent. Although the different English and Greek scenarios elicited different responses, when speaking about their feelings the study subjects were able to delve into both vocabularies to find the right word to express their ideas. The study suggested that "1) one's emotional reaction shifts with language (and cultural context) and (2) all emotion terms (and reactions) are available to bilingual speakers, almost regardless of the context" (Panayiotou 2004: 132). Their use of different linguistic tropes also highlighted how language and culture were inexorably intertwined, given that the subjects' expressed emotional responses were substantially different, depending on whether the scenario was presented as about a Greek or an American.

The scope of this study is somewhat problematic, given that it was conducted on a relatively small number of subjects. As in all studies, there is a self-limiting aspect given that only fully bilingual speakers were used, and finding test subjects who are equally comfortable in two languages can be relatively challenging. Also, given that every subject's perceptions and experience levels of his or her native and acquired language will differ slightly, this may affect the use of code-switching and positive and negative associations with the foreign language.