Bilingualism is the
ability to use two languages effectively. Monolingualism refers to the
ability to use a single language. The ability to use multiple languages is
known as Multilingualism.
Bilingual
or multilingual is a person who can speak two or more than two languages with
equal or less equal proficiency.
A
society is called bilingual or multilingual if the people there speak more than
one language.
About half of the world's population is multi /
bilingual. It is, in fact, very hard to find a monolingual community or society
like Japan etc. While talking about sub continent in general and specially
Pakistan we come to know that we are a multilingual community. We use Urdu as a
medium of communication in our schools and colleges. Further it also serves as
‘lingua franca’ in our country. We use domestic languages at local level such
as Punjabi, Hindko, Barahwi, Sindhi, Pashto, Balochi, Saraiki, Kashmiri etc.
and we use English also as a foreign language. People of Pakistan are bilingual
/ trilingual or generally multilingual.
If a
speaker has equal proficiency in both or all the languages he can speak or
write, he is called a ‘Balanced Bilingual’ or ‘Equilingual’.
However, there may be some situations where a
bilingual's abilities in a given language suffer due to pressure of situation
etc. There may also be a situation of more
receptive knowledge of one language and more active knowledge of another
i.e.
he may understand a language but may not speak it
and he may speak and understand other language very well. There are also some
situations in which a bilingual is familiar with the spoken system of one
language and written system of another. There may also be a diglossic
situation in which some topics and situations are considered better suited
to one language over another.
In a community or a society where there are
bilinguals and the people interact with each other in more than one language, a
situation arises which is called ‘code-switching’ and ‘code-mixing’. This
situation can lead towards the language interference in which a language
is influenced by another language on the levels of semantics, grammar and
phonology.
CODE-SWITCHING (CS)
The practice of moving back and forth between two languages or between two dialects or registers of the same language. Code switching occurs far more often in conversation than in writing.
In linguistics, code-switching is the concurrent use of more than one language, or language variety, in conversation. Multilingual people who speak more than one language—sometimes use elements of multiple languages in conversing with each other.
Thus, code-switching is the use of more than one linguistic variety in a manner consistent with the syntax and phonology of each variety.
Code-switching is distinct from other language contact phenomena, such as ‘pidgin’. Speakers form and establish a pidgin language when two or more speakers who do not speak a common anguage form an intermediate, third language. On the other hand, speakers practice code switching when they are each fluent in both language.
Difference Between Code-Switching And Code-Mixing
It is necessary to understand that unlike code
mixing, code-switching refers to the switch or shift from one language to the
other which involves longer stretches or units of language at the clause or
sentence boundary, while generally code-mixing does not involve shift beyond
smaller units of language such as words or phrases.
While discussing the three types of
code-switching: tag-switching, intra-sentential and inter-sentential,
Poplack differentiates between code-switching and code-mixing as well. To Poplack,
1. Tag-switching is the switching of either a tag phrase or a word, or both, from one language
to the other.
2. In inter-sentential
switching a switch is made on clause or sentence boundary, or between
speaker’s turn.
3. Intra-sentential
switching on the other hand occurs within the clause or
sentence boundary as a result of the insertion of a part of a word, a word, a
combination of words or a phrase. It is actually this type of code-switching
i.e. intra-sentential code switching which is called ‘code-mixing’.
Scholars have used a fourth term ‘Intra-word
switching’ which occurs within a word itself such as at a morpheme
boundary.
So, code-mixing is a type of code switching which
include the borrowing and hybridization of words, while code-switching refers
to all these i.e. borrowing, code-mixing and code-switching.
In the 1940s and the 1950s many scholars called
code-switching a sub-standard language usage. Since the 1980s, however, most
scholars have recognized it is a normal, natural product of bilingual and
multilingual language use.
CODE-SWITCHING IN PAKISTAN
In Pakistan, we find a number of non-English
words, phrases, clauses and sentences being inserted in English to create
variety as well as a particular effect on the listener. These are the some of
the examples (Taken from Dawn, Helad
etc.) of code-switching between Urdu and English.
Noun Phrase
Some examples of code-switching in noun phrases:
Ø A poor hari can be sent to the gallows even on the mild accusation of a crime
leveled against him by a noble.
Ø An honorable sardar or wadera can walk free even after proven record of the most heinous kinds of
crimes.
Ø They alleged that the naib nazim
was receiving threats to force him to part ways with the PPP-backed Awam Dost
panel.
In the first two examples, the English adjectives
are modifying the Urdu nouns in a noun phrase while in the third example both
the adjective and noun are from the Urdu language. All the noun phrases have
the English determiners ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ respectively in the beginning of
the sentences.
Urdu Noun Phrase as an
Apposition of another Noun
‘Apposition’ means the placing of a noun group
after a noun or pronoun in order to identify something or someone or give more
information about them. In the following example, the Urdu noun phrase is
giving information about the proper noun ‘Haji Ramzan’.
Ø Five militants who tried to kidnap tehsil
municipal officer Hameedullah on October 8 were forced to give up their hostage
after Haji Ramzan, the tehsil naib nazim, and his men confronted
them on the main Tank-Jandola road.
Urdu Noun Phrase as the Subject
Ø The Islamabad ka muqadas darakht revolved around a popular Banyan tree that stood
in sector E-7 but was a few months back burned down.
Ø Fateh Muhammad Mailk argued that kufar ka
fatwa is nothing new with us.
Urdu Phrase introduced by an English Adverb
In
the examples below, the English relative adverb “as” introduces the Urdu
stretches of words. This type of switching is very rare and demands high
proficiency.
Ø Amjad considered her as ustad se ziyada
dost.
Ø And an old friend of hers, a female writer, was
so infuriated on being referred to as a ‘Cycle wali larki’
that she broke relations with her for good.
Ø According to them, they were not shunned by the
public as lula, langra and apahaj.
Adjective Phrase
In the examples below, an Urdu adjective phrase
has been inserted in the English sentence.
Ø He is called sher ka bacha and mard
ka bacha.
In the following example the English intensifier
‘very’ has been used with an Urdu adjective. This kind of code-switching is
very rare.
Ø ‘I think you are right madam,’ said a young man,
city life and modern education makes men very beghairat.
In the examples given below, the Urdu adjective
phrases are modifying the English nouns in the noun phrases.
Ø It was a taiz raftar bus and I
merely sat on it as well.
Ø The 60-minutes interview was largely spent in
advocate Bukhari name dropping, saying he grew up with the lordships of the
Superior Court and what payare insaan they are.
Prepositional Phrase
Urdu has a postposition instead of English
preposition, which differs in the way that it precedes objects. A
collective term used for both preposition and postposition is adposition.
In typical Urdu adposition phrases, adposition comes at the end. An Urdu
postposition phrase is syntactically inserted in English syntax in the
following example:
Ø Both of them unhurt Khuda key fazal sey
while Shazia became paraplegic.
Co-ordinated Clauses
In
Pakistani English, co-ordinated clauses are joined by English as well as Urdu
conjunctions. However Urdu conjunctions do not occur quite frequently. A
conjunction that often conjoins the English clauses to the Urdu adjacent
clauses is “and”. Here is an example of the use of the English coordinating
conjunction:
Ø Why don’t we all go
together to New Delhi? N ki shaddi ki shopping bhi ho jaye gi
and we can have much fun.
As
can be seen in the above example, there is switching here back and forth
between English and Urdu. An Urdu clause is embedded in English and English is
taken up again.
In the following example, an Urdu conjunction
“lekin” (but) is inserted in the English sentence. This Urdu conjunction has a pragmatic effect
as a discourse marker in drawing attention to the utterance.
Ø We reached there in time,
lakin no body was there to receive us.
Another
interesting feature of Pakistani English that has been found as a result of
Urdu-English code-switching is the use of an independent Urdu clause or
sentence with English in written as well as spoken English.
Here
are three examples where Urdu clauses are syntactically independent; however,
they share a semantic relationship with each other:
Ø Very soon, I will be a
big star in Bollywood, main naumeed nahin hougni.
Ø He is set to release some
very interesting films, which he describes as happy-go-lucky movies, aaj
kal happy fims ka zamana hai.
Ø I cannot make new
friends. Main buri, mairi dosti buri.
Noun Clause
These
are the switched Urdu noun clauses.
Ø Sub kutch chalet hai is their dictum.
Ø The whole thing is that key
bhaiya sab se bada rupaiya.
In
the following example the English noun clause is joined with the Urdu main
clause through the English subordinating conjunction ‘that’.
Ø Mujhe shikayat hai that we are not making
history.
Repetitions and Other Switches
Sometimes,
Urdu phrases or clauses are used just as the repetition of an English phrase or
clause. The purpose of this type of switching is to give emphasis. Sometimes it
is used to address different audiences.
Ø Take care, apna
bahut khayal rakhiya ga.
Ø Feroz was very drunk.
Usko chad gayi thi.
In
some cases, Urdu clauses are used to quote maxim and proverb in Pakistani
English. Here are some examples:
Ø
My unbending procrastination is one thing that
repels the beauty of the world but they say ‘sabar ka phal meetha hai’.
Ø He gave the example of
the phrase ‘auratein bhot bolteen hain’.
Ø
She was very touched and impressed, especially
when the waiter uttered these words ‘baaji, mehman sey paisay nahin
letay.
Ø
She opened the Q and A session by saying ‘ab
ball aap ki court main hai’.
Command of only a single variety of language,
whether it be a dialect, style or register, would appear to be an extremely
rare phenomenon. Most speakers command several varieties of the language they
speak, and bilingualism, even multilingualism, is the norm for many people
throughout the world rather than unilingualism or monolingualism.
