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CHAPTER 7 FINDINGS
provided four optional responses: A) “I disapprove of it”; B) “I dont mind it,
but I try not to mix (them)”; C) “I don’t mind, I also mix (them)”; D) “I find it
natural among bilingual speakers” (for the quantification and interpretation
of the data, see Chapter 6).
With a view to finding distinctive patterns in the attitude of first- and
second-generation speakers to code-switching, the statistical results of their
responses have been summarized in the above table.
It can be deferred from Table 35 that the majority of both G1 (42%) and
G2 subjects (62%) have a non-judgmental attitude to code-switching (“I don’t
mind it”), however, they point out that they try to avoid it (“I try not to mix
them”). One conspicuous difference already emerges in G1 and G2 groups. No
G2 subject claims to disapprove of code-mixing, showing that G2 subjects have
an overall more positive attitude to code-switching than the older generation.
It is also worth to bear in mind that the highest number of responses given
to option B (“I don’t mind it, but I try not to mix them.”) is followed by the
responses to given to D (“I find it natural among bilingual speakers.”), which
shows that the pragmatic attitude to code-switching regarding it a natural
phenomenon among bilinguals is prevalent both among G1 and G2 speakers.
Table 35: Attitudes to code-switching in the G1 vs. G2 groups
Statement Statement B Statement C
Statement D
A (non- (non- .
Responses (negative, judgmental, judgmental, (pragmatic)
purist) but lack of use) actual use)
Gl ‘yes’
responses 6 (16%) 16 (42%) 6 (16%) 10 (26%)
(N=38)
G2 ‘yes’
responses 0 5 (62%) 1 (12%) 3 (38%)
(N=8)
In sum, both G1 and G2 subjects have a similar attitude to code-switching,
which is fundamentally non-judgmental and pragmatic. This finding goes in line
with some earlier results gathered in the Greek Cypriot community in London”.
While no G2 subject agrees with statement (A) disapproving of code-switching
(“I disapprove of it.”), the same percentage of G1 responses (16%) are supportive
of that statement as of statement (C) (“I don’t mind, I also mix them.”), which
reflects a non-judgmental attitude and acknowledges the actual use of code¬
281 Gardner-Chloros — McEntee-Atalianis — Finnis, Language attitudes and use, International
Journal of Multilingualism, 70
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