Oldal 165 [165]
AN OPTIMALITY THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF HUNGARIAN-AMERICAN BILINGUAL USE
In this part of the interview, the speaker characterizes Americans. She makes a
comment that they are a spoiled people, then she switches to English to conclude
this and to end the argument. By switching to English, she manages to conclude
the statement leaving no space for disagreement. The switch to English enables
her to give more weight to her concluding utterance as well as signaling that this
is the end of her argument and she is absolutely positive about it.
(k) Topic change
Example [38]
1 12 (Interviewer 2) “Women power.”
2 G1M23,50 "I am so happy. So a nagyapám felesége az
3 Smoczer Mariska volt. Van egy olyan"
(I am so happy. So, my grandfathers wife was Smoczer Mariska. There is
such a ...)
(source: data collected by Kovács in 2008—2009)
Code-switching may function as a means of topic shift when “the speaker
marks a shift in topic with a shift in language, with no consistent link between
topic and language”*™. In this extract, the participants of the interview speak
about an increasing number of American women taking their mother’s maiden
names as their middle names. Interviewer two makes a concluding remark by
saying “Women power". The interviewee reacts to this concluding remark in
English, then he switches to Hungarian to indicate that he wants to change
topic. By switching to Hungarian, he separates the two halves of his utterance
indicating a shift in topics. While in the first half, he responds to what has
been previously said in English, then he starts speaking in Hungarian about
his family. The switch to Hungarian in this example, therefore, serves as an
indication that the speaker wants to introduce a new topic.
(1) Metalinguistic comment
Example [39]
1 G1F48,65 “Szerintem sokkal egyszerübb azt mondani, hogy trunk, mint
csomagtartó, nagyon nagyon csábító lerövidíteni, ha lehet"
(I think that it is much easier to say trunk than csomagtartó, it is very very
tempting to shorten if it is possible.)
(source: data collected by Kovács in 2008—2009)
304 Zentella, Growing Up Bilingual, 94
* 163"