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1.2 TWO ZERO CODE-SWITCHING EXAMPLES FROM THE 19™ CENTURY
code-switching. Therefore, by describing thematic, stylistic and formal aspects
of zero degree code-switching (hidden multilingualism) in the two works
analyzed above, our study concentrated mostly on two very different types of
ZCS, namely covert or folkloric ZCS and overt, reflected ZCS of, respectively,
a folkloric and a literary travelogue.
In Pet6fi’s epic, which takes us not only around Europe but also in the land
of the giants and fairies, the folkloric narrator’s language use manifests the
language as the one and only communication medium not only ofsentient and
non-sentient beings of real and fictional worlds but among them all. There is
no direct reference to the specific language spoken, it is simply the all-capable
transmitter among the figures and about the figures in the story which the
narrator tells. In the travelogue of Twain, which takes us around the late 19"
century Europe, the German language is often openly called into question by
the first-person autodiegetic narrator of A Tramp Abroad. In the text, German
is often offered to the presumed English reader in a mediated way. This means
that German is incorporated in the English text or even translated. However,
there are multiple passages in which Twain employs overt or reflected zero¬
degree code-switching, directly referring to a multilingual episode in the
original narrative tongue.
Zero degree code-switching (in all its forms) represents a productive tool
to embed multilinguality in the text. By taking the verbal text as a starting
point, ZCS offers the possibility to understand how multiple languages work
in a text, the way they interact between themselves and are mediated and in¬
corporated in the narrative. This could include both the communication between
humans and — as seen in the example of Petéfi — between humans, animals
and other beings. It could also concern different periods and genres — in our
case, we have considered an epic poem and a piece of travel writing.
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