Oldal 78 [78]
LITERARY CODE-SWITCHING
distinguish between a strong type (without explication) and a weak type (with
explication) of code-switching, based on terminology by Brian Lennon ("strong
and weak plurilingualism”), to suggest the relevance of explication as a fur¬
ther defining criterion for literary code-switching. Another aspect worth
considering when looking at texts by non-native language writers is the dis¬
tinction between switches to the author’s first language(s) and to another
second language spoken by the author. For example, in the texts discussed in
this paper, embedded words in the author’s first language are shown to derive
from particular semantic fields and to relate strongly to the author’s upbring¬
ing. However, to develop this thought further, a direct comparison with second
language insertions would be required.
Strong Intra-sentential Code-Switching
The majority of the observed instances in the sample texts features neither an
explication for nor a translation of embedded terms and can thus be categorized
as a strong type of intra-sentential code-switching. What stands out is that
the sample texts primarily employ one-word interferences from the semantic
fields of home, tradition and/or family. Elke Sturm-Trigonakis previously ob¬
served that particular cultural practices are brought into the society of the
matrix language and a synecdochian function is evoked through embedded
terms from these fields.”
For example, in Arantxa Hernandez’ creative nonfiction text “The Foreigner”,*°
the Spanish word tequeno?! is used in-between a conversation about the mean¬
ing of home, which interlaces the concept of home with the physical activity
of biting into a Venezuelan dish:
‘Are you going home for the summer?’ your best friend asks as she takes a bite of
her sweet plantain. [...]
You shake your head, ‘Doesn’t feel like home anymore.’
Her eyes widen and she stirs uncomfortably on her chair, ‘but it’s home at the
end, isn’t it?’ She thinks she understands you because she also had to leave her home
and move to Savannah, and she does in some ways — both of you feel like outsiders
whenever someone doesn’t understand your accent, or asks ignorant questions [...].
28 Brian Lennon: In Babel’s Shadow: Multilingual Literatures, Monolingual States, Minneapolis,
University of Minnesota Press, 2010, 17.
2° Sturm-Trigonakis: Weltliteratur, 214.
30 Arantxa Hernandez: The Foreigner, Tint Journal, Issue Fall’20, 2020, https://tintjournal.com/
essay/the-foreigner, accessed 17 October 2022.
31 Venezuelan cheese sticks.
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