The Use of Code- Switching in Selected Sri Lankan English Novels

Abstract

This paper investigates the use of code-switching in six Sri Lankan English (SLE) novels in order to observe how code switching has contributed to Sri Lankan English literature within the past three decades. The texts studied for this research are The Jam Fruit Tree (1993), Amulet (1994), Sam’s Story (2001), Mythil's Secret (2009), There's Something I Have to Tell You (2011), and Playing Pillow Talk at MGK (2012). Therefore, the primary objective of this research study is to identify the types of code-switching patterns that are used in the selected SLE novels, which will be analysed to understand the reasons that motivated the characters to switch the language in their conversations. It also discusses how often the authors of the selected novels have used code-switching in their narratives. Based on a qualitative research design, the present study has analysed its data by using techniques of content analysis. Thus, the study has identified the utterances with code-switching in the selected texts which were then classified and analysed by drawing on Hoffman’s framework on code-switching (1991). The findings of this study highlighted three main types of code-switching used in the novels; intra-sentential switching, emblematic switching, and phonological switching. The results of the study indicate that intra-sentential switching as the most dominant type of code-switching. The study has also observed three out of the seven reasons that have been identified by Hoffman, as having the potential to lead to a situation of code-switching, in its analysis of the selected texts. For instance, the characters have used code-switching to talk about a particular topic, to quote somebody else, and as sentence fillers or sentence connectors. The study has also identified three key reasons for authors to use code-switching in their writings.