An ethnographic case study of code switching and language choice: the uses of Cypriot Turkish in London.

This article explores the changing patterns of language choice, code switching, and borrowing in naturally occurring conversations of Turkish Cypriot adults in a London workplace. The small representative sample contains workers of second and third generation Cypriot women. It is shown that language use can be variable with intergenerational patterns. In Cyprus while Cypriot Turkish (henceforth CT) is influenced by Standard Turkish (henceforth ST), the shift is more towards English in London. However, CT continues to have an important social function in both communities and is used to convey culturally specific experiences in routine daily conversations. The purpose of this case study is to highlight language shift in a London sample, to show that language use in the Cypriot Community — as in other linguistic communities in the UK — is changing increasingly to adapt to new sociolinguistic paradigms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]