Unfiltered Talk--A Challenge to Categories.

A study investigated how and why code switching and mixing occurs between English and Afrikaans in a region of South Africa. In District Six, non-standard Afrikaans seems to be a mixed code, and it is unclear whether non-standard English is a mixed code. Consequently, it is unclear when codes are being switched or mixed. The analysis looks at features of the non-standard dialects that are either directly traceable to the other language or are parallel to equivalent structures in the other language. This analysis includes lexical and morpho-syntactic features. It is argued that while the use of the mixed code, non-standard Afrikaans is much more common than code-switching, many instances of intra-clausal switches occur. Closer examination suggests that the point at which codes are switched is not necessarily the exact point at which one language ends and the other begins, but may be located some distance away at a bridge element (a word or phrase). It is unknown whether these shifts are just individual speakers' errors or eccentricities, a product of transitional instability as the speech community shifts toward English, or early signs of the development of a common structural and lexical stock to be freely mixed by speakers. (MSE)