Motives and Functions of Code-switching between Arabic and French

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that the mutual use of two or more languages in the same conversation or utterance occurs in many bilingual or multilingual communities. The appropriate term that describes such linguistic behavior is Code-switching or Code-mixing. Since Algeria was a French Colony between 1830 and 1962, some researchers argue that the use of French alongside Arabic in Algeria was definitely tied to the colonial era. However, others stated that the colonial era plays only a partial role besides globalization, and other factors. This study was carried out to explore the functions and motives of code-switching between Algerian Arabic and French. From the gathered data from recordings and questionnaires, we have found that all speakers in Jijel code-switch in a variety of ways. In fact, code-switching serves many functions and motives which are relative in terms of frequency, attitudes. In general, men hold negative attitudes towards code-switching. However, women hold positive attitudes. In addition, women seem to code-switch more than men. Men tend to code-switch only when necessary while women code-switch whenever they talk especially educated ones. Concerning attitudes, men have some reservations towards code-switching while most of women are not against code-switching.