The role of codeswitching as a conversational strategy between Ongwediva police officers and Ongwediva residents

Abstract

Code-switching is the alternation between two codes (languages), between people who share those particular codes. Choices about how code-switching manifests itself are determined by a number of social and linguistic factors. It is quite typical in multicultural and immigrant populations. This study focused on the role of code-switching as a conversational strategy between Ongwediva police officers and Ongwediva residents. Ongwediva is a town situated in the northern part of Namibia. Majority of the residents in Ongwediva speaks English and Oshiwambo. The study therefore sought to understand the role that code-switching plays in the conversation between Ongwediva residents and police officers. Findings from observations and recordings revealed that code-switching facilitates conversations and it makes communication easier for both Ongwediva Residents and police officers. The study indicated various strategies used to code-switch (borrowing, Tag-switching and intersentential) to make communication easy. The study also brought to light the reason why code-switching took place. It happened because people want to prove a point because the word does not exist in the Matrix language, it is also used to save time and also because some terms do not exist in oshiwambo. The study concluded that code-switching is used as a gate to residents of Ongwediva in attaining their communication goals. It is essential for law makers to recognise code-switching as a conversational strategy which also helps the speaker in a multilingual community like Ongwediva to express their identities and their cultures freely.