Code-switching

[Jeffrey Kopp]

Well, this is also a bit off topic (as I understand code-switching isn't really a factor in evolution or use of pidgins, though it may crop up in creole environments), but knowing there are linguists out there, I wanted to share this remarkable page of audio examples:

http://www.yiddishradioproject.org/exhibits/packer/packer.php3?pg=2

These are brief "man in the street" radio interviews on innocuous topics for entertainment, recorded in the 1940s. It appears all participants in these examples are fully or mostly fluent bilingually, so the code-switching was not occurring out of necessity.

What makes these especially informative is they've rigged the RealAudio presentation to display a transcript of the conversation, so one can clearly follow what's going on.

What was most fascinating to me was I could not discern a pattern related to context or complexity in the switching; in these examples (particularly the recitation of recipes), it seems to occur randomly, as if reflecting a bilingual train of thought taking place.

Regards,

Jeff

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