Code-Switching between Doctors and English Teachers: A Sociolinguistic Study

Abstract

In this study, the researchers attempt to recheck Code-Switching phenomenon (CS), its causes, types, theories and its consequences. To keep clear and to avoid obscure use of the term, the researchers tend to initially define the concept and draw a distinctive line to separate CS from other related terms such as code-mixing (CM), lexical-switching (LS) and borrowing. Like some scholars who investigated this phenomenon, the researchers prefer broadening the meaning of CS because the core of the concept is centralized on ‘alternation’ from one code to another regardless of the types of the codes. Then, the researchers chose 20 English teachers (ETs) and the same number of doctors who worked in province of Diyala, Iraq and showed that all of them practice CS with different types and different reasons. And ultimately, they compare between their CS and notice that doctors use intra-sentential switching more than the other types whereas Ets use inter-sentential CS because this type of CS requires a huge linguistic knowledge if compared with doctors who focus on medicine not language.