Gardner Choloros (2009) noted that code-switching should be viewed from a sociolinguistic perspective since language behavior and use are viewed as something related to the speaker’s characteristics, and social identity.
I was able to understand the sociolinguistic aspect of code-switching when I read more about sociolinguistics. Fortunately, I came across the book of Bell (2014) titled “The Guidebook to Sociolinguistics” that has a clear mapping of the main approaches in the field which include multilingualism (divided into sociology of language and critical-constructivist), ethnographic-interactional, and variationist. Maybe you have heard of the famous scholars in the field such as Gumperz, Blom and Gumperz, Joshua Fishman, Labov, Blommaert, Heller, Woolard, to name a few. After reading Belle’s categories, I was able to understand which scholars belong to which approach. For instance, Joshua Fishman is the founder of sociology of language which focuses on the use of language in society while Jan Blommaert and Monica Heller are the scholars in critical-constructivist sociolinguistics where language is seen as a social practice. Moreover, in this approach, speakers utilize their available linguistic resources for whatever purpose they have.
Another good reference in the sociolinguistic aspect of code-switching is Romaine’s (1995) book which discusses the pragmatic factors in code-switching. Under pragmatic factors, the discourse functions of code-switching which are the metaphorical and transactional by Blom and Gumperz (1972) are explained. Discourse function is also discussed in Matras (2009) which gives some examples for better understanding. Furthermore, it includes (Auer’s 1984, 1995) participant related functions as opposed to conversation-oriented functions. Another important topic discussed is how the rational choice model by Myer’s-Scotton (1993) and Myer’s Scotton and Bolonyai, (2001) as cited by Matras (which considers social knowledge as something incorporated in participants’ choice) opposes the conversation analytical approach.
On the other hand, other aspects such as arenas and strategies in code-switching, attitudes in code-switching, Goffman’s change in footing and the problems with the interpretive models of code-switching are also discussed in Romaine (1995) which are very helpful in understanding the sociolinguistic aspect of code-switching.
I know for a student of code-switching or sociolinguistics, there are many books to read to understand the sociolinguistic aspect of code-switching. I hope by doing this blog, I was able to help you map it in your mind as these books really helped me in doing so.
References
Belle, A. (2014). The guidebook to sociolinguistics. USA: Wiley Blackwell.
Gardner-Chloros, P. (2009). Code-switching. USA: Cambridge University Press.
Matras, Y. (2009). Language Contact. USA: Cambridge University Press.
Romaine, S. (1989). Bilingualism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
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