# Do you (unwittingly) code-switch when speaking? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 28, 2022, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-unwittingly-code-switch-when-speaking/968703 "2022-07-28T08:53:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Levolor\_the\_Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc8723/32.png) [@Levolor\_the\_Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Levolor_the_Blind)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-unwittingly-code-switch-when-speaking/968703/21 "2022-07-28T20:56:04Z")
Üdvözlüm psychonaut! My magyar wife and I (learned in the Peace Corps) switch between Hungarian and English all the time and frequently mix up vocabulary. Our son, up until he was about 6, only spoke to his mother in Hungarian and me in English, but living in the states eventually put an end to that. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-unwittingly-code-switch-when-speaking/968703/22 "2022-07-28T21:01:25Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Until the OP’s post in the original thread, that’s what I thought it meant as well. But it’s a distortion of the original usage, which is limited to switching in a single conversation. Yeah, this is also from that link. I didn’t quote it, too, because I always quote too much from articles, but this agrees with what you just said: > The term code-switching [was originally documented](https://www.britannica.com/topic/code-switching) as a linguistic phenomenon. Sociologists, including John J. Gumperz, were interested in the circumstances that made dual-language speakers switch back and forth between their native language and the one spoken by the majority. > However, code-switching was quickly noted even in populations that spoke only one language. The term grew to encompass a set of behaviors beyond multilingualism. This could be changing our mannerisms, our tone of voice, or linguistic code-switching between standard English and a more relaxed vernacular. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-unwittingly-code-switch-when-speaking/968703/23 "2022-07-28T21:12:12Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > I’d suppose linguists take the narrower definition because switching across groups of people (friends, family, coworkers) isn’t really a linguistic question at all; more like behavioral psychology. Your post agreed with my understanding overall, but this part isn’t really so. Some linguists do study the languages and styles (sociolects, for example) that individuals employ in varied situations. (My source: reading and hearing just about everything John McWhorter has produced. Well, not all of the non-linguistic stuff he’s started putting out recently.) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-unwittingly-code-switch-when-speaking/968703/24 "2022-07-28T21:23:17Z")
That’s fair. That was pure speculation on my part. There’s a lot of overlap between social fields, at any rate. I suppose I was thinking more about the technical side of linguistics, where figuring out the rules of different grammars, especially in combination, might be of greater interest. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-unwittingly-code-switch-when-speaking/968703/25 "2022-07-28T21:25:34Z")
Yes, it’s a big tent, with lots of overlap. Gave me a chance to plug Lexicon Valley (the language podcast McWhorter took over a couple years ago, and which switched from Slate to Booksmart Studios last year). ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-unwittingly-code-switch-when-speaking/968703/26 "2022-07-29T11:49:20Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > It’s the mixing even within a single sentence that’s interesting to linguists, especially when different grammars collide. This. To be honest, I didn’t know of another meaning of “code-switching” apart from the technical, linguistic one. Language contact is an area of interest for many linguists who study language change and historical linguistics notably. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-unwittingly-code-switch-when-speaking/968703/27 "2022-07-29T12:10:15Z")
I was under the impression that code-switching was adapting to a different _cultural_ code ( dress and mannerisms as well as vocabulary, grammar conventions, accent) when around a culture other than the one that you normally move in. Not merely dropping foreign words into your ordinary speech. I guess I might be wrong … . Though surely most people who adapt themselves to Standard White Culture, at least for the period they are encountering it, are doing so for the purposes of not being discriminated against, I find that, for me anyway, a lot of this kind of subtle blending happens unconsciously. For example, when I’m around Okie ranchers I start drawling some of my words, using their kinds of metaphors and curse words, and avoiding using vocabulary or mentioning anything that marks me (even more) as highly educated. I don’t try to do this, I just do it. I think this is just the type of person I am – I’m sensitive to nuance in my environment and react to it without conscious thought. My husband is the opposite, he is not able to sense nor adjust to such things even if he wanted to. He is always just himself. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-unwittingly-code-switch-when-speaking/968703/28 "2022-07-29T20:07:57Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I was under the impression that code-switching was adapting to a different _cultural_ code ( dress and mannerisms as well as vocabulary, grammar conventions, accent) when around a culture other than the one that you normally move in. Not merely dropping foreign words into your ordinary speech. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Onb3gdOH07Y/hqdefault.jpg "Big Mouth- Code Switching") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onb3gdOH07Y) ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-unwittingly-code-switch-when-speaking/968703/29 "2022-07-29T21:15:51Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Until the OP’s post in the original thread, that’s what I thought it meant as well. Same here, but I find it interesting that code switch in both ways. When I talk to my parents on the phone I switch between Urdu and English willy nilly. And also my wife tends to notice more than I do that when I speak to someone in a southern accent, I take on some of that accent in my responses. I know I speak different to African-Americans than to Whites in terms of accent, references, etc. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-unwittingly-code-switch-when-speaking/968703/30 "2022-07-30T16:31:36Z")
My theory is that we all code-switch. (This ties in with my belief that we’re all “on the spectrum”, which applies to many spectrums) Our language, our accent, our dress. I have friends that are “recovering hippies”, but I was raised by the country club set. I noticed yesterday that I have two shirts that I never wear… except for going out to lunch with my mom. Oh, and I always get a haircut before I do, and try not to say “Fuck that.” . Oh! Just remembered, I worked with a woman who’d code switch her accent drastically, and we could tell the age and ethnicity of the person she was talking to on the phone. She dealt with a lot of non-profits, and a friend of mine worked at one who hired her. After she’d made a personal visit there, they all stared at each other, stunned: “She’s… not… black…?” ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-unwittingly-code-switch-when-speaking/968703/31 "2022-08-01T22:58:35Z")
Interesting thread. I can really relate, because my wife is Japanese and we lived in Japan for a while. It seemed natural when speaking English to use Japanese words for “local” things. Examples that come to mind: my boss’s title, company meetings, the subway line, shops, food items, rooms of the house, appliances, minor ailments, the rainy season, the airport, festivals and events… Sometimes it was words with perfectly serviceable English equivalents like “bakery”, “cable ties” or “heater”; other times it was concepts more particular to Japan, such as the entrance hallway or raccoon dogs. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-unwittingly-code-switch-when-speaking/968703/32 "2022-08-01T23:00:38Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I was under the impression that code-switching was adapting to a different _cultural_ code ( dress and mannerisms as well as vocabulary, grammar conventions, accent) when around a culture other than the one that you normally move in. Not merely dropping foreign words into your ordinary speech. This is also what I thought “code-switching” meant until I read this thread and discovered the narrower technical meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-unwittingly-code-switch-when-speaking/968703/33 "2022-08-01T23:48:19Z")
I do plenty of code switching among my friends and family. My home and community is English and Korean. My Korean is terrible, but sometimes I use it by preference. For example English “fifteen” and “fifty” are easy to mis-hear, while Korean “ship-o” and “o-ship” are not. Sometimes the code switching is more subtle. Once at a family event with a Korean sister-in-law (whose English is better than my Korean), I was helping her by explaining what was going on. When one of my American sisters came by to talk with her, I was “translating” colloquial English into “simple” English–slowing down, enunciating, and using only words my sister-in-law knew. We had a good laugh about it, but you do what you have to do to communicate effectively. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-unwittingly-code-switch-when-speaking/968703/34 "2022-08-03T15:15:59Z")
Back centuries ago, when I was a Mormon missionary in Japan, we would code-switch constantly by speaking in English but throwing in terms in Japanese, such as “eki” for train station. Mostly they were words which we didn’t use that frequently back home or mission terms, such as the Japanese for companion or mission president. It was bad enough that I had problems talking about my mission after I returned home to family and friends who didn’t speak Japanese so I tried hard to not code-switch after that. My kids are really bad at it. When they talk to me, they often throw in Japanese words into English sentences or English words into Japanese sentences, although they will say only English to their American grandma when they talk on the phone. They usually don’t code-switch in Chinese, either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-unwittingly-code-switch-when-speaking/968703.md?page=1)