Structural Analysis of Code-switching in Tanzanian Swahili-English Online Telecom Adverts
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Date
2001-12-01
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Journal of Education, Humanities and Sciences
Abstract
This study analyses structural configurations of code-switching from Swahili-English
online business-related advertisements in Tanzania. The study uses advertisements
disseminated by telecom corporations on Facebook. Through the matrix language
frame (MLF), and the 4–M models of code-switching, the study discloses the dominance
of Swahili as the matrix language (ML), supplying a relatively higher quantity of content
morphemes (CM) in clauses; whilst English becomes the embedded language (EL). The
Swahili’s supremacy in larger mixed language structures reflects the higher application
of Swahili in day-to-day interactions in Tanzania, while English ‘chips in’ at times. In
bundle names, which are phrases in structure, the study shows English as the ML; and
Swahili as the EL. Further analyses indicate that both early system morphemes (early
SMs), which are bound in nature, and bridge late system morphemes which are free in
nature, come from Swahili. Similarly, coming from Swahili too, outsider late system
morphemes are attached to content morphemes. Generally, Swahili and English partake
in mixed language constructions with variations in terms of quantity, types, morpheme
properties, and the syntactic properties of linguistic structures.
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Keywords
4–M model, advertisement, code-switching, matrix language framework, Tanzania