Understanding the Nature of Code-switching and Code-mixing of Songhay Speakers of French
The present paper is a descriptive study on the nature of the types of code-switching and code-mixing found among Songhay speakers of French. It aims at identifying and describing the structural nature of the instances of switches by classifying and categorising them according to the existing theories and models on Code Switching and Code Mixing constraints. The paper also reviews proposed definitions on the issue of Code-switching and Code-mixing. The data for the data was collected through interviews and participant observation from ninety participants coming from the regions of Gao and Timbuktu in the north of Mali, and Bamako, the Capital City in the south. The study has identified two forms of switches, inter-sentential and intra-sentential code-switching, in which participants alternate the two codes or insert words from French into Songhay and vice-versa. Analysing the intersentential types of switches, the study confirms the ‘equivalence of structure constraint’ of S. Poplack (1980) which states that there is no violation of the grammar of the two languages involved in this form of switching where sentences or clauses are juxtaposed. Analysing the intrasentential type of switches, the study shows illustrations where French embedded words in a Songhay-based code are not transformed but they sometimes take the Songhay inflectional affixes to adapt the Songhay grammaticality. This is in line with the ‘Matrix Language Frame Model’ of C. Myers-Scotton (1993a, b). The study reveals that the intra-sentential switching is more frequently used than the inter-sentential one with 82% of speeches, confirming S. Poplack’s (1980, 1981) ‘size of constituent constraint’. Among the intra-sentential instances, nouns and verbs are the most frequently used. However, the most striking finding in the study remains the frequent use of the past participle in the intra-sentential switches of the three French verb groups.
