Codeswitching in Tigrinya: The Case of Two FM Radio Programs
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Date
2011-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This st ud y deals w ith Codeswitc hin g in Tigrinya: The Case of Two FM Radio
Program s broadcasting in and around Mekelle. The rational es, which triggered th c
researcher to co ndu ct such a re search , are the fact that th ere are very few studi es in
Ethi op ia, no re sea rch in Tigray and the researcher was expe ri enced wi th sw it ched
Tigrinya in the T igrin ya FM radio progra ms (TFRPs). It is tri ed to address th e why ,
when, how and how often codeswitching incidents a re appeared o n th e TFRPs, and th e
perception of codemixing by bilingua ls and mono lingual s . It also attempts to desc ribe
what lingui st ic fea ture s o f codeswitching are identified and which universa l constraints
are attested valid in Tigrinya-English or Amharic codeswitching phenomenon. The
study aims ma inl y at explorin g the soc ial aspects of codeswitching activities, and
describin g the lin gui st ic features of codeswitching on th e Tigrinya FM radio services
(TF RSs) vis-a-vis some ea rli er studied models and findings.
To address the problems and achieve the objectives, both qu alitative and quantitative
methods were emplo yed for gathering bits of information from the se lec ted sites and FM
radio li ste ners in focus. Questiorlilaires, interviews, and audio recordings were use d as
basic tool s to co ll ect genuine informati o n. The bits of information were collected from
both monolingual and bilingual TFRPs clients and the newscasters.
The soc ial and lingui sti c data of codeswit ching on th e TFRPs are ex hibited viewed from
different perspectives. There are bulks of codeswitching occurrences on TFRPs more
frequently from English and Amharic constituents.Tigrean codeswitchers were engaging
in codesw itching incidences motivated by the soc ial attractions. However, monolinguals
have remarkabl y negative attitudes toward s codeswitching by overwhelming the
bilinguals. Besides, the Trilingual Ti grea ns are switching multiple constituents
intrase ntenti all y via Amharic and English. In th e Amharic or English switched Tigrin ya,
the e qui valence constraint and free morpheme constraint operational , whereas the s ize of
the constituent constraint is not appropriate.
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Linguistics