Social meaning in linguistic structure: code-switching in Norway

Abstract

This chapter attempts to clarify the social and linguistic factors involved in the communication process and to test Bernstein's hypothesis by showing that speakers' selection among semantically, grammatically, and phonologically permissible alternates occurring in conversation sequences recorded in natural groups is both patterned and predictable on the basis of certain features of the local social system. Most residents of Hemnesberget are native speakers of Ranamal, one of a series of dialects which segment northern Norway into linguistic regions roughly corresponding to other cultural and ecological divisions. Sociolinguistic co-occurrence patterns along with intonation contours enable the speaker to group language into larger pragmatic wholes and to interpret them in relation to signs transmitted by other communicative media. The chapter deals with the linguistic repertoire, internal cultural differences, and relevant features of social organization. It suggests that linguistic alternates within the repertoire serve to symbolize the differing social identities which members may assume.

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