Nationalism in The Shadow Lines

                       Nationalism in The Shadow Lines

Nationalism is the sentiment of unity among a set of people occupying a territory. Nationalism has another meaning "pure patriotism ". A person who believes in nationalism, obviously there is no doubt, he is a pure lover of the country. Nationalism defenses in many sectors such as economics, culture, religion, language, and administration. Nationalism has great influence on making a strong nation. 

  

On the other hand, nationalism has caused violence in different nations and countries. For instance, in 1947 when riots had begun, many Muslims and Hindus had died only for their nationalism. The main reason for the riots was Hindus and Muslims had different nationality. Hindus believed in their Hindu nationalism and Muslims vice versa. For the nationalism, approximately, 5 lakh people were killed before partition. We know that in "shadow lines" when the partition was beginning, Dutta  Chowdhury and Thamma's family left Dhaka but their hearts were stuck to their birthplaces.  

Written By:  Sheikh Mohammad Emon,  

                      mail: sheikhemon03@gmail.com  

Edited By:    StudentsGate   

Contributed by:
MD.DIDARUL ISLAM  

Read more: Cultures without Borders in the Globalized World   Identifying Linguistic Development of a 33 Months Old Bengali Child in Bangla Language

Code-Switching and Code-Mixing by an Undergraduate Student: An Analysis

        Code-Switching and Code-Mixing by an Undergraduate Student: An Analysis 

Abstract 

This paper aims at investigating the use and form of code-switching and code-mixing by undergraduate students based on an informal interview by the author. The interviewee is an undergraduate student who talked about his study, course and career. The research found a significant number of code-switching and mixing, and therefore analyzed the whole text. Both qualitative and quantitative method have been adopted to write this paper.  

  

Keywords:  code-switching, mixing, language, study, English, Bangla. 

Code-Switching and Mixing 

Code mixing is the mixing of two or more codes or languages (Bokamba:1989). In a similar fashion, code switching is switching from one language to another. According to Muysken (2000), the terms "code-mixing" and "code-switching" can be used interchangeably. In code switching, there are two types of languages involved. The dominant language is called the "matrix" language and the additional language is called the "embedded" language.  

McClure (2001) holds that there are mainly three types of code switching:    

1.Inter-sentential or Extrasentential Switching.   

This language switches for entire sentences or clauses. For example,  

1. /kotha bolcho keno? What's your problem?/- Bangla - English  
   /He is a liar. Tar kotha ar bolo na./ - English- Bangla 
                                                               

   

   Code-Switching and Code-Mixing

 2.Intra-sentential Switching   

This switching occurs within a sentence or a clause boundary. Some scholars term this switching by "code-mixing". For example, 

2. /Eta to ekta third-class kotha bolle. Ami kokhono mix kore kotha boli na. Either English noyto Bangla boli./                                                                                                          3.Tag-switching 

When a tag (phrase or word) is inserted into another language, tag-switching occurs. It occurs frequently among the bilinguals. For example, 

/Amra tahole diet korbo, right?/  

/Amader conference ta jotheshtho valo hoyeche, you know?/ 

Here, without going into further arguments, we are taking it for granted that mixing the lexicon of different languages is code-mixing and using a full sentence of a language whiling making discourse in a different language or code is code-switching (Naushaad kabir: Class Discussion).   

Method 

The discussion in this paper is based on a single interview which is a part of qualitative method. A short questionnaire was answered by the interviewee. On the other hand, the analysis of the text comprises of some numerical data which are the parts of quantitative method. The interviewee was not informed that his interview was going to be used in a research so that that the natural state of the conversation remains and no artificiality comes into the conversation. Later on, he was informed, and permission was taken to use the text in the research. However, for referencing and citation APA method was used. The text was analyzed using 2 online text analyzers (see "Works Cited"). 

Analysis of the Text 

The interviewee, namely Srabon, is an undergraduate student of University of Siena, Italy. He was asked 4 questions. He answered mostly in Bangla, the matrix language of the interview. Because of the topic of discussion, a lot of code switching and mixing happened. As the interviewee was used to discuss his academic discourse mostly in English, while discussing the same topic in Bangla, code switching and mixing is very likely to occur. The role of topic in code switching and mixing is also supported by Holmes (2008). Moreover, more than one fourth of his speech was in English, the embedded language of the interview.  

Around 25.8% words of the text (Interviewee's speech) was in English. The total number of sentences was 17, and only 1 sentence was in English which makes it 5.88% of the whole text. The duration of the interview was around 3 minutes and it was taken over Facebook Messenger, a mobile application.  

There are all the three types of code switching in the text:  

1. Inter-sentential or extrasentential switching as in /And it's a great environment to study/  

2. Intra-sentential Switching or code mixing as in /Per year, basic, semester/ etc. 

3. Tag Switching as in /Well,…....../Summary 

The frequency of code switching and mixing varies from person to person, topic to topic and so forth. The result this paper has come up with is a sheer indication that how frequent code switching and mixing can occur in a university student's talk. Sometimes, code switching and mixing are unconscious. A conscious talk or a change in the topic may reduce or increase the frequency of code switching and mixing. Finally, thorough analysis of speech samples may find out more useful results and contribute to the literature.      

Works Cited 

Bokamba, Eyamba G. 1989. Are there syntactic constraints on code-mixing? World Englishes, 8(3), 277-292. 

Holmes, Janet. 2008. An introduction to sociolinguistics. Harlow, England: Pearson Longman 

https://www.online-utility.org/text/analyzer.jsp.  

http://textalyser.net/ 

Jacobson. 2001. Codeswitching Worldwide II. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. pg 166. Print. 

McClure, Erica .2001. Oral and Written Assyrian-English Code-switching. In Rodolfo.  

Muysken, Pieter. 2000. Bilingual Speech: A Typology of Code-mixing. Cambridge University Press. 

 Class Discussion: BFL 004, Langugae and Society 

Appendix 

Author: /Ami apnake koyekti apnar study somporke koyekti question korchi, apni answer diben. Apni kon university te porchen?/ 

Srabon: /Dada, ami apattoto achi University of Sienna te./ 

Author: /Apni ki niye porchen? Apnar discipline ba department ki?/  

Srabon: /Amar subject Bachelor of Banking and Economics/ 

Author: /Apnar department e ki poranao hoy, koto credit, eta pore future e ki hobe e bypare  kichu bolun./ 

Srabon: /Totally eta tin bochorer ekta bachelor course. Course ta sompurno English e. Course ti noyta semester e bivokto. Per year  e tinta kore semester. Course ta jegulo cover kore ta holo economics er ekebare basic theke shuru kore, erpor Banking, Business Math, English poray. Ekhan theke ber hoye, in future, business sector, Banking sector, insurance sectior, ebong teaching sector e jaoar o options ache. Apatoto etotukui jani. In future, porte porte aro hoyto details jante parbo./ 

    

Author: /Great. ebar aro kichu bolen je kotojon students mile porchen. Class koydin hoy. Teacher ra kemon poray ittyadi./      

Srabon: /Well, ekhane soptahe pach din class hoye thake shom theke shuru kore shukrobar porjonto. Ar soptahe duidin weekend shoni ebong robibar. Eta Germanyr uttor dike obosthisto. Ekhane porashunar pashapashi onnao activities mane extra-curricular activities like games and sports, social works, ityadi onushthito hoye thake jate future e students ra gain korte pare. Another thinfg is that ekhankar students der boro ongshoi international students. Tader sathe cholafera kore tader desher songskrtiti ba culture somporke jana jay. And it's a great environment to study./    

Interviewee: Ahmed Maruf, Email: amaruf233@gmail.com 





Contributed by:
MD.DIDARUL ISLAM  

Read more: Cultures without Borders in the Globalized World   Identifying Linguistic Development of a 33 Months Old Bengali Child in Bangla Language