LANGUAGE IN INDIA

A SOCIO-LINGUISTC STUDY OF CODE SWITCHING AMONG THE COCHIN TAMILS
K. CHIDAMBARAM, Ph.D.

I. INTRODUCTION

This Project Report was submitted by me to the Bharathiar University in Partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Master of Arts in Linguistics in May 2000.

1.1.General

'Language is a social fact'. These words of Saussure have provided a new vision to the language study. Moreover, a socio linguistic study governs the function of language in different social set ups and also deals with the relationship between language and society. In a social set up, people are drawn from different social group and different geographical background, and hence language varies according to ethnic group, social status, ect.This exposes obviously that language mirrors the social structure and system of the society.

Labov (1996:25) defines socio linguistics as a description which takes into account the distribution of language difference throughout the community and necessarily preserves the data on the age, sex, education, occupation, and ethic membership of the speakers studied.

Bright (1969:160) defines sociolinguistics as the study of patterned co- variation or correlation which exists between diverse of linguistic structure and social structure.Trudgil (1974:32)describes socio linguistics as a part of linguistics which is concerned with language as a social and cultural phenomenon.

Fishman (1971:5) defines socio linguistics as the study of the characteristics of the speakers as they constantly interact and change within a speech community. But he prefers the term sociology of language. Since, it is more descriptive and dynamic .These are some of the interpretations for the term 'sociolinguistics'.

1.2. Objectives of the Present Study

1. This present study tries to elucidate the code switching behavior of the Cochin Tamils.
2. It investigates the language behaviour of the people in bilingual situation.
3. And it tries to describe the code switching and code mixing behaviour in different Contexts and at different levels.

1.3. Data for the study

The data was collected from the informants who migrated from various districts of Tamil Nadu to Cochin City of Kerala .The cooli workers and platform shopkeepers are the primary informants .For this study 50 informants who speak two languages ,Tamil and Malayalam have been selected. Further, social parameters such as: Age, Sex, Occupation, Education, and Income have been considered for collecting data. Low income group of people alone have been selected.

Among the informants, most of the informants had obtained literacy skill in their mother tongue, Tamil. And also, they had oral proficiency in Malayalam .The informants who have literacy skill, have studied up to primary or secondary level. Few of the informants, both male and female had no literacy skill .The age of the informants was below 45 and above 20.

All the informants had Tamil as their mother tongue. But, they have learnt Malayalam as their second language for occupational purpose. Some have more proficiency in Malayalam and some have less proficiency.

1.4. Methodology

To expose the dialectal and bilingual variations, the following socio linguistics methods have been adopted.They are:

1. Questionnaire Method,
2. Interview method, and
3. Observation method.

Questionnaire method

For the present study, a well prepared questionnaire was used .The questionnaire was prepared in order to collect the social and linguistic background of the informants .The questionnaire contains various kinds of information related to the language variations coming through code switching.

Interview Method

The speeches of the informants were recorded using tap recorder. In some situations, the informants were asked by the investigator to narrate stories or give anecdotes and to talk about their interests in various subjects i.e. about their day to day activities.

Observation Method

In addition to the above methods, the observation method was also followed to fill the gap.

1.5. Review of Literature

Ronald Wardaugh (1986:99) says that switching from one dialect to another dialect or from one language to another is quite normal. Further, he speaks about situational and metaphorical switching. He also states that the conversational code mixing of the two languages without an associate topic change and believes that conversational code mixing is often used by bilinguals primarily as solidarity markers. He says that in code switching and code mixing situations, the norms vary from group to group with in a single community itself.

Gnanasundaram (1982:161) gives conditions for the code - mixing behaviour in the abstract of papers presented in the third international conference on South Asian Languages and Linguistics. He has dealt with code mixing in Tamil fiction. Further, he says that mixing the high and low verities codes in fiction is unavailable. He says that the author uses high variety of codes for story telling and low variety of codes for conversation. He has also analyzed that there is a mixture of both high and low verities of Tamil are functionally distinguished and used in Tamil fiction.

Roger T.Bell (1976:140) in his book 'socio linguistics' speaks generally about the rules for bilingual code switching .They are socio linguistics rules in which linguistic choice varies according to social constrains.

Hudson (1980:56)in his 'socio linguistics' speaks about code switching .He gives different scholars' opinions about code switching .He illustrates and classifies switching as conversational and situational code switching.

Ganesan (1991) in his study of the platform speech in Tamil described the code switching behaviour of the platform speakers in Tamil language. The code switching phenomenon takes place between the spoken and literary varieties or dialects in Tamil in the platform speech. The significance from point of view of socio linguistics has been discussed by him. He has further studied the contexts and topic configurations in which such code switching phenomenon occurs in platform speeches.

1.6. Significance of the study

The present study is an attempt to point out the code switching behaviour of platform shopkeepers and Cooliworkers of migrated Tamils in their day -to -day language use. This study tries to find out the relationships namely social intimacy and social distance of the speakers and the hearers and the impact of social relationships on code mixing or shifting and on language use in general.

This work also attempts to study the code switching behaviour in relation to various socio linguistic factors (Age, Sex, Occupation, Income, and Education) under which the code switching behaviour occurs. It also gives reason for the code switching behaviour.It proves the objectives of the study by giving due illustrations.

II. CODE SWITCHING AND ITS TYPES

2.1 General

The term code refers to speech varieties or dialects in a language or even languages. This is widely used in the field of linguistics, and it is studied always in a social context. Further, it is a signal used by the speaker to convey some message. The term 'code switching' means switching from one language variety to another when the situation demands (Richards Jack et al: 1985:43).

There are two other aspects related to code switching .They are code mixing and shifting. Code switching is known as switching from one code to another. Code mixing means mixing of two different codes within a sentence. Code shifting is another variety which takes place at phrasal level.

Code switching can be both situational and metaphorical. Situational code switching occurs when the codes are used depending upon the situations. Situational code switching does not involve any topic change. When a situation of speaker changes, the codes used also changes. Here, a change of topic requires a change of language. The process of changing the codes has connections with the social value and status of speakers. Since, they are deciding the codes to be selected. Code mixing occurs when the speakers use two or more languages together and mix them in a single utterance or in the their communicative act.

Code switching and other related language use phenomenon occurs in all linguistic situations, monolingual or bilingual situations. Code switching in a monolingual situation indicates the diglossic switching and dialectal switching .Diglossic code switching means mixing or shifting of codes from standard variety to a low variety or vice versa depending upon the demands of some of social and psychological situations.

For example, a person speaking to an educated person or to an honored person in the society, he uses a standard variety. At the same time, when he speaks to the person who is socially lower in status' he uses a low variety. But, when he speaks with his family friends or other related persons, he mixes both the high and low varieties of the languages. In a casual conversational situation, there will be a mixture of both the codes.

Sometimes, a person who knows more then one dialects uses different codes. A person who belongs to one particular dialect may use a standard code in formal situation or with his friends. At the same time, he may change from one code to another assuming that the hearer also knows the change in the code.

In a bilingual situation also code switching occurs. A person who knows two languages may know the cultural background of both the languages, and sometimes becomes proficient in both the languages and thereby he adopts code switching during language use.

For example, a Tamilian who has wider exposure to English then his mother tongue will be often switching to English from Tamil due to his proficiency or due to certain psychological reasons or motives.

Code switching is also possible in a multilingual situation; when a speaker uses more then two languages, he often switches over from one to another and ends up in mixing of all the codes. This is common in multilingual countries like India.

2.2. Classification of code switching

Code switching can be classified as follows:

1. Internal code switching,
2. External or bilingual code switching.

i) Internal Code switching

Internal code switching takes place with in a language. Further, it has two types .They are:

a) Diglossic code switching,
b) And, Dialectal code switching.

ii)External code switching

The external code switching takes place when units of two or more languages used simultaneously. Further, it can be classified as switching:

a) Between cognate - domestic languages,
b) Between non cognate and cognate languages.

2.2.1. Diglossic code - switching

Diglossic code switching is common in casual conversation. From the data collected, it was obvious that the selected informants used the standard variety of the language in formal situation, and they use low variety of the language in a non-formal situation. They use the standard variety or codes when they speak to their consumers and with the managers. At the same time, in a casual context or with coworker or with family, they use either the standard variety or low variety of a language.

Code switching takes place in other situation also. Especially, when the informants were asked to narrate story, they were using the standard and the low varieties.

Example 1

When an informant was telling about the present political situation, he used the standard variety.

[makkaL naNmaikkaaka maaRivarum kaalattiRkeeRpa
caTTattai cari ceyvatu aracin kaTamai,
itai vakkiilkaL etiRpatu niitikku puRampaanatu.]

"It is the government duty to remake the law for the benefits of the people and to suit the developing trends of the nation. Advocates' agitation is illegal."

Example 2

Another informant when he was telling about an incident, he used the standard variety and low variety alternatively.

[ennaTaa inta vakkiilunka ivloo tiiviramaa
etukraanNu paattaa…! avankaLukku varumaaNam
koraitaamla… pooliciTam aTi vankiNaalum
cari, nanka piNvaanka maaTTomnRaanka.]

"Why the advocates agitate against the government seriously?! If the government remake the law, their income will be decreased. So, they won't pull back their strike even if they were beaten by police".

Here the words: ivloo, etukraanNu, paattaa, koRaitaamla are treated as unites of low variety and the other words those have been used belong to the standard variety.

Example 3

An informant, when he was telling his day to day activities he used the standard as well as low variety items.

[vaayaa… ennayaa… nallaakiiRiya…?
eppoo uurleentu vante….?]

"Come on… how are you? When did you come from your village?"

All the words of the above mentioned example are low variety words.

Another informant, when he was talking with his neighbor has used only low variety.

[ vale… ennale… vantatu?!
ippoo enkuTTu velapaakRe…?
aamaa… paila eNNaa vaccinukkiire? kaami…]

Hi...come on...!
Where are you working?
Show me. What do you have in your bag?

In this way, the diglossic codes were used by the informants. Some workers said that when they speak to their managers, unconsciously they switch over to low variety codes otherwise standard code occupies.

2.2.2. Dialectal code switching

Dialectal code switching includes code mixing and code shifting. This type of variation takes place in a monolingual situation. From the data collected, it was found that some of the people were switching from one dialect to another dialect though they are bilinguals.

Sometimes, the informants manifest the switching behaviour not only from one dialect to another dialect but also from one standard dialect to a social dialect or some time from a social dialect to the standard dialect.

For example:

From the data collected, it was evident that those who have migrated from Coimbatore District to Cochin City and have been doing platform business use the language in such a way as:

[eeNunka… enRa mava vantirukkaa paattinklaakkum?!
ava kooyampatoor kaaleejila paTikutaale!]
elee… naa unuKiTTataale colluta…
nii eNNaale cumma irukkuta?!]

"Have you seen my daughter who has come?!
She is studying at Coimbatore college!
I am telling with you only.
Why are you being silent?!"

Here, the words eeNunka, enra, mava, vantirukka, paattinklaakkum are dialectal form of Coimbatore. And all the other words are dialectal form of Kanniyakumari district.

2.2.3. Dialectal code shifting

Dialectal code shifting denotes a functional context in which a person makes alternate use of two or more dialectal codes.

Coimbatore - Dharmapuri dialectal code shifting is found in the speech of Cochin Tamils.For example,

[ eenTi… impuTTu neeram enkaTi… pooynunta?!
enra mavalukku panam koduttu utulee…
ava paticcu periya aala varuttum… ]

"Where have you gone for a long time?!
give money to my daughter.
Let her to come to good position by studying"

In this dialect 'eenTi… impuTTu neeram enkaTi… pooynunta?' which reflects a dialectal form of the Dharmapuri district. And the remaining part of this example is the dialectal form of Coimbatore.

The reason for the mixed dialect varieties was also given by the informants .They said that before migrating to Cochin, they did platform business at Coimbatore, Kanniyakumari and Madurai also; though their birth place was Dharmapuri.

2.2.4. External Code Switching

Bilingual code switching includes simultaneous use of English, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, ect .For this study, Tamil and Malayalam are taken in to consideration for code switching .It is not necessary that both the speaker and the hearer must know two languages. The second language may be acquired through many contexts.For example,

i) In the Second Language context,
ii) In the Business context

In the data collected for the study, the above two reasons influence the language behaviour of the speakers and create the context for bilingual code switching. In the present study, the data collected was sufficient enough to prove code shifting and code mixing strongly. Code shifting including the use of Tamil and Malayalam in the bilingual Cochin situation is also noted.

The people who were migrated to kerala from Tamil Nadu fifteen years ago, and settled in Kerala, They learned Malayalam for various purposes. So, code mixing occurs spontaneously in their speeches, and sometimes they are not aware of it. They use some Malayalam vocabulary items while they speak Tamil.

[naaN neeRRu 'heraam' paTam paatta…
Kamalakaasa-nTe abinayam romba nallaa irukku…]

Here, the underlined words are Malayalam words.The suffix 'nTe' is the possisive case marker in the Malayalam and the word 'abinayam' is a noun.

The informant told that she and her family migrated to Cochin fifteen years ago. So this kind of code mixing appears in her sppech.

This kind of code switching is common among the language of the platform shopkeepers who migrated from Tamil Nadu and whose mother tongue is Tamil.

2. Inadequacy in the proficiency of Malayalam

Since, most of the informants were cooli-workers, and also they were seasonal workers. They do not have much fluency in Malayalam in the beginning stage. They used more number of lexical items of Malayalam language in their speech. At the beginning stage or in the speech of the newly migrated people, only code mixing is found and shifting is not found in their speech because of their inadequacy in the use of Malayalam.

Some of the Malayalam lexical items which were found in the speech of Tamil in Cochin are given below:

                                             Malayalam               Translation

                      ari              -------------              rice

                                              accaN      -------------    father

                                              ambalam   -------------    temple

                                              aTukkala   -------------    kitchen

                                              cauvaala    ------------     onion

                                              ceeTTan    -------------    brother (elder)

                                              ceecci        -------------    sister (elder

                                              gulaga       -------------     tablet

             irachi         -------------     meat

             jooli           --------------    work

             jolikaaran  --------------    worker

             koduku      --------------     mosquito

             kodukutiri  --------------     mosquito coil

             muri           --------------     room

             mullapuu   ---------------    jasmine

             palli           ---------------    church

             paTTi        ---------------    dog

             puucca      ----------------    cat

             uunu         ----------------     meals

             vaatul       ----------------     door

             velicccenna ---------------    coconut oil

             vellam        ---------------     water                                        

avan-ai neettu paTTi kaTi-ccu. "yesterday, a dog bit him."

Here, the words paTTi, kaTiccu are from Malayalam, and the remaining parts are Tamil words. In this way, one of the informants used Malayalam words during his talk.

Some more Malayalam items (verbs) which were found in their speech of Tamils are as follows.

Malayalam                            Tamil (equivalent)                          Translation

iri                         -----------            iru                                 -----    sit down

cuRRikara-nki    -----------           cuRRittiRi-nt-aaN         ------   roamed

kala                      -----------           eRi                                 ------   through away

keTTipiTi-cc-u     -----------           kaTTipiTi-tt-aan           ------   embraced

konTuvannu        ------------          konTuva-nt-aan            -------   brought

koTu-tt-u             ------------         kotu-ttan                       ------     give

avaL renTu maankaa konTuvannu.
she - two - mango - brought

She brought two mangoes.

Here, the word konTuvannu is Malayalam and the remaining parts are Tamil words.

2.3. Types of Code Switching

There are two kinds of code switching available.They are:

1. Intra -sentential -code mixing,
2. And Inter- sentential - code shifting

2.3.1 Intra- sentential code mixing

Intra sentential switching takes place within a sentence or clause or word boundaries with no apparent change in topic, interlocter, setting etc. This code mixing is categoriesed as fellows depending upon the processes involved namely:

a. Noun Insertion,
b.Verb Insertion,
c.Clause and Sentence Insertion.

2.3.1.a.Noun Insertion

This code mixing involving the mixing of noun in one code in a sentence which is another code is called as code mixing due to noun insertion.

1. vellam oru Tamlar konTuvaa- nka.

Water - one glass - fetch - PNG marker.
"Fetch me a glass of water."

2. paTTi nettu cettu poocci!

dog - yesterday - died.
"dog died yesterday!"

3. mukyamantri neettu eranaakulam vantaar.

Chief Minister - yesterday - Ernakulam - came.
"The chief minister came to Ernakulam yesterday."

4. uunu renTu parcal vaankiTTu vaa-nka.

meals - two - parcel - fetch - PNG marker.
"Fetch me two parcel of meals."

5. kulaka caappiTTaa ellam cariyaakiTum.

Tablet -eat-if - all - be right.
"If you take tablet, you would be cured."

6. panjacaaram vaanka marantuTTa.

Sugar - to buy - forgot.
"I forgot to buy sugar."

7. melukutiri renTu kuTu-nka.

Candle - two - give -PNG.
"Give me two candles."

In the above sentences, the subject parts contain Malayalam words and the predicate parts are from Tamil.

2.3.1. b.Verb Insertion

Code mixing also involves that mixing of a verb only in a sentence from a code and remaining parts are from another code. In the following examples, Tamil sentences are base forms where Malayalam verbs used as mixing items.

1. avanukku malayalam camcaarikka aRiyum.

to him - Malayalam - to speak - know.
"He knows to speak Malayalam."

2. naaN avaNe vili-ccu.

I - he - call - past.
"I called him."

3. avaN melukuvartti katti-ccu.

He - candle - lit -past.
"He lit the candle."

4.avaN aNuppia laTTar enakku kiTTi-yilla.

"He - sent - letter - to me - received-not.
"I did not received the letter which he sent."

5. avaL vannu!

she - come - past.
"She came!"

It is to be noted that unlike the predicate verb of a sentence in Tamil which reflects the concord in terms of number and gender of the subjects, the finite predicate verbs of the above code mixing examples do not reflect concord. The Malayalam verbs are used as such and mixed in the sentence. This can also be considered as an example of convergence.

2.3.1. c. Clause and sentence insertion

Complex sentence with different clauses reflects code mixing.

Example:

[ naaN avanka viiTTukku pooNappa
avarokka poRattepooyi!!]
"When I went to their home, they all had gone out!!"

In the above mentioned example, the underlined part of the sentence is the subordinate clause which is from Malayalam language, and it occurs with the main clause which is from Tamil language.

2.3.2. Inter - sentential Code shifting

One informant was asked to describe about their arrival to Kerala.He began to describe it in Tamil and switched to Malayalam and then completed it in Tamil.

[naanka keeralaa vantaattaa enkapolappu naTukkum!
Vantillenkil, enkaTa jeevitam naTakilla.
atanalatta polapuu teeTi inka vantoo…]

"We can live only if we come to Kerala!
Otherwise, we cannot lead our lives.
So, we came here to generate income for life."

These kind of code mixing and code shifting were found amoung the Tamil speakers of Cochin city who were migrated from Tamil Nadu.

III. CONTENTS OF CODE SWITCHING

3.1. General

Human speech contexts encourage code switching behaviour. It involves a switch from one language to another in a specific context. The context of the speech determines the language behaviour. In this chapter, the contexts, or different domains of code switching are described. Here, how language behaviour is controlled by the contexts of speech, how it varies from one context to another, how the language varies when the topic changes etc.are shown in relation to the context and participants clearly.

3.2. Contexts and Language behaviour

Language behaviour varies from one domain to another. A person will adapt different varieties or codes and styles and keep switching over from one code to another depending upon the context.

A person's social intimacy ,social relationship, social distance the situation of both the speaker and hearer, all play their roles in the language behaviour.The speaker is not selecting his own way or style in his language use, but the context determines the varieties according to the situations.

Informants during the diglossic code switching, switch over from one variety to another. The varieties are standard and low varieties. They give reasons for their language behaviour also. They use standard variety only in formal context. In some other context, they use low variety. Some of the domains are given below:

1. with friends,
2 .with co workers,
3. with parents,
4. to narrate story.

Switching Behaviour involving the use of dialectal varieties is not conditioned.They switch over from one dialect to another depending upon the hearer.Gererally in this study, it was observed that when the topic changes the codes also change.

In a diglossic situation, it was found out that when the informants speak about their subject, they use either the standard variety or low variety.And in a bilingual situation, code switching occurs depending upon the topic.

The data was collected from fifty informants whose mother tongue is Tamil. They use Tamil and Malayalam alternatively in their day to day activities .35% of informants were using Malayalam and Tamil alternatively or with mixing and shifting. When the reason was asked, they told the investigator that they migrated to Cochin City 20 years back. Hence, they have proficiency in both the languages, and this might be the reason for mixing and shifting.

15% of the informants used only Tamil in their speech, and occasionally they mixed some Malayalam lexical items.In their speech, only mixing was found, and shifting was not found .They told the investigator that they had less proficiency in Malayalam as they have come to Cochin City recently. This may be the reason for the lesser degree of code shifting in their speech.

3.3 Various domains of code switching

The various domains of code switching where takes place are as follows:

1. Platform shop keepers with consumers,
2. Cooli workers with co-workers,
3. Members of the family,
4. Friends,
5. Relatives, and
6. others.

Informants use a type of code with their family members which is more informal, casual and simple. The informants speak Tamil within their family. Since, they were brought up in that way. With the friends, they use both the mother tongue and Malayalam. During their business time, they use Malayalam and Tamil languages alternatively.

Code Switching with the Consumers

With Co-Workers

With the friends

With the Family Members

With the Relatives

3.4. Conditions behind Code Switching

Three different contexts of code switching are found in the present study are as follows:

1. Specific

Among the informants, three-fourth of them was platform shopkeepers, and they specifically use Malayalam and Tamil alternatively. They use the standard variety of language with the consumer and with their friends. Hence, occasionally they use low variety of language.

2. Attracting the consumers

In the data recorded without the informants knowledge during business time, they use standard and low variety codes. Some times or often, they switch over from one dialect to another. And also, Tamil-Malayalam code switching occurs .They use both the languages to attract the consumers.

3. Circumstantial necessity

Having Tamil as their mother tongue, the Tamil people who live in Kerala speak both Malayalam and Tamil. Because they were doing business in order to thrive in their business, they happen to learn Malayalam language in different contexts.

IV. CONCLUSION

4.1. Gereral

This chapter presents all findings and observations made through the present study. And also suggests some future prospects. The concluding parts of the study gives brief summary of the aspects of code switching covered and discussed.

4.2.Code Switching and its varieties

With the data collected, the code switching behaviour of Cochin Tamils was studied, and two more related varieties of code switching are also identified.

The characteristics of code switching and related varieties involved in code switching are identified and discussed as follows:

1. Code switching involves switching from:

i. One language to another,
ii. One dialect to another,
iii. One registeral variety to another.

2.Code Mixing involves mixing of:

i. Two languages,
ii. Two or More Languages,
iii.Two or more diglossic varieties.

3.Code Shifting involves shifting from:

i.One language to another,
ii.One dialect to another,
iii.One diglossic variety to another.

These variations are amply evident from the data collected, and the present study identified the following types of code switching. They are:

1.Word level code switching,
2.Syntactic level code switching,
3.Phrase level code switching,
4. And, grammatical level code switching.

The types of code switching behaviour along with its setting were found out; bilingual code switching behaviour was also identified. This study also concentrates on the reasons for code switching, the context of code switching ,various domains of code switching etc. and elaborate them . It has been strongly proved that the change of topic and the change of setting influence the language behaviour and thus ,they control the code switching process.

The study identifies the followings as conditions behind the code switching behaviour of people:

1.Circumstancial necessity,
2.And attracting the consumers.

During the interaction, information transfer brings shifts from one language to another, one dialect to another and from one variety to another depending upon the role of the speaker,and the occupation of the addressees and the existence of the situation. If the number or the informants were more, we could have studied the language use with regular mixing in a deeper and wider perspective.

This would have enabled us to provide evidence, and also helped us to give the conditions, the reasons and results of the data with adequate statistical figures. Since, this study is a small scale study; an attempt is made to see in an overall way of code switching behaviour and use of language of bilinguals in Cochin City. There is scope for a detailed study in the future.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Agasthialingam, S. &   Karunakaran, K. 1980. Sociolinguistics and dialectology, All India Tamil Linguistics Association, Annamalainagar.

Bell, R.T.  1976.  Sociolinguistics-Goals approaches and problems. B.T Batstord Ltd: London.

Bright, W. 1968        Social Dialect and Semantic Structure in South Asia. Structure and change in Indian Society. Singer, M., Cohn.B. (Eds) New York.WGFAR.

Crystal, D. 1985  A dictionary of linguistics as phonetics. Basil Blackwell Ltd: London.

Fishman, J.A. 1971. Reading in Sociology of Language. Mouton & Co: The Hague.

Gnanasundram, V. 1982. Conditions for the Code Mixing behaniou. Third International conference on South Asian Languages and Linguistics.

Ganesan, M. 1991. Code Switching Behaviour of the Platform Speakers in Tamil Language. Ph.D thesis. Annamalai University,Annamalainagar.

Hudson, R.A. 1980. Sociolinguistics. Cambridge University Press, London.

Karunakaran, K. &    Shivashanmugam, C. 1978. Studies in Tamil Socio-linguistics                    Malar Pathippakam: Annamalai Nagar. 

Karunakaran, K. 1983. Sociolinguistic Pattern of Language Use. Malar Pathippagam, Annamalainagar.

Karunakaran, K. 1981. Study of Social dialect in Tamil, Malarpathippagam,Annamalainagar.

Labov, W. 1966. The Social Stratification of English in New York City, Washington D.C.: CAL.

Richard,T.C. (et al.). 1985. Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics. Longman: London.

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Wardhaph, R. 1986. An introduction to sociolinguistics. Blackwell Publishers Ltd: London.

APPENDIX: QUESTIONNAIRE

1.Name of the Informants :                 

2.sex:                                                   :                            

3.Age:                                                

4.Educational Status    :                       

       i. Secondary Level :

       ii.Higher Secondary Level :

       iii.Higher Education  :

       iv.Illiitrate  :

5.Caste  :

6.Mother Tongue  :

7.Native Place   :

8.Peried of Residency in Present Place  :

9.Other languages known                       :    1  -------------------

                                                                     2   --------------------

                                                                     3. --------------------

10. Informants proficiency in other languages.

11. Profeciency of the informants in his mother tongue :

       1. To Comprehend :

       2. To speak :

       3. To read :

       4.To Write :

12. How did you learn these languages?  

Context Situations                                                        Languages

                                                                           -------------------------------------------------

At Home

At School

Contact with other speaker

13. Mention the languages which you use at home   :

    1. ---------------------------

    2 ---------------------------

    3.  -----------------------------

14. When your neighbor belongs to different language or social group.

      1. Do you make use of your language of dialect?

      2. Do you make use of their language or dialect?

      3. Do you make use of a language commonly known to both of you?

15.What language do you use for writing letters ?

This Project Report was submitted by me to the Bharathiar University in Partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Master of Arts in Linguistics in May 2000.

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