“GOING BILINGUAL”: CODESWITCHING DURING CHURCH SERVICES IN SOUTH TUCSON, ARIZONA

Abstract

The current paper uses Myers-Scotton’s (1998) markedness model to examine codeswitching in a United Methodist church in South Tucson, Arizona. From transcriptions of church services (n=20,569), the frequency of each language overall (SP=39.89%, EN=60.11%) and in sermons (SP=40.83%, EN=59.17%), prayers (SP=43.61%, EN=56.39%), and announcements (SP=34.78%, EN=65.22%) was determined. Spanish was the marked code, while English was the unmarked code. In addition, the frequency of codeswitches (n=938) was determined. The study contributes to current literature on codeswitching by highlighting the linguistic creativity and expertise the participants use while codeswitching in a church setting.

Keywords: bilingual services, codeswitching, language choice, markedness model