Language Influence in Malayalee-American Community in New York
This research explores the impact of code-switching between Malayalam and English among Malayalee-American bilingual speakers in New York City and Long Island. It investigates how their bilingualism differs from monolinguals and the frequency of code-switching in conversations. The study aims to identify the most common parts of speech switched between the two languages and understand the nuances of language use in this community.
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The Intersection of Malayalam and English in Members of the Malayalee-American Community in New York Angel Shaji Dr. Isabelle Barriere SMA Award # 2050922 National Science Foundation and co-funded by US Department of Defense Air Force Office of Scientific Research ASSURE program
Malayalam English Code-switching In what ways do Malayalam and English influence each other in bilingual speakers? The New York City/ Long Island area is one where Malayalee- American speakers are highly populated. Lack of studies on how their bilingualism differs from English and Malayalam monolinguals, especially in terms of how their language differs depending on who is present in the conversation (bilingual Malayalee-Americans vs. non bilinguals)
Map of the Languages Spoken in NYC https://www.elalliance.org/our-work/maps/nyc-map
Key Concepts and Terminology Code-switching: Code-switching (CS) is a linguistic phenomenon in which a bilingual speaker switches freely between their languages (codes) within a single utterance, conversational turn, or conversation. Malayalam: Malayalam is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry by the Malayali people. https://avopix.com/premium- vector/313450091-shutterstock- kerala-karala-state-india-vector- map Bilingual: the use of two languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers.
Research Questions and Hypotheses (1) Q1: Which parts of speech are most commonly switched to English while speaking in Malayalam? o Hypothesis 1: When speaking in Malayalam, verbs are going to be the most commonly code-switched words to English. Malayalam Verb Tenses English Verb Tenses Go, going, went, gone (+ auxiliaries: has, was, wil,l etc) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayalam_grammar
Research Questions and Hypotheses (2) Q2: Which parts of speech are most commonly switched to Malayalam while speaking in English? o Hypothesis 2: When speaking in English, nouns (which are more commonly known in Malayalam, e.g. chakka for jackfruit) are going to be the most commonly code-switched words to Malayalam
Research Questions and Hypotheses (3) Q3: Will code-switching by Malayalam-English bilingual speakers be relatively frequent in the presence of other Malayalam-English bilingual speakers? o Hypothesis 3: Code-switching by Malayalam-English bilingual speakers will be relatively frequent in the presence of other Malayalam-English bilinguals.
Methodology Participants: Fourteen 18-25 year-olds from the NYC and Long Island Area of New York Asked to: 1. about participants. 2. Complete a storybook-translation task in which participants responses were audio-recorded for further analysis. 3. Took part in a recorded Zoom meeting with fellow participants in which participants will be expected to converse about provided topics. Answer a preliminary survey that collect pertinent information
Frog, Where Are You? Ask to translate orally from English to Malayalam. English code-switching noted Ask to translate orally from Malayalam to English. Malayalam code-switching noted Once upon a time, underneath the light of the crescent moon, a little boy and his dog say good night to their frog friend,who lives in a glass jar, before they go to bed. Maan kuthichappol, cherakkanum avante kudathil pattiyum oru paarakettil ninnum veenu.
Analysis of Hypothesis 1 o Hypothesis 1: When speaking in Malayalam, verbs are going to be the most commonly code-switched words to English. Given that there was a lot of code-switching, one page of translations per participant were transcribed for this presentation Data was transcribed Code-switching was annotated Code-switched words were categorized Noun, verb, other (greetings, English words with Malayalam inflections) Total number of words code-switched was calculated
H1 Results Hypothesis not supported Category of most code- switched words were NOUNS, not verbs Many code-switched words were code- switched within the word English words with Malayalam inflectional endings Does this count as code-switching?
Malayalam Inflected English Words 1. Moon-inte [English] Moon (n) - [Malayalam] inte (possessive) 2. Jar-il [English] Jar (n) - [Malayalam] il (prepositional) 3. Frog-indu [English] Frog (n) - [Malayalam] inodu (prepositional) 4. Jar-in [English] Jar (n) - [Malayalam] in (prepositional) There are words for these nouns in Malayalam, so - do they count as code-switches or borrowed words that are now part of the Malayalam language?
Analysis of Hypothesis 2 o Hypothesis 2: When speaking in English, nouns (which are more commonly known in Malayalam, e.g. chakka for jackfruit) are going to be the most commonly code-switched words to Malayalam
H2 Results Partly supported Only 1 incident of code- switching in 1 participant on transcribed page Malayalam code- switched word was noun
Summary of Results -H1: When speaking in Malayalam, VERBS were not the most commonly code-switched words to English; NOUNS are the most commonly code-switched category Inflections (?) H2: When speaking in English, NOUNS were the most commonly code-switched words to Malayalam; Only ONE example of this H3: Participants placed into two groups of seven and asked to talk about 1. Their last trip to Kerala in English and 2. Their favorite spots in NYC in Malayalam Not yet transcribed and analyzed Will show frequency of code-switching in bilinguals when with other bilinguals
Key References Mandal, S., Best, C. T., Shaw, J., & Cutler, A. (2020). Bilingual phonology in dichotic perception: A case study of malayalam and English voicing. Glossa: a Journal of General Linguistics, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.853 Nambiar, R. (2019). Colour naming behavior among bilingual malayalam english speakers: Evidence from english narrative discourse. Color Research & Application, 44(5), 749 761. https://doi.org/10.1002/col.22390 Valenti, E. (2014). nous autres c est toujours bilingueanyways : Code-switching and linguistic displacement among bilingual Montr al students. American Review of Canadian Studies, 44(3), 279 292. https://doi.org/10.1080/02722011.2014.939423 Wikipedia contributors. (2017, November 4). Bilingualism (disambiguation). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:57, February 14, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bilingualism_(disambiguation)&oldid=808699274 Wikipedia contributors. (2022, February 14). Malayalam. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:41, February 14, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Malayalam&oldid=1071827558
