Code-switching and social stratification in a rural Chasu community in Tanzania

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Periodical article

Title:	Code-switching and social stratification in a rural Chasu community in Tanzania
Author:	Sebonde, Rafiki
Year:	2012
Periodical:	Language Matters: Studies in the Languages of Africa (ISSN 1022-8195)
Volume:	43
Issue:	1
Pages:	60-76
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Tanzania
Subjects:	Asu language Swahili language English language codeswitching sociolinguistics
Abstract:	Traditionally, contact linguistics paid less attention to internal speaker diversity in contact situations, treating groups in contact as relatively homogeneous. This research investigates whether different subgroups of speakers in a contact situation show different effects. In particular, this research investigates whether key sociolinguistic variables such as social class, gender, age and educational levels have as much bearing as in Western variationist sociolinguistics, in explaining the occurrence of code-switching in the rural trilingual Chasu community of the Same District (Kilimanjaro, Tanzania), where Chasu, Swahili and English coexist. The study reveals how the socioeconomic status of the language used by the dominant group, and the degree and duration of contact determine the scope of code-switching among rural Tanzanian Chasu speakers. Bibliogr., note, sum. [Journal abstract]