A sociolinguistic study of code-switching in the Algerian hirak (movement)‎

Abstract EN

Code-switching phenomenon cannot be separated from the fact that many people are bilingual, trilingual and even multilingual.

Code-switching has become socially and communicatively unavoidable.

The main focus of our study is to find out the reasons and motivations behind using code-switching in the slogans carried by the demonstrators in the hirak in Algeria.

Data for the present study are collected from the hirak and analysed, using descriptive qualitative method to identify socio-cultural factors that underlie code- switching.

The results reveal that socio-cultural variables appear to be strong factors in determining the use of code-switching.

The most dominant type of code-switching used in the hirak is inter-sentential switching.