A case study of a Korean-American family’s code switching during conflict-related interaction

Abstract

The study explores how code switching (CS) manifests itself in adversarial episodes during meal time. In particular, it examines how CS emerges among members of a Korean American family as they wrangle, dispute, and argue in this intimate discursive setting. Several researchers have examined how arguments and disputes among children are realized (e.g., Boggs 1978; Brenneis and Lein 1977; Corsaro and Rizzo 1990; Eisenberg and Garvey 1981). Nonetheless, little is known about how bilingual children and their parents employ CS as a negotiating tool in conflict-related interactions. Among the findings, the study reveals that CS is manifested in the parents and children in slightly different ways although the family members skillfully maneuver the use of two languages and registers. The study uncovers how CS was employed as a strategy to attempt to achieve goals and how it intersected with stance taking. In general, CS also emerged as a discursive strategy that the interlocutors employed to explicate, challenge, mitigate, hedge, and plead during these episodes.