A SOCIOLINGUISTIC ANAYSIS OF CODE SWITCHING AND CODE MIXING IN SELECTED JENIFA’S DIARY EPISODES
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A SOCIOLINGUISTIC ANAYSIS OF CODE SWITCHING AND CODE MIXING IN SELECTED JENIFA’S DIARY EPISODES
Chapter One: General Introduction
1.1 Background for the study
Code-switching is the use of many languages, varieties, or styles by a speaker within an utterance or discourse, or between various interlocutors or contexts (Romaine, 1992:110). throughout linguistics, code-switching happens when a speaker switches between two or more languages, or language varieties, throughout the course of a single discourse.
According to Wardhaugh (2012: 103), code mixing occurs when a conversant uses both languages simultaneously to the point that they switch from one to the other during a single speech.
It indicates that the conversant just modifies some of the parts in their discourse. Code mixing occurs without a change in topic and can include several levels of language, such as morphology and lexical items.
Code-mixing and code-switching are essential parts of sociolinguistics due to their social use and status. It is hardly surprising that researchers are continuing to investigate numerous aspects of code change, as it has consequences beyond (socio)linguistic, anthropological, and psychological dimensions.
To the extent that people’s speech is an expression of their personal, social, cultural, and other identities, it is not an exaggeration to say that it affects the majority of the world’s population.
Although code-switching has often been viewed as a stigmatised form of bilingual discourse, there is no doubt that learning more about the underlying rules of code-switching can only contribute to increased awareness among speakers of opposing viewpoints (Adetuyi and Jegede, 2016).
Authors and researchers have proposed many explanations for why people mix code and code switch. They clearly have both good and bad consequences on language use.
It is consequently vital that these principles relating to human society and our educational system receive adequate attention in order to be comprehended and applied successfully where they are required.
In a community where individuals speak multiple languages, one language is typically influenced by others. Some of the consequences of multilingualism include code mixing and code change, bilingualism, diglossia, and so on.
When a speaker comes into touch with two or more languages, they can begin utilising them concurrently, even if not with equal competence. However, different languages impact each other, resulting in code mixing and switching (Kuntze, 2000). Jenifa Diary contains a classic example of how speakers mix or swap codes.
However, Funke Akindele created Jenifa’s Diary, a Nigerian television comedy series. The series is part of the Jenifa franchise, and it is based on the same-named innocent and hilarious character.
Jenifa’s Dairy has over 11 (maybe 13) seasons and is still open and running (Ikeke, Nkem, 2017). This series depicts the story of a native country girl who badly wants to escape her harsh lifestyle.
In despair, she leaves her town and travels to Lagos to process her visa to the United States. Despite her failing visa application, she decides to stay in Lagos and pursue a better life.
She soon finds herself at the University of Lagos, where she is helped and accommodated by two ladies she meets, Toyo baby (Olayode Juliana) and Kiki (Lota Chukwu) (Izuzu Chidumga, 2017).
Jenifa’s studies is fruitless, but she secures a position at Nikki’o salon on the island with the assistance of her friend Kiki, and she becomes very successful in her hair styling business.
At Nikki’o Saloon, she meets another stylist, Segun (Folarin ‘Falz’ Falana), who gets fascinated in her, but she initially rejects him before accepting his proposal when he travels to America and they both become engaged (Ikeke, Nkem, 2017).
People all throughout the country were eagerly anticipating the next episode of the series, and the excitement had almost reached a fever pitch. Even aged men and women were ardent supporters.
But it isn’t the most astounding thing. The most astounding aspect is how young people all around the country, particularly females, have taken to speaking like Jenifa, the series’ main character, whose main selling point was her perverted form of English (Anozie, 2017).
Imitated speech, on the other hand, is permissible due to communicative configuration. It should be noted that Jenifa’s Diary supports dramatised discourse; it can construct, correlate, and contrast several speakers. By doing so, it simulates real-life scenarios of the use of many languages in a normal oral discourse among Nigerians.
However, on a lighter yet more serious note, while this trend may not be harmful, it is undoubtedly unproductive. And why waste time doing something unproductive when you could be doing something constructive instead?
And for those who claim that English is not our mother tongue, it may not be, but it is still the official language. It is still a required subject in O’level and other types of exams (Anozie, 2017).
On that note, the purpose of this study is to determine what drove code switching and code mixing in some of the characters in Jenifa’s Diary Episodes, as well as why.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Several studies have been conducted on bilingual English speakers. Some studies examine how English speakers switch and mix between distinct language codes in their daily dialogues or discussions. All of these research drew on data from real-life situations.
None of them looked at the use of code switch and mix in dramatised utterances. Investigating code switching and code mixing in Jenifa’s Diary Episodes can help us understand how these occurrences are used by Nigerians. This is the gap that this study aims to fill.
1.3 Aims and Objectives
This study will look into code switching and code mixing in selected Jenifa’s Diary episodes. This study aims to achieve the following objectives:
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1.5 Significance of the Study
The study will look into the potential societal implications of code switching and code mixing in TV soap operas in Nigeria, which is multilingual. The study’s findings would help researchers better understand the code flipping and mixing phenomenon among Nigerian bilinguals. Finally, it is hoped that this work would be useful as a reference for future research in this field.
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