Gender based variations among code-switching in Bangladeshi undergraduate students

Abstract

The Code-switching practice between the languages English and Bangla is a prevalent linguistic feature among Bangladeshi undergraduate students, which reflects their language usage and bilingual language practices. This research examines gender-based variations for the practice of code-switching among Bangladeshi university students, by focusing on the aspects of frequency and types of code-switching, variations according to topic-based patterns among both genders, and focusing on differences in frequency and types of switching, topic-based patterns, and the students' grammatical and lexical choice and reflecting on existing theoretical backgrounds that highlight the differences for this practice used by male and female speakers. Using a qualitative research approach, this research has analyzed the natural speech recordings from ten male and ten female undergraduate students. By analyzing the recordings of the participants in this study, the frequency of code switching, the dominant type of code-switching among the participants, the grammatical structures and lexical choice differences, and relevance to existing models to navigate gender-based differences for the practice have been examined from the participants' spontaneous speech patterns. From the findings suggest that, that intra-sentential code-switching was the most frequent form among the participants on whom the study was conducted. Though the female participants show a greater syntactic and lexical variation, the male participants, on the contrary, have used switching more for structural or topic-based patterns. Moreover, the topic-based variations from the participants further showed that the male participants opted for this practice during analytical or factual discussions, while the female participants tended to use this practice more while talking about reflective or expressive topics.