Code-switching in young adults from Gibraltar: a structural and functional approach
Situations of language contact in border areas are particularly interesting and striking and so is the linguistic situation of the small territory of Gibraltar (6.8 km2) and the delimitation of its border with Spain. Previous studies on the area indicate that Spanish-English bilingualism is fairly common (Lipski 1986; Kellermann 2001; Moyer 1998), however recent studies highlight the intergenerational loss of Spanish (Weston 2013; Goria 2020). The changing linguistic situation of this small territory is also reflected in their local variety: Yanito, emerging as a result of the contact between Spanish and English. In this presentation, I explore from a qualitative perspective the categorical boundaries of languages and the fine and continuous line between code-switching and code-mixing by analyzing conversations of young adults in Gibraltar (16-35 years old). The results show that Yanito, rather than being lost, is transforming and acquiring a fundamental role in the formation of the Gibraltarian identity of the new generations.
The corpus of analysis is based on an innovative online methodology of 16 semi-directed focus groups with three participants (between 35-50 minutes in duration) and a conversation guide (in total, 48 participants). On a theoretical level, this sociolinguistic study first examines how the language shift process has affected the basis of the local variety and the form and functionality of the code-switching that characterizes it (Auer 2014; Muysken 2013). Through a qualitative analysis supported by quantitative data, it is observed that English has penetrated formal and informal settings becoming the basis of most conversations (Kellermann 2001; Moyer 1992). However, an increase in insertions and peripheral elements of Spanish is shown in speakers with and without a command of the inherited language (Andalusian Spanish) (Goria 2020; Weston 2013). This leads one to think that code-switching in Gibraltar has become a sign of individual and collective identity (Bucholtz & Hall 2004).Marta Rodríguez García is a Ph.D. student and teaching assistant at the University of Basel, Switzerland. She is currently working on her dissertation on the sociolinguistic situation in Gibraltar. In the past, she studied Translation and Interpreting in Seville (Spain) and completed a Master's degree in Hispanic Philology with a double major in English Linguistics at New Mexico State University. Her interest in language contact was sparked by her participation in several university projects and the completion of her master thesis on the use of discourse markers in the bilingual discourse of Gibraltar.