The Function of Code-Switching in Selma Dabbagh’s Out of It

Bilal TawfiqHamamra, Salsabil Qararia

Abstract


Bilingualism and biculturalism have a very immediate impact on the make-up of literary works of bilingual and bicultural authors with immediate linguistic traces of bilingual and bicultural mosaic of textual creation. Code-switching is a linguistic and cultural practice used by bilinguals in writing and speaking. This article examines the linguistic and cultural phenomenon of code-switching employed in Selma Dabbagh’s novel Out of It (2011). We argue that Dabbagh uses code-switching from English into Arabic so as to address the concerns of Palestinians and maintain her Palestinian belonging. At the very beginning, we explain what is meant by code-switching and briefly elucidate the reasons why bilingual authors use this technique. Thereafter, we shed light on the author’s background and expound the different types of code-switching she employs in Out of It. The upshot of this article clears up cultural and textual hybridity as the product of the application of code-switching.

Keywords


Selma Dabbagh, Out of It, Palestinian culture, code-switching, cultural and textual hybridity, types and categories of code-switching

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.9n.2p.126

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