The Prevalence and Forms of Code-Switching and Code-Mixing in Readers’ Comments on Selected News Articles in the Herald Online

Abstract

The study investigated the prevalence and forms of code-switching and code-mixing in readers’ comments on selected news articles in the online version of The Herald, one of the leading daily newspapers in Zimbabwe. The sample was purposive in that the inquiry focused on the paper’s ‘most read and commented’ stories per edition for seven (7) consecutive days, from 13 September to 20 September 2011. Data were, thus, collected through content analysis. The research unearthed that there was a proliferation of code-switching and code-mixing in the readers’ comments. Switching and mixing primarily involved English, which is an official language in Zimbabwe but to the majority is a second language, and Shona, the most widely spoken indigenous language in Zimbabwe and is also one of the official languages. The number of comments in which the phenomena (code-switching and code-mixing) appeared per article ranged from 16.7% to 62.2%. The study further established that code-switching and code-mixing in the comments under investigation occurred at intra-word, intra-sentential (tag-switching), and inter-sentential levels. The researchers conclude that this manifestly prevalent code-switching and code-mixing could be symptomatic of what is obtaining in the wider bilingual and multi-lingual Zimbabwean society. The paper also suggests the possible factors that could be motivating The Herald online readers to code-switch and code-mix in their comments.