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The performativity of codeswitching

National University of Singapore, ellscj{at}nus.edu.sg

Many problems in codeswitching theory point to a lack of fit between linguistic data and a sufficiently elaborated theory of social life. In this paper, codeswitching will be viewed as one type of socioculturally informed discourse mediating speakers' responses to social, cultural, economic and symbolic capital. The conversational data for this study comprise an informal meeting between women comerciantes in postcolonial Mozambique, a community characterized by weak state organization, a plenitude of informal markets and divisive social conflicts manifested in heteroglossic speech practices. The data is analyzed in relation to Judith Butler's performativity theory, and seen as part of the reflexive constitution of power and agency in local sites formed by the productivity of economic failure. By way of conclusion, some implications for common concepts of

Key Words: codeswitching • linguistic market • Mozambican Portugese • performativity • resistance

International Journal of Bilingualism, Vol. 8, No. 2, 145-166 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/13670069040080020301


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