English in Cypriot Greek conversations: a preliminary investigation

This paper suggests an approach to code-switching which employs central dis­course-analytic concepts in order to account for the multiplicity and broad range of the relevant phenomena. It suggests that instances of language alter­nation in conversation can be accounted for in terms of the distinction between local and global phenomena, and the tri-partite scheme of ideational, interper­sonal and sequential functions. This approach is shown to operate in the use of English in Cypriot Greek conversations, as indicated by the analysis of extensive data from informal conversations. Switches to English cover a small part of the language alternation continuum that ranges from local borrowing to stereotyp­ical sequential, and combined interpersonal and sequential, phenomena