Judgment and Code Switching

Judgment and Code Switching

I recently came across this article about code-switching and remembered this concept had came up in class discussion and in one of the videos we watched. It was interesting to find out that the definition of this term for linguists is that it is the practice of alternating between two or more languages or varieties of language in conversation. But based off of what I had learned previously, this did not sound accurate so I kept reading. In the article, Eric Deggans tells us how in today's increasingly multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society, the term's deeper meaning involves shifting between different cultures as you move through life's conversations — choosing your communication style based on the people you're dealing with. So in other words, people will "code switch" or change how they talk or behave based on who they are around. When I first heard of this concept I automatically thought of my now ex-husband. He is of Haitian and African American ethnicity and I am French (okay, I am white) but because of this I noticed how he would act or speak a certain way around me and then his homeboys would come around and he just like "flipped this switch" and was a different person because he sounded and acted completely different. I used to call him out for this and say that he was being fake. He would get very defensive or upset and would say that he was not being any sort of way. He clearly did not even recognize what he was doing because it happened so naturally for him. Deggans talks about how Barack Obama, our first black president also code-switched and had done it publicly for a speech back in 2007 which was in front of a mainly black audience and Fox News thought it was absurd and a "put on" all because they themselves had never done it or experienced it. But this "behavior" is to help fit in and making sure you are understood in whatever group setting you are in and that it becomes so natural like how breathing is. Now after learning about this concept and really understanding it, I too have realized that I code switch and I won't ever judge someone for it again. Whether it is speaking more southern around certain family members, or using slang around my ex husbands family, or my professional "white" voice at work, I am still the same old Cathleen. 

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/04/10/176234171/learning-how-to-code-switch-humbling-but-necessary