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Markus Denkler: Code-switching in Gesprächen münsterländischer Dialektsprecher. Zur Sprachvariation beim konversationellen Erzählen

Code-switching – the alternating use of two or more “codes” within a conversational episode – is an important means of contextualizing (Gumperz) the linguistic activities of multilingual individuals. This article analyses code-switching in dialect speakers’ private conversations. The recordings on which it is based were made in Münsterland; the dialect-speaking participants switch between the Low German Münsterlandish dialect and a regiolect. The analysis focuses on the functions of code-switching in conversational narrative, investigating how it is employed to gain the floor and to both build a link to and distinguish an account from previous utterances. Code-switching practices in the main body of the account (especially when yielding the floor) are examined, and it is shown how code-switching is used to contextualize particular utterances as signals of account closure.