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The functions of Code-switching in a Korean Sunday School
Sun-Young Shin, Indiana University, Bloomington

Abstract
In a bilingual community, people often switch from one language to another in their daily
conversations and the use of code-switching often reflects the social or cultural identities of
the speakers. The switch to a particular language in the bilingual discourse can also be
employed as an effective vehicle to signal ethnic identity. This paper seeks to explore the
functions of code-switching in a Korean Sunday school through an analysis of code-
switching data. I identify situation-related code-switching by examining participants’ talk
and the particular situations which prompt the use of Korean. I also demonstrate how
Korean is used in particular conversational acts, for example in directives, to invoke figures
of authority and how Korean may also be used to avoid saying things which might be found
offensive. In this vein, I argue that the use of Korean in bilingual discourse may index
Korean ethnic identity by evoking the traditional social ideology of relative status and
increasing solidarity.

Introduction
In a bilingual community, people often switch from one language to another in their daily
conversations. Contrary to the assumption that code-switching is evidence of deficient
language knowledge in bilingual speakers, a number of code-switching researchers (Auer
1998; Gumperz, 1982; Heller, 1988; Li & Milroy, 1995; Myers-Scotton, 1993; Shin &
Milroy, 2000) suggest that code-switching is used as an additional resource to achieve
particular interactional goals with other speakers. Additionally, the use of code-switching
often reflects the social or cultural identities of the speakers (Foley, 1997; Myers-Scotton,
1993; Siegel, 1995). The switch to a particular language in bilingual discourse can also be
used to signal ethnic identity (Kroskrity, 1993; Nishimura, 1995; Woolard, 1989). This
indexical link between language choice and ethnicity is especially prevalent among
language-minority children in the U.S. (Pease-Alvarez & Vasquez, 1994). Minority
children sometimes identify themselves by their ethnic background in the community, even
when they adopt the lifestyle and values of the target language group (Schumann, 1986).
Such co-membership in a minority community is frequently reflected in code-switching,
and the speakers in the same community tend to have common orientations towards the
norms and presuppositions of each language (Lo, 1999). Similarly, at Korean ethnic
churches where code-switching from English to Korean is widespread, the use of Korean in
bilingual discourse can serve several conversational functions, including marking Korean
ethnicity by reinforcing the indexical link between a language and the speaker’s ethnic
identity. This paper seeks to explore the functions of code-switching in a Korean Sunday
school through an analysis of code-switching data. I will identify situation-related code-
switching by examining participants’ talk and the particular situations that prompt the use
of Korean. I will also demonstrate how Korean is used in conversational acts such as

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directives, to invoke figures of authority and how Korean may also be used to avoid saying
things that might be found offensive. In this vein, I will argue that the use of Korean in
bilingual discourse may index Korean ethnic identity by evoking the traditional social
ideology of relative status and increasing solidarity. In particular, I will focus on showing
how Sunday school teachers make use of code-switching practices when interacting with
young children.

The Korean Ethnic Church in the U.S.
The Korean-American community has become distinguished by an extraordinarily high rate
of ethnic church participation (Han, 1994; Park, 1997; Patterson, 1988; Hurh & Kim,
1990). Reportedly, 75-80 percent of Korean immigrants in the U.S profess Protestant
church affiliation (Hurh & Kim, 1990). Such high rates of ethnic church participation in the
Korean community indicate not only their devotion to religion but also a strong sense of
ethnic identity (Chong, 1998). That is, Korean churches play a dual role of promoting
Christian faith and preserving Korean ethnic identity.

The church’s role as a crucial link to immigrant culture has been identified in a number of
studies of religious institutions (e.g., Baquedano-Lopez, 2001; Duranti, 1994; Ochs, 1986).
Compared to school in the dominant culture where the ethnic language use and values are
denigrated (Pease-Alvarez & Vasquez, 1994), the ethnic church supports and reinforces
socialization practices learned in the home (Baquedano-Lopez, 1998). To accomplish this
goal, Korean ethnic churches run their own Saturday schools exclusively to teach Korean
language and culture to heritage speakers of Korean. However, because the majority of
children attending Sunday schools are American-born and more fluent in English than in
Korean, recently most religious services, including Bible study for second-generation
members, are carried out in English (Chong, 1998). Thus, a sense of ethnic identity stressed
in church has been relatively weakened as English is used more frequently for religious
services and instruction.

What is interesting, however, is that the Korean Sunday school teachers and students often
switch from English to Korean in conversation despite English being the dominant
language in ethnic Korean churches. These code-switching practices in interaction among
the students and teachers seem to contribute to maintaining and reinforcing Korean ethnic
identity by indexing their identity and membership as Koreans. The indexical relationships
between linguistic choice and one’s ethnic identity have been discussed in several studies
(Heller, 1988; Kroskrity, 1993; Lo, 1999; Milroy, 1987; Nishimura, 1995; Woolard, 1989),
in which it is suggested that code-switching serves as an ethnic identity marker. In contrast
to English, the Korean language uses overt grammatical and lexical elements to indicate
social hierarchy and stratification (Koo, 1992; Sohn, 1981; Sohn, 1999), and therefore
shifting to Korean at a particular moment in bilingual conversation can make a hierarchical
social relationship among the interlocutors more salient (Kang, 2003). Thus, code-
switching at the Korean Sunday school can strengthen and reinforce Korean ethnic identity.
I will begin by reviewing definitions of code-switching and various perspectives on it.

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Code-switching and Code-mixing
Gumperz (1982) defines code-switching as “the juxtaposition within the same speech
exchange of passages of speech belonging to two different grammatical systems or
subsystems” (p. 59). Simply put, code-switching can be defined as the alternation of
languages. However, not all cases of alternation of languages are cases of code-switching.
Several sociolinguists distinguish between code-switching and code-mixing. For example,
in several studies (Sridhar & Sridhar, 1980; Halmari, 1997), code-switching and code-
mixing refer to intersentential and intrasentential language alternation, respectively. In
other words, code-mixing can be understood as the switching of languages that occurs
within sentences, usually at the level of words or idiomatic expressions. However, code-
mixing must also be distinguished from borrowing in that borrowings are used to fill lexical
gaps by monolinguals, while code-mixing is employed at every level of lexical and
syntactic structure by bilinguals (McKay & Hornberger, 1996). Moreover, borrowings are
completely assimilated to the borrowing language, whereas mixed elements often retain
features of the donor language (Gibbons, 1987). In the Korean Sunday school setting, both
code-switching and code-mixing are evident in conversation between teachers and students.

Various Perspectives on Code-switching
The practice of code-switching itself does not indicate a deficiency of language knowledge
(Heller, 1988; Reyes, 2004; Schieffelin, 1994); rather, it seems to serve a communicative
function in conversation. Code-switching as a conversational resource has been studied by
several sociolinguists (Gumperz, 1982; Li & Milroy, 1995). Blom and Gumperz (1972)
distinguish two types of code switching, ‘situational code switching’ and ‘metaphorical
code switching’. Situational code-switching is related to a change in situation, for instance,
when a new participant joins the activity, or a change in the conversation topic or setting.
On the other hand, metaphorical code-switching is often used as a conversational strategy
to enhance or mitigate conversational acts such as requests, denials, topic shifts,
elaborations or clarifications. Gumperz (1982) later re-labels ‘metaphorical code-switching’
as ‘conversational code-switching.’

Myers-Scotton (1993) focuses on the social motivation of code-switching and distinguishes
between ‘unmarked’ (conventional) and ‘marked’ (unexpected) uses of language. Code-
switching can be considered as the unmarked choice when linguistic choices are expected
in the speech community and determined by the social context and situational factors
outside the content of particular communication. Using in-group languages in inter-ethnic
communication as in switching from English to Spanish between Chicanos in Los Angeles
is an example of this type of unmarked code-switching. On the other hand, speakers switch
languages unexpectedly ignoring social factors or other institutional constraints affecting
linguistic choices. Using out-group languages in inter-ethnic interaction could exemplify
this type of code-switching as in selecting English rather than Spanish between Chicanos in
Los Angeles.

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Myers-Scotton notes the effectiveness of code-switching in defining social rights and
obligations in interactions in East Africa and suggests that linguistic choices can be
explained in terms of speaker motivation. In her most recent article (Myers-Scotton &
Bolonyai, 2001), she develops her Markedness Model into a Rational Choice Model by
considering the speakers’ experiences of linguistic choice and rationality, based on
available resources other than the social context and situational factors as both a mechanism
and an explanation of code-switching. Simply put, this Rational Choice approach aims to
take into account of the speakers’ own ‘subjective motivations and their objective
opportunities’ (Myers-Scotton & Bolonyai, 2001, p. 5) in their language choice. This
model assumes that speakers’ choice of one language over another is individual decision
which is rationally based (Myers-Scotton & Bolonyai, 2001, p. 5)

In contrast, Auer (1998) points out that in the models proposed by Blom and Gumperz’
(1972) and Myers-Scotton (1993), one must assume the appropriate choice of language for
the occasion before any unexpected language choice could be interpreted. Thus, Auer
(1998) argues that code-switching is a serious conversational activity and be analyzed as a
contextualization cue. Auer (1995) applies a conversation analysis (CA) approach to
analyze the procedures to establish the participant’s interpretation of code-switching. Auer
(1995) also distinguishes between participant-related and discourse-related code-switching.
The former is motivated by the language preferences, or the participants’ competences, and
the latter plays a role in structuring conversational acts including turn-taking and repair.

In this study, I adopt Blom and Gumperz’ framework, and their categories of situational
and metaphorical code switching, to analyze participants’ language choices at a Korean
Sunday School.

Code-switching and Language Socialization
Code-switching can be related to language socialization practices given that it conveys
social meaning and plays a role in shaping notions of ethnicity and cultural identity (Garrett
& Baquedano-Lopez, 2002; Schieffelin, 1994). Schieffelin (1994, p. 28) examines
relationships between code-switching and general processes of language socialization
among children as follows:

A consistent finding across these and other studies is that children’s
alternation between languages is neither random nor the result of a
linguistic deficit. As with adult speakers, social, grammatical and
functional principles govern these children’s code-switches. Their
ability to code-switch identifies them as members of particular
communities and represents a skillful use of language for social or
stylistic ends.

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As a number of researchers have shown (Blum-Kulka, 1997; Halmari & Smith, 1994;
Reyes, 2004; Zentella, 1997), bilingual children acquire and develop knowledge of code-
switching functions in the course of speaking with other interlocutors. Since language
socialization research is primarily focused on how children are apprenticed into socio-
cultural norms and practices through language as a symbolic system (Garrett & Baquedano-
Lopez, 2002; Ochs 1993; Ochs, 2002; Schieffelin & Ochs, 1986), a relationship code-
switching and language socialization practices in bilingual settings is likely. Moreover,
since Ochs (1986, 1992) shows that a theory of language socialization hinges on a theory of
indexicality, it is possible that language indexes social or bilingual identity. Lanza (1997)
suggests that bilingual children as part of the language socialization process are able to link
social meaning to linguistic form from an early age and learn to differentiate their
languages according to the needs of the social situation or preferences. Thus, if traditional
Korean values and culture are transmitted and reinforced through code-switching, the study
of code-switching practices will shed light on the ways young Korean children acquire
ethnic identity and culture in the Korean ethnic church in the U.S.

Few studies (e.g., Lam (2004); Yun (2008)) have closely examined the role of code-
switching as a means of language socialization. In this paper, by examining the nature and
functions of code-switching in the bilingual discourse occurring in the Korean Sunday
school, I will show how code-switching is used and interpreted by adults and children to
support and reinforce ethnic identity of Korean Sunday school children.

Setting
The site of this study is Y church (a pseudonym) located in Koreatown in Los Angeles.
Fieldwork was conducted over four months. I attended the church weekly to observe the
Bible classes for two hours every Sunday. My data consist of video- and audio- recordings
of authentic teacher and student conversation held in the Sunday school. I also conducted
participant observation and in-depth hour-long interviews with three Sunday school
teachers. In the interviews I inquired about their attitudes, opinions and motivations
towards code-switching.

About 100 adults and children attend Y church every Sunday. The Sunday school starts at
11:00 a.m. with the adult service starts and lasts about an hour. Sunday school consists of
two sessions; the first service session comprises prayers, a short sermon, and offering; the
second session is a Bible study session in which one teacher and three to four students
study Bible together in a small group. Y church’s religious services, and their Sunday Bible
study, are conducted mainly in English.

The Participants
The following reports of teachers and children are given to describe the bilingual profile of
the speakers in this setting. The profiles are based upon interviews and observations. The
names used here are fictitious to protect the participants’ confidentiality.

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Five adult bilingual speakers work at the Sunday school: the director, three Bible study
teachers, and one assistant teacher, who are all perfectly fluent in English and Korean. The
director, Elder Park, came to the U.S. at the age of 12. He frequently speaks Korean at the
church because most of the adult church members are Korean-dominant bilinguals. He also
speaks to English-dominant Korean children in English. The head teacher, Jane, is in her
early forties and teaches English at a private institute. She came to the U.S. when she was
10 years old. She usually speaks English with English speakers and Korean with Korean
speakers who prefer to speak in Korean. She tries to speak to her own children in Korean to
keep their Korean fluency. The other two teachers, David and Erin, are in their early
twenties. David came to the U.S. at the age of 6, when his acquisition of Korean was not
complete. However, he is fluent both in English and Korean. Although he usually speaks to
his friends in English, he often speaks Korean at his job as a salesperson at a bakery in
Koreatown in Los Angeles where most of the customers are Korean speakers with limited
English proficiency. Erin was born in the U.S. and brought up in Kansas, and had limited
contact with other Koreans. Although she used to talk to her parents in Korean, she rarely
spoke Korean outside home and her fluency in Korean was limited until she moved to Los
Angeles four years ago. After moving to Los Angeles, where she worked at a Korean law
firm, her fluency in Korean improved; however, she still shows a strong preference for
English. The assistant teacher, Debbie, was also born in the U.S. and raised in California.
She is a first-year college student majoring in English literature. She usually feels more
comfortable using English, although she understands Korean well and speaks to old people
in Korean at the church.

Six children participated in this study, ranging in age from six to eight. Data on the child
participants are below in Table 1.

Table 1. Study Participants
Name
Age
Gender
Place of
Language
birth/age at
use
arrival
Yejin
six years
female
Korea/five y.o.
Understands
English well,
but prefers
using Korean
Youngmin
six years
male
Korea/5-6
barely
understands
English;
always uses
Korean
Ere
seven years
male
Korea/two y.o. more
comfortable
with English

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Joseph
eight years
Male
U.S.
fluent in
English and
Korean but
prefers to use
English
Joshua
Seven years
Male
U.S.
more
comfortable
with English
Esther
Eight years
Female
U.S.
More
comfortable
with English

All children in this study regularly speak Korean with their parents. Except for Yejin and
Youngmin, they prefer speaking English rather than Korean when talking to each other.

The functions of code-switching in a Korean Sunday school
Situated code-switching
In the Sunday school setting, teachers and students tend to speak the language spoken to
them and address a person in that person’s strongest language. This type of code-switching
is identified as situational code-switching, and is mostly guided by functional
considerations of setting and participants (Blom & Gumperz, 1972). As Zentella (1997)
points out, switching usually occurs to accommodate interlocutors who speak different
languages. Code switching to accommodate others is documented in the following excerpt
from the Bible study class. The examples are taken from spontaneous talk recorded in the
Sunday school, and English translations are given in parentheses. The Korean transcript is
also provided.

Sample (1)
*:code-switching

1 Jane : ((Pointing to the bowls)) All the articles:: ((and then pointing to the students)) are
you guys. =
2 Ere : =0What?
3 Jane : Ere::, ((pointing to him)) you have an article in you, you have a big bowl in you.
((pointing to Yeeun)) *예진이두, big bowl in you
Yejin-i-du, big bowl in you
Yejin-PART-too, big bowl in you
(Yejin also)
5 Ere : I never eat a bowl.
(0.8)

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6 Jane : You have a bowl in your mind.
7 Jane: * your mind 에, bowl 이 있어요.

your mind-e, bowl-i isseo-oyo
your mind-LOC, bowl-S be-A.HON
(In your mind, there is a bowl)
8 Youngmin: *mind 가 뭐예요?
mind-ga mwo-yeoyo
mind-S What-A.HON
(What is mind?)
9 Jane: *마음, 영민 마음에 그릇이 있어요.
maum, youngmin maum-e geuleus-i isseo-oyo
mind, youngmin’s mind-LOC bowl-S be-A.HON
(mind, there is a bowl in youngmin’s mind.)

During class, students are likely to use whatever language they feel comfortable with. Jane,
the teacher, usually answers them in the language they use. When she speaks to Yejin and
Youngmin, who are less fluent in English than the other students, she switches from
English to Korean. In this example, Youngmin asks a teacher for the definition of mind in
Korean and she responds to him in Korean. This type of code-switching to accommodate
the Korean-English bilingual abilities of the other interlocutor has been also documented by
Shin and Milroy (2000, p. 368), where the bilingual homeroom teacher switched from
English to Korean to address a student who was unable to participate in the class activity in
English.

However, in some situations, teachers alternate from one language to another regardless of
students’ linguistic abilities. The situated code-switching depending on participants is often
found in child-adult interaction at the church, as in the following example.

Sample (2)

1 Elder Park: Joshua, what are you doing here?
(1.8)
Elder Park: playing computer game? game machine?
(0.7)
3 Joshua: *video-game 하고 있어요. 장로님은요?
video-game hago isso-oyo. Jangro-nim-un-yo?
video-game do-A.HON. Elder-HON-T-A.HON
(I’m playing video-game. What about you?)

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4
Elder Park: *가방이요. ((he picks up his bag on the couch))
gabang-i-oyo
bag-A.HON
(For my bag)
5
Elder Park: *밥 먹으러 갈까요?
Bab mokeuru gal-kka-oyo
rice eat-INT go-A.HON-Q
(do you want to go to eat?)
6
Joshua: *네?
ne?
yes-Q
(pardon me?)
7
Elder Park: *밥 [먹으러]
Bab [mokuro]
rice eat-INT
(to eat?)
8
Joshua : *[저 벌써 ] 먹었어요. 많이 드세요 장로님
olsso] mok-oso-oyo mani du-se-oyo jangro-nim
I-HON already eat-PST-A.HON a lot eat-HON-S.HON-A.HON


Elder-HON
(I already ate. Please help yourself, elder.)
9 Elder Park: *네
ne
Yes

In Sample (2), Joshua is playing a video game in the church office, when Elder Park comes
to pick up his bag in the office and asks Joshua, in English, what he is doing in the office.
In line 3, although Joshua could have shown code-alignment by speaking in English,
instead he speaks Korean to him using honorific forms both in verb conjugation and
addressee terms. It is also noteworthy that Elder Park changes his code from English to
Korean, using an honorific addressee sentence ending that is not as common in spoken
discourse as it is in interaction between children and caregivers. However, several studies
(Cook, 1996; Han, 2004; Ju, 1998) indicate that the use of honorific forms by adults help
index children’s social identity and remind them how to be a member of a certain
institution. In this setting, most adults who speak to children in Korean use honorific forms.
Similarly, the children at this Sunday school usually shift from English to Korean when
they start talking to adults regardless of their fluency in English. This shift might reflect the
children’s use of Korean at home with their parents, causing them to view Korean as a

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language to be used with adults. Code-switching to the parents’ preferred language in
bilingual children often indicates their deference to adults (Myers-Scotton & Bolonyai,
2001). Moreover, the Korean language encodes hierarchical relationships grammatically
and lexically much more overtly than English does (Kang, 2003; Sohn, 1981), and
switching to Korean can index traditional Korean hierarchical relationships. However, the
relationship between code-switching and social hierarchy are more apparent in the way
bilingual Sunday school teachers and students manipulate their language choices for
specific speech acts like directives, which are discussed in the next section.

Metaphorical code-switching
Another type of code-switching, metaphorical code-switching, which functions as a
contextualization cue (Gumperz, 1982) in addition to providing the actual lexical meaning
of the coded phrases, is often practiced in Bible classes. Particularly, this study suggests
that switching from English to Korean, may indicate the changes in footing, and function as
directives and an avoidance strategy for unpleasant lexical items and situations.

Signaling Changes in Footing
Goffman (1981) suggests that people can take stances by linking their utterances to
moments, places, personae, or spirits in interaction. This indexing of a speaker’s alignment
or position in a conversation is called footing. For example, while telling a story, a speaker
can enact figures or characters producing talk of their own, and indicate his own alignment
toward the story. According to Goffman (1981), a speaker can adopt various footings,
including as animator, author, or principal. The animator refers to the one who gives a
voice to the message; the author is in charge of selecting words or sentiments being
conveyed; and .the principal is the person whose position is being represented.

Code-switching can be used to signal changes in footing in a conversation. In the following
example (3) , the Bible study teacher, Jane, uses code-switching to signal a quotation; when
she places herself in another speaker’s positions, she code-mixes for the noun that the
children often use in Korean such as omma (mom) and bab (rice) (in line 1) and also
switches to Korean when she imitates their mothers (in line 4). It seems that the code-
mixing here is locally motivated by her shift in footing from teacher to mother.

However, it is also noteworthy that Jane’s switch to Korean to convey what the students’
mothers might say to them is related to who she is animating. Quoting involves not only
repeating, or imagining, what someone said or might say but also animating other
characters (Goodwin, 1990). In this case, by switching to Korean, Jane can animate her
figure as the students’ mothers. This type of code-switching is also documented in sample
4. In this sample, Joseph and Joshua are pillow-fighting in the church’s guest room. In
Korean culture, shoes are taken off when people enter a room. When Elder Park sees
Joshua playing with their shoes on, he asks Joshua, in Korean, to take off his shoes (in line
4). After Elder Park leaves and Ere joins them with his shoes on, Joseph tells him to take
off his shoes by quoting what Elder Park to Joshua in Korean (in line 6). Although Joseph

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Document Outline

• Elder Park: playing computer game? game machine?
  • gabang-i-oyo
  • Bab [mokuro]
  • Avoiding Unpleasant Lexical Items and Actions
    • T: topic
    • VC: verbal connective in a verb phrase

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