Sinhala-English Code-Switching in Text Messaging: A Study Based on Undergraduates of Two State Universities in Sri Lanka

This research investigates Sinhala-English code- switching in text messaging among undergraduates from two state universities in Sri Lanka. Despite the widespread occurrence of code-switching in spoken and written communication, there is a significant gap in research addressing this phenomenon in written forms, particularly within text messaging. This study aims to bridge this gap by exploring the functions of code-switching for effective communication in a bilingual context. A sample of 40 undergraduates from the University of Colombo and the University of Kelaniya was selected using stratified random sampling. The primary data comprised 1500 text messages. Qualitative content analysis was employed to examine the messages, focusing on identifying the functions of code-switching and its role in facilitating communication. The analysis was guided by Myers-Scott on’s Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model, which differentiates between the matrix language and the embedded language in bilingual utterances. The findings revealed seven key functions of code-switching: socio-cultural and religious functions, greetings, academic, scientific and technical terms, idioms and expressions, affective functions, quotatves and politeness markers. The results indicate that participants switch between the two languages to meet their communicative needs effectively. Code-switching to English mostly serves functions related to academic and technical terms, greetings, socio-cultural contexts and politeness markers, while code-switching to Sinhala is mostly used for affective functions, expressions and quotatives. This study contributes to the relatively unexplored area of written code-switching, offering insights into how bilingual undergraduates in Sri Lanka use code-switching in text messaging. Keywords: code-switching; text messaging; under- graduates; bilingualism; functions