EXAMINING THE MARKED AND UNMARKED NATURE OF CODE-SWITCHING IN ADVERTISEMENT JINGLES

When advertisers engage in code-switching, the language switches are either unmarked or marked choices. This means that the language switches are either normal and expected to occur or their occurrence are unexpected or unpredicted by the listeners. The objective of this study is to examine the marked and unmarked code-switching used by the advertisers in the selected advertisement jingles and the underlying reasons why the advertisers make these language choices. The primary source of data was drawn from 60 code-switched advertisement jingles collected from 30 radio commercials and 30 online advertisements on YouTube through purposive random sampling technique. The 30 radio jingles were collected from 12 radio stations in the Southwestern states in Nigeria which are Osun, Oyo, Ondo, Ogun, Ekiti and Lagos. In each of the states, a private radio station and a public radio station were selected. The result showed that the advertisers made use of both marked and unmarked code-switching. The marked code-switching made by advertisers have a way of diverting the listeners’ attention towards the information of the advertised products and services. However, irrespective of whether the code-switching is marked or unmarked, there are some underlying reasons why the advertisers made the language switches which are ultimately geared towards ensuring an effective conveyance of intended information about the advertised products and services to the members of the society. It is therefore recommended that advertisers make use of code-switching as a rich and authentic communication tool rather than seeing it as a sign of linguistic ineptitude so as to prevent advertising from becoming fruitless and a waste of time.