The socio-pragmatics of code-switching in a public setting: The case of the University of Maroua

Abstract: This study entitled ‘The socio-pragmatics of Code-switching in a public setting: The case of The University of Maroua’ investigates into the language practices at the said training school with particular emphasis on 71 civil servants and support staff. Their sociolinguistic profiles and languages used alongside French and English in the fulfilment of their everyday duties at workplace are the epicentre of the study. The study was conducted in a multilingual setting which is the said training school. It made use of participant-observation, recording and assisted questionnaire (interpersonal communication) in order to collect data. The methods used are qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analyses. For data to be analysed scientifically, two complementary theories were used. They are notably Gumperz’s (1982 &1992) and Myers-Scotton (1993). Findings from the study revealed that civil servants and support staff at the HTTC Maroua chiefly use French (42.07%), English (20.92 %) Fulfulde (17.62%), respectively for fulfilment of their daily duties and conversations. In terms of target languages of code-switching, English, with (38.09 %), is the major language and followed by Fulfulde (34.52 %). The French language is the major source language in terms of source languages, i.e, languages switched from with (78.12 %) and English with (17.39%) comes second while Fulfulde is third with only (2.89 %). Fulfulde appeared in four over five instances of purposes for code-switching making it the language which mostly used alongside English and French. This showed that Fulfulde is almost versatile. Also, a French-Fulfulde blending in a single word was noted as a major finding when code-switching occurs.