Methodological and Theoretical Reflections on Code-switching in Oral History
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14712/24645370.5736Keywords:
oral history, multilingualism, code-switching, indexicality, translationAbstract
While significant focus has been given to multilingual oral history, research and reflection on the use of two different languages within a single recorded oral history interview, i.e. code-switching or intra-interview bilingualism, remains under-theorised in the field. I reflect on this phenomenon in my analysis of oral history interviews I conducted with Czech immigrant women in California, who occasionally used Czech in predominantly English interviews. By placing oral history in dialogue with the sociolinguistic and linguistic anthropological concepts of code-switching and indexicality, this reflection examines how code-switching in oral history interviews is not merely a linguistic phenomenon, but a meaningful, socially embedded practice that has value for oral history methodology and narrative interpretation. Furthermore, I consider the methodological challenge of transcribing and translating multilingual interviews and demonstrate how transparent codification and translation practices address the concept of “responsibility with loyalty” proposed by Barbara Reeves-Ellington.
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