word
code-switching
KOHD SWIT-ching
koʊd ˈswɪtʃɪŋListen
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Syllable breakdown
codeswitching
Dictionary meaning
the practice of alternating between two or more languages or language varieties within a single conversation, utterance, or even sentence; code-switching occurs naturally among bilingual and multilingual speakers and can signal group identity, shift formality levels, fill lexical gaps, or index solidarity with the interlocutor; linguists distinguish intra-sentential switching, within a single sentence, from inter-sentential switching, between sentences, and from borrowing of individual lexical items
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