What´s topic got to do with it? A study of code-switching behavior in Norwegian upper secondary school students

Abstract

In this MA thesis, the effect that topic has on code-switching in native Norwegian students at upper secondary school is investigated. The first hypothesis of the thesis claims that topics that are typically Norwegian, like Norwegian politics or culture, will elicit more instances of code-switching from the informants than topics that are typically English. In addition, the grammatical feature concord, which has no Norwegian equivalent, was looked at in relation to topic. The second hypothesis stated that informants will make more concord errors when the topics are typically Norwegian. Finally, the relationship between motivation and code- switching was investigated, and the third hypothesis stated that more motivated informants will show less instances of code- switching. The first hypothesis was supported by the results of the study conducted for the this thesis, the second hypothesis was rejected, and the third hypothesis was also rejected, but a correlation was found between low levels of motivation and high amounts of code- switching.