"Blessed with a curse?" linguistic constraints on the code-switching of bilingual Shona-Xhosa speakers in Cape Town

Abstract

Completely couched in and steered by the qualitative research method, this study examines the linguistic constraints on the code-switching of the bilingual Shona-Xhosa speakers in Cape Town. The views of the key research participants obtained through participant observation, interviews and questionnaires were heavily relied on. The motivations for the code-switching of the bilingual Shona-Xhosa speakers in Cape Town were explored in this study, including the Shona-Xhosa interlink. Myers-Scotton‟s Markedness theory was scrutinized to discern the assorted social variables motivating the bilingual speakers to code-switch in Cape Town while the Matrix Language Frame Model was used to determine that Shona is the base language and isiXhosa is the embedded language in the Shona-Xhosa code-switching in Cape Town. Diverse linguistic constraints were examined in the context of the Shona-Xhosa code-switching and their universality was disputed. Similarities between Shona and Xhosa were unearthed and the researcher recommends that further Shona-Xhosa studies be pursued.