The Use of Code Switching as a Communicative Strategy by the Lubavicher Emissaries Working with Jewish American Students: The Interaction Between Lubavicher Emissaries and their American Students

Abstract

In this article there will be an endeavor to discuss the alternation of “Jewish English” to “standard”, “regular” English in the form of code switching (CS), by Jewish Lubavitch emissaries in university campuses in the United States of America. I will examine what CS, a widely observed linguistic phenomenon, especially seen in multilingual and multicultural communities, is, and who the code switchers are. I will explore what interests motivate them to switch their code, how competent they are at switching, and the circumstances in which they are prone to switch their code. I will trace the idiosyncratic use of CS by this exclusive ethnic community as an increasing socio-pragmatic linguistic devise. It will also be observed as a minor psycho-linguistic need at various gatherings and classes, as an unconscious act of teaching a similar but foreign language to their audience (i.e. interlocutors). Thus, the discussion and findings of this study might expand familiarity with, and understanding of, the CS phenomenon.