Irmtraud Kaiser: „Warum sagt ma des?“ Code-Switching und Code-Shifting zwischen Dialekt und Standard in Gesprächen den österreichischen Fernsehens

The present article examines the function and structure of code-switching between dialect and the standard language in entertainment programmes and chat-shows in Austrian television. Alongside the functions of code-switching in natural unstaged situations, such as the marking off of asides, of narrative elements and “non-first firsts”, which have already been adequately researched, we find television conversations have additional functions which have not been subject to such thorough investigation. For example, code-switching phenomena in television reflect the conflict between the roles that presenters play within a show. The presenter often switches between the role of neutral host and that of committed participant in the discussion or that of the “colleague” or “friend” of the guest or interviewee. The change of language variety is usually not only accompanied by a change in content or in the structure of the discussion, but also by an alteration in the type of interaction. In these television programmes, dialect plays a part in changes of perspective and in changes in the forms of portrayal employed, and as such it provides a degree of variety for the viewer which is especially welcome in programmes suffering from a surfeit of verbosity.

Ø zurück zur homepage

Ø zurück zum Gesamtinhaltsverzeichnis