Sociolinguistics - Codeswitching and code choice in Brussels, Belgium

The purpose of this DPhil will be to explore the sociolinguistic phenomenon of codeswitching in Brussels. By codeswitching, I refer to when a speaker switches between languages within a conversation, and since Belgium boasts three official languages (Dutch, French and German), one could expect Belgians to be avid codeswitchers. However, in the federal state of Belgium, the Region of Brussels Capital is the only officially bilingual area of the country, where both Dutch and French are on equal footing. What is more, the number of bilinguals in Brussels has sunk from about 50% in 1947 to about 20% (Janssens 2013). This suggests that Brusselers are increasingly rejecting bilingualism, taking the option of conducting life in the language of their choice - a choice fuelled by feelings of community attachment, which in their turn appear heightened by the language conflict which has long divided these two communities in Belgium. The last study on codeswitching in Brussels dates back to the early 90s (Treffers-Daller 1992), and I believe that it is crucial to conduct new and up-to-date research before codeswitching practices in the capital potentially disappear. I propose to conduct face-to-face interviews with around 100 individuals, from different age groups and areas of the city, and with different linguistic backgrounds, thus collecting qualitative data from both communities on their attitudes towards Dutch-French bilingualism, their social ties and self-reported codeswitching practices. I will then complement such qualitative data with more quantitative findings gathered through ethnographic fieldwork in truly bilingual situations where codeswitching occurs naturally (e.g. bilingual schools and workplaces) to compare what informants actually do with what they report doing. As well as offering new data on the present linguistic situation in Brussels, this project will also provide important insights into the social motivations behind codeswitching, or the obvious refusal to do so.