Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Code-Switching in World of Warcraft: A Linguistic Study on the Code-Switching Behaviour of a Swedish World of Warcraft Guild
Jönköping University, School of Education and Communication.
2024 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (professional degree), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesisAlternative title
Code-switching i World of Warcraft : En lingvistisk studie om code-switching-beteendet i en svensk World of Warcraft-guild (Swedish)
Abstract [en]

Code-switching is a phenomenon where speakers juxtapose words, phrases or sentences of another language into their native conversations. Furthermore, they can be entirely composed of the borrowed language, or be mixed with added inflectional elements from the borrowing language. Gaming is a subculture where code-switching is often employed. Furthermore, in online gaming, where communication is exceedingly prominent, the MMORPG genre is vastly popular. The aim of this essay is to identify how many code-switches a group of 20 players from a Swedish World of Warcraft guild employs as they are playing and communicating with each other. The data was gathered from two sessions, where the players connected to an online communication platform and played for 3 hours each session. This study was conducted through a quantitative content analysis. Furthermore, Auer’s (1988) explanation of participant-related code-switching also includes a qualitative element in the analysis. It was concluded that the entirely composed code-switches that drew on the language of the game were the most prominent form of code-switch. Within the entirely composed code-switches, nouns were the most used word class, while in the morphological results, verbs were employed the most. The morphological verbs were predominantly used during an active encounter, while the entirely composed switches that did not draw on the language of the game were employed as a means of celebration after a victory in the game. The results also showed through participant-related code-switching how the organization of language is ongoing through the lack of unmarked terms in certain contexts. Furthermore, how the players grammatically accommodated the code-switches to fit into the context of their native language was shown. These strategies varied depending on word class and which tense was required in the context.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2024. , p. 34
Keywords [en]
Code-switching, gaming, World of Warcraft, morphology, language of the game
National Category
General Language Studies and Linguistics Media and Communication Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-63803OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hj-63803DiVA, id: diva2:1843667
Subject / course
HLK, English
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2024-04-09 Created: 2024-03-11 Last updated: 2025-02-17Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

By organisation
School of Education and Communication
General Language Studies and LinguisticsMedia and Communication Studies

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

urn-nbn

Altmetric score

urn-nbn
Total: 87 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf