Influence of Social Context on Code-Switching among Multilingual Speakers in the Kenyan Marketplace Discourse

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of social context on code-switching (CS) among multilingual speakers in Kenyan marketplaces, with a specific focus on interactions in mid-sized markets in Bungoma County. While CS has been widely examined in global and African sociolinguistic scholarship, existing research has not sufficiently explored how moment-to-moment social variables shape switching patterns within naturally occurring commercial encounters. This study addresses that gap by integrating insights from Myers-Scotton’s Markedness Model and Gumperz’s Interactional Sociolinguistics to examine CS as both a strategic and interactional practice. Anchored in an interpretive paradigm, the research employs a qualitative, discourse-analytic ethnographic design to capture naturalistic data in authentic marketplace interactions. Purposive and convenience sampling are used to select bilingual sellers and their interactions with customers. Data collection relies on audio recordings of spontaneous buying-selling exchanges, supplemented by stimulated recall interviews, field notes, and brief demographic questionnaires. These methods enable triangulation and access to both the observable linguistic behavior and participants’ insider perspectives on their language choices. Data analysis follows a systematic, iterative process involving transcription, coding, categorization, and thematic interpretation. Code-switches are identified and classified by type, and their relationship to social context variables—such as negotiation phases, participant familiarity, and perceived customer status—is examined. Communicative functions, including referential, persuasive, directive, and expressive uses, are analyzed through both thematic coding and close discourse analysis. This combined approach illuminates how CS functions as a contextualization cue that shapes and reflects the unfolding dynamics of commercial interactions. Code-switching is systematic and socially motivated. It is not random but strategically deployed to achieve transactional and relational goals. The study found out that language choice indexes power and solidarity. Sellers use English to assert authority and local languages to foster community ties. Different phases of buying–selling interactions demand different linguistic resources. With regard to identity construction, speakers perform multiple identities through code-switching, balancing modernity (English) with cultural authenticity (Lubukusu/Kiswahili). In general, market discourse reflects broader sociolinguistic realities by blending of languages in everyday transactions mirrors Kenya’s multilingual ecology and the coexistence of global and local identities.