CODE-MIXING AND CODE-SWITCHING AS FOREGROUNINDG TECHNIQUES IN OJO-ADE AND SANUSI SELECTED NOVELS

Abstract

In academic writings and literary creations, code-switching and code-mixing are writing techniques used in all fields of human learning and literature, with holy books such as the Bible and Qu'ran leading the way. These are writing techniques used to highlight specific sections of a text that the writer wishes to highlight. Over the years, critics have studied Ojo-Ade's "Les paradis terrestre" (Paradis) and "Les reves d'une jeune fille" (Rêves), as well as Sanusi's "Le bistouri des larmes" (Bistouri), with less attention paid to the role code-mixing and code-switching as writing techniques play in the presentation of the writers' thematic concerns. As a result, the purpose of this research is to investigate the role of code-mixing and code-switching as foregrounding techniques in the novels chosen by Ojo-Ade and Sanusi. Close reading is used to collect data that has been interpreted by Arnold's twentieth-century theory of foregrounding, which serves as methodology for the study of data subjected to linguistic analysis. The study contends that in the creation of the text, English and Yoruba single linguistic units and expressions, which also appear in proverbial forms, act as forms of code-mixing and code-switching by emphasising socio-cultural, socio-economic, and socio-political realities. The study concludes by arguing that foreign language insertions at the level of code-mixing and code-switching not only serve as stylistic tools in ensuring cohesion and foregrounding of thematic concerns, text milieu, and the author's socio-linguistic exposure but also contribute to the aesthetics of the texts in general.