code (n.)

The general sense of this term – a set of conventions for converting one signalling system into another – enters into the subject-matter of SEMIOTICS and COMMUNICATION theory rather than LINGUISTICS. Such notions as ‘encoding’ and ‘decoding’ are sometimes encountered in PHONETICS and linguistics, but the view of language as a ‘code’ is not one which figures greatly in these subjects. The term has come to the fore in SOCIOLINGUISTICS, where it is mainly used as a neutral label for any system of communication involving language – and which avoids sociolinguists having to commit themselves to such terms as DIALECT, LANGUAGE or VARIETY, which have a special status in their theories. The linguistic behavior referred to as code-switching (sometimes code-shifting or, within a language, style-shifting), for example, can be illustrated by the switch BILINGUAL or BIDIALECTAL speakers may make (depending on who they are talking to, or where they are) between STANDARD and regional forms of English, between Welsh and English in parts of Wales, or between occupational and domestic varieties. Code-mixing involves the transfer of linguistic elements from one language into another: a sentence begins in one language, then makes use of words or grammatical features belonging to another. Such mixed forms of language are often labelled with a hybrid name, such as (in the case of English) Spanglish, Franglais and Singlish (Singaporean English), and attract attitudes ranging from enthusiastic community support (as an expression of local identity) to outright condemnation (from some speakers of the related standard languages).

Several sociologists and sociolinguists have given ‘code’ a more restricted definition. For example, codes are sometimes defined in terms of mutual intelligibility (e.g. the language of a private or professional group). But the most widespread special use of the term was in the theory of communication codes propounded by the British sociologist Basil Bernstein (1924–2000). His distinction between ELABORATED and RESTRICTED codes was part of a theory of the nature of social systems, concerned in particular with the kinds of meanings people communicate, and how explicitly they do this, using the range of resources provided by the language.

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

قسم صناعة الشبابيك يشرع بإدامة شباكين قديمين لمرقد الإمامين العسكريين (عليهما السلام)

فرقة العباس (عليه السلام) تختتم خدماتها المقدمة للزائرين في سامراء

موكب العتبتين المقدستين يحيي ذكرى استشهاد الإمام الهادي (عليه السلام) في سامراء

العتبة العسكرية المقدسة تكرّم وفد العتبة العباسية المقدسة لمشاركته في تقديم الخدمات للزائرين

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

كنز غذائي على طبقك.. ماذا تفعل السبانخ بجسمك؟

ما لا يتوقعه أحد.. "سر غذائي" في الجبن الدسم

لتحسين الهضم والنوم.. هذا أفضل وقت لتناول العشاء

10 طرق بسيطة وغير مألوفة لحرق المزيد من السعرات يوميا

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

سابقة بعالم الطيران.. طائرة تقرر الهبوط بنفسها بعد ظرف طارئ

"الإنفلونزا الخارقة" تكتسح دول العالم.. وتثير قلقا كبيرا

مرحلة ما قبل الأعراض.. دواء جديد يستهدف "شرارة" الزهايمر

إزالة ثاني أكسيد الكربون من الغلاف الجوي.. ما دور المحيطات والبحار؟

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Phonetic Transcription

Phonetics

Word sharing and dialects: Dialects generally borrow from dialects

Dialects—Where Do You Draw the Line?

The standard

Koinés

Externally motivated change

Chain shifts

Changes to make life easier

Systemic changes

Weakening of intervocalic unvoiced stops

Simplification of consonant clusters