b'T3 Journal - Student Writing in Drama, University of Exeter 2020-21 Helen Romeu Coombes Code switchingdemeanour, and other facets of their identities to becomeand cultures in public life. Ellams thus uses the hybrid more acceptable to the context they were in, which usuallylanguage ofcodeswitching as a way to resist the idea of a The character of Samuels speech pattern is one way thatinvolved compromising parts of their African Americanfixed or standard English, and empower those communi-dialect in this play is used as a tool for resistance andidentities. For people with marginalised and stigmatisedties that have birthed diverse and creative ways of express-empowerment. Samuel is a second-generation Nigerianbodies and voices, code switching can be a way to adhereing themselves.living in Peckham, and like many children of African andto hegemonic norms and codes, and in extreme cases, Caribbean immigrants growing up in Britain, he exists ina form of survival. This resonates with Samuel and the a hybrid space, moving between his Nigerian and Britishother Pidgin speakers in Barber Shop Chronicles; their ability identities. One of the main ways in which this dual identityto code-switch suggests that their African dialects andBritain, D. (ed.) (2007) Language in the British Isles, Cambridge: Cambridge is expressed is through language, exemplified in Samuelsidentities are not accepted in mainstream British societyUniversity Press. codeswitching. In linguistics, codeswitching is when aand culture.Carlson, M. (2006) Speaking in Tongues: Languages at Play in the Theatre, Ann speaker alternates between two or more languages withinArbor: University of Michigan Press. the same conversation (Nguyen 2015: 1). Samuel is a fluentNevertheless, code-switching is also an act of power andEllams, I. (2017) Barber Shop Chronicles, London: Oberon Books. speaker of both English and Nigerian Pidgin, and demon- self-determination; it demonstrates a command of both strates code switching in a conversation with Muhammedlanguages, and an ability to perform either identity when- Inchley, M. (2015) Voice and New Writing, 1997-2007: Articulating the in scene 6: ever the speaker chooses to. Sociolinguist Mark SebbaDemos, London: Palgrave Macmillan. studied the language of second-generation Black London- Myers-Scotton, C. (1993) Social Motivations for Codeswitching: Evidence from MUHAMMED: How body? Wetin dey?ers and their assimilation of West Indian Creole into theirAfrica, Oxford: Clarendon Press. SAMUEL: Im okay man. Trim?speech. He concluded that because these speakers wereNguyen, T. (2015) Codeswitching: a sociolinguistic perspective, Anchor MUHAMMED: Eight pounds as usual?born in Britain and therefore had little to no affiliationAcademic Publishing. SAMUEL: Of course.with the Caribbean, this code switching had nothing to doPearce, M. (2017) Black British Drama: A Transnational Story, London: MUHAMMED: My guy.with communication and was instead largely symbolic, aRoutledge.SAMUEL: Sitdon there, I dey come.way to assert a group identity (Sebba in Britain 2007: 281).Williams, P. & Chrisman, L. (eds) (1994) Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial (Ellams 2017: 34; emphases added).Fittingly, he describes Creole as a performance (ibid: 283).Theory: A Reader, London: Routledge. Furthermore, code switching is a naturally performative As highlighted in the italicised phrases, Samuel alternatesact as the person is expressing a part of their cultural between Standard or London English (Im okay man.identity through a conscious shift in their language. So, Trim?) and Pidgin (Sitdon there, I dey come), as doesit is evident from Samuels exchanges with his clientele Muhammed. Samuel also does this when cutting Benja- that these characters are not code switching for linguistic mins hair, another fellow Pidgin speaker:reasons like intelligibility, but to perform and affirm each others cultural identities. SAMUEL: Oya, come and sit down. BENJAMIN: You want to hear a joke?However, when the performance of this creolised SAMUEL: Is it funny?English is not done in a creolised space but on the British BENJAMIN: Na joke now.stage, a domain where these voices havent always been SAMUEL: Did you invent it?heard or accepted, then the act of code-switching has BENJAMIN: What kind question be dat?wider implications. Samuels codeswitching is a symbol of SAMUEL: Oya, I dey hear.his hybrid cultural identity, something which threatens the (ibid: 20; emphases added).idea of one stable British identity, perpetuated through the theatres favouring of RP over other language forms. In both instances, Samuel begins by speaking in StandardEllams choosing to portray this linguistic aspect of these English and moves towards Pidgin as he engages morecultures demonstrates the extent to which these margin-with the Pidgin speaker. Reasons as to why multilingualalised communities have had to assimilate into British speakers may code-switch have been heavily researchedsociety and cultural institutions like the theatre. Never-by linguists. However, a series of anecdotal TED talkstheless, it also reflects a unique linguistic character that on code-switching by several Black American speakers1originally arose out of the imposition of English on these suggest that code-switching may be about much more thancommunities, that has now flourished into a rich hybridity just language for certain people, including Samuel. Everyand diversity. The presence of these African dialects and speaker mentioned how code switching was not simplythe practice ofcodeswitching on the London stage will about adapting their language, but also their clothes, theirhopefully lead to the acceptance of these language forms 40 41'