1,440 minutes in a day and a third of
that time is dedicated to speaking a
language that was never meant for my
type of articulation a language that my
lips can never stretch themselves far
enough around to accommodate quite
correctly evidently my tongue is just
too stubborn it is all brass knuckle and
bodega coffee sip slipping in between my
lips
it's the disobedient child set in the
ways of the only world it knows it
throws words of the West against the
coast of the East my tongue is a loaded
gun each bullet and accent decorated
with the remnants of places my ancestors
have once been it is equipped to hit
each target with the intent to elicit
images of islands far from here Islands
my voice won't let disappear my tongue
is multifaceted it is the key with which
I open doors that would never meant for
me and mine to enter because I speak of
callaloo and Canarsie of Crown Heights
and Coco bread of Carnival and calypso
and Coney and Church of cos the English
I speak hit different sea it got too
much hip too much hop too much soca
reggae and dancehall they got too much
Flossie too much spice not from the food
that I eat but from the words that I
speak my tongue is way too advanced for
any type of standard English
so in the palm I just spit I gave you a
little taste of a commonly used
linguistic phenomenon known as
code-switching
and if you don't know what that is don't
worry we're gonna get into it but first
let's start off with a question so by a
show of hands how many of your parents
and/or guardians have ever talked or act
one way around you and then a completely
different way around your friends I've
experienced this all the time it was
very common for my parents both of my
parents are from the West Indies my
mother being from Trinidad and Tobago
and my father being from st. Lucia
so whenever and my mother was upset with
me or she was yelling she would say
something along the lines of holiday all
yes it's in here and nobody washing
dishes all you feel is he made over and
then when my friends would come around
it would be a completely different story
it would sound something like Jalen my
darling daughter Jalen whenever you get
the chance please bless the kitchen with
your presence and wash the dishes now
I'm exaggerating but in those moments
the Americanized version of my mother
came out so she dropped the accent she
slowed down and her tone changed to
light and airy and if I didn't know any
better I would have thought that she was
a completely different person had I not
seen her face but she wasn't the only
one to do this my father did it as well
now his accent is a little stronger so
it never fully disappeared but whenever
he was on the phone with let's say one
of my teachers at school it would sound
something like good afternoon miss bear
this is John King jaelyn king's father
and I was just calling in regards to her
school trip this Friday a little British
thing going on but that's neither here
nor there
but then when he was on the phone with
his brothers people down the block
around the corner across the street
could hear him very loud man hey Oh Big
Mama going on I haven't heard you in a
minute and I understand that his
brothers and my professors were
completely different people but it still
didn't sit right with me it rubbed me
the wrong way why well because I loved
and I still loved my parents accents and
I just couldn't understand why they
didn't let other people experience it
like I did but the real eye-opening
moment for me was my freshman year at
Towson a lot three years ago class had
just and
I was walking outside with a group of
people and my friend from New York I
called to check in on me so of course I
answered in true New York fashion here
was goodie and the rest of the
conversation kind of flowed like that
and when I hung up I looked up and I
looked at my classmates and everybody
was watching me like I had morphed into
a different person
but it was that moment that I realized
that unconsciously I had been doing what
my parents I did for years and the
question I always ask myself was why why
do I speak differently around different
groups of people
why can I just pick one way to speak and
use that in all my conversations now
these questions they sparked my interest
because I knew the concept but I didn't
understand the vocabulary around it so
after doing some research I found that
we were all code-switching and a lot of
people do it but I quote switch because
I was scared scared because people will
create boxes that they expected me to
fit in but that just never worked we are
all unique individuals with a variety of
backgrounds cultures identities and I
always use code-switching as a way to
suppress my identities when in fact I
should have been using it to celebrate
them so today I want to define
code-switching
then explain why we coat switch and go
over how we can use coat switching to
create opportunities that benefit us so
first coat so first question what is
code switching well I already gave you a
couple of examples in my introduction
but I wanted to give a concrete
definition so according to Oxford
Dictionary code switching is defined as
the practice of alternating between two
or more languages or varieties of
language in conversation usually when
people are referring to code switching
they're talking about two languages such
as English and Spanish but for the
purposes of our conversation today we're
going to talk about dialects and accents
so there are two different varieties
that you should know in languages
there's high variety and low variety
high variety of languages is usually the
socially acceptable sophisticated
buttoned-up standard English you use
high variety in interviews sermons in
church maybe let's say when you're
sending emails to your professors or
your bosses you would code switch into
more profession
jørgen because if that's the most
socially acceptable example in those
cases low variety consists of regional
dialects which includes slang Ebonics
African American vernacular English or
anything that is not considered standard
and you usually use this when you're
texting or talking to one of your
friends or your family members so an
example of somebody using this is our
former 44th President Barack Obama he
did this a lot in his political speeches
he always had to use a high variety
language because it was a political
speech sophisticated language but
usually when he was comfortable enough
he would let his guard down and he was
switching to low variety so a perfect
example I'm thinking of right now is
Barack Obama in Jamaica he went to give
a speech at the town hall and he was
greeting them and before he started his
high variety language he greeted them
and said WABBA on Jamaica and that is
patois and he used their dialect because
it made them more comfortable he
practiced the first rule of public
speaking which is knowing your audience
and essentially we do that every time we
Coates which we exert speaking just on a
smaller scale and when we code switch we
move back and forth between high and low
varieties of language but why do we do
that why do we code switch so many
people have different reasons that
reports which we does code switch to
discuss certain topics we code switch to
impress or persuade certain people we
coat switch to participate in social
activities but the comment read between
all of these is the fact that people
don't want to be the odd one out people
want to be included people tend to
assimilate to the environment that
they're in so they don't feel like
they're other so let's take it back to
the low and high varieties of language
you would never use low variety language
or slang in a high variety situation or
a professional setting I would not use
my New York accent my you New York slang
then an interview for a job unless it
was called for there's a universally
known saying and it goes When in Rome do
as the Romans do in a different
situation or setting others will try to
conform to the norms of that situation
to avoid being the outsider just like
children the way they say watch what you
say around your children they copy they
emulate exactly what you do so have to
be wise be careful what you say
the same way when you're in a
relationship or you've been friends with
somebody for a long time it's so easy to
pick up on their code and then once you
do that you guys become comfortable with
one another very common and essentially
people are scared to be judged because
others will measure your intelligence
based on the way you speak it's natural
to do this they ask themselves does this
person have the ability or the knowledge
to participate in this conversation to
understand these social concepts and
that's because we are conditioned and
raised to believe that there's only one
type of standard English Society will
try to convince you that there are other
types of stat one type of standard
English so we'll power over those who do
not speak like the majority which is the
problem for the majority of black people
Caribbean people African people we face
this every day
we struggle to express ourselves in a
world that don't understand our
differences our languages are dialects
so knowing that the question now becomes
how do we navigate this space how can we
use code-switching
to help us rather than set us back well
the first thing I can think of is
networking
once you code switch and disclose your
personal identities of others you gain
the opportunity to form bonds with
people who identify as you do so I'm
thinking of an example when I came to
Towson 3 years ago I didn't know anybody
I was alone I didn't come with anybody
from high school and one day I went to
the BSU office I met a girl and usually
when people meet me here the first thing
they asked me is hey are you from New
York because it's sometimes the accent
slips out and I said yes and instantly
she connected me with a whole bunch of
her friends that were from New York from
Brooklyn from the Bronx and from those
friends I were able to meet people who
had Caribbean backgrounds whose parents
were from Jamaica Guyana all these other
places and it was because of that that
moment of me just code-switching
being authentic to myself I created the
opportunity to be natural in that space
another way code-switching can be used
to benefit us is within the classroom it
can help aid and accelerate your
learning so math let's take math for
example math has its own set of
vocabulary words associated with it but
if a teacher or a tutor learns the code
that resonates with their class
it's their class their students I mean
the concepts can reach the students more
effectively so this can even work in
conversations with your friends trying
to get them to understand what you're
saying you have to meet them where they
are explain things to them in their code
and the information will be received
easier so I'm thinking about how I grew
up and my father did this all the time
with me when I was in school most
subjects he tutored me in but the worst
subject was history social studies was
the bane of my existence
I couldn't stand it it just seemed very
boring but my dad took something that
was boring
and he turned it into a drama so he took
my favorite TV shows my favorite movies
my favorite books and explained the
complex events that took place way back
when into things that I understood if
teachers could be as culturally
competent or familiar and aware of the
diversity in their classroom more
students will benefit from this another
opportunity I can think about is opening
the door for making more connection way
back when maybe say like two years ago I
worked at IHOP and there was a lady that
was being very belligerent she was very
belligerent and I guess her waitress
just didn't understand her order she
does wasn't getting anything and she
called the manager she said I need
somebody else I don't want this person
and taking my order anymore just get me
a new person so of course I was that
lucky person and I went up to her code
switched again into the standard English
I didn't know who she was and I said you
know hello my name is jaylen how can I
take your order and she said she started
speaking and I heard the Cheney accent I
didn't really acknowledge it I didn't
really say anything to her but I
instantly switched because I became
comfortable so I started talking in my
channel adding an accent and she called
it out and she said oh my goodness is
your family from Trinidad oh my god
where are you guys from I'm from Port of
Spain oh my goodness and we just had
this dialogue it's open dialogue this
conversation but I realized in that
moment that she didn't switch to the
standard English so that the other
waitress could understand her and what
that did was open the opportunity for
that girl to learn other cultures had
that lady switched to the standard
English we would never know about
Trinidadian culture we would never know
about Caribbean culture we'd never know
how to engage with others who are
different from us so that was a big
opportunity and I really was
affected her in that moment and I try to
live my life like that from now on these
opportunities will only come to fruition
if we ourselves start to view
code-switching as an avenue for learning
code-switching is a phenomenon that
gives individuals advantages within
everyday communication so when you
become attuned to code-switching
you start to see it and hear it
everywhere because our accents our
backgrounds our identities are rooted in
language so don't code switch to hide
your identities code switch to celebrate
them like several other aspects of
culture such as hair music skin color
code switching should be embraced
so talk the way you talk code switch if
you aren't being understood but don't
make yourself smaller to make others
feel bigger
don't let code switching be your
kryptonite let it be your superpower
thank you
[Applause]