Beyond language choice

Code switching and bilingual care conversations in the context of cultural diversity and dementia

Abstract

This article deals with the code switching of bilingual actors in the institutional setting of an explicitly multicultural care facility in the German Ruhr area. In an institution that is not exclusively geared towards a specific population group, situations arise in which residents and staff sometimes do not understand each other or the choice of a particular language becomes a necessity. Focusing on two residents of Turkish origin and their interactions with care staff and residents of different origins, the article uses video-ethnographic data to address the potential, but also the problems that arise in the context of code switching. It is shown how code switching is used for (a) problem solving and problem avoidance as well as (b) linguistic-cultural inclusion and exclusion and (c) how it influences people with dementia. In this way, it becomes clear that code switching is more than just the choice of one language over another and even touches on migration- and integration-related questions as well as therapeutic issues.