Participant relationship in discourse and its effect on code choice: A case study of the University community of Cape Coast

Abstract

The present study focuses on the effect of inter-personal relationship on code choice in discourse situations in the university community of Cape Coast. The study looks at the nature of the linguistic situation and the kinds of code choice in the university. The present work employs a sociolinguistic approach and it is conducted within the framework of ethnography of speaking and sociology of language. The target population of the research is the university community of Cape Coast and the sample frame comprises students. lecture~ and the non-academic staff. The study adopts the ethnographic research design and the instruments employed for data collection were: observation. questionnaire and interview . The results of the study show that the inter-personal relationship between interlocutors defined by age. sex. rank, status. religious affiliation. marital status. level of education and ethnicity affected code choice in discourse situations. The university community of Cape Coast is multilingual and the kinds of code choice available to subjects are: unmixed codes. code mixing and code switching.