INTER-SENTENTIAL SWITCHING IN ALEXANDER THIAN’S TWITTER ACCOUNT @aMrazing

Abstract

This is a qualitative study that focuses on inter-sentential switching found in selected tweets from Alexander Thian’s Twitter account @aMrazing. The data collection process is done by documenting the tweets he posts containing said code switching. The objectives of this study are to 1) observe the reasons behind his inter-sentential switching and 2) find which reason is more dominant. A theory proposed by Hoffman (1991) is used as a guidance to achieve these two objectives. The final findings conclude that the seven reasons from the theory are all used and found in the data. Meanwhile, Alexander Thian’s intention of clarifying the speech content for his followers on Twitter as the addressee is the most prominent reason with 32% occurrences of total data, which amounts to 8 tweets out of 25 total. Among these reasons, the least obvious is the purpose of quoting somebody else which only has 2% occurrences.