THE FUNCTIONS OF CODE SWITCHING IN THE COMMUNICATION

This working paper is a study on code switching in the communication of Patani Malay community, southern Thailand. In the aspect of daily life, the dialect of Patani Malay is used as a mediator language among them. At the same time, Thai language is also widely used and increasingly becomes the language of choice, especially among those educated. The strong influence of Thai language in the dialect of Patani Malay has created another social variation, where both languages are often used alternately, or better known as code switching. This study will focus on the detection of code switching functions in Patani Malay community, especially the Malay community in Kedai Lama Yala, Yala Region. Primary data for the research is based on 50-hour recorded conversations of respondents in the research area. The findings identified a total of seven (7) code switching functions in the Patani Malay community. Among which code switching functioned as a repetition, pronoun, quotation, addressee specification, emotional expression, message qualification and facility of expression.