摘要：This study focuses on code-switching between colleagues in a multicultural
and multilingual university workplace environment, focusing solely on the
participants’ interactions in English and Spanish. Changing languages within
one sentence or conversation is referred to as code-switching. Based on earlier studies
of code-switching but moving towards a more specific environment, the workplace, this
study intends to answer the following two research questions: What form does codeswitching
take in the workplace? And, what are the meanings participants assign to the
act of code-switching? Using an ethnographic lens, I collected participant observation
data and semi-structured interviews with three of the six participants. Analyzing the data
through an iterative framework, I identified three distinct meanings that participants
assigned to these forms of code-switching: face-saving, expression of raw emotion, and
compartmentalization of work and private life.
