An analysis of Estonian gaming streamers’ English-Estonian code-switching

Abstract

Examining contact effects in language use helps to better understand contact-induced language change as well as the interaction between specific languages. The parallel use of at least two languages in one utterance is called code-switching. The use of code-switching allows for structural and semantic impact, which may result in new and interesting combinations. This MA thesis discusses English-Estonian code-switching in the Estonian online gaming community with the aim of answering two research questions: how do Estonian gamers use English code-switches in their Estonian utterances and can a cross-modal effect of code-switching be determined.