Issue 34.1.indd Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 118 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ljh.v34i1.5s Language Blending in Tanzanian Adverts: Codeswitching between Swahili, English, and Kiswahili cha Mtaani Josephine Dzahene-Quarshie Associate Professor Department of Modern Languages University of Ghana, Legon Email: jdzahene-quarshie@ug.edu.gh Felix Kwame Sosoo Lecturer Department of Modern Languages University of Ghana, Legon Email: fksosoo@ug.edu.gh Submitted: February 14, 2023 /Accepted: March 13, 2023 /Published: June 29, 2023 Abstract This study interrogates the strategic use of code-switching involving Standard Swahili, English, and Kiswahili cha Mtaani in audio-visual advertisements by telecommunication companies (Telecos) in Tanzania. A purposive sampling method was used to gather the data: codeswitched advertisements for the purpose of demonstrating the blending of codes. The data on advertisement was gathered from audio-visual advertisements by selected Telecos in Tanzania on social media platforms. Underpinned by theories of codeswitching, this study establishes that beyond codeswitching between Kiswahili and English as a language choice for advertising by Telecos in Tanzania, an emerging trend is the use of codeswitching between Standard Kiswahili and Kiswahili cha mtaani (an urban youth variety of Kiswahili); also, some adverts feature three-way codeswitching involving Standard Kiswahili, English and Kiswahili cha mtaani. The study further argues that codeswitching in the advertisements is carefully thought of, intentionally blending the languages in a strategic way to attract customers from diff erent Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 119 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Language blending in Tanzanian adverts linguistic, economic, and sociological backgrounds as well as diff erent age groups, making this kind of codeswitching distinct from codeswitching which occurs in natural conversation. Keywords: Codeswitching, Kiswahili cha mtaani, Language Blending, intra-sentential codeswitching, codeswitched advert Introduction Advertisements are a medium for promoting products and marketing services to people. According to Okoro (2005), the term advertising originated from the Latin word ‘ad vertere’ which means, ‘to turn the mind towards’. Several studies in the literature have established that codeswitching has evolved as a language choice for advertising in many parts of the world. Often in the instances of codeswitched adverts in various countries where English is not indigenous, local languages are codeswitched with English, simply because English is the most-wide-spread language, prestigious, and often referred to as a global language (Crystal, 1997). In addition, in many non-native English-speaking countries, advertisers are making strong eff orts to target and persuade bilinguals. Advertisers are highly creative and innovative in producing code-switched and code-mixed adverts which simultaneously manipulate and appeal to bilinguals to a great extent. Over the past few decades, codeswitching between Kiswahili and English in advertisement texts has become a norm especially in advertisements by multinational organizations (Dzahene-Quarshie, 2013). Although codeswitching is usually an oral phenomenon, its usage in advertisements in the print media has become a norm in Tanzania. Thus, codeswitching features in advertisements in many Kiswahili language newspapers as well as billboards (Dzahene-Quarshie, 2013). Codeswitching between Kiswahili and English has also increased in audio-visual advertisements over the years (Dzahene-Quarshie and Csajbok-Twerefou, 2016). In recent times another trend that has emerged in the world of advertising, especially in Africa, is the use of urban youth Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 120 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) languages in advertising (Mungai, 2008; Kariuki, Kanana and Kebeya, 2015). Mutinga (2013) observes that many commercial advertisers have turned to an extensive use of Sheng, an urban youth language in Kenya to market their products. He posits that the entrepreneurial class in Kenya has now woken up to the economic advantages that Sheng presents as the language of the youth. Likewise in Tanzania a similar trend has emerged where Kiswahili cha mtaani, an urban youth language, has emerged in the domain of advertising in addition to English mixing. Thus, increasingly, codeswitched adverts are becoming the norm in Tanzania, where codeswitching involves Swahili and English, Standard Swahili and Kiswahili cha mtaani or all three of them. This shift in language choice for advertising is signifi cant especially when the products and services target particularly the youth. This trend is popular in advertisements of multinational companies, especially telecommunication companies. It is the dynamics of this kind of codeswitching that we refer to as blending. The present study seeks to examine the blending of codes as a language choice for advertising selected products and services in Tanzania. The use of these three distinct codes in advertisement stems from the fact that all the three codes play vital roles in specifi c domains in Tanzania. For advertisers, it is important to reach the widest range of customers, thus they use blended language in order to appeal to all categories of customers (the old, the young, the middle-class, the masses); on the side of customers, they are attracted to the beautifully blended language of the world of advertisements. The key objective of the study is to demonstrate through the analysis of a corpus of ten advertisements that unlike normal codeswitching where the switching occurs as a necessity due to the speaker’s inability to use one code due to one or more of several reasons, in codeswitched advertisement, switching which may be between two or three codes (Standard Kiswahili, English and KcM (Street Swahili) is deliberate and planned. It is executed in such a way Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 121 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Language blending in Tanzanian adverts that the overall eff ect appeals to and attracts customers to the advertised product or service. In the following sections, we fi rst discuss the conceptual framework underpinning the study. This is followed by a discussion on the relationship between Standard Kiswahili, English and Kiswahili cha Mtaani. Next, we describe the methodology adopted by the study, then we analyse and discuss the data. Thereafter, we briefl y discuss the fi ndings of the study and conclude. Conceptual Framework Multilingualism refers to the phenomenon of conversing with two or more languages alternately and bilingualism is conversing by use of two languages. Titone (1993) defi ned bilingualism as one’s ability to speak a second or third language using structures and concepts that diff er from the mother tongue. To aid the analysis and discussion of the data on the use of two or all three of the languages identifi ed in advertisements in Telecos in Tanzania, the study employs the concept of code-mixing and codeswitching. Hoff man (1991) describes code-mixing as the most creative aspect of multilingual and bilingual speech which is a normal phenomenon for multilingual and bilingual speakers. Usually, for multilinguals and bilinguals it is easier to communicate certain topics in one’s dominant language than a less dominant one. Poplack (2001) explains code-mixing as the integration of more than one language in discourse by bilinguals or multilinguals between and among persons engaged in a particular conversation, within a particular group of people or even on a specifi c subject or theme. According to Bauer (2010), code-mixing refers to the “linguistic behavior of a bilingual speaker who imports words or phrases from one of his/ her languages into the other one. In brief, Code Mixing can be defi ned as the code-alternation of words or phrases from language A into language B within a single utterance. Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 122 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) Myers-Scotton (1988) defi nes this kind of language alternation as constituting intra-sentential codeswitching. Intra- sentential switching thus occurs within the sentence boundaries or also in a clause. In this sense, bilingual or multilingual speakers switch part of clauses, morphemes, or lexical items in a sentence. Again, according to her, code-switching is “the use of any two or more linguistic varieties in the same conversation, whether they are diff erent languages, styles, or dialects” (p. 201). Hoff man (1991) and Poplack (2001) categorize code- switching into inter-sentential switching, and emblematic switching or tag switching. However, Myers-Scotton (1988) uses codeswitching as an umbrella term for all types of code alternations and distinguishes between intra-sentential switching and inter sentential switching. Inter-sentential switching involves switching at the sentential level where one sentence is in a particular language and the subsequent sentence is in another language (Myers-Scotton, 1988). Tag switching occurs where a tag or short phrase is inserted from one language into a sentence in another language (Hoff man, 1991). Considering that code-mixing (intra-sentential codeswitching) allows the change of code, it is important to know factors that trigger it. According to Chaer and Agustina (2010), Code-Mixing is triggered by several factors such as: the speaker, the addressee, the setting, the change of situation from formal to informal, and the topic. Li (1996) cited in Bi (2011, p. 61) states that “topics like family, school, workplace, pop music, fashions, and politics are most often talked about in a code-mixing way”. A functional model for codeswitching is proposed by Appel and Muysken (2006) who state that code- switching is used to attain diverse functions in interactions. According to Myers-Scotton (1988), code-switching is “the use of any two or more linguistic varieties in the same conversation, whether they are diff erent languages, styles, or dialects” (p. 201). Code-mixing (intra-sentential codeswitching), inter-sentential and tag switching are exemplifi ed in our data. For the sake of Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 123 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Language blending in Tanzanian adverts uniformity, we will use the terms inter-sentential codeswitching, intra-sentential codeswitching (in lieu of code mixing) and tag switching in this study. Dynamics of Kiswahili, English and Kiswahili cha Mtaani in Tanzania Currentlly, Kiswahili is spoken by most people in Tanzania as a fi rst or second language and it plays very important roles in many domains in the country such as, schools, market and home. English continues to compete with Kiswahili in domains such as secondary and tertiary education, the high courts among others. For over four centuries Swahili has been shaped by many factors (Chiraghdin & Mnyampala, 1977; Nurse & Spear, 1985; Shariff , 1973; Whiteley, 1969) and has played and continues to play an important role in East Africa in general and Tanzania in particular. During the colonial period and advent of European missionaries to Africa, Kiswahili which had emerged as a trade language was developed to play important roles such as an administrative language during the German colonial administration and as a medium of instruction in primary education by European missionaries who pioneered formal education in East Africa. In 1930, a standard orthography of Kiswahili was adopted by the British Colonial administration (Whiteley, 1969). Shortly after independence, Kiswahili was declared as the National and Offi cial Language of Tanzania. The implementation of its establishment as a national language was given a high priority by the government since it was considered a crucial factor in the process of unifi cation and nation-building. Over the years, various policies have been initiated to ensure the sustenance and continuous development of the language in Tanzania. As mentioned above, English still wields power in Tanzania as it continues to be the medium of instruction in secondary and tertiary education and many private basic schools use it as medium of instruction. Even in Swahili Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 124 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) medium newspapers, English still features in the domain of advertisement such as white-collar job vacancies and tender notices (Dzahene-Quarshie, 2013). Again, although there are over fi fty Swahili medium newspapers in Tanzania, several English medium newspapers are also available. Other domains that Swahili shares with English is parliamentary discourse where although offi cially the medium of communication is Kiswahili, code-switching between Kiswahili and English is a regular phenomenon (Dzahene-Quarshie, 2011). Kiswahili cha mtaani is an urban youth variety of Kiswahili that has emerged among the youth in town quarters where Swahili is spoken. As far back as 1958, Gower reported the existence of Swahili slang, which, according to his observations was “born in towns” with young men being “the most prolifi c manufacturers of slang” (Gower, 1958, p. 250). According to Reuster-Jahn and Kießling (2006), in the eighties, it was common to call colloquial forms of Swahili “lugha ya mtaani” (“language of the town quarters”, or “street language”). Recently, there has been an increase in the rate at which people, especially the youth use Lugha ya mtaani. This development of Kiswahili cha mtaani refl ects the social, economic, and political liberalization in Tanzania, which started in the late 1980s. In this study, we acknowledge the existence of variants of Kiswahili cha mtaani, however, we will use Kiswahili cha Mtaani as a cover term for all varieties. It is also worth noting that some elements of Kiswahili cha mtaani henceforth KcM are also gradually becoming unmarked and are being diff used into daily usage of Kiswahili, and where they are used persistently, they eventually become part of the standard language1. This claim can be substantiated when the listings in the fi rst and second editions of the Kamusi ya Kiswahili Sanifu (Dictionary of Standard Swahili, TUKI 1981 and 2004) are compared. In the latter, several words that were hitherto identifi ed as KcM have now been listed, thus they 1 Ohly makes a similar statement with respect to “Standard colloquial language” (1987a, p. 4). Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 125 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Language blending in Tanzanian adverts are acknowledged as part of the standard language. Examples of such words are mchecheto ‘worries, pressure, confusion’, changudoa ‘prostitute’, and kasheshe ‘mayhem’. Blommaert (1990) referred to speech which had these non-standard forms as “Kiswahili cha mtaani”, which he characterised as, (…) a complex of English-interfered Kiswahili variants, appearing in most of the urban areas of present-day Tanzania. It is assumed to be the medium of popular amusement through music and comic books, and seems to be the jargon of fashionable youngsters. Here, English interferences are mostly idiomatic in nature (…) and are heavily integrated” (Blommaert, 1990, p. 24). In Tanzanian, KcM is contrasted with lugha fasaha or Kiswahili fasaha (Standard Swahili). Kiswahili sanifu or fasaha (Standard Swahili) is rarely used in contrast with Kiswahili cha mtaani, except by Swahili scholars. Kiswahili fasaha is described as Swahili as is taught at school, and as can be found in books. In addition to the term KcM or lugha ya mtaani, the term Kibongo (language of Bongo, i.e., Dar es Salaam) is also used. The term Bongo implies that Dar es Salaam is the center of linguistic creativity. One functional aspect of KcM is its use as group- language of youths. According to Reuster-Jahn and Kießling (2006), even in former times the most creative agents in forming lugha ya mtaani; referred to in our context as KcM were youths, and they have become dominant in recent years in the creative process of coining terms and expressions as well as transferring items from English, which often originate in the slang of some sub-cultural group in America or elsewhere. Others recognize KcM as enriching Standard Swahili, which is seen as rather bookish (Ohly, 1987). It has a lot in common with other urban youth languages found in Africa. Thus, it is typically learned by adolescents in peer-groups and used in informal settings to communicate the meta-message of solidarity and toughness. In Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 126 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) some youth-groups, it seems to be important to be able to speak it as fast as possible (Böhme 2004: 38), probably to ‘jargoozle’, i.e., confuse outsiders – which shows that demarcation and secrecy to some extent can be one of its functions (Reuster-Jahn and Kießling, 2006:13). A fundamental prerequisite for the fl ourishing of KcM is the fact that Swahili has truly become the primary language of its speakers. As Ohly (1987) emphasizes, with respect to Swahili slang: “Profi ciency enables the correct employment of slang, but it is full competence in Swahili which makes it possible to creatively coin slang expressions” (p. 6). Looking into the linguistic makeup, it is quite clear that KcM is not an independent language, but a sociolect or register of Kiswahili. It is defi nitely derived from Kiswahili, since, generally, it adheres to Kiswahili grammatical rules. Nevertheless, it deviates from Standard Kiswahili in its lexicon and its phrasemes (idiomatic expressions), which are constantly being renovated by strategies of deliberate manipulation. Considering that all these three codes play a role in Tanzania, it is not surprising that advertisers fi nd it expedient to employ a combination of two or all three of them in the crafting of their adverts depending on the type of product or service and the target audience. Methodology The study employed purposive sampling in collecting the necessary data while a qualitative approach to data analysis was adopted. It was deemed that the best approach for analysing the data to meet the objectives of the study was a qualitative approach. Furthermore, in line with the objective of the study, data from telecommunication companies with specifi c details were targeted. The data consisted of audio-visual advertisements by telecommunication organisations which were accessed via YouTube and Facebook. Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 127 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Language blending in Tanzanian adverts Data The study looked at video advertisements from four major telecommunication companies in Tanzania namely Airtel, Tigo, Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL) and Vodacom. First, we watched the various adverts by the telecommunication organizations chosen on their YouTube and Facebook platforms and we sorted those that use a combination of two or all three of the codes, namely a blend of Standard Kiswahili and English, Standard Kiswahili and Kiswahili cha Mtaani or a blend of standard Kiswahili, English and Kiswahili cha Mtaani. Ten audio-visual adverts that met the objectives of the study were considered for this research. Firstly, the adverts were classifi ed into the following types namely: Those code-mixed with standard Kiswahili and English; Standard Kiswahili and KcM; and English, standard Kiswahili and KcM. After the categorization, we transcribed the words in the video and translated those codemixed or codeswitched with standard Kiswahili or KcM. This is to ensure that the meanings in the original adverts remain even in the translated versions. The adverts are coded according to the name of the organization and the number of adverts from each of them for easy tracing and referencing. The following abbreviations are used to label them: Airtel – AT; Vodacom – VD: Tigo – TI; and TTCL -TC. Analysis and Discussion In the next section, we analyse each advert in terms of the number of languages used as well as the types of codeswitching that are featured in them and how they are blended together eff ectively. We do this by displaying in a tabula the entire advert side by side with the English translation and a brief narrative on the content of the advert, then we go on to discuss the types of codeswitching it features. It must be noted that usually these audio-visual adverts feature both written and oral texts, thus our transcriptions include both. We begin the analysis with adverts that exemplify codeswitching between Standard Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 128 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) Swahili and English; this is followed by adverts that illustrate codeswitching between Standard Kiswahili and Kiswahili cha mtaani, then fi nally, those which demonstrate the blending of all three codes, Standard Kiswahili, Kiswahili cha mtaani, and English. For easy identifi cation, the parts of the advert that are in Standard Swahili are in italics, tag switching are in bold italics and KcM are in bold. The analysis which describes the lexical and syntactic patterns of switching, namely, inter-sentential codeswitching, intra-sentential codeswitching (code-mixing), and tag switching is based on the frameworks of Poplack (1988) and Hoff man (1991). However, Myers-Scotton’s (1988) labels; Intra-sentential codeswitching (Hoff man and Poplack’s code- mixing), inter-sentential codeswitching and tag switching are used for uniformity and convenience. Codeswitched Adverts with Standard Swahili and English The fi rst Advert in this category, ATI, is about a 4G product from a multinational telco, Airtel, Airtel Super 4G. The text employs inter-sentential code-switching between standard Swahili and English, intra-sentential code-switching, and tag- switching. Codeswitched Adverts with Standard Swahili and English Airtel 4G (AT1) (screaming) Help! Help!! Help!!! (screaming) Help! Help!! Help!!! Kasi juu ya kasi. Hamia airtel supa 4G. Peruzi, strim na download kwa spidi Topmost speed. Move to Airtel Super 4G. browse, stream and download with speed. The aim of the audio-visual is to demonstrate the speed of Airtel super 4G. In the audio-visual, a thief snatches and tries to run away with the bag of a lady who is shopping in the Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 129 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Language blending in Tanzanian adverts market. The lady immediately screams “Help! Help!! Help!!!”. Her screams attract the attention of a uniformed security offi cer, and he begins to run after the thief. During the chase, there was no talking but there was music in the background. The thief bumps into several items on sale as he tries to outrun the security offi cer. The security offi cer speeds up and snatches the bag from the thief and speeds ahead of the thief, almost immediately, two security Alsatian dogs begin to chase them. The scene is cut but the advert continues with an utterance that says “Kasi juu ya kasi…. Hamia Airtel supa 4G. Peruzi, strim na download kwa spidi”. The advert goes back to the market scene where the security offi cer is seen returning the bag to the lady. The speed with which the security offi cer runs to retrieve the lady’s bag and to get ahead of the thief while the dogs chase, is used as a scenic illustration of the speed of the Airtel Super 4G product. Thus, in terms of verbal content, the advert is made up of just a few sentences. It is observed that the fi rst part, ‘Help! Help!! Help!!!’ is in English. This is followed by a sentence in Kiswahili, ‘Kasi juu ya kasi’. These two sentences constitute inter-sentential codeswitching between English and Standard Swahili. The next two sentences feature intra-sentential codeswitching (code- mixing) between Kiswahili and English. In these, the matrix language is Kiswahili, and the embedded language is English. Hamia Airtel supa 4G. In this sentence the predicate hamia ‘move’ is Swahili and the complement, “Airtel supa 4G.” is English. In addition, the word supa which represents the English word, ‘super’ constitutes a tag switch. In the sentence, “Peruzi, strim na download kwa spidi.” which is made up of three clauses and an adjunct, the fi rst two clauses which are verbal items are Swahili while the third clause “download” is English. Here again the sentence features intra-sentential codeswitching where the fi rst two verbal constructions are Swahili and the codeswitched item is ‘download’. Again, in addition the English verb “stream” is represented with a tag switch strim and ‘speed’ is also represented by a tag switch spidi. Thus, the text of the Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 130 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) advert AT1, is a blend of standard Swahili and English, featuring both inter-sentential and intra-sentential codeswitching and tag switching. These codes are blended in an intentional manner to achieve an appealing rendition of the language of the advert. The tag switched items, ‘Supa ‘super’; strim ‘stream’; and spidi ‘speed’ are categorized as such because they do not represent English items and they are not standard Swahili because they are not found in current standard Kiswahili dictionaries. The peculiarity here is the use of Kiswahili orthography instead of English, as would be expected. Since there are a lot of borrowed words from English in Kiswahili sometimes making a distinction between a codeswitched item and a borrowed item proves diffi cult. At the end of the advert, the inscription ‘Airtel the smartphone network’ appears on the screen; it constitutes another incidence of inter-sentential code-switching, in relation with the last sentence of the text. It is important to note that the use of spidi, is for an aesthetic purpose because the Swahili word for speed was used in the second sentence of the text. Thus, sometimes using a tag switched or a codeswitched item is not as a result of limited code capacity. Another example of an advert with codeswitching between standard Kiswahili and English is AT2 below. The commercial is about an Airtel product, My Airtel App. It seeks to encourage subscribers to invite their friends to use My Airtel App. The text of the advert is displayed on the screen during narration. There are no characters in the video. The advert narrates the step-by-step process of inviting one’s friends to use the App. Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 131 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Language blending in Tanzanian adverts Codeswitched Adverts with Standard Swahili and English My Airtel App (AT2) Wasambazie marafi ki My Airtel App wafurahie MB 200 bure Share with friends My Airtel App so they enjoy 200 MB for free Nawe ufurahie MB 50 bure pale kila rafi ki atakapopakua na kusajili My Airtel App And you enjoy 50MB for free for every friend that downloads and registers for My Airtel App Fanya hivi, fungua My Airtel App Do this, open the My Airtel app Bofya sehemu ya refer and earn Click on refer and earn Itafungua sehemu ya pili It will open to a second section Bofya tena sehemu ya refer and earn na msambazie rafi ki link Click the ‘refer and earn’ section again and share the link with friends Rafi ki akipokea link anatakiwa kubofya na kupakua na kusajili My Airtel App When your friend receives the link, they are expected to download and register for the My Airtel App Kila rafi ki atakayepakua na kusajili atapata MB 200 bure Each friend who downloads and registers will receive 200MB for free Na wewe utapokea MB 50 za bure And you will receive 50MB for free Rudia hatua hii kuwasabazia My Airtel App kwa marafi ki zaidi kufurahia MB za bure. Repeat these steps to share with more friends the My Airtel App to enjoy free data. Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 132 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) The advert is made up of ten sentences. Out of the ten sentences, 9 feature intra-sentential code-switching involving standard Swahili and English. The code-switched items typically are phrases such as ‘My Airtel App’ and ‘MB 200, link’ etc. In these sentences we can observe that English words like ‘My Airtel App’, ‘refer and earn’ and ‘link’ are codeswitched together with other Standard Swahili codes, the switching occurs within the sentences, so they constitute intra-sentential codeswitching. Comparing AT1 with AT2, it is observed that there is no consistency in the use of codeswitched items. In the AT1 above, the English word ‘download’ is used but in AT2 the Swahili word kupakua which originally refers to offl oading is being used to represent downloading from the internet. This constitutes a vocabulary expansion phenomenon referred to as a semantic extension (Winford, 2003). Another diff erence is that there is no case of tag switching in AT2. It can be argued that the focus of the two adverts from the same company are diff erent. While care is taken to blend the codes to engineer some auditory aesthetics in AT1, AT2 appears to go straight to the point giving a step-by-step instruction in very clear Swahili, only resorting to using codeswitched items which do not have equivalents in Swahili, hence using kupakua instead of download which is used in AT1 from the same Teleco. A third advert featuring inter-sentential codeswitching of standard Swahili and English AT3 below also from Airtel, is a product known as Airtel yatosha ‘Airtel suffi ces’. The message of Airtel Yatosha, AT3 is that subscribers can receive enough talk time to call any network, as well as enough data bundle to browse the internet. Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 133 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Language blending in Tanzanian adverts Codeswitched Adverts with Standard Swahili and English Airtel Yatosha AT3 Ahh yayaya, ah! Ahh yayaya, ah! Una charger? Una charger? Do you have a charger? Do you have a charger? Tatu, nne, tano, sita, saba, nane, moja, mbili… Three, four, fi ve, six, seven, eight, one, two… Mna charger? Do you have a charger? Huh? Huh? Mida hii ilikuwa ya lunch mzee. Ila unajua nini nimesahau chakula sasa hahah… This time was for lunch sir. But you know what I have forgotten about food hahah… Hello…ahyaaa una charger? Hello…ahyaaa do you have a charger? Eeh nilimwambia ahamie Airtel Eeh I told him to move to join Airtel Lakini… anafail… But…. he has failed to…. Ngoja nikuwhatsapp, niko na familia Wait let me whatsapp you, I’m with the family. Ahhh, mna charger? Do you have a charger? Charger! Charger! kila saa wee vipi? Si ununue tu betri Every hour charger! Charger!! Why? Why not just buy a battery? Unafi kiri ni betri? Nimepewa zaidi na yatosha bandoo la Airtel. Do you think it’s about the battery? I have been given more than enough Airtel bundle. Na kama nikikupigia nakupigia mtandao wowote ule, na hapo bado kuna cha kudownload na kuchat. And I can call you and any network, and still have enough to download and chat. Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 134 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) The advert commences with a man on a treadmill in a gym watching a video on his phone. Soon his battery runs low, and he begins to ask those around him if they have a charger. He goes on to switch the speaker off in the gym so everyone can hear him ask for a charger. Everyone looks perplexed as they shake their heads to say ‘no’ in response to his question. The next scene is an offi ce where the man is seen speaking on phone, as he takes a seat. His phone displays a low battery signal which causes him to ask his colleagues if they have a charger. With confused looks, his colleagues shake their heads. The next scene is outside a house where a family is gathered at a table. A man is seen speaking on phone as he strolls around and a low battery signal shows on his phone. He proceeds to ask his family for a charger. This time multiple chargers are thrown at him as everyone laughs at him. A lady at the table comments that he is always asking for a charger and asks him why he does not just buy a new battery. He responds that his battery does not have a problem. Rather, it is because he has been given more than enough Airtel bundle which he can use to call any network as well as to download and to chat. The advert clearly demonstrates the use of several counts of standard Swahili intra-sentential codeswitching with English. For instance, in the sentence ‘Una charger?’ the noun charger is English whereas the rest of the question is standard Swahili. Several more of the utterances in the advert feature intra-sentential codeswitching with charger as the codeswitched item. Another codeswitched noun is ‘lunch’. Also, the sentence ‘…na hapo bado kuna cha kudownload na kuchat’and kufail in another sentence, also illustrates the use of standard Swahili and English in intra-sentential codeswitching whereby the infi nitive verbs have English stems. Another codeswitched item is the interjection ‘Hello!’. Although eff orts are made by the National Kiswahili Council to coin Kiswahili words to represent new words, terms and concepts, there is still the issue of lack of code capacity in Swahili. Thus, it is not surprising that for technical Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 135 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Language blending in Tanzanian adverts terms such as ‘charger’ and ‘chat’ in AT3 and App in AT2, advertisers tend to use codeswitched items when the equivalent Swahili terms are not readily available. Thus, the use of some English labels such as exemplifi ed is purely pragmatically motivated. That notwithstanding, the use of some catchy English items such as ‘Hello’, ‘lunch’, ‘-fail’, and – ‘whatsapp’ (as a verb) are for aesthetic eff ects. Another example is seen in VD1 below, which is about the product Vodacom Dailee, of Vodacom which gives customers one-hour free talk time. It features a famous Tanzanian musician, Diamond Platnumz. The advert is made up of a number of inter- sentential codeswitching between standard Swahili and English as well as inter-sentential codeswitching. Codeswitched Adverts with Standard Swahili and English Vodacom Dailee (VD1) Fans wangu ni watu wangu. My fans are my people. Asikwambie mtu. You don’t need to be told. Dailee lazima niwe karibu na watu wangu, wanangu, kuwa karibu na mama yangu, na hata wadau wangu, and of course, my baby. I have to be close to my people daily, my children, and be near my mother, friends, and even my colleagues and of course my baby. Kabla ya kupanda stage Wana fanya saaa Before mounting the stage They do Sir, we are ready Sir, we are ready Nampigia mwanangu I call my child (on phone) Bye honey Kuwa karibu na watu wangu kwa dakika kumi tu. Niko nao hewani saa moja zima bure dailee… To be around my people just for 10 minutes, Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 136 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) Hello Tanzania! Hello Tanzania! Ongea saa moja bure. Talk free for one hour. Maisha ni murua. Life is gracious. Vodacom, Kazi ni Kwako ! Vodacom, work is yours. The advert begins with Platnumz getting ready backstage to mount the stage for a performance. The video shows the productive team including Platnumz the performing artiste busy with preparation before start of the show. As he rehearses playing his guitar, he talks about being close to his fans, close family and friends, ‘his people’. As he does this, there are scenes of these people talking to him on their phones. Then in the next scene, he is prompted by one of the production team members who tells him “Sir, we are ready.” But before he goes on to the stage, he calls his wife and child and speaks to them, and he goes on to state that to be close to his people for just 10 minutes, he stays on the line daily for free for one hour. Then he goes on stage and greets his waiting audience and fans, “Hello Tanzania!” and the advert continues with Swahili, telling viewers to talk for free for one hour, daily. The advert contains a number of instances of both intra- sentential and inter-sentential codeswitching between standard Swahili and English as well as a tag switch. The fi rst sentence of the advert is a case of intra-sentential codeswitching. The sentence begins with an English noun, ‘Fans’ and continues with standard Swahili. The next sentence is purely Swahili but it is followed by a sentence which features both intra-sentential codeswitching and Tag switching. The English codeswitched item is ‘and of course, my baby’ the use of this English slang is intended to create a perception of youthfulness and ‘eliteness’. And the tag switch Dailee, is the catch phrase in the advert emphasizing on the deal of the advert which is a one-hour free talk time daily. The next four sentences feature inter-sentential switching between Swahili and English. However, in this Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 137 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Language blending in Tanzanian adverts situation Platnumz speaks Swahili and the stage director prompts him using English ‘sir, we are ready’, this is followed by another sentence in Swahili by Platnumz and his wife responds in English ‘Bye, honey’. So, the switches are not utterances from the same speaker as is usual with codeswitching. Listening to the advert, it gives the impression of a deliberate manipulation of Kiswahili and English to create an appealing utterance to the ear. Another inter-sentential codeswitched item ‘Hello Tanzania’ is Platnumz’s way of greeting his audience who receive him with much excitement. The advert ends with a couple of sayings in Swahili. ‘Life is gracious’, and ‘Work is yours’ which can be interpreted as ‘Life is great’ and ‘The ball is in your court.’ Overall, this advert is very pleasant to the ears and, visually, it features people of all ages enjoying the service, emphasizing further the target audience for the advert. And of course, using a famous music artiste of Platnumz’s status adds to the overall charm of the advert. Codeswitched Adverts in Standard Swahili and Kiswahili cha mtaani From our investigation, the use of KcM has progressed from being limited to comic books and music to almost all communicative domains including advertisements. The primary characteristic of KcM in general is that it deviates from Standard Kiswahili by its special lexicon which can be described as lucid since it is in a constant process of rapid reconstruction. These lexicons are created by deliberate manipulation of existing lexical items to represent expressions of attitudes of jocular and provocative violation of linguistic norms. This property is characteristic of urban youth languages in general and in Africa in particular (Kießling & Mous, 2004), e.g., Sheng (Abdulaziz & Osinde 1997; Mazrui 1995; Moga & Fee 1993; Mbaabu & Nzuga 2003). It is a recent trend in colloquial speech practice in Tanzania to blend standard Swahili and street Swahili (KcM) with English terms and expressions to demonstrate being up to Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 138 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) date in a globalized world. As Blommaert (1990, p. 24) puts it, “the use of English idiomatic expressions serves as a mark of worldliness, of being young and daring”. In this section, we examine adverts that feature codeswitching between standard Swahili and Kiswahili cha mtaani. This is done in such a way that the intended meaning of the advert to the target audience is achieved. In such instances where the sentence is made up of words and phrases from both standard Swahili and KcM only, the fact that they involve codeswitching is not readily obvious except when one is profi cient in the Kiswahili language and also conversant with KCM, since in terms of structure, standard Swahili and KCM are rather similar. The fi rst advert of this category, TI1 is about the wide network coverage of Tigo. The advert professes that the Tigo network is available everywhere in Tanzania. The text of the advert is mainly standard Swahili codeswitched with KcM. Codeswitched Adverts with Standard Swahili and KcM Tigo Tumefi ka (TI1) Dereva, mzigo huu ufi ke kwa mzee Malubalu magorofani Driver, this load should get to Mr Malubalu at magorofa. Kama nilivyokuelekeza nusu saa uwe hapa As I have directed you, in half an hour you should be here. Nimekupata vizuri bosi, kwa mzee Malubalu maghorofani I undersand you very well boss, to Mr. Malubalu at maghorofa. Una uhakika hutapotea? Are you sure you will not get lost? Usiwe na wasiwasi ushafi ka Don’t worry, it will arrive. Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 139 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Language blending in Tanzanian adverts Wee! Weee! Youuu! Youuu! Ushafi ka bosi usiwe na shaka. It will arrive Boss don’t worry. Bhana nikuulize? Sir may I ask? Kuuliza jero, kuelekeza buku. Mjini hapa hakuna vya bure. Asking is 500, directing is 1,000. In this city nothing is free. Kwa Mzee Malubalu wapi? What is the direction to Mr Malabalu’s? Nyosha moja kwa moja, usiende kushoto wala kulia. Nitie buku jero. Go straight, do not turn left or right. Give me 1,500. Narudi… Safari inaendelea I am coming… The journey continues In the advert, a woman (a man dressed in a woman’s clothing) hands over a package to a driver and instructs him to deliver it to Mzee Malubalu in maghorofani and be back within 30 minutes. She then questions the driver if he is sure he would not get lost. The driver addressing her in Swahili uses ‘bosi’ which is a vocabulary from KcM, assures her that he can do the task and asks her not to worry and that the package would be delivered. The driver begins his journey to Mzee Malubalu’s. On his way, he stops and asks a man on a bicycle for direction. The man tells him to go straight and to not turn right nor left and requests for the driver to pay him ‘buku jero’ KcM for one thousand, fi ve hundred Tanzanian Shillings in Standard Swahili. The driver lets him know he would pay him on his way back. The driver continues driving till he receives a call from the woman. He addresses her bosi once again and informs her that he had arrived. Then unexpectedly, he sees Mount Kilimanjaro in his rear-view mirror and exclaims ‘I am lost!’. In the next scene, the map of Tanzania is shown while a voice begins to announce that Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 140 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) Tigo is available everywhere in Tanzania and urges viewers to buy a Tigo line to enjoy talking with family and friends wherever in Tanzania as far as Kilimanjaro! The advert features several instances of intra-sentential codeswitching between Standard Kiswahili and KcM. The strategy here is that KcM nouns are blended into Standard Kiswahili to give the language a streetwise tint with the intention to attract the attention of people of all statuses. For instance, a sentence like ‘Nimekupata vizuri bosi, kwa mzee Malubalu maghorofani’, the word bosi is a street term used mainly by the youth to refer to a person of higher status than them. Bhana is the KcM word for Bwana, ‘sir’. Here, the blending constitutes an intra-sentential codeswitching of standard Swahili with KcM. Likewise, in ‘…Nitie buku jero’. Buku jero is a street term for one thousand, fi ve hundred shillings. Just like VD1, the advert features both young and old people. In fact, the man who assisted the driver was an old man and he used the KcM term buku jero a pointer to the fact that the old generation is also part of the target audience of the advert. The advert AT4, on a product known as Airtel Zone also employs intra-sentential codeswitching standard Swahili and KcM. This advert’s aim is to convince individuals to subscribe to Airtel Zone, a service which off ers 99% discount. Codeswitched Adverts with Standard Swahili and KcM Airtel Zone (AT 4) Mambo dada? What’s up? Poa. Cool Hii ndo mchongo yako ujue This is your style mi naiona mwanangu I can see that friend Halafu kitakukaa design bcbg… It would be like designer fi t Eee umeanza ee! You have started! Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 141 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Language blending in Tanzanian adverts ‘Nipe bei ya jioni mwanangu’ Give me an evening (good) price. Kwani una sh ngapi? How much shillings do you have for it? Mi nakupa buku tano tu… I’ll give you only fi ve thousand… Pata punguzo get a discount The advert commences with a lady approaching a shoe shop. She exchanges greetings with the shop attendant. The shop attendant selects a shoe and hands it over to her saying, “this is your style”. The lady agrees with the attendant saying “mi naiona mwanangu”, meaning “I can tell, friend”. The attendant tells her it would fi t her well. The lady replies by saying “eee umeanza eer”. She then tells the attendant to give her a low price by saying “nipe bei ya jioni”, ‘give me the evening price’. The shop attendant asks her how much she has, to which she replies “mi nakupa buku tano”, ‘I will give you fi ve thousand shillings.’ The attendant exclaims ‘aahh!” in disbelief. This advert ends with a narrator saying that one could get up to 99% discount on Airtel Zone. Then it goes on to provide the short code for subscribing to Airtel Zone. The advert is observed to have a blend of Standard Kiswahili and Kiswahili cha mtaani. For instance, ‘Hii ndo mchongo yako ujue’, ‘Nipe bei ya jioni mwanangu’ and ‘Mi nakupa buku tano tu…’ The above sentences illustrate codeswitching between standard Swahili and KcM. Here again we observe that similar to TI1, the codeswitched items in KcM are single or compound nouns, but nicely blended with Standard Swahili. Instances of codeswitching between standard Swahili and KcM featuring similar KcM items are found in TC1 and TI2 (See Appendices A and B). Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 142 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) Codeswitched Adverts with Standard Swahili, English and Kiswahili cha Mtaani The last type of codeswitching in the selected adverts is those that feature a blend of Standard Swahili, English, KcM. The fi rst example is another version of the Airtel Zone product that off ers subscribers up to 99% discounts, Airtel Zone (AT 5) Codeswitched Adverts with Standard Swahili, English and Kiswahili cha Mtaani Airtel Zone (AT 5) Duka limejaa, hapa nitapata kila kitu. The shop is full. Here I will get everything. Karibu mdogo wangu nikusaidie nini? Welcome my young brother, how may I help you? Hiyo body spray bei gani? How much is this body spray? Kumi na tano Fifteen Okay, feni? Okay, fan? Hiyo panga boy hapo juu elfu hamsini This “panga” boy up here is fi fty thousand. Panga? Panga? Duh hatari Hee! Dangerous Unaandika lakini? Hope you are recording? Si ndo hapo naorodhesha hunioni? Is it that you do not see me? Malapa? Slippers? Malapa ni sh. Elfu moja. Slippers is one thousand shillings Nishamaliza. Jumla sh ngapi? I am done. Total price in shillings? Jumla inakuwa ni kama sitini na tano elfu na mia tano The total is around sixty- fi ve thousand, fi ve hundred shillings. Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 143 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Language blending in Tanzanian adverts aaah mangi toa benti bhana, punguza Aaa “mangi” remove “benti”, reduce. Mbona unalia lia. Kwani we umejipangaje? Why are you lamenting. How did you prepare yourself? Mangi mi nina buku. Mangi I have thousand shillings. Buku! Ndo robo wewe… Thousand shillings! You, its quarter…… The advert begins with a young man heading to a shop to buy things. At the shop, the attendant welcomes the young man and asks him what he wants. The young man enquires about the prices of a body spray, a fan, and slippers as the shop attendant writes in a book. The young man asks for the total sum of the items he enquired about and is given an estimate. He exclaims and expresses shock at the estimate and requests a discount. And the advert continues with a voice announcing the product that gives a discount of 99%. The text is made up of mainly Standard Swahili featuring instances of both intra-sentential codeswitching between Standard Swahili and KcM as well as codeswitching between Standard Swahili and English. However, there is no instance of the three codes all occurring in one sentence. Both the codeswitched items English and KcM are mainly single nouns. The items in English are, body spray, okay, and boy and the KcM items are malapa ‘slippers’. Bhana ‘Sir’, and buku ‘thousand Shillings’. Bhana and buku, were used in the previous adverts. The codes are blended in a way to make the language appealing to the ears. This advert ends with a narrator saying that one can get the best reduction on Airtel Zone and provide the short code for Airtel Zone , a complete contrast with the situation in the advert where the shop attendant is horrifi ed at the request for an unrealistic reduction. Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 144 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) The fi nal advert of this structure is another advert from Airtel Money. In this advert, Mr. Money (AT6) the inter-sentential structure is covered by all three languages. Codeswitched Adverts with Standard Swahili, English and Kiswahili cha Mtaani Mr. Money (AT6) Mabibi na mabwana tunawaletea Mr. Money. Tuma pesa kiuhakika Ladies and gentlemen, we bring you Mr. Money Send money reliably Ongeza salio kiuhakika Top up airtime reliably Lipa bili kwa nafuu Pay bills comfortably Airtel money kiuhakika Airtel Money is reliable Tuma pesa kwa spidi. Send money fast Usalama ni guarantee. Safety is guaranteed Haijalishi ulivyombali. It doesn’t matter how far you are Ni salama salimini It’s absolutely comfortable Papo hapo lipa luku. Instantly pay for Pre-paid electricity Usilale gizani Don’t sleep in the dark Lipia king’amuzi Pay for decoder Ongeza salio chap chap kweli. Mambo vipi? Mimi ni Mr Money Top up airtime quickly How’s things? I’m Mr. Money Ninawaletea airtel money kwa njia nafuu, haraka na salama. I bring you Airtel Money, an easy fast and safe way. Kutuma pesa, kulipa bili, kuongeza salio na mengineyo Sending money, paying bills, topping up airtime and many others Ukiwa na airtel money unaweza kufanya mengi zaidi kiuhakika If you have Airtel Money you can reliably do a lot. Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 145 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Language blending in Tanzanian adverts This advert is about how easy, fast and benefi cial it is to use Airtel money. Airtel money is an electronic service that enables its users to store funds, send and receive money, make payments and do a number of other transactions simply by using their mobile phones. The advert begins with a voice saying “Mabibi na mabwana tunawaletea Mr. Money!” as the lights shine on a stage revealing three characters; two females and money (Mr. Money) in a red suit. The two female characters begin to dance as Mr. Money starts singing about the benefi ts of using Airtel Money. In the song, we get to know that it is safe to transact on Airtel Money and that distance is not a barrier when using Airtel Money. As the song ends, Mr. Money says he wants to introduce Airtel Money, an easy, fast, and safe way of sending money, paying bills, topping up airtime, and many other things. He goes on to say that when you are on Airtel Money you can reliably do so much. He ends by giving out the code for Airtel Money. We observe that the name of the product is in English, Airtel Money. Although the advert advertises a diff erent product from AT5, it has a similar structure. The text is made up of mainly Standard Swahili featuring instances of both intra- sentential codeswitching between standard Swahili and KcM as well as codeswitching between Standard Swahili and English. Again, there is no instance of the three codes all occurring in one sentence. Examples of these intra-sentential codeswitching are sentences such as ‘Mabibi na mabwana tunawaletea Mr. Money.’, ‘Usalama ni guarantee’ and ‘Mimi ni Mr Money’ which have the structure of Standard Swahili codeswitched with English, while the sentences ‘Ongeza salio chap chap kweli’ and ‘Mambo vipi?’ are made up of mainly Standard Swahili codeswitched with KcM. There is one instance of tag switching represented by spidi. However, there is no instance of all the three codes occurring in one sentence. Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 146 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) Further Discussion In this section, we briefl y discuss our fi ndings about the nature of language blending as demonstrated in the data. The above analyses of adverts have demonstrated that it is a norm for adverts of the Telecos in Tanzania, which are mainly multi-national to use more than one language in composing their adverts. As illustrated from the analyses above, usually the matrix language in these adverts is Standard Swahili and the codeswitched items are either English or KcM. Three types of blending are identifi ed: Standard Swahili codeswitched with English, Standard Swahili codeswitched with KcM or Standard Swahili codeswitched with both English and KcM. These languages are carefully woven together in the various compositions in such a way as to attract the target audience. The nature of codeswitching in the adverts is simple. There are mostly instances of Intra-sentential switches. In AT1, unusually, the fi rst line of the advert is uttered in English “Help! Help! Help!”. Typically, the codeswitched item or sentence is embedded in the matrix language. The codeswitched items in these Telecos adverts are standard terms or catch-phrases in the domain of telecommunication. They consist of nouns, verbs, interjections or noun phrases. This conforms to Hamers and Blanc’s (1989) cited in Bi (2011, p. 60) statement that “the majority of mixings are lexical in nature and nouns are most often the substituted words.” There are also a few cases of tag switching where English words are used with Swahili orthography such as ‘strim’ for stream and ‘supa’ for super in AT1 and ‘dailee’ for daily in VD1. There are very few instances of codemixing where Swahili affi xes or stems are used with English or KcM stems, such as in AT3 ‘anafail’and kuchat. Another observation is that sometimes codeswitching occurs between utterances of two speakers rather than utterances of one speaker. A typical example is VD1 where the switches to English are between Platnumz’s, stage director and Platnumz’s wife. The observations above reiterate the fact Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 147 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Language blending in Tanzanian adverts that language blending in these adverts are carefully thought of and arranged for specifi c eff ects. They are not coincidental as with the case of naturally occurring conversation. Conclusion The paper has demonstrated that most of the Telecos in Tanzania use intra-sentential codeswitching and inter-sentential codeswitching and some cases of Tag switched items in their advert texts. The switching occurs in mainly three diff erent intra- and inter-sentential codeswitched structures: Standard Swahili and Street Swahili (Kiswahili cha mtaani), Standard Swahili and English, and Standard Swahili, Street Swahili (Kiswahili cha mtaani) and English. An important observation is that where codeswitching in an advert involves all three codes, only two are combined in a sentence at a time. Inter-sentential codeswitching also occurred mostly between the utterances of two speakers. All these peculiarities point to the fact that codeswitching in these adverts is not spontaneous, but carefully planned. Another important observation is that apart from the language choice, other strategies are employed to reach the target audience. These strategies include the characters used; that is, featuring people who represent diff erent age groups as well as diff erent sociolinguistic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Thus, there is the eff ort to blend language in such a way that all categories of consumers can identify with the advert. Acknowledgment This study forms part of the School of Languages (University of Ghana) research project on Language and Communication in Specifi c Domains: Negotiating Multilingualism and Constructing Identities, funded by a grant from The Mellon Foundation. Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 148 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) References Abdulaziz, M. H., & Osinde, K. (1997). Sheng and Engsh: Development of mixed codes among the urban youth in Kenya. Nairobi : Androutsopoulos & Scholz. Appel, R., &Muysken, P. (2006). Language Contact and Bilingualism. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. Attariba, J., & Morier, R. G. (2006). Bilingualism: Language, Emotion, and Mental Health. In T. K. Bhatia, & W. C. Ritchie (Eds), The Handbook of Bilingualism (pp. 250-281). Oxford: Blackwell. Bauer, R. S. (2010). 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Hyperlinks to adverts: 1. https://youtu.be/3WT8_24reyo Airtel zone (AT2) 2. https://youtu.be/Z8xZ855PMaQ ..... 5.2.1 TIGO TUMEFIKA- KILA KONA (TI1) 3. https://youtu.be/fLdkjPPfvbo Tigo okoa pesa (TI2) 4. https://youtu.be/uO1esfG91iU Mr. Money (AT6) 5. https://youtu.be/IbgKTZeHNxw Airtel Zone (AT 5) 6. https://youtu.be/5jZ33SGG2DA TTCL Rudi nyumbani (TC1) 7. https://youtu.be/NaeSR7Uekg4 Vodacom Deilee (VD1) 8. https://youtu.be/uZuNqWtyUWs Airtel Yatosha AT 3 9. https://youtu.be/mQH5HDSKsUg Airtel 4G (AT 1) 10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r9u1NhCQck My Airtel App (AT4) Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 151 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Language blending in Tanzanian adverts Appendix A This advert, TC1 is an advert from TTCL, where standard Swahili is codeswitched with Kiswahili cha mtaani. Codeswitched Adverts with Standard Swahili, English and Kiswahili cha Mtaani TTCL Rudi nyumbani (TC1) Wapi tena? Where to? Ahh washkaji, naenda kuserereka. Aah friends, ... Habari yako dada? How are you? Poa. Mambo? Good. Whatsup? Poa. Niserereshe. Cool…. Cha mia tatu eeh? That of 300 tsh right? Kama kawa. As usual Tayari. Done Okay, poa. Okay, cool Poa, karibu. Cool, you are welcome Appendix B Codeswitched Adverts with Standard Swahili, English and Kiswahili cha Mtaani Tigo okoa pesa (TI2) In the example below, we observe that the sentences are made up of either pure Swahili or Standard Swahili codeswitched with KcM. Mpenzi, najua leo ni siku muhimu sana ya kumbukumbu ya ndoa yetu My love, I know today is a very important day of memory of our marriage. Ila hii ni elfu kumi tu. This is only ten thousand. Naomba unielewe mke wangu I want you to understand my wife. Uwe na siku njema Have a good day. Legon Journal of the Humanities 34.1 (2023) Page 152 Dzahene-Quarshie, J. & Sosoo, F./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 34.1(2023) Mke wangu, japo sikufaulu hesabu najua nguvu ya buku kumi My wife, even though I failed the calculation I know of the power of ten thousand shillings Huu mzigo huu sio ya buku kumi. This is not ten thousand shillings. Hebu tulize nafsi wangu, mke wako nimeacha kununua vifurushi vya kila siku, nanunua vya wiki. Yaani badala ya kutumia elfu kumi na nne kununua vifurushi vya elfu mbili kila siku, nanunua vya tigo kwa shilling elfu kumi tu. Na hiyo elfu nne niliyosave kila wiki ndo nilitumia baba. Let’s ask ourselves, your wife has stopped buying daily packages, I buy weekly packages. That is, instead of using fourteen thousand to buy two thousand packages every day, I buy Tigo for just ten thousand shillings. And that four thousand that I saved every week, I send it to dad.