The size of a switch matters

Poonam Sethi’s study of Punjabi lyrics distinguishes several sizes of English material: individual nouns and verbs, phrases, sentences and smaller word-forming elements. It uses code-switching and code-mixing as interchangeable terms for this project. The categories make the analysis more precise than simply counting a song as either Punjabi or English.[1]

Its sample contains 47 songs associated with Guru Randhawa, Neha Kakkar, Gippy Grewal and Diljit Dosanjh across 2016–2018. The songs were selected for bilingual content, so the study cannot establish how frequent such mixing is across all Punjabi music. Repeated items within a song were excluded from parts of the count. A chorus repeated several times is therefore different from several distinct mixed constructions.[1]

Word forms can cross a language boundary

The lyric analysis records inflectional attachments and derivational patterns alongside English words and phrases. This captures language contact within a word or grammatical unit, as well as a change between complete sentences. The findings concern the chosen lyrics and their analysis; they are not a prescription for how anyone should write Punjabi songs.[1]

Work and cricket

Suraiya Alam’s 2011 study uses recordings from a London household of six Punjabi-speaking Pakistani postgraduates who also knew Urdu and English. The researcher spent three months with the household and focused on evening kitchen gatherings. This provides a conversational setting quite different from composed and performed song lyrics.[2]

In the analysed examples, discussions of cricket and food-shop work include English material. Alam relates these switches to the participants’ experience of those activities through English. The speakers were discussing work while at home: the relevant context was the activity being recalled, rather than the room alone. This is a case-specific interpretation, showing why a language choice can depend on topic and shared experience as well as location.[2]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Poonam Sethi; Dialog, Panjab University. A Study of Code-Switching and Code-Mixing of English in Punjabi Lyrics and Their Socio-cultural Implication ↗linguistics research article · Source date: 2018 (Dialog issue33) · Locator: PDF pp.6–10, methodology, sample selection and findings table1. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual29-page university-hosted paper inspected. Song text is not reproduced. The analysis’s sample/method are used; generic claims about youth, gender, language ancestry, popularity or universal mutual intelligibility are excluded.Return to The size of a switch matters, paragraph 1 ↑Return to The size of a switch matters, paragraph 2 ↑Return to Word forms can cross a language boundary, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Suraiya Alam. Integration of Various Approaches towards the Functions of Code-Switching between Punjabi, Urdu and English ↗ethnographic linguistics case study · Source date: 2011-12-10 · Locator: Printed pp.8–9 research method and participants; pp.14–16examples7–8 and conclusion. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual18-page PDF inspected. Six-participant shared-house case and the author’s interpretations of English-topic switches only; broad national, gender and prestige generalisations not adopted.Return to Work and cricket, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Work and cricket, paragraph 2 ↑
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Record PH-LAN-0026 · English edition · human review not performed