In this study the term code-switching is defined as the use of two or more linguistic varieties in the same conversation inclusive of dialect changes and style changes. These changes can occur at any point in the sentence, and they may occur within the sentence or between sentences. The term codeswitching here encompasses the strategy of transfer (O'Malley and Chamot 1990), language switch (Tarone 1977) and code-switching (Faerch and Kasper 1983). In other words, the term code-switching in this study is defined in a much wider sense of its conventional meaning. Gumperz (1982) talks of a discourse function of code-switching, that is, the personalization function. Under this function a speaker plays upon the connotations of a 'we code' to create conversational effect. In other words, the speaker is seen to manipulate or to create a desired meaning through codeswitching. In this study, code-switching is seen as a strategy employed by the respondents for a purpose. Hence this study sets out to explore the functions fulfilled by this strategy when used by Malaysian pre-school children. A total of sixty respondents were selected for this study. Of the sixty respondents twenty-eight were Chinese and thirty-two were Malay. The breakdown in terms of sex was twenty-five females and thirty-five males, distributed in the following manner according to age, fourteen aged four, twenty-four aged five and twenty-two aged six. Code-switching: A definitionGumperz (1982: 97) defines code-switching as a discourse phenomenon in which speakers rely on juxtaposition of grammatically distinct subsystems to generate conversational inferences. Conversational code-switching is defined by Gumperz (1982) as a situation when a speaker may switch codes, i. e., varieties, within a single sentence, and may even do so several times. One gets the impression that the aim is simply to produce Multilingua 22 (2003), 59Ϫ77 01678507/2003/022Ϫ0059 ą Walter de Gruyter Brought to you by | University of Iowa Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 6/1/15 12:23 PM Brought to you by | University of Iowa Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 6/1/15 12:23 PMϪ to appeal to the literate Ϫ to appeal to the illiterate Ϫ to convey a more exact meaning Ϫ to ease communication, i. e., utilizing the shortest and the easiest route Ϫ to negotiate with greater authority Ϫ to capture attention, i. e., stylistic, emphatic, emotional Ϫ to reiterate a point Ϫ to communicate more effectively Ϫ to identify with a particular group Ϫ to close the status gap Ϫ to establish goodwill and support These are but a list of possible functions and meanings fulfilled by code-switching.

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