This paper aims to examine code-switching phenomenon, among the Malaysian youngsters as
portrayed in the movie “Sepet”. Literal translation of “Sepet” could mean “Slit Eyes” which is a
stereotype of the Chinese who usually has small eyes. Malaysia is a multilingual country where many
languages are spoken. The country has Bahasa Malaysia as its national language, English as its second
language, Mandarin, Tamil, Punjabi and many more as its vernacular languages. Not to overlook other
dialects of these afore mentioned languages as other important varieties in Malaysians‟ daily
conversations. Coming from such a vibrant multilingual country, it is unavoidable that these languages
and dialects contact. A palpable evidence of this situation is the habit of switching from one language
to another while conversing with others, be it in discourse level or sentence level. This code-switching
phenomenon can be defined as changing from language to language in the midst of an utterance
(Spolsky, 1998, p. 121).
British Journal of Arts and Social Sciences
ISSN: 2046-9578
168
Besides that, it will also explore how code-switching in a locally produced movie serves as an
insightful tool in examining the psyche and language cognition among the young Malaysians by
exploring the factors that lead such language use. This film is chosen as it is believed to represent the
contemporary Malaysian society, especially the style of communication among the characters.
Therefore, the specific purpose of this paper is as follows: